To change schools - wwyd?

[SnakePlisskensMum]

We live in a small, rural village which has it's own school, approximately 45 kids attend. I have a DD1 in y2 and DD2 due to start YR. I am currently a SAHM but I'm hoping to work fulltime from September.

My issue is with the number of girls in DD1's class. There are only 2 of them the same age. They mix Y1 with Y2 and there are 2 girls in that year also. So, essentially she has only three other girls to mix with during class times. Obviously, as it's a small school, they mix with everyone else during playtimes. She does play with the boys too but really enjoys other girls company. If theres a squabble between the girls, there's nowhere to go. On one hand, they have to learn how to get on. On the other, she has nothing in common with the other girl in her class and wouldn't choose to be a close friend in normal circumstances, although they do get on ok. I worry about how this will affect her when she's older, its ok for now.

Do I move her now, whilst she's young so that she can settle into a larger, more diverse environment with more friendship choices? Or leave it, see how things go and move her if it becomes a problem? She's happy there and doing well.
A side issue is lack of childcare. There are no pre/after school clubs at all. When I return to work I will have to pay an au pair to pick them up on the days I won't be at home. There are no childminders in the village, I've researched extensively. Very few mums work and the ones that do seem to be around at school pick up. A larger school with these facilities would help enormously but isn't a reason in itself to move schools, it would just be a benefit. WWYD?

Thanks NatashaBee. I do lean towards moving her and I thought the same, it'll only leave one girl in the class! However, I have to do whats right for my DC I guess. It wouldn't be such a hard decision if it was actually affecting her but she is really happy. It's all she knows though.

If she's happy I would not move her. The issue with friendships is your issue, if she is happy with things the way they are.

It isn't essential to have close friends at school to be happy, as your daughter's expereince shows. She's probably learning very valuable lessons about how to get on with other people who aren't her 'cup of tea' and it sounds like she must have good social skills to do that, and that will mean when she is older and at a bigger secondary school she will be just fine.

How about brownies and other out of school activities so that she has out of school friends too?

I know its my issue now, I worry that it'll become her issue in a couple of years.

It's been sparked off by a couple of people making comments to me about how its 'not good socially' and 'don't you think she should have more friends' type things. My husband is keen for her to move as he thinks she should get more exposure to 'real life' (middle class, affluent, white, British, every child has an intact family set up). He thinks they are too cossetted.

She does a couple of things out of school (ballet, gym) and has made friends but she doesn't talk about them/want to invite them round etc.
I do worry that I am worrying too much about it. It doesn't help that one of the teachers told me that she moved her daughter from her original school because of the very same thing!

I did similarly with my dcs (at the time in Years 1 & 2) although moving nearer to town was also a factor. However, while the school was fine in most respects, there were no opportunities for after-school clubs. Also, and one of my sons was quite sporty and there were simply not enough children to form teams to enter the local primary school tournaments.

DP and his ex-wife also chose to move their two youngest dcs from our very nice but very small village school when they were 7 & 8 years old. The gender imbalance was the pertinent reason for the move - in this case dss2 was one of only 2 boys in his year.

Again, all the respective children were happy at their original schools but they settled very easily into their new ones and on reflection it was definitely the right thing to do. Especially when they came to transfer to secondary school and were at least amongst some friends to start with in their tutor groups. Unlike the children from the very small village schools.

Pandemoniaa - yes, its the change to secondary school that I'm concerned with too. They leave age 10 here so its not too far away and the other girl in DD's year will go private, leaving her the only girl to transfer in her year.
I have made an appointment to view another local school that has between 22-30 kids per class but is a single form entry school. It has pre/after school clubs too. They also have space for DD2 (they think) so it could work out well.
I just remember how important friends were at that age. DD1 is very social and it would suit her I think.
Thanks for your replies so far.

If the other bigger school isn't far then I'd move her. I grew up with exactly this circumstance and more kids would have been better. I was friends with the one girl in my year and one in the year below (my school had around 30 pupils, seven years in two classes), friend in my year liked to sulk and would take turns to fall out with each of us - was a pain as was every other day. Small schools have their advantages but socially i think a bit more choice is better (couldn't tell friend where to go as no other options!)