DD unhappy at school

[Way2stresed]

DD8 is in year 3 at school with a very small girl to boy ratio - only 8 girls. Since the start of the school year she has generally been quite unhappy as she is quite left out when playing at school! I wouldn’t say particularly bullied but definitely excluded from games and due to small number of girls has no one else to turn too! Would you consider other schools or stick it out? For background we have another family member in the same year at the other local school which was reason we chose this school in first place! DD does out of school clubs which school friends go to and they often are mean or ignore her there too! Just when I’m for moving her she seems to have a good day!

How does your dd feel? I would probably consider a move to be honest. Some small schools just aren’t that great. Some are fabulous and are great for the kids. There’s no harm in going and having a look at the others to see whether they’d be a better fit.

KateGrey she is up and down, she often says she'd like to move schools but as parents we all know it's not as simple as that! The other local school is huge, very good reputation but I worry that just means more people not to be friends with!

I would consider a move if nothing was going to change at the school (ie move to two form entry) but I would be working on her resilience and confidence too

Caulk how do I do that we boost her confidence all the time but she's old enough to realise she's lonely and being left out? I feel hopeless to help knowing s school move may not be the right answer!

move her i would say.
how she is going to negotiate secondary school after going to a school with 8 girls would be my concern.

Exclusion is bullying the school need to address this issue with all the girls.

AJPTAYLOR I never thought about that! But it's a good point!

Random it is parents evening this week so I was going to speak to the head whilst there!

I posted about a month ago about my year 3 daughter who struggled to find anyone to play with and was low level bullied. The response from most posters was to move her and we did.

She's been in her new school for nearly three weeks now and so much happier. Her brownie leaders even commented how much happier she is since changing. She does still see the girls from the old school at brownies, but because they only see her once a week, she seems to be a novelty to them and they get on well.

We did consider that she might still struggle at the new school, but she's got in so well. We thought a new group of children would be good for her and it really has. Your dd gl has had 3 1/2 years with the girls in her class, if she was going to form friendships she would have done it by now.

Sequins thank you. I think I'm going to look at the other school!

The only thing that stops me more than anything is the other family member in other school, same year! I don't want to upset them and worry that they'll be used as a comfort blanket if things are difficult for dd initially as I know she won't feel the need to make friends as she knows someone already there.

We prob wouldn't move her until September anyway at the start of the new school year so am going to speak to school anyway and we are trying to encourage dd to play nice, be nice, play with boys etc and see if it makes any difference!

I totally get what you're saying about if not made friends by year 3 but she was fine until last year when 4 different girls left for valid un-related reasons and this has seemed to make a huge impact on the social groups!

My dd had a friend leave this year and that made it much worse for her. We actually moved her very quickly, we looked on a Wednesday and moved her the following week. She's quite anxious and we wanted to move her asap so she couldn't worry about it for months.

i would say as well, if you are going to move her, do it quickly (unless there are masses of spaces la will expect you to anyway). summer term good time to move. outdoor play, sports day, school trips etc