WWYD - I need opinions!

[turquoise88]

Need advice. Moved to new village 3 months ago.

School A

• currently full so would need to go on waiting list
• in village we moved to 3 months ago
• DS already knows some children in class
• class of 30 (R/ Year 1)
• other DS would definitely attend excellent on site nursery when old enough

School B (current school)

• 5 miles (20 min drive) away
• DS currently making friends
• lovely teacher/school community
• class of 11 (Nursery/R)

It's the class size that's making this difficult for me. DS currently reads to teacher/TA every day and gets lots of focus because of the small class size. The progress he has already made, in reading and writing particularly, is amazing and I worry that he'll get lost being in a bigger class, simply because the teacher can't put in the same level of support for each child.

WWYD?

You don’t need to decide now. Go on the waiting list and then decide if/when they offer you a place.

Smaller class every time, dd's in a village school with a class size of 20 and is thriving, they all get lots of individual attention and hardly any class disruption, also as it's a small school there's a real community feel and all the children across every year group know each other.

My only worry was how she'll cope going to the big school after being so used to the village school but I think it's more important to have a good experience for their early years and to build a good base, she'll be better equipped to deal with a louder, busier school environment with she's 11 not 4.

I'm a teacher. Smaller class every single time. Higher quality, more individualised education.

I would worry about the financial stability of a school with only 11 in nursery/reception. You may find that your child ends up in a mixed age class of Reception/Yr 1/Yr 2 which is far from ideal.

I also think that 11 is too small to provide a good social mix.

@littlefish I did think this, but the small numbers are I think down to the physical size of the building and how many children they are allowed to fit in the relatively small classroom. Their limit is 12 children per year I think.

Like a previous poster has said - go on waiting list then if and when you get a place (could be years) make a decision then.

Bear in mind that you if you stay at the current school you are committing to the drive for another 7 years (plus more if siblings go there)

Their limit is 12 per year, but their Reception must be well under that, if they have a mixed Reception/Nursery of 11 children. This means they are under-subscribed. You need to keep an eye on the boy/girl mix too.

Their school budgets must be hideously small. How many teachers are in the whole school?

Primary schools these days expect a lot of input from the parents anyway. At dgs' school the children bring home a reading book and have to read to a parent every evening after school. Plus spellings and "mathletics" (not quite sure what that is) once during the week and at the weekend.

And this is year1 and 2.