My son is in Reception and has generally had a decent start. We’re happy-ish with the school apart from one random thing. His class has six boys (him included) and sixteen girls. It’s a three form entry school and the other two classes are also girl heavy, though in those it’s more like 10 boys 14 girls. The head has acknowledged it’s unusual and said it’s unlikely cross class friendships will be very strong as apparently it’s not in the culture of the school (no idea why). She’s also said she won’t mix the classes to make things more balanced unless big problems emerge, and things are just the way they are this year.
He does play with girls—he has two good girl friends outside school and he was in a mixed group at nursery—but were realistic about the fact that as they get older kids often gravitate more towards playing in single sex groups and with only six other boys, that’s a small pool of potential male peers / friends and that it might start causing problems later on. If say there is a falling out, or he is with another boy and they don’t bring out the best in each other but cannot get a break from each other, or if the boys all get focused on one thing like football or gaming and he isn’t into that.
So my question is: would other Mumsnetters be concerned about this big gender imbalance? Has your kid been in a very girl or very boy heavy class and has it had a good / bad impact on them?
Because most schools aren’t full this year (plummeting birth rates, people leaving London), would it be sensible to consider moving him now? There is another school a tiny bit further away with a great ethos, and a more balanced year group, but moving him because of problems that haven’t yet manifested feels over cautious