AIBU to think changing schools may be the right thing to do?

[BiscuitsForever]

Hello, I'm in a bit of a conundrum and would love to hear some views from others.

My dd is 6 and is in Year 1, she likes school, she has lots of friends and is very settled. It used to be so lovely and friendly, however, I have some concerns about her school.

Firstly and most recently, her school sent us a letter on Thursday explaining that there is no money so Years 2 3 and 4 are to be combined. I worry about this as dd is the youngest in the class and will find this overwhelming. I also think combining ks1 and ks2 seems odd.

The school is in a group with 2 others and finances are shared, one other school in the group is the priority for money and resources at the moment due to the impending Ofsted they are due.

I know Ofsted isn't everything, but they've just gone from good to RI.

Dd's head has no idea who she is, she has never met her in 2 years. She never comes to sports days or plays. It is a small school and this just seems to indicate a lack of interest.

They have recently let go of the senco and are not replacing them, therefore there is currently no support in place. Apparently they are training a TA up to help them.

I just feel that none of the decisions being made are in the interests of the children. I understand that budgets are extremely tight, but I just think they are ruining what was a lovely, friendly school.

What do you think? I think it might be best if she moves, but will it be too much for her?

So will it be Reception/yr1, y2/3/4, then 5/6?

There will need to be less than 30 in the class as the infant limit will apply (or is yr4 splitting in two perhaps?)

If it helps, when my dd was in primary they decided to combine yrs 4 & 5. I was concerned at the time as it wasn’t previously & I do think the standard dropped. That said they had really strong teachers in yr 6 who really pulled out all the stops so she did do ok. I haven’t heard of a school combining different ks’s before though. My dd is now under SEN but wasn’t in primary so I’m not sure about this part.

My guess is that other parents will also be considering moving their children so you may find that some of DD's current friends move to new schools leaving an even smaller year group. Who knows then what might happen next year.

If she was in Year 5/6 I would leave her but in your position I would move. It may feel as if you are abandoning a sinking ship (albeit it's been a great school to this point) but at least this way the move is within your control.

Really usual school organisation near me.

Federations of 2, 3, 4 and 6 small schools with various leadership models, headteacher/executive head teacher, heads of school or senior teachers. Shared headteacher and SENCo across the federation.

Schools have either two classes (R, 1, 2) and (3, 4, 5, 6) or any combination determined by numbers in each year group. Some schools have three classes, again year groups in each class determined by numbers.

Cuts to school budgets and removal of the sparsity grants by the Conservative government, demand such arrangements if schools, especially those in villages, are to survive.

Similar size school to the one my kids attended and I'm a governor of. The finances for schools our size are getting to "squeaky bum time" but I wouldn't be happy with that range of year groups combined at all - I've personally taught year 2/3 combined and that cross key-stage is a tricky combination, let alone with Y4 in it as well.

We're 15 per year group - broken into Reception as a single year class (in a smaller room as well), Y1/2, Y3/4, and Y5/6. I'd be worried about the planning cycle as well as that's going to have been set up on a 2 year cycle so the kids don't end up doing the Egyptians for 2 years on the trot etc - all of that is going to have been thrown out.

I'd be incredibly concerned about the loss of the SENCO, and the Head not knowing who each child is - our Head (granted he's the biggest kid going) knows each and every child and family down to parents' first names, plus football team supported and probably favourite Pokemon and/or dinosaur! (Like I say - biggest kid going bless him)

I did move my kids previously from a larger school that was incredibly badly run and where one child was starting to experience really targeted bullying - one child struggled more than the other - but she's a child who historically struggles at every transition point and the school were very supportive to get her settled and happy there.

Quite a lot of schools have a SENCo across academies. So a TA could take on an assistant senco role.

Mixed cohorts are common in small schools too, but mixing those year groups are a bit much. If you can move them to a different school I probably would.

Where I work has had both models, though the schools are considerably smaller than that in the OP. Both have worked. I've also known it to just be a headteacher job and how much actual SENCO work goes on is debatable. Having an individual SENCO for a small school is expensive though.

Thanks everyone, sorry to disappear for a bit. It's a bit manic here. There's so much to think about. I've arranged a taster day next week so will see how she feels after that.