To ask for your help in deciding on a village school V a larger school? Hellllppp!

[runningwilde]

aibu to be in such a dilemma about this?!

My dc will be going to school next September, at the moment I am really really torn between a village school (about a ten minute drive away) that is really great and has a lovely feel (ofsted report is outstanding) and my local primary school that is also a fantastic school (ofsted good with outstanding areas). The village school will take 8 this year and the larger school
Will take 60 so there is a big difference in numbers per class. The local
School tends to have mixed aged classes but a lot of 1 to 1 attention but it does lack in certain facilities you would get in the larger school
(playing fields, sports, etc).

I am driving myself potty going back and forth with which one to go with. Can anyone help me? Both schools have excellent headmistresses and teachers. My ds is a confident and outgoing little boy who would be fine in a big or small environment, but which one do I go for? Which is best?! Any advice/experience on this would be most welcome.

Thank you.

It might help to find out exactly who would be in the year group in the small one. My cousin's DC was the only girl in her year, it wasn't a problem until year 6 when she was left on her own and they all moved on. My nephew went to one where he had a real problem with one boy who was 'a big fish in a small pond' and while he wasn't a bully it caused problems for those who didn't want to have much to do with him-he was impossible to escape.However the one that I went to had enough to have close friends and was lovely-just a shock when you left.

My two (7 & 5) both attend a very small village primary which currently has 43 children. They are in classes of 18 and 15 children respectively, with the seven year-old in a mixed year 2/3/4 group and the 5 year-old in a mixed R/1 group.

They both love school and have from day one. I won't reiterate what all the others have said about the benefits of small groups, family atmosphere, etc. What I will say, though, is to me one of the benefits is that the smaller 'friend pool' obliterates cliquiness and forces compromise. The boys play with the girls and the girls play with the boys. The reception children play with the year fives and the year sixes play with the year threes. And they learn that if they don't get on, they need to work at it a little harder. Which is much more like real life.

I'm fortunate inasmuch as I don't need after-school clubs and wraparound care, etc.. So that is not so much of an issue for me. I could have sent my children to the much larger school just up the road. Many do. But I'm glad I didn't!

agree totally with MMQC. at times it can be a bit tough but it's a very good lesson in life

I think I have pretty much decided to go with the large school on my doorstep. It is right here and has a great reputation with lots of facilities and a very strong Christian ethos (but not in the rigid sense thank goodness more on a kindness type code) which I like. I do like the village school too but I like the extra opportunities the bigger school offers. I am visiting them both again though so may change!

Can anyone link the small school with fundig problems thread please?

State primary school finances are predicated around 30 children per teacher.

It won't be a class of 8. It will almost certainly be a mixed class of R / Y1 / Y2 (so 24) followed by a mixed KS2 class of Years 3 /4 /5/6 (so 32).

I have taught a mixed R / Y1 / Y2 class, and I wouldn't send my child to one. OK, each child is in a tiny peer group (possibly too tiny - what if he's the only boy with 7 girls?) but the spread of needs and abilities is HUGE - in the class I taught, the 'academically working at' ages raged from 18 months to 9 years, with 1 teacher and a TA. It just meant that nobody got wuite the amount of teacher time at their right level, because even a smaller group within the class spanned a huge range of abilities.