Primary school worries

[Nextdoorsparty]

Hi peeps, I’ve got worry re primary schools for DC. starts in September, in reception.
shes got a place at our first choice - school A - rural school, one form entry, 30 kids per year group, some of her nursery friends are going. Parents all seem lovely and friendly.
we know one family well already which as a newcomer to the area is invaluable. It’s 3 miles away so a 7 min drive.

BUT I have this growing worry that its the wrong choice....

we are new to the area - new to the village - and we haven’t chosen the nearest school - school B - which is just over 1 mile away.
reasons we didn’t choose B is that it’s much smaller, 12 kids per year group, mixed key stages which I didn’t understand, it’s on a big road (we moved due to a big road in first place)
school B also has a bit less space outdoors - our dc is very physical and moves all the time. Also quite averse to loud noises so the traffic was a flag for me.

being new here, I wanted us to have a bigger pool of people to meet - And we already know some lovely people in school A which I am grateful for as a newbie.

i am worried though that I’m school A we will be too far away from DCs school friends, being 3 miles out of our village. That we’re not integrating Into the village we actually live in, which isn’t great.

• driving to school is unnecessary pollution when I should’ve chosen a school we could (at a stretch) walk to. I feel really Very guilty about this as I’m a passionate environmentalist!

in all the photos of kids at small school B the kids look SO joyful and happy. We LOVED it when we looked round - but I convinced myself I loved it for ME rather than for our DC. She likes and needs different things - for eg more space and a less freeform learning environment (she’s very into organisation)
I don’t know what I’m asking really. Maybe if anyone’s has a similar dilemma, how it worked out, or how this seems objectively
we are on waiting list for smaller school and may be offered a place.... stomach in
knots. Am I just torturing myself??

I would definitely pick A. The other school is so small it can be much harder if kids fall out, don’t have much in common etc.

3 miles is nothing.

Although i would say, I would pick a smaller school over a larger one in a heartbeat. Kids get far more attention and generally, a better education.

Mine are just finishing up year 6 in a single form entry 🥲 it's been so lovely and nurturing I would do it all over again and they are twins so we had the whole debate about going to a bigger school and separating them. 3 miles isn't much.

I had similar dilemma (although completely different school sizes) and we went with the nearer school. However, our nearer school is walking distance and a large school. I would worry about schools smaller than 1FE regarding friendships and possible gender imbalance. I think you should stick with your decision, are there many other families going by car as well?

12 per year group sounds pretty restrictive. I would imagine they have to mix year groups for any sports and activities.

12 kids is lovely at 4. Not at 10.

I'd of picked A too.

I'd have chosen the same school as you.
You chose it for good reasons. Stick with them for now.

Based on what you've said I would definitely have picked school A.

I had a similar situation re one form (12-15 places) entry and two form entry and went for the larger. I started a thread on here and the overwhelming majority advised against the smaller school. I concluded that had it been an infant school I’d have chosen it in a heartbeat, but what they need at 5 is very different to 10. I was also concerned about mixed year groups, random staffing (Mrs X Monday and Thursday afternoons and a Friday morning; Mrs Y the rest of the time bar a Monday afternoon when it is Mr P) and lack of funding in the small school. DS is yet to start but I am very happy with our choice so far: we’ve had lots of communication, a parents evening and induction dates booked in already, and an invitation to the summer fair. I’m a planner, so this is important to me!

I work in a very small school and as there's so few of them in a year group there can be a lot of friction. It causes us a lot of problems actually. It's also one of those villages where everyone knows everyone's business.

Also I don't agree with small school kids getting more attention. In a mixed year class it's often the opposite and I still have 31 children in my class.

Pick the bigger school.

I too think teaching DC who might have a reading age of 5 in with DC who are advanced with a reading age of 10 means teacher does a lot of planning! How to stretch the bright ones and bring on the poorer achieving ones? All in the same classroom.

The money per pupil will be the same. There might be some extra funding so the Head doesn’t teach but in lots of tiny schools, they have to. If this is a primary school, YR to Y6, it’s barely viable. It would not have given my DDs enough variety at 4, let alone 11. What if a friend or two leave? Very suffocating at KS2.

Tiny schools can also be very disappointing regarding music, sport, art and drama.Older DC have to be taught with younger ones so are not always stretched. Larger schools are often far more accomplished in ensuring DC get high quality curriculum provision across all subjects with better clubs too and competitive sport and orchestras. Subject leaders are easier to develop and expertise is shared around the whole school.In small
schools teachers multi task regarding expertise. The English leader will also be Send leader for example If this school has only 84 DC that’s probably 3 FTE teachers and cover. If they have more, the budget might be very stretched. It would be far too limiting for me, even as an infants school! I would go 3 miles for better and ensure DC had quality all
thd way up to 11. Not just in YR.

Small schools are ok for outgoing children, but if your child is shy, avoid them. Small schools mean it’s much harder to find a friend as there are simply less to choose from.
Also the children in a small school don’t get any more attention- the staffing ratios are the same as in bigger schools.
The quality of education can be very tricky in mixed year groups and often not very good.
Extra curricular activities can be hit and miss in small school - the businesses that offer sport/Forest schools etc just won’t go to small schools as it wouldn’t be financially viable.
If there is a disruptive child in a small year group they can have more of a detrimental affect as they aren’t diluted.
If your child doesn’t get on with someone it is very difficult to avoid them in a small school.
I think you made the right choice OP.

One aspect of small schools that happened in the area I used to work in is that parents chose them because their DC had send. This meant there was a vastly disproportionate number of send children in the small village schools. Most of these schools only do ks1, but it was very hard for the teachers with quite a few disruptive children whose parents thought a small school would give them more attention. The funding of these dc became a real issue but, of course, if the schools were not full, they could not turn them down. There were often many parental complaints which centred around not wanting the disruptive Dc in the school and exacerbated by the fact they were not local children. Village leafy lane schools can look amazing but if they are used as havens (snd the teachers don’t have the expertise) they can be disappointing.

Not keen on the mixed aged/KS classes idea - I'd worry the teacher was spread quite thinly and I'd feel the small size of the school was kind of limiting dd in her social experience and choice of friends therefore I'd definitely chose the school 3 miles away.
3 miles isn't far to drop DD to playdates/parties and drop off friends who have come to your home to play with DD.
I also think school A is likely to have her better prepared for secondary - academically -as in the structure of learning and socially.