Reception

[Paws93]

Hi,
I am struggling to choose which reception school is best for my child. We have got a place small nurturing calm reception school which is good for sen kids too (my child hasnt been diagnosed with sen but have sen in the family and she gets distracted easily) have heard good things in passing about it but my child has never made friends / met people outside that goes to the school and the feeder primary school for that school is not good, I wouldn't be putting her in that primary school and there have been a couple of comments in the reports about occasionally staff not knowing how to handle some behaviour which may cause a distraction.
We have now been offered a place at the popular oversubscribed big school (because we put her on the waiting list) where a lot of her friends from nursery go and everyone who goes there says how great it is. When we looked at the school it was very busy and hectic because it's twice the capacity / double the amount of kids attend and my child wasn't as confident whilst looking at the school either. But a mum friend has said how run down the other school / can't afford as many opportunities and the area etc and that we should apply for the big school so we put our name on a waiting list. When I asked my child I was told they want a big school but quiet calm environment

I'm confused which one to go for as she seemed at ease at the smaller school but opportunity wise is not that great and feeder primary school is a definite no. The big school is great for opportunities and heard lots of good things but might be overwhelming because of size and how many students and worry it will knock her confidence.

Any advice would be helpful as need to know which one to do.

Thank you

Go with the bigger one. Getting support in a small school is impossible as senco & senior staff will all also be class teachers.

I wish this wasn't so widely stated on here. Yes, SENCo is more likely to be a class teacher in a small school, but in a big school, their time will be spread over many more children. Eg. In a one form entry, the SENCo might have one day per week SEN time, while a three form may have 3 days.

Large schools have the same person pupil funding.

OP, the small school would be disadvantaged if it is significantly undersubscribed (because funding is per pupil). Otherwise, go with your gut - have you visited the large school together?

I know of small schools that have dedicated sendcos and senior staff who don’t teach. At this point, rather than basing your decision on what other people think and potential SEN; decide based on what you’ve seen at both schools. Your gut instinct will be right.
If the small school is undersubscribed- also when you say small, how small? Also I don’t understand how a primary school (that offers reception) has a feeder primary school that isn’t great? Do you mean a feeder nursery; if so, surely they’re different entities and the not great nursery has no bearing on how the primary school is run or managed?

Sorry I mean feeder junior school. The school s both go up to year 2 and then they go to a junior school. The smaller school has 130 kids (can take up to 180) and is Trust school the bigger one has 340 (can take up to 360) and its a school owned by a federation. The bigger school is owned by the same federation as a really good feeder junior school and assume they are prioritised for that junior school after they leave.

Gut instinct felt like the smaller school as the head teacher knew all the kids names and felt supportive and nurturing. The bigger school felt rushed viewing and quiet hectic and my child went shy as there was lots of kids going there as there were so many kids going from one room to the other. But worry the under funded school might affect the opportunities available and also do not want her going to the feeder junior school a fair amount of the kids go to after that.

Bigger school is 27 kids to 1 teach ratio roughly and the smaller one is 18 to 1 teacher.

Hope this makes my post a bit more clearer and thanks for your responses.

The smaller school has got seperate sendco teacher. Weve noticed the smaller school does have a lot of voluntary staff like kick-start teaching assistants.

for KS1 and early years I would pick the smaller more nurturing setting without a doubt.

We liked looking around the small school but may be more disadvantaged in funding and the big school was busy and hectic and didn't have the same personal feeling to it but we were late for viewing of the big school so that likely effected the person showing us around.

It really depends on how you access the junior school. If you stand a good chance of the larger, better one then I would opt for the smaller infant school.
if going to the smaller one means you’d almost certainly only get a place in the smaller junior school, which you don’t want, then choose the larger infant school.
One of the biggest indicators of school success for children, is if they have interested parents and your child obviously does!

I mean feeder junior school (from ages 7+) from the feeder reception / infant school (5-7 years)

Not sure that because the have certain feeder junior schools they get priority of if it's still down to distance/ location

The smaller school felt more homely and friendly to be honest and gut instinct from us all was that one seemed the most nuturing just niggles me that the juniour school most but not all the kids there go on to is one that i will not be putting my child in due to not been a good juniour school so she likely will be seperated from the friends she makes there when whe goes to juniour school.

Both the big school and the small school are good ofsted (big school was originally outstanding and put down to good this year)

Thank you :) and the better junior school said most of there students come from the bigger infant school (as they said they haven't heard of someone not getting in because its a feeder school) but they do take from other schools. They said they took 10 in one year from the smaller school I have mentioned so I am going to assume there will be spaces.

You should be able to find the admission criteria for the junior school online just google “school name admissions”

Now they could change in the next few years but they would need to consult on any changes

@Sirzy I didn't think to do that. Looks like the junior school prioritises the big school first and then gives their remaining spaces (depending on the how many spaces are available for that year) to the wider community but assuming that's based on catchment etc which we are just outside of catchment.

So it feels like I have to put her in the big school to get the better junior school later even though myself, my daughter, partner and parents are thinking the small school suits her more.

I'd really like her just to be happy in an environment that she flourishes in and comfortable and has good prospects too for junior school.

At the schools my children were at (separate infant and junior) being at the feeder school didn't really mean anything, it wasn't part of the criteria and was all about the usual - siblings, distance etc. They were at a 4 class intake school and were very happy and thrived at it.
I wouldn't personally just go with the school my child said they wanted to go to at age 4 - mine wanted to go to a different one because they liked the computers they saw at the open day. I didn't follow their wishes.
I would probably go with the school I liked the most. However, friend-wise there is more opportunity at bigger schools.