Small village school for boisterous DS? .. Long sorry!

[mumtoboys]

DS1 is 3.2 .. he will be 4.4 when he starts school. He's bright and articulate but finds it hard to sit still and is very loud! Also sometimes lacks confidence and acts shy or silly when he's not sure about doing something new. I know I make him sound like a normal 3 year old but he really is fairly extreme ... I had to pull him out a preschool because there were hitting or barging incidents most days. He's back there now BTW and a lot more settled partly because he's latched onto a helper who really "gets" him.

We have the choice between an average size school in our town with 2 classes and a small village school near by with an intake of 15. I'm not sure whether the village school will ...

A. Be great because he'll get loads of individual attention and they can adapt things for him to stretch him/ will value/understand his larger than life personality...

B. Be bad because he'll stand out like a sore thumb and end up always being the naughty one and he'll have less choice of freinds

The village school has a slightly better osted btw.

Definatly go for the small school. He will get more attention and will be more aware that he's making a fool of himself and this might calm him down.
Also it's easy in a large class to just get missed, as the teacher will have to really strech herself and he would get away with far more as she wouldn't have as much time for him.

Agree, go for the small village school. As you already know though it depends on finding a teacher that 'gets' him so you could always move him if things don't work out there, but in a smaller class he is more likely to get the attention he needs and also someone who can listen to any worries you have.

I'd go for the smaller school if the intake definitely means a small class - they don't stick reception and year one together by any chance?

But yes if it is a class of 15 I think that's priceless to a child in terms of attention. People pay alot of money for class sizes like that!

Also try not to project too far; a 3.2 year old is SO different from a 4.4 year old as I'm sure you're aware...they change and develop so much in that year...while his personality won't change completely of course, he will change alot.

I agree - small school.

I agree, I'm going to be paying a lot of money for my daughter to be one of 15 and not 34.

It is 15 for reception but then they put them with the next year in year 1 ... so year 1 and 2 together.

I'm slightly concerned about the village school because in my friend's village school one Mum withdrew her boisterous son because she felt he was being victimised. He really stood out in a class of good kids.

On the other hand though ... naughty kids in the bigger school could be a bad influence!

I know a year is a long time though.

Our kids go to a small village school, and I understand what your worries are. The noisy kids can be "seen" more, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. He'll probably learn about group dynamics more easily! Alot of those early years at school are about getting on with the other kids and waiting your turn.
He still is very young, and hopefully he'll get a teacher who "gets" him at the school too.
My nephew- 3.5 sounds exactly the same- boisterous, and silly sometimes. He hit, and even bit once.
The only problem that can happen at a small school ime, is there are less choices of friends; there can be a group of three in a year, and one gets left out because there's no one else, particularly as they get older.