Private school and class sizes - would you pay for 24 in a class?

[Cortina]

Following on from other thread. I am interested in how important class size is to private school parents?

Would you be prepared to pay for a class size of 24 in a prep school for example? (With a full time TA).

What would be the 'limit' of pupils in a class?

My dd starts primary 1 in august (scotland) and the local authority has promised no more than 18 to a class.

If I was paying for my children's education, I think I would find more than 20 per class to be unacceptable.

I would also agree with others saying a TA is a bit of a cop out. I am a teacher myself and have seen plenty of excellent TA's but also plenty of well meaning lovely ones, but who are not really trained/motivated/able to make much difference. What I mean is, TA's are excellent for another pair of hands, but just saying "there's a TA" doesn't mean anything if they are not effective (apologies to any TA's reading, taht is not their fault often )

I have 3 children in state school and they are all in classes of 24 children - think dd2 might be 25.

I wouldn't pay anyway, but I certainly wouldn't pay for what I can get for free!

My dc are at a small village school - ds in a P5-P7 composite of 20 children and dd in a P1-P4 composite of 16. Numbers are great. There is a part time TA in dd's class - AND SHE IS GREAT!! She works 1-1 with dd 3 days a week and OK she is not "trained" like a teacher but she gives wonderful support to my child and I cannot praise her enough.

my childrens prep school run 2 classes per year group with 15 in each, so a maximum of 30 in a year. I personally wouldn't be happy with 24. I am paying for my children to be in a class where they do receive attention and cannot 'hide' at the back of the class like I did!!!

Because there are 2 parallel classes there are sufficient numbers for friendship and sport teams but small enough for the 1:1 attention.

perfect situation for me

Class size wasn't paramount when we chose schools. We were more interested in what the Year Eight children were like (the schools go up to age 13). DS has 19; DD has 12. Personally, I think 12 isn't big enough; 19 seems about right.

Builde: paying for education doesn't mean you don't have extra time with the children. You're supposing that both parents work. That certainly isn't the case at my children's schools. In fact, I think the schools automatically assume that one parent is at home and able to volunteer/ferry/fetch and carry as and when needed. DS's school doesn't even have before- or after-school care!

Nope, wouldn't pay for more than 20 or so. I have one in each - private and state - at the moment and the obvious benefits of private for me are facilities (sports/drama, etc.) and small class sizes. I wouldn't go private without both those advantages being available.

DS has opportunity to take up state place 10 in class(mixed age). He is struggling at mo hence move. Would you say this is too small?

mummiedearest I would say it depends on how socialble the child is already, does he have lots of out of school friends too, are the 10 children a mix of boys and girls and also are the 10 children likely to stay ?
My DD started in a school for nursery and reception with 8 in the class which was nice at the time but the families were from around Europe and only staying for 12-24 months so we changed schools.

DD has 24 which drops to 20 around 3rd term due to parents being relocated.No T/A from Yr 3 .
Private for us seems less PC and unlikely to pussyfoot & more brazenly results orientated.I would worry if class too small due to inclusion of children and balance boys/girls.

I personally wouldn't be happy with paying for that size of class.

At the dcs' schools the maximum is 20, it's usually below that.

My dd2 has 23 in her state school class with one teacher and two TA's.

If I was moving her to private i would be wondering why I was paying for small class sizes if it wasgoing to be bigger than her state school class size..?

In fact 20 in a class is hardly that different from what dd has now.

Millymollymoo DS is very sociable and involved in out of school groups so mixing isnt a problem. he is fairly sure that he wants to go to the smaller school. class spans 2 yr groups so there is some continuity there. Just think that he may be able to concentrate more easily in a quieter classroom as he does tend to get overloaded if theres a lot going on.

He'll be just fine then, my three have all commented being in a class of 14/18 and 20 that the noise level has dropped significantly.
DD1 used to shake when the teacher with 34 in a class raised her voice to get their attention she hated it and got so stressed

My dd has 25 in her class. The maximum was supposed to be 24 but there was some mix up and the school is incredibly popular.

The relatively large class size is one of the things I like least about the school, if I was asked in the abstract. My dd does not seem to suffer for it. There are lots of friendship niches she moves in and out of, which in a diverse all girls' school is important.

At all the parent-teacher meetings, the teacher has a good handle on my dd's strengths and weaknesses and her friends. So I don't feel she is overlooked. Homework is set at individual level.

I chose this school over others with smaller (some much smaller) classes. So class size is hardly the end all and be all for me, as a paying customer.

The secondary ds is moving to in September has max 24 in the class. I'm hoping they stream maths/english/science though.

dd's state primary has 25 per class, a full time TA and dd's LSA 20 hrs per week. Seems just about right to me.

Those with under 30 in state are really really lucky.
We've lived in three LEA and I have never found a school with under 30 in reception, rising to nearer 40 by the time they reach year 6.

By zapostrophe Sun 28-Mar-10 22:50:24
I guess you only get little classes in rural state schools.

That is even changing though. My local primary school used to have classes of 20 but lost the funding for the extra teacher so now has composite classes of 30 (20 reception and 10 Year 1's)

I've also known classes of 34 in juniors (Yr 3 upwards) so I'm quite happy with dd's 24.

zapostrophe how does it work for your DS? I have to say that my DD went to a school like that and she did very well. Being bright she was able to work at a higher level where she was able.but then she was very different to poor DS who is really struggling.

I would really feel unhappy with more than 20.

IMO if it is above that the school has to be offering exceptionally low fees as compensaton. After all, fitting an extra 4 children in the class adds 4 extra sets of fees with no extra cost and translates into pure surplus 'profit'.

@trice

It's the recession - I think they would like to have 16. Suits me though.

Class sizes were very high on the list of why we chose to go private. Ds was struggling in the state sector but has totally blossomed in his new school. It is a lovely place where the emphasis is firmly on helping the children be happy and confident rather than on sports or academic work. They do a lot of drama and role play (they are forever "being" vikings or atoms or platonic solids) and the teachers are excellent. I think being free from the national curriculum lets them be creative in their teaching.

Hi appreciate this was a while ago & may have changed but trice where is this school? This is hard to find! Thank you.