Which school to choose

[mnistooaddictive]

Ok, I know you can't make the choice for me and it has been done to death in the past but I am interested in as many opinions as possible.

I need to choose between a very small village primary with about 10 in each year group so mixed year classes. We are out of catchment but likely to get a place as it is very rural.
The second choice is a large village infant and separate infant, 90 in each year group so 3 classes in each year.
I am going to visit both in the next few weeks and would appreciate any opinions partly so I can ask all the questions I need to. There may also be pros/cons I haven't thought of.
Also, do I take my child when I look around?

Can you walk to either?

Which school do most chn in yr street/nearby streets go to?

It's hard to say beyond that until you look round and get a good impression, but I would personally avoid a long commute by car.

I would also personally be more inclined to a bigger school than a smaller one - not because of mixed classes (possible in any sized school IME and not a problem) but because of the small friendship pool - five other girls in a year? What if they become a gang of four and not yr DD?

It may not be the case in many or most small primaries, but I certainly know people who have had this kind of issue.

But really - distance aside you need to go and look. Take yr child if you like.

I like small schools personally, but it does depend on the individual school.

I work in a large infant school - 90 per year grou,270 in school. For me it is just that bit too big.

My DD is in a small class. There are 15 girls in her class and it works fab. Some classes are smaller and still seems to work very well. But no ixed year groups - we argued against it one year and the school listened.

I'd visit and pay a lot of attention to gut instinct.

BTW I would take your DD with you and watch how the teachers interact with your DD. We ruled out one school because they totally ignored DD. The school we did chose spoke to DD loads and made her welcome in every class.

It depends on your child and which you feel they would be best suited to. My dd is in a 3 class entry school. It is a fantastic school, but the only thing I would change, given the choice is its size. My dd is quiet and quite shy and I don't feel that being in such a large school is doing much to build her confidence.On the plus side, they do have access to more after school clubs, there is always loads going on and there are always plenty of children to play with. We do not have the option of a small rural school, but if we did I would be looking at it very seriously.

Don't think size matters in this case per se, more which school has a better atmosphere and you think would suit you and your DD. I would go with your DD and have a look around.

Personally, I prefer larger schools. More children for your dd to chose from to be friends with, less cliquey, and more different types of people for them to meet.

Other considerations could be: what about facilities, for example, afterschool playschemes, breakfast clubs, extracurricular clubs, that sort of thing - there could be more on offer at a larger school, and that could be worth thinking about.

Both my children are at a small rural school with just 50 pupils overall and they both love it. There are just three classes, with an average of 7 children per year.

I've often heard the 'fewer children' to make friends with argument and not really got the point. A smaller school teaches children to make friends with everyone, even those not in their peer groups or classes. They all know each others names and all look out for each other, and there isn't any cliquiness because there just isn't room.

I also think it's great at encouraging children to mix between gender groups. My daughter is in a class of 15, of which 10 are boys. Refusing to play with boys would cut out most of her potential friends, so the friendships are more balanced, I think.

On the flip side, the downside to the school is the lack of extracurricular activities and after-school care. But you can't have everything.

But, all schools are different. All you can do is go and look and see what you and your daughter feel.

Go with your gut on this, you will know if it is right for your child when you walk around.
Look for:
-Smiling staff
-interactions between pupils and staff
-work displayed
-how the children are expected to work ie collaboratively or quietly (look in as many year groups as you can)

Mixed year groups can work really well, but don't always.

Pro's are for the younger ones can pick up on extended work for older ones if the are ready/capable;
older ones will get a good recap if the need it.

Smaller schools can be more personal, all of the teachers will know your child better, but if 9 out of the 10 children in the year are girls and there is one boy, would this be an issue?

Sorry, this a bit of a rambly, but I hope it helps

Thanks for all your replies. We can't walk to either but the large one would bus her in. The prospect of putting a shy 4 year old on a bus is not promising!

I am now off to ask questions!

One of my schools used to bus kids in from reception up - it wasn't the problem you'd think! We got them on, seated and belted up and half of them would sit and get out their reading books or library books and just unwind! (On occasion I got on the bus myself because I lived in catchment and my car had broken down - 'twas handy!) I've also worked in a very tiny rural school with about 60 kids in all.

Personally I like smaller schools rather than bigger ones - you get to know all the kids well, rather than just the ones in your key stage/year group (there's also less places to play hunt the laminator in but that's from the teacher point of view).

What's harder is in terms of things like area sports (how do you make a year 6 football team when you've only got 5 kids in year 6), league tables (some years we'd get disapplied because of the size of the cohort, but generally we'd be up and down like a yo-yo because one very weak child in a group of 60 makes much less impact percentage-wise than the same in a group of 10), and the big one I found from lots of smaller schools - lack of a school hall that's decently sized for PE.

On the other hand - everyone got a decently sized part in the Christmas play! (Mary was a guarantee since we had one girl in Y6!) The way the older children played WITH and cared toward the younger ones was really sweet to see, and it was just a much more caring, friendly place to be to be honest and a really close part of the community.