Reception/ school choice dilema, please help!

[birdseed]

Have been agonising over this for months and still not reached a conclusion, so please help!

DS will be 4 in July so starting Reception this year - very shy (definitely) but bright (according to nursery). Has had problems with separation, but has just managed swimming lessons at local pool on own, so seems to be improving. Our wish for his early years of schooling are for him to be happy and to become more confident.

School choices are:

1. Catchment primary - 55 to class, with 2 teachers and 2 TAs. Standards meant to be improving due to new head, (but apparently head not very good at praising teachers at job well done so some not happy). Play based curriculum. Walking distance. 8.45- 2.45pm.

1. Prep school - 30 in class, with 2 teachers and 2 TAs. But much more formal teaching focused on academics with morning pretty much all 3 Rs and afternoons the fun stuff (art, music, PE, roleplay/ playing). And longer hours - 8.35 til 3.30 everyday and they say no one goes part time. 10-12 min drive away (not walkable) But on plus side lovely outdoor play area for playtimes, teachers seem lovely and DS knows one child going to the reception class at same time as he would, and he/we could meet a couple of others through that mum.

Ideally I would love a play based curriculum at local school but just not sure how a very shy child would fare in such a big class when none of his nursery class moving to that school (nursery have expressed concerns). DS is in a nursery class of 12 and the jump to reception of 55 and knowing no-one might be hard for him as he is so shy and young for year (July birthday).
On other hand I am afraid that the longer days and more formal style might be a nightmare. He would probably be fine with the sitting down and work sheets, but I am just not sure that that is how I want my son to be taught when he has just turned 4 (seems awful so early), but I fear that if I put him into the local primary that he will just be forgotten about as he is well behaved and very quiet and so he might not be noticed if no one to play with or not happy.

HELP!

55?????!!!!!! are they divided into groups within this number? Surely they are? If so, the big group may not be such an issue. DS is in a class of 30 now in reception, but in nursery it was a very big group. However, they divided into groups a fair bit (he was a Hippo ) and despite being a sensitive, quite shy type, the big class didn't seem to bother him. They had a lot of freedom of choice, space, as well as structured activities- everything you would want in nursery.

DS is October birthday so an older one. I have noticed (and I know all children are different) but some of the younger children in his class have struggled with the structure and behavioural expectations in Reception. I actually think it's a bit unfair for them to have to cope with this when they are only 4 and a couple of months- it's the first year his school have done one intake rather than the younger ones going in January. I also agree with you that 4 is far too young for too much formal learning. This should be at 7 really.

Is there no other state school in walking distance?? Did you visit both- how did you find them. Also, don't worry about making friends, it's a clean sheet really when reception starts and they all find their way. Or at least that's what happened with us. DS was incredibly shy until he was nearly 4 then it all clicked and he is very sociable now, invited to lots of parties etc etc. If you'd shown me how he is now compared with 18 months ago (now 5 and a bit) I wouldn't have believed you. They change a lot re social skills between 3 and 5.

If the school have 55 in reception they are probably working within a large area, both inside and outside. In effect there will be 4 groups of pupils each being supervised / taught by one of the staff and the pupils move around from one group to another in organised play.
Once you get past the idea of it being such a big group, when actually it is 4 groups it is not so bad. Why do you not ask to go and see the reception year that are currently there. If the school is half decent then they will show you around and you will be able to see that things are not quite as bad as you may perceived them to be. The only school that I know that uses this kind of organisation regularly gets 100% level 4 at KS2 tests so they must be doing something right!

sure they will in effect by in two classes - my DS's reception class was like this it worked fine - assume you have applied for both - when do you have to decide? I would talk to the first school about your concerns and if you havn't visit do visit -

I am off to see the local primary again tomorrow as I insisted on seeing it during school hours. They seem to only show parents round just after school has finished and it has taken me 3 phone calls and then just turning up at the school today to be able to organise a visit in school time. Not sure if that is a bad sign.

It used to have 2 reception classes but they knocked the double doors down and now have one big class. They do take them off in small groups for small chunks of phonics and numbers but it is mainly one big group with various activities to choose from, as far as I understand.

Only one other state school even vaguely within walking distance, but much further (not really a problem) and they won't even show me round as they say out of catchment and that they will be full with catchment children as they are every year.

Good to hear about the school with good results that works like ours does. At least it shows that it can work well!

I think that he will behave well for them but am just worried that he might be a bit overwhelmed and lack stamina for either setting, at just 4 years and 1 month (younger than a fair few of his nursery friends are already!). It seems so unfair that they have to go so early. Almost tempting to move to Scotland so that he can go a year later, but not really feasible.

AnOtherName were your son's class all in the same room or in 2 separate rooms? If 1 room then how did it work, were they always in the same 2 halves.
They have key groups for registration at this school but then together for everything else as far as I understand, with small groups at times for phonics/numbers.

I'd visit both during a normal day.

How do the classes run in practice - I imagine lots of small group work. How do the class sizes translate in later years eg do the prep go to two classes of 15 from yr 1.

Also the prep may be a longer day but maybe includes more games/swimming/dance class time?

it was a huge room - like 3 joined together - it was a pretty new building - really lovely- had the nursery children in as well. the reception children were in 2 groups for start of the day, and for phonics and number - then as far as I could see they did a lot of free play - or small group work - the rest of the time - there was a TA at least for each class - and they seemed to pretty on top of what the children were doing -

Thank you Tgger. I am really hoping that he gets less shy and more able to cope with things before reception starts, I am just a bit fearful that it might not come together in time as he will only be 4 yrs and 1 month.

It seems a nightmare choice - big group, less staffing but play based and walking distance vs better staffing ratio and so more attention but more formal learning and longer day and will only just be 4....I wish he wasn't a summer born boy! I sort of feel that if he was 6 months older that he would be able to cope with either setting much better, as they seem to change so much in 6 months.
Will have to hope that the next 6 months brings a massive surge of development of social skills and confidence.

Yes, 4 and a month- DS spent most of his nursery year being older than that- (October birthday). He won't be the only young one though- ask some pointed questions re how they meet the younger ones' needs and if a delayed or part time start is possible.

If you are considering the prep school where it seems more formal I would check how it actually is- see if they'll give you a sample timetable (we got one at start of reception in our state primary). They may be "doing the 3Rs" but in an age appropriate way (they should be!) and hopefully it will be fun, not worksheets- or not too many! They should have plenty of time to play as well- in my DS's reception class there is "inside/outside play- or chil -basically play- "child initiated learning" every morning and afternoon as well as the lunchtime break. Then every day there is literacy and numeracy and or PE/IT/assembly. It is a good balance which is what reception year should be for all ages I think! Remember in a lot of countries they don't start school at all until 6 . Good luck!!!

Independent schools also have to follow EYFS and are inspected by OFSTED for the Early Years, so the private school can have a more academic ethos but in practice may not be that different.

In trying to decide between the two, how much have you looked beyond reception? He won't be a young new joiner for very long, and presumably you want 3-7 years in the school you eventually go for (depending on whether there are separate infants and juniors). What qualities do you most want over the whole of this stage of schooling? Which school offers the nearest to this?

your state school Reception sounds like the one at DC's school. Although there is nominally 2 classes they mostly mix the classes freely. IMO it's a good system - there is more choice of things to do, more chance to mix with different children, more flexible for the staff. Also includes quieter areas/activities for those who get overwhelmed. Whichever school you go to the staff should help with integrating the children re friends. Being in walking distance would probably help with having children round after school/meeting children randomnly in the park and getting to kknow them this way though.

Have you thought about what happens further up the school? You are understandably focussed on how he will settle in Reception - but that's only a small part of his school life - how will the school suit him (or not) as he gets older?

Just the walkable and the more playbased would sell the state school to me, but agree you should have a look round and go on gut feeling.

I think redsky makes a key point about the next years. From your description either reception class would probably be fine for different reasons.

(BTW both my DS are Aug birthdays and settled into YR full time from the Sept much quicker than I thought they would so don't worry too much about that).

My thoughts are
Would you be happy with the state school up to YR6?
(Could you move to the Prep later e.g. Y3, if you need CE prep?)

Would you be happy with the prep school up to YR6 / YR8?

Do the state school classes get bigger as they go up through the school after YR2? (Infant class size regs only go up to YR2)

Do the private school classes get smaller from YR1?

Can you comfortably afford the Prep school as the fees go up as the children get older?

Which schools do you want to go on to for secondary and does either school feed in to them?

re the timing in the private school. Find out how much time off they have. ds went to private for reception and they had over 1 hour for lunch and always had the boys out to do sports once a day. It easily made up for the extra time he was a lot less tired than his older sister who went to state play based schooling.

We are in Scotland so i'm not really sure how it works but if you go for private could he start a year later?