Have you moved DS/DD from private to state primary?

[Jamelia]

We moved our DS last Sept from a great private school to one nearer to home as DH job location changed and we could no longer do the journey (at least 1 hour and 3 buses for me as learning to drive is unfortunately not an option for me) . However, we are not happy with the private school he is now in and are looking at the state options locally. Headteacher said all the right things on joining, but has failed to deliver and dismisses any views/concerns raised.

Can anyone who has moved their DS or DD from private to state share their experience? DS is currently in year 3.

My main worry is how DS might be affected in the much bigger class size, as he is very bright but can be distracted easily and is a bit of a follower at times!

I moved my DD2 at the beginning of year 4. She was also at a private school with very small class sizes. She certainly didn't see the larger class size as a disadvantage - it fact it allowed her to have a much wider circle of friends, boys and girls, than she had at the private. In fact she is still in touch with a lot of them, two years after leaving. The school had quite a high turnover as a lot of pupils are ex-pats and they were used to new kids starting with a variety of backgrounds.
She found the work tricky at first as she is dyslexic and the private school's teaching was pretty appalling, but by year 6 she was one of the top achievers and was allocated to the top band and top set when she started secondary in year 7. There were also definite advantages in the state school such as a better range of sports, musical activities and excursions. I found the school was quite good at arranging kids on tables according to ability or indeed personality - disruptive kids were not allowed to get away with it. Obviously it depends very much on the actual school! Why not go and have a look anyway - there are some great state schools and some great private ones - paying for education does not necessarily mean it is better.

Thanks Kensingtonia that's reassuring!