Montessori primary school

[Nevertooearlyforcake]

Am considering looking into sending my DD to one. She has been at the local (state) primary school for a year and seems happy enough but I really like what I have heard about the Montessori ethos. However, she didn't go to a Montessori nursery and I am worried there will be so few pupils at the school (I don't know anyone who send their kids there) her social life could be restricted and adjusting to secondary school could be hard. Does anyone have any advice they could give me?

No real advice just a little that it is an option for you. My DC currently go to a Montessori nursery and I love the ethos. I only wish there was a Montessori primary option here but there isn't so my elder child will go to a normal (albeit very good) primary in September.

How small is small? Plenty of children go to small primary schools (lots around where I live, for example) and seem to cope fine when transferring to larger secondary schools. A good Montessori setting really builds a child's confidence in intellectual, emotional and social terms. Surely that can only help when it comes to moving on elsewhere?

Have you visited the school? Perhaps they offer open days/evenings at which your child can get involved in some of the activities and you can ask questions and meet other parents - existing and prospective.

Thanks for your response. My concerns about pupil numbers are centred around fact I live in a city and currently my DD knows the local kids as she is at school with them. If I take her away from that, is she going to go to the park across the round from our house and be upset that she's outside the gang? She goes to Rainbows locally but DH and I both work full time so making time for playdates etc can be tricky as it is. I went to a tiny school but at least it contained all the local kids. Given she seems happy enough at the moment, my concern is I do her a disservice by moving her and actually put her in a situation which erodes her confidence.

I am going to speak to the school though, I would like to find out more.

Hmm, I see your point.

If it helps, though, I went to a secondary school that drew pupils from across a very wide area. Only one of my friends was walking distance from my house; all the rest were at least 15 mins drive away and I lived somewhere with a less than marvellous public transport system. Needless to say my parents did a lot of driving to enable my DSis and I to see our friends. We did do various activities locally that kept us in touch with local children, some of whom we'd gone to primary school with. I don't think either of us ever felt excluded by dint of going to a different school, although of course we were older than your DD. Basically, I had school friends, Guide friends, horse riding friends etc. Maybe the same would be true for your DD.

Good luck with whatever you decide .

hi nevertooearlyforcake, i know what you mean about social side i looked around a mont. prim. this week and i think it would be great for infants and not so sure for juniors but i think it is probably the best for them to be in it when they are so young. good luck