Opinions on class-size private school please

[TeamOcean]

Hi

I'd really appreciate some thoughts on our situation please. DS is due to start school next year. For a number of reasons, we liked the idea of using a particular local private school though still open to other alternatives.

Said private school is lovely location, small classes and when we visited we loved the atmosphere. We had all but made up our minds. This was just under a year ago. Since then, we have had newsletters sent via email and which have gradually revealed that there are to be mixed age groups in foundation/key stage 1 for next year and possibly further up the school. Classes will still be small, i.e definitely under 20 children, but obviously not the same as when we looked round.

I have experience of working in mixed age classes in the state sector and personally, never felt they worked all that well, but that is simply my experience and I'm sure other teachers feel differently. What I am unsure of is how common is it to have mixed classes in private school? is this fairly normal? How have others felt about this?

It's hard to verbalise this accurately, but I suppose I am also thinking that if we go down the road of paying for education, what should we expect as a bare minimum with regards to class size/set-up? At what point do you lose the worth? Thanks.

My DCs attend a small rural school with mixed age classes. Less than 20 in each. It's worked extremely well, and the children who need extra help or extra stretching just work at their level rather than at their age group (even if that means joining a different class for numeracy / reading). The school has excellent results at KS2 sats, but most importantly, the children leaving Y6 seem nice, confident kids who always seem to have time for the little ones.

Think you need to ask them straight out why they are moving to mixed classes. I wouldn't like it. At my DS independent they have 2 classes of around 20 each. When they move to prep they split to 3 classes of around 16 to accommodate new joiners.

The school sounds small and might be struggling financially - is it long established? good advice about gender mix too.

I don't think the school would openly admit if the reasons were financial. There is a school near us that has done the same thing and it is quite obvious why yet they are putting a positive spin on it by saying that it is part of their ethos etc.

The school certainly won't open up on financial information and very unlikely that you'd be able to meet the bursar - headmaster will just fob off any questions you raise so not worth bothering IMHO.

I can see no reason other than finance problems/falling rolls being behind this. My DC attend a school that is full from Yr3 onwards, but occasionally has small classes below that - DS was in a class of 7 when he started. Whenever the numbers are light the teachers have had a 'mixed' approach to things like drama and games, in order to encourage friendships, but they never mixed for the 'normal' stuff - everything was very much age-appropriate and even a class of 7 would still have both a teacher and a TA working full-time. It worked really well and has also helped develop this really nice atmosphere where it is perfectly normal to have best mates in the year above or below your own year (which also in turn helps the house system). The parents would go ballistic if they tried to do 'proper' mixed-age classes.

In your shoes, I would let this thread die and then start a new thread titled "Anyone know anything about X school?' and then say you plan to send DS there and were wondering what other people thought. Then you might get some more insight.

If the school is a business, it will file annual returns to Companies House. If it is a charity, then it's the Charity Commission. Both are searchable.

Personally, I think you are right to be concerned. In our area, two private schools have closed and another has become an academy, all due to lack of pupil numbers.

I can't think of any reason to mix them if they haven't done so before, apart from falling class size, which then gives concerns as to what happens if numbers continue to fall. Most private schools, even if a charity, are still run as a business. I know our school would have been doing a cost cutting exercise, if it hadn't picked up a large number of pupils from the ones that closed and it is pretty large, with three year groups in the infants.

One school closed within two weeks of the end of term, only informing parents at the same time. This led to everyone having to find alternative places for this September. Unfortunatley it has pushed our class sizes up from 17 to 23 this year, which I am not bothered about, as I think it is easier for the children to make (and break) friends without too much damage, but it is reassuring that with these numbers we are probably reasonably 'safe' for the next few years.

Definitely need to look at the accounts and see what the situation is. In a small school, it only take a few families to withdraw their children and that school can be in trouble.

I would be very very wary for all the reasons posted on above. VERY wary!

i'd be wary...agrees with posters who mentioned schools closing after mixed classes. My DD at private school and reception call was 13 7 girls and 6 boys, worked out very well and they had 2 teachers

As Edith says, download or order the last few year's accounts from the Charity Commission or Companies House. There are also websites that report on the financial health of organisations, will post if can remember a name.

The signs don't look good.

Think there was a recent thread about private schools in the south west, can't remember the title though sorry!

Also, the number of pupils in the early years in private schools is falling, the overall figures for private schools for all ages are not because more DC are going there for GcSEs and A-levels. The theory is that people who may in the past have paid all through from reception are delaying and going private at 7, 11 or whatever.

Think the surveys by the INdependent Schools Council, but not sure.

I've just looked at this thread again as it popped up in Active Convos: GoGBTeacher was the first to mention the places where to can check financial viability, and she provided helpful links too.

I saw something in the news this week suggesting that more and more occupations are being priced out of private schooling, as since about 2003 (the NI hike) the rate of fee increase has been much higher than the increase to earnings.

Round here lots of people use private nursery, state primary sometimes to 11 sometimes to 9 and then private. Nice undersubscribed village CofE schools, why pay???

Two private primary's have now formally joined with our large private secondary's.