DD the only girl in Reception

[BrassicaBabe]

Hi

We have b/g DTs. They are both at a pre-prep pre-school at the moment for 15i-20 hours a week. And we've planned for them to join the main prep school at reception in Sept this year. It's a lovely little friendly school. Lots of outdoor "forest" activities. I love it.

Having DTs meant we needed a nanny when I went back to work after a year and the fees are comparable. So when we visited the school and loved it we decided to suck it up for a few more years.

Anyway, I've just found out that DD could well be the only girl in a class currently confirmed at 10 children. But there is the capacity for 15 in their class. Is this a show stopper folks? Would being the lone girl at 4 yo and maybe onwards be a problem? Should I start looking at local primary schools? The local primary schools are all in the "ok" bracket. I wouldn't hate them but I def don't love them.

TIA
x

I think people get blinded by small class equal best. I really don't think so. I went to a tiny village school, my class was seen as large with 7 girls which was just about fine. My lovely sister had a horrendous time with 2 other girls, one from a troubled background who made my sisters life hell but there were no alternative friends. Spoilt what should have been a happy time in her life.

Never forget her joy at getting to the enormous comp and meeting tons of friendly nice pals (sister ironically very gregarious). No accident my two girls are in an enormous primary school very deep social pool.

10 IS very small for friendship, regardless.

My DS is in a class of 10, but they have another class of 11 as well, which they all mix around for different subjects. So the benefit of a small class for study, but double the size for friendship pool.

Huge vote for huge schools here too

I think, OP, a 33% vacancy rate is very high. What are the class sizes higher up the school? Perhaps the attraction of forest play wears off beyond nursery? If there is another class to mix with then not so bad but it will only take one or two children to leave for the classes to be amalgamated. My DDs didn't really play with boys. They associated with boys. The boys were not particular friends in the same way the girls were and this dynamic gets more stark as the children get older. If you stay for YR, and it is a problem, you may have to change in Y1. Better to do it now.

Hi there tbh I would run a mile. Agree that class of 10 is too small in general but even worse as the only girl. My dd would be HORRIFIED to be the only girl. I also think they are not experiencing a broad spectrum of society in such a small class. With regard to making female friends at extra curricular groups etc,while there may be something to that, most things like rainbows or ballet run once a week. IMHO that is not enough time to form a good friendship. My daughter has done ballet for over a year and I'm lucky if she can even remember the other childrens names. If the girls at groups have close friends at school they are more likely to see them socially than your dd. I would certainly go and look at the state primaries or, failing that, a larger private school

I was in a class of 7, 2 boys and 5 girls, for 2 years. That was 3 natural pairs, and me. It was quite lonely, looking back on it, and I think 10 is the bare minimum I would want in a class for DS

It's a "no" from me. Class size too small for a good choice of friendships even if 50/50 boy/girl. Definitely not if DD is the only girl.

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this but I would be looking closely at the finances of this school. Ten per class sounds very small and if they have capacity for 15 that is a large hole in their finances if they don't fill those places. Make sure it isn't one of the several prep schools which struggle on for several years and then close at short notice leaving parents scrabbling for school places elsewhere.

I wouldn't. I know a couple of parents of girls at private schools where there aren't enough girls and both have said their daughters have struggled with friendships and as they get older their activities are limited by their not being enough for a netball team, dance group etc etc.

Also, I expect the school could easily be struggling financially as well. I would look elsewhere

My dd was in a reception class of 17 within a large school (3 reception classes) and I think it was too small. The big personalities come out and swamp the class. Also fewer than 5 other girls to make friends with would be a red flag for me. Surely this is even more of an issue since her twin is a boy?

I'll ignore your comment about SN. Obviously it's best to have no girl friends, than girl friends with SN's, eh?

Private schools can and do close down because there aren't enough pupils to make them financially viable. I'd worry about the range of opportunities being offered with that few children - I'd suspect good teachers will leave too, rather than continuing to teach a tiny class size with little opportunities for progression.

Ofstead reports really aren't everything. Why don't you go and have a look at your local primaries?

Too small a class. Will become horrible socially by year 4/5 even if evenly mixed - you want more than a choice of 4 children to fins a chum from. And how do sport?