Private from year one.

[Only1scoop]

Dd is currently in state reception and we are looking at moving her to begin year one.

We have looked at two schools.

One is girls boarding/day school. There are a few boys in Early years....and now in sixth form. Beautiful site.... has dance and equestrian facilities. Swimming pool and a wonderful reputation. Under 200 pupils in total. Pupils stay on same site throughout their stay. About 15 min car journey from home.

Year 1/2 combined is only 12 children.

School two is co ed....originally a boarding school for boy choristers. Larger classes of around 14.
Seems to have a good energy lots going on. Lovely setting although from year 4 classes are split into subjects....they move around a central based site in local town. A friend moved her dc from here due to bullying.

Any thoughts on girls only setting?
Can a class of 12 be a bad move?

Dd is a bright button ....intelligent and average so far with extra help needed with reading and writing. Although at 5 I have no concerns about this at all.

Dp had boarding education I was state so would welcome any help or opinions at all.

Both schools roughly same cost.

Any thoughts would be welcomed.

Many thanks

Only1scoop is it initials AB in a village of the same name? That's the one I was thinking of.

A trial day at each should help you decide. It's really hard to provide a judgement based on just the stats about each school as schools that look similar on paper can be completely different.

But just remember that picking a school that goes up to year 8 or year 11 or year 13 doesn't mean you have to stay the whole time. Your daughter would probably be able to change to another school easily at year 4, year 7, year 9 or year 11 and if you really wanted to you could probably swap between the two schools you're choosing between at another age (like your friend did).

So choosing the best school for the next 4-6 years is more important, in my opinion, than comparing the experience if you choose to go the whole way through one school.

IsIt

Yes, that's the one

I'm certainly excited about her trial days. I agree that we need to look at just the next few years to start with and see how she gets on.

Many thanks

I knew it!

Good luck! I hope the trials go well.

Thank you!

The other school have now advised the class number will be around 23 in year one for September.... so they seem like two extremes at the moment.

She will love her taster days I've no doubt. Exciting

Those tiny classes were bothering me - 23 is a good number. Most central London pre-preps (always full) have 22 at KS1 and KS2 move to 24, so with a teacher and TA it is a good balance between getting the attention the children need and having enough potential friends to spread their wings socially.

20-24 in a class is a very good size. Lots of ways the class can be split into learning groups without anyone always feeling "bottom". If the only reason you do not like your current school is that the teacher cannot spell, then I would say you have little to worry about really. Incidentally, the national curriculum will be more prescriptive in terms of punctuation and spelling from now on,so she might need further training for this. Plenty of teachers are having to do this. Also the Head should be aware of her problem and be suggesting how she can improve. The Head should be workbook sampling to see what standard her marking and feedback is. Will your DD have her next year? If not, possibly problem solved!

I am afraid girls can be "bitchy" in whatever school they are in! Co-ed or girls only. Don't think for one minute boys are a factor in stopping this. They will do all they can to ignore it! Even in private schools, the children who are "entitled" to have everything go their way are a pain - big time! You just have to keep your DD grounded and stick to your values. I totally agree that it is the way bullying is dealt with that is important but some children can be very touchy where others just get on with their lives and are resilient. A school has to stick to its bullying policy and demonstrate that it has done this. Private schools are no better at doing this than anyone else. Hope you come to a decision after visits but don't just rush into this because a teacher cannot spell - some can't in the private sector too and may not even have teaching qualifications! My DD was taught in year 1 by such a well meaning person but she was not very good. The school described her as a teacher but she had only gone through the Montessori training. Schools where money is tight will do this.

Thanks Rosetta and Milly.
Really valid points.

Going back to my Op we were keen to send dd private from early on. We haven't made decisions just based on the teachers spelling issues or the getting hit etc. We just feel that if we are going to commit to this we would rather begin now whilst she is so little.... rather than wrenching her from friendship groups later on.

The small setting continues to worry me and I find all your views regarding our decision really useful. I'll post back after our visits ....probably for further advice!

Thanks all

Hi only1scoop

I was just wondering if your trial days went well (if you've had them both yet). The schools seem very different- a class of twelve and a class of twenty three are definitely two extremes in the world of private education! In my opinion the best class size for primary is 16-18 but obviously that's not on offer here, so I would be interested in what you feel is best in the end.

It doesn't sound like you can really make the wrong choice though, the both sound like good schools.

Hi Isit

Yes we did AB today and LC on Tuesday. She had a great time on both days. We personally feel AB has the edge for her at the moment. Was great to see quite a few boys there now also. It's just getting used to the small classes but it seems a lovely place.

I will let you know the verdict
Many thanks for your help

Lovely to hear that she had a good time at both places. Do keep us posted on your final decision.

I hope that didn't sound creepy!

Of course not!