Village Primary school dilemma!!

[speakyourmindkindagirl]

Hi,

I'm in a dilemma, my son has started Reception in our 'good' village primary which is 10 mins walk from our house, he will be there till he's 11 and then move into the upper school next year till G.C.S.E. my daughter is also due to start next this year so a year between them. The thing is I'm just not sure about the school, afew things are niggling me and I know it's early days but I don't think they are going to go away.

Things like the outdoor play area is quite small and unimaginative, so proper sports field or climbing frames, equipment, when they do go outside to 'play' they are told if they can't find an activity then they must go inside and find one, so no fun playground 'play' as such, he's only 5!! PE seems to be a rarity, I know it's Reception but he goes for a whole week with no physical activity.
My son has two friends he's clung onto from preschool and there are no other peers in his year I can see him forming strong friendships with. He's quite sporty and can lack confidence but and the sport/competitive seems to increase his confidence but the school don't seem to have a high curricular focus on sports.

There are other things I'm not sure about, methods of teaching, rewarding etc some that I think might knock my sons confidence in the long run as he moves through the school. He's quite sensitive and gets abit overwhelmed in large groups and can be a little bit introvert yet very confident in other ways.

He's doing well academically at the school and my daughter will settle in fine, I have no worries about her.

There is an outstanding church school that I've visited in the next village that is much smaller, nurturing, has a great outdoor area with outdoor swimming pool, strong focus on sports and smaller class sizes. It's a more traditional school and maybe that's what I'm looking for? You don't really get a feel for a school until you are in it day to day I suppose.

Am I nuts to move him ( they have a place he can take )? Or should I settle where he is, but that will be much down to convenience on walking to school. He will be able to walk when he goes to the upper school at 11yrs old so it's only till then I'd have to drive.

I just can't get rid of the doubts I have, and as we live in the village he can still see and stay in contact with his few friends that are currently with him, plus they'll all end up at the same upper school in the end anyway!!

Sorry for the lengthy one but any thoughts?

Something to consider is if the classes are smaller that can mean the pool of friends is smaller. Just a thought

I meant to say the upper school is next to the primary school.

It doesn't sound great, kids really benefit from being able to let off stream physically, even if it isn't formal PE at that age. I'd be similarly concerned I think. But friendships are so important too.

Would they definitely have a place for your daughter at the second school? If it's usually oversubscribed and you are out of catchment then it would be risky...

We had a similar problem with my daughter- she went to a small village school only 4 classes (nursery/rec, y1/Y2, y3/y4 and y5/y6). Small classes but limited funds. We moved her half way through Y1 and best thing we did - moved her to an outstanding 2 form intake school - waiting lists to get in but she loved it - so many opportunities for her. No regrets. If you have doubts they will grow. Surprisingly out of 12 who started with her at the village school only 4 made it to Year 6. Lots of parent over the years moved their kids.

Follow your gut instincts.

My broad rule is that, all else appearing equal, OFSTED "good" will probably be a warmer, more friendly, flexible, imaginative and inclusive school than OFSTED "outstanding".

Yes he hasn't really got a wide circle of friends at the moment, apart from two as there aren't any, it was a weak year for boys so he's not moved up from preschool with a strong bunch, there are a couple of others but I just don't see him developing friendships with them. He LOVES to be outside, is very active and loves the challenge of sport, the other school has their own little forest to explore and learn from, they just seem more wholesome and even though it's a small class than at the moment, at present there are about 18 in each 2 Reception classes, the other school is only 15 in total in reception so I can see him forming closer friendships and when we visited I could see the boys all playing so well together. At the moment, his school day involves hardly any outdoor time, they are penalised and miss a lunch play if they don't finish their dinner by a certain time, and in year 1&2, the classes are mixed, you are either with the upper set or the lower set depending on your ability, if you end up in the upper set then you lose a playtime also for some reason, there are just so many odd things that they do which I think are quite unfair. One being a visual performance table on the wall that they have in Year 1 where each child starts at the bottom and by the end of the day must move up to 'achieved' or 'ready to learn' etc, I find that quite detrimental and can knock a child's confidence as there are so many small things in the day that they could've done which were good but it might not have been recognised so you all then drop down to the bottom ready for the next day!

Sounds like you've basically decided! The outdoorsy one of the second school sounds fab.

Plus it doesn't even sound like the present school are making up for the lack of outside activities with a lovely friendly environment anyway.

From what you've said, I would change, assuming you can be sure your dd will get in too.

Why don't you ask the prospective school if your son can have a trial day? I'm sure they won't refuse. See what he thinks. I ended up moving my daughter mid year 6. For her it was a case of a small school was not better because there were fewer friendship opportunities. What does your son think about the current school & a possible move?

They have a space for him, he can move be now and my daughter would get in as their preschool numbers are low for sept so she'd get a priority as sibling in school. They are very different schools, the one he's at has just converted to Academy and the other is a VC Cof E school, his two friends are lovely but he gets nothing back from them, we've had play dates at our house but he never gets invited back so I don't feel he's going to miss out on much friendship wise, plus he will still see them as we do a lot in the village i.e. Football, events, park and friends getting together with kids so I think he will still see them but just not every day at school.

Must admit that some of the things that you mention for reception and also years 1 and 2 do sound a bit different to what I would expect. Certainly in reception they should be outside as much as they should be inside.
Also with 18 in each of the two reception classes I wonder how they are going to work it in years 1 and 2. They cannot put the two classes together as a 36 as this would be breaking the infant class size regs. So if they had 3 year groups with 36 in, that would be 108 pupils which would mean a minimum of 4 classes. It would certainly be worth establishing what happens in both schools as they move through the years. The school you favouring would typically be 30 as a mixed year 1 and 2 class and then a year 3/4 class and a year 5/6 class. The current school, with 38 I would not even want to guess how they would split the classes up.

My children were never outside as much as inside in any year at any school. There is a curriculum to follow and schools with restricted outdoor space teach mostly inside and this is normal. Our school had lots of outdoor space but it was not used by the children in YR in the same way as the Nursery used it. However a lively child needs a lunch break to run around and this school doesn’t seem to suit your child.

Once you move, don’t expect loose friendships to continue. Your DS is already not invited back to play and hopefully new friends at the small school will take precedent. You won’t need old connections.

Do be aware that small schools have small friendship pools. I am surprised you think your DS will not make friends with any boys at the current school. What is wrong with all the other children? Why is yours different to them? You seem to have segregated yourself already so I would move. The sooner the better so he can settle into YR. YR will not do much sport and nearly every parent I know joins a myriad of sports clubs when the children get a bit older (football, tag rugby, gym etc). School sport is never enough and in a small school you are unlikely to get any team sports. This may be an issue for him when he’s a bit older. I tend to think small and nurturing seems great at 5 and positively stifling at 10! My children needed a much bigger pool of opportunities and good sport at a small school is virtually impossible as is a school orchestra and other ensemble activities.

I would love to know how a small C of E school can afford to run a swimming pool! Do parents help pay for it or are there no problems with the education budget in your area? Most school pools have disappeared long ago where I live!

I agree that 38 is a difficult number. One imagines there is juggling of numbers with all year groups. One assumes a pan of 45. Splitting up by attainment is not a good idea but splitting by birth date isn’t either.

like the outdoor play area is quite small and unimaginative, so proper sports field or climbing frames, equipment
I don't think having not much equipment outside is a problem. The children use their imaginations and play with what they had. We only had one large tree in ours and I can't remember people's problem being not being able to find enough to do.
Yes equipment outside can look good, but sometimes it is put up more for the looking good than actually used iyswim.

Re Swimming pool a few have them in our area. they vary between the:
Outside-used for 2 lessons a week throughout 2nd half of summer term. Funded mostly by PTA, sometimes hires it out in Summer holidays to swimming schools, and after school splash is very popular with people booking regularly for around £2 a session
Inside-used 1 lesson a week throughout year, but also booked extensively through holidays, evenings and weekends by a swimming school. Funded mostly through the swimming school hire.
Inside, not much used by school except for booster lessons for those who can't swim (or admit to it) in year 7. Funded same as other inside one.

Firstly - where are you getting your infomration on what your son does?
If it is just your son just be wary that what actually happens vs what he remembers/tells you can have a bit of a reality gap .

Be very wary of "small" schools and small classes as there can be such a small pool of friends to pick from you can end up with friendship issues/isolation etc

Also such a small school will be having trouble with their finances. You need (if I recall correctly) at least 22 children to adequately "fund" a teacher. This must mean that classes are combined further into the school - so Yr1/2 Yr3/4 Yr4/5 - blended so the "small classes" will no longer be the case - just mixed classes of 30. So those 30 may fund the teaching staff - but with only 4 classes in total there will be zero economies of scale you would get from a bigger school - you will still have to pay all the other bills/licences/maintenance etc - but with less income than a more normal 30 (or more) intake school. And affording a swimming pool with a negative teacher/funding budget will be very tricky.

Though saying all that ^^ please also look carefully into what is happening in your current school As PP have said 18 in 2 classes is an odd number - again as I stated above - very, very difficult to fund this on an on-going basis. Is it 18 as it is just a really small year group? What happens further up the school? Again, I would be stunned if there was not some age-group mixing further up the school. It is just not sustainable budget wise.

My DCs went to a school with 38 per year group - the recent budget cuts have killed that and the LEA have agreed to reduce the PAN to 30 per year. In the transitionary period there are several year-groups with 34/32/35 in a single class in KS2. Despite the big classes they both thrived in somewhat bigger environment than the 10-per-year group tiny village school they had been in before.

Small school/class sizes are not always the panacea the press rave about.