Panicking about primary choice for Sept

[Primarystress]

Have nc'ed for this one.

Dd starts school in Sept. We picked the school partly because we wanted a school with pupils from diverse backgrounds (like her current nursery).

According to the school website, 38 percent of pupils have English as an additional language (EAL). All fine, signed her up.

Now it turns out that of her class of 19, 11 will have EAL, which is obviously more children with EAL than expected. The same is true of the other reception class. I wondered if a high number of EAL pupils might impact teaching at all so searched mumsnet's old threads.

The consensus seemed to be if the children with EAL are all from different countries, that's fine as English will be their common language and learning and play should go well.

However there seemed to be more concern where all the pupils with EAL are from the same culture and have shared languages, which is the case with dd's class. The concern seemed to be around the social aspect, splitting into cultural groups and the use of the non-English language in the playground, therefore excluding the non-speakers. Also, concerns were raised about lack of socialising out of school in certain cultural backgrounds. The threads dated from 2010-13.

Panicking a bit now, that I have done the wrong thing, and my child will feel like an outsider in the playground and will have a very limited social life (she only knows one little boy going into her reception class as it is). I visited the school several times and the classes seemed more diverse - I think dd's year must be an anomaly year. There was a poor ofsted report a couple of years ago, which probably accounts for the small class numbers - 2x20 pupils.

Has anyone been in this situation before? Any teachers around from similar schools - what would you do? There is another local, more popular school I could look into moving her to, which I think is likely to have more children from a wider variety of backgrounds, which may suit us better.

I do like the school we have chosen for dd - it seems friendly and the children are well-behaved. Nicer site with more grass space than the other school, although Ofsted noted maths and writing teaching could be improved. However I suspect the other school may have 30 children per class - should I stick with the current school due to the low number of pupils per class? I really don't know what to do, and it will affect dd for the next 7 years... Any input much appreciated, thank you.

You can always move schools within the school year if it doesn't work out for your DD. But you say you chose this school for lots of good reasons too and they still exist. So I'd say stick with your choice for now - it's likely to be absolutely fine.

It's should be fine. We are from a foreign country. My dd is supposed to be with EAL. But English is the only language she is using now. We tried to encourage her to play with other children who speak the same language as us. They still only speak English.
And I don't think 4 year olds would choose friends on calture groups.

At this stage I think you have to try and see. You obviously liked it when you visited. You don’t know the make up of the class, it may turn out to be more mixed backgrounds so English will be the language of the play ground. Again if you are concerned re social side look at ways outside school eg put her down for rainbows (girl guides) which starts age 5.

csapps.norfolk.gov.uk/csshared/ecourier2/fileoutput.asp?id=13754 Did you know they count as EAL even if they are fluent in English, if for example one parent speaks another language to them at home.

(Also panicking about school choice but for other reasons!)

Thanks for the responses, you've made me feel better about it. I did think that the children with EAL might quite likely speak English well already, but if they choose to use a language other than English in the playground that some children will know and others won't, that's what worries me. I guess the teachers would intervene if things got too cliquey?