I'm concerned about the decision I made for my 4yo. She's in a small school (the classes are capped to be small). She's been in kindergarten since Sept and starts reception next Sept. There are 17 pupils in her year, they seem to have formed friendship groups while she hasn't. they are mostly boys and as boys do they play rough and squabble rough. DD get's poked, barged and punched, I understand that this happens with children but dd has no escape, she has no other children to retreat to because she hasn't formed friendships. There are 4 other girls in her year, one doesn't speak English, one is bestfriends with another boy and the other two are best friends with each other, the boys generally are rough and more phsycical, where she connects more through talking and more soft creative ideas (like flying toy unicorns around pretend mountains etc). I've seen them all together at parties and get togethers a handful of times now to get a good idea of the social dynamic.
The only other school I like in the area has 120 pupils per year! (split into four 30 pupil classes) She would have her pick of friends there for sure but I can't help feeling like she also could just get lost in it all? There is another brilliant school with about 25 pupils per class but it is a fee paying very expensive school....
Would really value perspectives on this from other parents further along the parenting journey than me, or teachers even? As I said she's only in kindi so she could really easily start a new school next Sept.