3 form entry school- shy child?

[Smurftastic]

Following from my previous thread, I visited some more schools and... I like them all!
My local catchment school is 'good', with a great new headteacher and a nice mix of children. I talked to the headteacher and he gave me a very good impression- very down to Earth, tries to remember kids names (despite there being almost 500 children!) etc.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with a shy child attending a very large, 3 form entry school? My main issue is the three reception rooms being a large, joint together free flow room.
There are 3 teachers for 75 children.
I'm concerned my daughter would hide under the table from the noise for the whole academic year !

I loathe Faith schools so unsurprisingly I would still suggest the larger school

Is it just free-flow for Reception? For Years 1 and 2 I think it would be too much stimulation. For Reception I would be less concerned. I imagine they have different group activities and probably informally arrange the groups according to the children's personalities. I would try and see if you can find local people with experience of how the class actually works on a daily basis.

We opted for the 3 form school over the 1 form school. It is all run as different classes from Reception but my children were in the nursery, which ran as a free flow environment and I was initially concerned it would be over-whelming but it worked well.
I chose the 3 form school as the secondary schools near us are massive and I thought it would be too big a jump from a 1 form school.

@Hoppinggreen

I loathe Faith schools so unsurprisingly I would still suggest the larger school

Are they all that bad? I went to school abroad so haven't a clue. They all seem very friendly. We'd like to stay open minded about different faiths and cultures.

@starlight36 I believe free flow is reception only. It's difficult to make such a decision when DD is barely 4 and will spend 6 years there.
School has good reputation, caring despite the size.
They just put in new outdoor area that can be used in all weathers and have lots of extra curriculum activities for DD to try.

Local Catholic school seems lovely too, but it feeds to a Catholic secondary and I'm not sure if we'd get on with parents as much (although not sure if that matters!). They're more of a family environment but it would be a jump from

My son was diagnosed with selective mutism at 3. He was too scared to talk at preschool despite it being tiny.

We knew a large primary would be terrible for him so we applied to a small 1 form entry school. We also submitted a medical priority for that school. There was a very significant risk that he'd become a school refuser if he felt overwhelmed in a school and continued to not speak.

Thankfully we got that school, he also had great support from his preschool Senco and made huge progress in being able to actually speak at school.

He loves his primary school. All the teachers know him and he feel confident there. He's spoken since day one and finally used the toilet there the other week (another symptom of his anxiety, thank you lock down!)

I can't recommend small schools enough tbh.

@Hoppinggreen

I loathe Faith schools so unsurprisingly I would still suggest the larger school

Why? My son's school is CoE and one of my primary school was too.

It's a lovely school - ok he sings hymns and learns about Jesus in assembly but that's not horrifically terrible.

One other positive of a three form school is that if a teacher is absent for any reason there are two other teachers in that year group who can co-ordinate the year planning and effectively set the work for supply teachers. This has been a huge bonus during the pandemic.

Because I don’t think that education and religion should be linked.
I also think that children shouldn’t be taught any religion as fact, it’s all theory and beliefs so that should be clear to the children.

smurftastic if you want to remain open minded to different faiths and cultures you may find yourself in conflict with a Catholic school

@Hoppinggreen

smurftastic if you want to remain open minded to different faiths and cultures you may find yourself in conflict with a Catholic school

Point taken.

Managed to find other parents on FB whose children attend the 3 form school so might get some more specific information, but it's very positive so far.

@Smurftastic I'm not a teacher but I'm a school governor and my job involves visiting schools. Free flow allows the children to gravitate to the activities that they most enjoy eg building blocks, play kitchen etc
They will be encouraged to explore other areas. They will find children in those areas who they gel with.
They will have story times, singing times, numeracy times when they sit for short periods to learn together.
Think of reception as an extension of nursery years. Think of Yr1 as start of formal schooling as such.

I hate this ‘small school kids won’t cope with high school’. Yes they will & they do. I went to a tiny village primary, I settled into high school just fine. Took a couple weeks to find my feet, then spent 5 very happy years there.

DH used to work in a secondary school. There were always kids who struggled & those who don’t. No correlation at all between who those kids are, some just find it overwhelming & some adjust fine. In his experience, small school kids had far tighter friendships which was helpful in the early days. They tended to get lost more often. Large school kids found their way around a bit quicker. But as he always said, they are at school for 5 years. Transition is a couple weeks. By Christmas, you’d not know which kid came from which school!

My school is 2-form entry with free flow in EYFS.

Each class has quiet periods where they sit on the carpet to learn. This will include things like maths, phonics, story time and topic work. At other times they have free choice about which classroom or outdoor area to use.

We have several children in each class who were very quiet when they first started. They either didn't speak at all or we had to crouch down to listen as their voices were so quiet. We also have a few children who were very loud and active. Everyone else was somewhere in the middle.

As the term has gone on, the quiet ones have become far more chatty. They've either teamed up with the other quieter children and enjoyed sharing the same activities, or have become bolder and braver after being drawn out of themselves by some of the noisier ones. There are some really unlikely friendships that none of us would ever have predicted back in September! It's also had a calming effect on some of the more boisterous characters.

It's rarely (if ever) the case that all freeflow areas are loud and chaotic. There is a full range of activities set out for the children to access. It's really not a case of everyone charging around the rooms and just making lots of noise.

@PickledPeppa that's a lovely description of what I see happening in free flow reception schools.

I’m honestly finding all the replies to this thread so helpful, thank you all so much for the opinions and explanations. Lots to think about here!

www.goodplayguide.com/child-development-advice-including-special-needs/developmental-milestones-early-years-foundation-stage-eyfs/

This is a good explanation of what nursery & reception children work on.

My DD2 is incredibly shy and we/an SLT thought she might have selective mutism when she was in reception. Her school is two form entry but with bulge classes and is partly free flow in reception. (So they can access other class via outside space part time). DD did really struggle in reception and hid under the table a lot! However I think this was partly down to quite a strict teacher who was very focused on the academic side. She fared much better in year one with a very gentle calm class teacher who really boosted her confidence. Now she is in year 2 she is still shy but has loads of friends and will even talk to the occasional grown up. She isn’t phased by the size of the school anymore, although it’s mostly sets of three or four classrooms on a campus rather than one huge building so maybe it’s less intense.

I think I would want to see if you can find out the reputation of the early years teachers. I would also find out what reception do for lunch. One of the things DD2 found most overwhelming was the busy and noisy lunch hall. I know in some schools early years eat separately in their own building and this would definitely have benefited DD. If this isn’t possible I would see if you can get in touch with her class teacher before she starts to find out if they prepare them for this. I think it must be quite intimidating if a horde of 10 year olds storm in when you are just starting your baked potato.

Good luck! I think it’s great you are considering this. I wish I’d been a bit more pro active about DD2. I thought she would grow out of the shyness for a while.

@Gunpowder Thankfully my DD is just a bit shy, more so when she's around strangers. I talked to some of the parents at her current preschool and several of them are sending their kids to that school, so at least she'd see some familiar faces? I mean at the very least they have a roofed outdoor area, if she wants to hide somewhere she won't get wet ! It's a tough one... but it's not like every single one of 60+ kids can be a party animal, so she wouldn't be the only shy one.

I think they take turns for lunch, so it's separate from the biggest children.

I've been flip flopping daily on which school would be best for her, currently on the day 2 of leaning towards the 'big school'.

@PickledPeppa thank you for your input, it sounds quite reassuring. DD was described as 'quietly confident', it takes her a while to open up. It took a while for preschool to clock her being quite ahead in one area, as she just wouldn't show what she knows.

I am slightly concerned she'd be overlooked if she's in a big school as she's so quiet.

@Smurftastic which ever school she goes to it's likely to be one teacher for 30 children plus TA. Each teacher has to track & monitor the progress of each child in their class. In that respect that size of school makes no difference.

Perhaps it won't matter once they move into separate classrooms. Won't the open plan reception mean she'll just be left hiding in the corner whilst the loud/ problematic kids get all the attention? Will that impact her confidence? I'm thinking about calling the school again after Christmas.

OP that just doesn't happen. The teaching & support staff ensure that the children are all engaged in targeted learning activities. Free flow doesn't mean total chaotic free for all. It means children have some freedom to choose which specific activity they do at certain points in the day. Did you read the EYFS link I posted?
The type of activities might be role play in a play kitchen, play doh, water tray activities, building dens etc Each activity has a very specific objective. It's a classroom not a public playground. It would be a buzz of activity not utter chaos.
If anything it has the opposite effect.

www.twinkl.co.uk/teaching-wiki/free-flow-play
( children with specific SEN or EHCP of course may need different things)

@explodingeyes Thank you for your comments. Yes I read your first link. I think I might just be lacking imagination, as DD is currently in an environment with much fewer children.
Thank you for sending the second link as well.

We decided to put her name down for the 3 form school and see how it goes. If she doesn't like it for a while we'll move her.
She's not as shy as some other posters' children here, she has no trouble speaking to adults as long as me or DH are around.

I think it's more important the school is local to us and it's not bad- the Catholic school seems very religious upon closer inspection and I don't think I'm comfortable with this.

Many thanks for your opinions everyone.