Positive stories about village schools please

[wherethewildtbingsgo]

We are in the process of moving from our town to a village about 10-15 minutes away. This is largely due to the lack of houses on the market in town at the moment. It means that our children would go to the school in the village. We have two small girls at the moment aged 3 and 2 and another on the way. We have visited the village school and liked it a lot. The current reception class has 12 in. Then after reception they mix year groups 1/2, 3/4, 5/6. Generally each year intake is around 10 although they are expecting next year (when my daughter is starting) to be closer to the maximum of 15. They've had the odd tiny year group of 6.

Generally children come from the village, surrounding villages and even from the town and surrounding towns where we currently live.

I'm losing sleep over this decision to move to a village and send the girls to a village school. I've never lived in a village so I have no idea if it will suit us. Most of all I worry the school will be too small and the girls won't have enough friendship opportunities. It feels like so much pressure to get right. My worry has been made so much worse by reading some MN a threads about the issues with lack of friendship options in village schools.

Can anyone who has put their children through village schools give me some positive stories about them please? I'm so worried that I'll make the wrong decision for my children.

I think some of the posts you've read were maybe by me 😆. Not going to lie, friendship options were limited (there was only one other girl in my class!). But some of the positives were mixing and being friends with different age groups (particularly with the classes being condensed - still friends with some different age groups to this day!) having the full attention of teachers, going on country walks, feeling like an individual and part of a family instead of just one of an anonymous crowd. I really wouldn't change my primary experience.

Mine went to a village school, the eldest was in a class of 13 and the youngest a class of 6. They have very different personalities and both loved it. Mixing class years opens up more friendship opportunities and although some years were boy heavy the girls seemed fine (mixing between themselves and also with the boys). The school felt much more like a community than the large one I went to. The only disadvantages were sports related and we dealt with this by joining out of school teams and the transition to a v large secondary came as a bit of a shock.
But overall it was a lovely and positive experience for mine.

It was mixed for my kids but all schools and children are different. Look carefully at the underlaying ethos and consider if it suits your family

I am old and attended a village school back in the dark ages. We had 4 years in one class. It meant I had friends ranging in age from 3 years older to 3 years younger than myself. I still see some of those people either because they still live locally or they visit family occasionally and its nice to catch up. The school had been closed by the time my dc came along so they had to travel to a much larger school. They were in classes of 30 and one year group. I was happy with the school but they didn't seem to get the same sense of community I did going to a much more local school.

I'm a retired teacher in a county with a lot of village schools - some tiny and some (like the one I worked in) quite large. The comments about a small friendship group in the smaller ones are spot on.

They can also be very cliquey so if you live in the village your children might fit in and if several generations have gone to that school, ie the parents also went there, moreso. 'Outsiders' travelling in might be less welcome. I know of two families that did this and ended up taking their children out but of another where it worked quite well.

Depends on your child’s personality and luck. I thought of sending my kids to a similar village primary ( three year groups in a class) but decide against it after a long chat with the class teacher. There were only two boys his age whose families were close friends so those boys were thick as thieves. There had been a third boy but he had not managed to fit in with those two and his parents had moved him to a different school because of this. My son is quite shy and low confidence so would not have been able to break into that friendship either. A larger school with larger friendship opportunities has suited him better.

The teacher also said the village school was not able to give the additional learning needs support our other state school could. So that’s another consideration.

it also depends on your personality and how well you feel you will be able to break into village friendship groups.

I've worked in a village school. Granted not as small as the one you mention. Our PAN was 25, so 1 class per year group (with most classes having about 22-24 children).

A huge positive for me was the community feel. All staff knew every child in the school. Likewise the children all knew each other and the older ones really looked out for the younger ones. We went on whole school trips, where younger children were buddied with an older one. In fact, we used the buddy system on a day to day basic. They'd have weekly buddied reading time etc. I loved my time there and enjoyed whole school events such as the Christmas play, Harvest Festival, Summer Fete etc, as staff also got to know all the parents. It was like one big family.

However, there is no getting away from the fact that friendship groups are often limited. They literally go up with the same 15-20ish children throughout the whole of their schooling. It's great if they all generally get on, but if you have any children who clash it can make life tough as you can't just split them up the following year in different classes, like you can in a 2+ form entry school.

We also use to find that the children sometimes found the move to secondary more daunting, as they've only ever known the same small pool of classmates since Reception. As lovely as the family/community feel of a small village school can be, it can be a massive culture shock when they go up to secondary with hundreds of kids they don't know, often from vastly different backgrounds.

I currently work in a 3 form entry school in a large town. I really miss being on first name terms with every single child in the school, but I do think our children are generally better prepared for the transition to secondary as they're more use to having a bigger social network. They're use to changing classmates each year. Whilst the 90 kids in each year group do get to know each other quite well by the end of Year 6, they're use to chopping and changing within the year group in terms of who is in their class, who is their best friend at that moment in time. It's not quite as intense as the close nit friendships of a village school cohort of 20. Children in bigger schools do tend to find it easier to form new friendships in secondary, simply through having a lot more practice. Each September they have to put in the ground work once again to establish friendships within the class. The dynamics change each year with a slightly different mix of kids. Whilst I totally understand that some parents prefer a village school for their kids so they don't have to work on friendships every single year, ultimately I think they get out of practice by the end of Year 6. For some of them, it's been years since they've met new children to befriend. Then suddenly they go up to secondary, their primary best friend goes off with someone else, and they have no idea how to reach out to others and form new friendships.

I'm speaking generally of course, as all children are different, but I have noticed a pattern between the two very different schools I've worked at in terms of how adaptive the children can be when it comes to making new friends.

You can always help the socialisation aspect by getting them involved in clubs out of school, maybe back in the town you're moving from if you drive? Especially if the secondary school they're likely to attend is in the town. Scouts/Guides, swimming, dance, gymnastics, football, parkrun, music lessons etc, whatever they're interested in. If they have friends out of school too, they're more likely to cope better mixing with different children when they eventually leave the comfort of their village primary.

I went to a tiny village school - there was just an infants class and a juniors class. 8 kids in my year.

I think it was fine for infants but very dull for juniors - is there anyway they could go to the junior school in town at 7?

This was 70s/80s where there was much less attention on standards, but academically it was very lazy. I’d imagine that’s better now, but I still don’t think mixed age classes are optimal beyond 7 or 8.

… We did a LOT of after school clubs because my parents wanted us to have a broader experience. My mother said later we were always tired and retrospectively she wishes she’d send us to school in the market town nearby.

Honestly it just comes down to luck.

Mine attended 5 primary schools (army family) ranging from intakes of 16 to 120 kids in a year. There were advantages and disadvantages to both. Different schools suit different kids.

My initial instinct was that the school must be short of money. Most schools work on 28-30 in a class. 20 or less is not viable financially. I’m not a fan of blended classes. A child way behind in y5 will need very different teaching to a child who is exceeding in everything in y6. It’s a tough job for a teacher. I’m not sure 10/11 year olds really want to play with 7/9 year olds either. Therefore small village schools are on up to KS1: KS2 it’s a no from me. Just too limited on many fronts.

My DDs were part of a school orchestra in y2! Recorders. By Y4, DD1 was playing the violin in the junior school orchestra. Other dc were in sports teams. They went on age appropriate residentials. They took part in ambitious Christmas plays and were in the school choir. It’s very difficult to get this breadth of learning in a tiny school.

Socially it’s not great either. Who do they actually meet? Not many other dc. I’d wait for a house in your town.

Hmmm. I think perhaps you've never been to a village school? Apologies if you have but it sounds like these are all hypothetical issues rather than real ones you've experienced. I came on to ask for positive experiences of village schools not negative opinions of village schools not based on experience.

I think village schools can often be beneficial for children who are under or over performing for their age because blended classes mean the ones who aren't doing so well can be merged with the younger ones and vice versa. They also certainly do offer the extra curricular things you mention- in fact one of the things that has really struck me about the village school we are looking at is the fact that they go on a lot of varied school trips several times a term. By contrast when we have asked about school trips at the town schools the response we have had is "oh it's a bit expensive so we try and do one or two a year". They still do residential trips and musical instruments at village schools.

In terms of older children playing with younger ones you're only actually talking about the year below. And since they have always been used to blended classes I can't see why they would turn their noses up at it.

The village isn't in catchment for any of the town schools. So barring exceptional circumstances I think swapping schools is probably out plus I would like to avoid them moving schools if I can for consistency.

I hear what you're saying about older kids potentially needing more stimulation though.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Yes absolutely they would do extra curricular things in town like brownies or swimming. They will also continue to hang out with family friends who live in town.

The transition to secondary school isn't something that worries me too much as I do feel the experience of primary school is more important than it being simply preparatory for secondary school. I also feel like it's something we could support them with and find ways to help make the transition easier. The social aspect of it is certainly the thing that worries me though. As you say there's a good chance they would be absolutely fine and make friends but there's also a risk with a village school that's not there in a town school in the same way that they won't make friends with their class and then they are stuck.

I don't think the "outsider" thing is relevant here because the village is not big enough to serve the school so it's made up of a large number of kids coming from neighbouring villages and towns. There's actually probably only a minority of the children coming from the village itself.

@Mackeroo @CheeseCakeSunflowers @Whichwhatnow thanks for sharing these good experiences. I appreciate it.

Still worrying though 🤣. Part of me thinks let's just pull out of the whole lot and try and move again in the spring.

Being pregnant isn't helping my thought process either!!

I went to a village school when I was in key stage 2 (year 3-6). I was one of 3 kids in my year. The other two were boys. I was moved there because I wasn't being challenged at my last school, used to get the work done in half a lesson and was told to sit quietly and read a book for the other half. At the village school, I was sat on a table with the kids from the year above (there were 5 of them) and we all did the same work. The boys in my year were both SEN and got additional support from the TA when she was in our class (half the time she was in Class 1 which was key stage 1). The teacher knew every child really well and what their needs were, and so they could plan work for us that stretched us in areas where we needed.

I liked that the teacher knew all of us individually. We socialised as a key stage and I think we all learned how to be patient with the younger ones and how to take responsibility as older ones. We all played together as one big group and the main underpinning rule was that, as it was such a small school, everyone had to be friends. That rule came from us not the teachers and every time anyone had an argument another pupil would mediate and solve the problems.
I really liked it and think it was my favourite primary school (out of 4 I attended).

When I started there were 28 pupils, but by the time I left there were 36 pupils and the teachers were worried that they were getting oversubscribed. This was mid-90s. I was quite a bookish child but I did like socialising at playtimes so it was ideal for me.

I am seriously considering putting DS into a village school when we move house (whenever we can find a house).

My DD goes to a village school. But not our village one. It was just a bit tooo small for my liking. Only 3 teachers or something and I felt like it wouldn’t prepare her well enough. So we chose to send her to a slightly bigger but still village school 2 or 3 miles away and she loves it.

One of my main concerns was her having to have all her eggs in one basket - small village, small school, just those friends. This way she has her village friends and then her school friends. Works brilliantly.

Oh and in rebuttal of the PP mentioning possible limited music opportunities, we all had a music lesson with a proper music teacher and instruments once a week, someone's gran used to do the piano for assemblies and our school plays, and we had a mean recorder band.
We also had a netball team that was mixed sex and used to play against other village schools in our area.

I went to a small village school and I loved it. There were 12 in my year and were still friends now - not meeting up with each other but we’d definitely have a chat if we saw each other out! I am also a Reception teacher in a tiny village school. My current reception has 7. I adore smaller schools. There are disadvantages of course but I think they are outweighed by the advantages! I know every child in my class as if they were my own. I know their likes. dislikes, home life, friendships. I know how they learn and I know exactly what each child needs to supported. Some of my current children would get lost in a larger classroom. We have our fair share of friendship problems but no more than I’ve seen in bigger schools! There isn’t a child at our school who doesn’t have friends and all ages mix together really well. It’s a lovely community feel!

I do have experience of village schools as I was an education officer. Many friends used village schools but had the difficulties I described. You simply do not have competitive sports teams as you do at the larger schools. My point was that there are no meaningful school orchestras where a school has 10-15 Dc in a year. I’ve certainly seen no organised music making in ks1 at village schools.

I do see certain people wanting a sheltered type of education for 7 years in tiny schools and around here they attract a high percentage of SEN Dc because the schools would be very small without people driving to the schools from towns. (Clearly little concern for the environment!) There is obviously a lack of friendship choices. Once Dc move away from friends, these children don’t tend to remain as friends. They move on.

If your mind is made up OP, don’t shoot down alternative views as I have been familiar with lots of schools. Not one. That’s why I didn’t choose one. I could have helped keep the numbers up at half a dozen! The better ones are ks1 only. By y6 there are issues for some Dc.

But I didn't ask for alternative views. This is what I said:

"Can anyone who has put their children through village schools give me some positive stories about them please? I'm so worried that I'll make the wrong decision for my children."

I'm aware there are disadvantages of small schools. There are also disadvantages of larger schools. I'm not here telling you your children are more likely to be bullied, more likely to disappear in a class of 30 (or even 40 by year 6), I'm not here telling you that your children might be more likely to be disrupted by SEN or children with behavioural issues or that they are more likely to not be picked for sports teams or plays or whatever. You've made your choice of school presumably knowing all this stuff.

Also in my OP the class my DD is likely to be in next year will be 15. Not the 6 you mention.

They have competitive sports with other village schools. I frankly don't really care about orchestra (although I can tell that's very important to you).

If we don't go ahead with this school it means pulling out of our house purchase and house sale and going back to square one. It means another summer with no garden for my children. So I'm asking for people to help me to feel better with a process that's already started.

My kids 2 form entry primary school doesn't have an orchestra...

It has a choir... same as the other schools nearby which vary from 15 to 60 kids per year.

They all get the same amount of free instrumental lessons in all the schools.

Ok. Hope your Dc love it. A class of 15 isn’t viable unless mixed age. They will have limited choice of few of their own sex. I’ll shut up now as obviously 40 years of experience isn’t worth a fig.

My children have been to/are at a small village school.

it has a pan of 15, but is never full. It has a brilliant choir, excellent sports teams, gets a lot of sports funding! Regularly wins tournaments against much bigger schools.

friendships are hit and miss. My son (now year 7) never really clicked with anyone in his year. He had friends in the years above and below. My daughter (year 3) has a huge number of friendships in her year, Year above, year below and beyond. Seems much more about the child than the school in my experience.

I recently asked DS if he’d have preferred to go to a bigger school. And he categorically said no way. He loved his school.

academically they have done brilliantly by both of mine.

eldest has just transitioned to a large (pan of 210) secondary, and has had no trouble moving to a far bigger school. None of his year group have struggled (and they’ve gone to 4 different schools between them).

they and I have really enjoyed their primary school years at a small village school with a great community feel and I wouldn’t change it.