Teaching in a small village primary school

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

Obviously every school is different but what are the highs and lows of working in a small school (eg 70-80 children on roll)?

Pros - Know every child. Often more nurturing. Easier to arrange off curriculum and ine-off activities.

Cons - V small staff so no-one to share workload with. Mixed classes = differentiation & planning challenges. Everyone has multiple subjects to lead. Budgets beyond tight.

Another factor to consider - is the school sustainable? Tiny schools are closing down because they are so expensive to run so unless some kind of sustainability strategy is in place (eg hard or soft federation with other schools to find some economies of scale) then I would approach with caution.

I worked more out of school (weekends, ‘days off’) doing 2 days a week at a village primary than I did doing full time at a 2 form entry school.

Extra workload in the form of subject leadership roles as fewer staff to share them between.

As a PP said, mixed year group classes makes planning more complicated, especially if across key stages. Unpredictable intake could mean the y1/2 class you started with morphs into a 1/2/3 class the following year. Also, as the make up of your class changes year on year, it’s hard to reuse any planning.

There’s also no one to plan with. I really missed team planning whilst at a village school.

Plus points: close knit community, possibly smaller class sizes, opportunity to explore and be more creative with your ideas.

Agree with all of these and will add

Cons
*it's usually a case of all hands to the deck, e.g. when a dinner staff member is out, first aid.

*decreased chances of moving age groups/classes

Pros
*feels like a big family- with staff and parents.

I grew up in a tiny village: 75-90 on roll.

Are you planning on living in the village/sending your (hypothetical?) children there too?

I agree with all of these. Everyone wears MANY hats; so few people mean lots of jobs shared, i.e our English teacher is also a Middle Leader and ALSO does attendance.

That's a pro and con, as you gain lots of experience fast.

It's really nice knowing every kid.

Pros: good way to gain experience. Even relatively new teachers can expect to be given subject leadership roles. Small and nurturing. You get to know every child.

Cons: realistically, much more work. Mixed classes mean every teacher is planning for 2 year groups every lesson. Also additional responsibilities WRT subject leadership etc. I used to work in a village school. The maths lead was also the SENCO, ran the running club was responsible for the choir too.

I love the staple gun comment!

The school is close by but in a different village to where I live. As it's small I would end up teaching one of my children 😨 plus they are settled where they are.

I would never want to work where my child goes, let alone teach them. Sorry OP!

Oh I mean my kids go to another school in another village. I wouldn't want to teach mine either!
I went for a visit and the school is lovely. I like the idea of being more self sufficient planning and resourcing wise actually but am aware workload would be more. I'd have one day a week at home when my children are at school as well as ppa so that would help (the job is part time). The head said the staff are encouraged to tweak old plans rather than reinventing the wheel- definitely a positive - to keep workload manageable. Only having 10 books to mark would be good too.

10?

10????

Do it!!!!

I taught in a small school and found it much harder in terms of collegiate relationships. Individual personalities can loom very large in a small staff and in my case the head was rather slow to put her foot down. People got away with things that just wouldn’t have been acceptable in a larger school.

The lack of space I found stifling. Nowhere to send a group to work with a TA, for instance, as people were doing PE right outside your door!