Oh my god I had forgotten about this thread.  How assertive was I saying "we are going to move".  Well it looks like we are not going to move in the next year, not because we don't want to but because the house market is on the floor and our flat is not selling.  We will try again next year to see if anything has changed.

Anyway in my original thread I was considering small school around 200 pupils.  Well I live in a big city. A 20 pupils school in my opinion is too small because although they can have a 1 to 1 attention but mixing classes must be confusing for the children I think. Well I suppose it would work better for some people that for others.  We always have to do what it is (or at least we think it is) betther for our kids.

sorry to reply to such an old post, but I have to have my input here

My children are in a school of under 20 children in the school, with 5 children, of rec, yr1, yr2 in one class and others in one class. I honestly have to say I cant fault this, fair enough my children may not get as many 'trips' or 'free after school clubs' but they get near enough 1-1 teaching at an well resourced school, (just coz its little, they dont lack in resources).

I'd have a nightmare getting my little one into school if he was in a 20+ class at the moment, he'd be one of the ones that 'make trouble' he's not got any special needs, just a little 'trying' at times, he'd simply slip through the net, like so many others in large class sizes.

I can't fault the teaching either, I get for free what some people would be willing to pay thousands for !!!

Sorry again, lol

Heidi, thank you for your advice and information, i have taken notes and I will ask all the questions.

DS is very open and make friends very easy but as well if someone push him for example, instead of confront him ( in the good way) asking why and all that, he cries and goes to the teacher. But being just 30 of them in the class all are more or less friends while if it is a bigger school maybe there are already like little groups that would be difficult for him to get into.  I think that is why the headteacher told me that he would adapt better to a small school, because it would be similar to what he has now and he would not feel alone and isolated at the beginning.  I don't know, I think I am more nervous than him.

But for what I have noted in the other forum where I posted this thread as well for the responses, DS is attending to a not that small school because they are over 250 and people where talking about their schools being 100 to 150.  But with all the information given here and in the other forum I really can say that all the concerns I had about big schools have disapear as in a bigger school they may have more funding and they are able to do more variety of clubs, activities etc.

if your current school is advising you to look at another small school, it may possibly be an indication of how your own child reacts around other children and it might be worth asking your teacher to describe your child in a way for you to ask your next school how they deal with whatever description your own child has been given.

(please dont misread this). Im thinking along the lines of, your child might take time to judge people before making friends, or even speaking to them, might be quiet, might be noisy and like lots of attention.  ask about class sizes, and group sizes (for english and maths).  how are the tables set up for groups, how often do they work in groups vs class groups

I am sure that if the school does have a good reputation it will be fine.  Also ask about what they do to help a child integrate into the new environment, and do explain to them the background of the last school so that the teacher understands.  If they appear not be to interested then I would be very concerned and look elsewhere.  Try and see if you can meet the teachers before making your decision as well.  Dont know if this is allowed but I had decided on a school and didnt meet the teacher until he had enrolled, and she was an appalling teacher who had no aptitude for encouraging and motivating children. Fortunately he only had her for 3 months which was 3months too many!

I think overall it depends on the school itself as to how good or bad it is.

my personal thoughts have always been to go to a small school (200 kids, 30 per class, one class per year).  But I had serious concerns for when ds when to high school because there were 2500 children, which was a big jump to adapt to.  the school children mixed well with all ages.

His previous school kept the infants and juniors separate so the kids didnt mix with the big children, when my son was in reception I thought this was better, but when he changed to a different school where all the years mixed, I saw that this worked well because the older children looked out and cared for the little ones.

The primary schools near where I am now all have about 600 kids, and it also works well.  The children are in two year syndicates (year 1/2, year 3/4 etc) so they do syndicate activities, and then they do whole school activities, both age streamed and mixed years.  It works.  One advantage we do have is classroom sizes are much much smaller, 20-25 in a class.

My advice would be, is if you can, try and spend time helping in the school, you get a much better feel as to whether you like it or not.  Ask lots of questions.  Go into shops, estate agents, clothes shops, sweet shops and ask the staff for opinions, comments, feedback etc.  ask the bus driver.  You will get different opinions but you tend to get more honest ones. 

at the school ask how the children integrate, how do the older ones feel about being responsible for younger ones, how do they deal with lots of different classes for same year. Do they still mix, are they kept separate. how do they stream abilities, is this made public (are kids aware) what sports do they do, what other social activities do they do, drama, productions, etc as a year group or as a school.

Now that my son is at a larger school I do think its more beneficial for the children. they spend time with different age groups and there isnt the same peer pressure about not speaking to children from your own year.  All the children know everyone else in the school, by name, which I think is impressive.  The children seem to mentor other children, for example my son, now 7, listens to other children read which is good for both sides and my son is now taking on board all the suggestions I have given to him about reading.

My only negative about very small schools is the children dont have the same opportunties to learn to mix and interact with a wide variety of personalities.  In a large school if they dont like someone they can find other children to play with. sometimes in a small school they can find it very restricting.  In larger schools there is also more opportunties to see people with different cultural backgrounds.

heidih

We are moving and in september DS will start in a new school Year 2.  At the moment he is in a small school 250 pupils and the headteacher has advised me to look for a small one as well in the area we are moving as that is what DS is used to and he will adapt better.

The thing is that the schools where we are going are much bigger from 350 to one school with more than 600 pupils.  They are very good school, I have check them and even the one with more than 600 is very good in the statistics.  So what do you think.

DS do lot of assemblies and presentations and school trips that it is easy to handle in a small school but do they do it as well in a big school? thanks