My daughter class at school? Advice please?

Question

My daughter is 4 in July and attends a very nice nursery in a private school (UK)...she will attend full time school in September as all 4 year olds do here...my worry is that the classes are too small....I chose the school as it was small...but is there such a thing as TOO small? In the reception year...(5 year olds) there are only 6 children....and I think about 7 in the class above that. The school acheives extremely high academic results...is this the result of small classes do you think? Or do you think she would benefit from more choice of companions...there are 12 in her nursery class ranging in age from 2 to nearly 5....every September the 5 year olds move up...so the reception class is always staggered....ie its not going to get any larger than 6 or 7 at most....there were 30 in my class when I was the same age and I assumed that there would be about 15 in this school...but no...it is very small....is it a problem?

Answer 1

less children means better support for your child, more one to one teaching and each childs individual needs being better met. if you are worried about socialisation allow her to join clubs and classes outside of school

Answer 2

NO i think that the idea of sending her to a small school is a good idea in order to obtain the best academically. This is mainly beacsue in a class of 30 children or so, with a lesson of 1 hour this only gives the teacher 2 minutes to help each child, and some children do not even get this. Whereas a class with 6 or 7 children meens the teacher gets to spend around 10 minutes with each child. This will help your children to understand her subjects better and achieve a higher grade. And the issue with friends isn't reall an issue as she is bound to make friends with someone, if not everyone in the class.

Answer 3

No problem ! The school is designed to allow the child to adapt in a new environment without any parents. This will give the child a sense of security and close proximity with one another. Besides after knowing one another they will start to learn how to compete in their school works.The average size would be 7 children in the class with 45min to 60min lesson followed by interval.

Answer 4

being in a school with less children will be good for her learning but she may not socialize very well but maybe if she goes to a/some afterschool clubs she will  be fine

Answer 5

No. It is proven that smaller classes weild the best results.  You daughter will get the best chance at an excellent education at this school. Great job! Your daughter has a fantastic chance here.

If you are worried about friends, enrol her in some after school clubs. I went to a primary school with only 11 pupils in each year. My father enrolled me in brownies, horse riding, swimming classes - it was fantastic.

Answer 6

Goodness, no!

The reason they have such great results is because the teacher can give each individual student more of her time and one a one to one basis answer her needs.

Just make sure she still attends any outside classes, eg ballet, horseriding etc so she keeps in touch with other children.

Answer 7

I can understand where you are coming from. Class sizes in this country have always been too big and a happy medium would be the best for our kids. One to one with teachers, minimal chance of bullying, high grades. All great things to come from small classes. But...it could make going to high school more difficult as the classes there are huge (30+) and you girl may suffer as she is not used to it. This is the only problem I can think of, so if I were you, I would talk to the head about any concerns you have and maybe a parent who had a child at the school at one time. I am sure the kids in her class will have older siblings. The head or class teacher maybe able to help there. They may also have PTA (parent teacher association) meetings that you could join.

Good luck I am sure it will be fine.

Answer 8

I'm not sure what they say there, but here in Canada, studies found that when children were in a smaller class, the teachers were able to give more one-on-one help and attention. The school boards proposed smaller class sizes, and capped each class size at 20-25 kids. We used to have 30-35 per classroom. Once the caps on class sizes started coming into place, the school boards noticed an increase in academic success. Children were getting higher marks and homework completion was starting to rise. Our mandatory test scores at Grade 3, Grade 6, Grade 9 and Grade 10 rose significantly and more students began passing these tests with flying colours. Our drop out rate and failure rate dropped as well. The school boards had only capped the younger grades, but have now started to implement a cap on older grades as well.

Turns out..it's the smaller class sizes that have lead to more academic achievement.

I think she is benefitting just where she is right now. Continue to keep her in the nursery school with the small class sizes, as, at least here in Canada, it has shown to be beneficial to academic success. It is not a problem at all, but a very good thing.

She will be okay with the friends she has now in school. Trust me, she will make more as she grows.

ETA: And as others suggested, perhaps enrolling her in after-school programs may help to continue to socialize her.

Good luck!!

Answer 9

Surely she isn't required to go full time until she's five?

If she's happy and doing well where she is I think I'd leave her. Four year olds aren't meant to be academic.

Answer 10

I suspect the high academic results are more the result of good teaching and a higher than average intelligence intake than the tiny class sizes :) My daughter goes to one of the top private academic girls' schools results-wise in the country and her class has 28 kids in it.

If your daughter gets on well with the other kids who will be in her class, I wouldn't worry about it. But I would try to ensure, not only that she gets to meet more kids, but that they come from all walks of life. She's going to have to deal with people who aren't as privileged as she is eventually. How about group swimming lessons at a public pool, or Rainbows (pre-Brownies) when she gets a  bit older?

Answer 11

What are your plans for the future as most secondary schools have at least 1000 students. you need to prepare her, if you are planning on sending her to a normal secondary school then maybe a bigger wschool would be better, as she will be only be used to a small amount of people and she will be craping her pants starting such a big school, when all her life she has only hjad to deal with a few people around her

Answer 12

im 11.

and there is 26 kids in my class.

but i go to a public school.

Answer 13

It sounds like you have found very good school w/ high academic results. What more do you want?

You have nothing to be concrened about.

Have a nice day.

Answer 14

pros

less bullies

less trouble for christmas cards etc

cons

can't sociallise as well

Answer 15

As a mother and a teacher, your situation has pro's and con's.  

Pros

- Smaller classes may result in higher results.

- More one to one time

Con's

- Less money coming into the school, therefore resources may not be as up to date and at hand.

- Less choice in friendships.  

- Make sure there is not a point where they start making composite classes (2 different grades in the one class) - some small schools tend to do this and it is the older of the two classes that ends up being held back.

- Make sure that if your daughter ends up needing some extra help (you never know down the track) is a small school willing to help with teacher aides, etc???

I think schools with 30 odd children in a class are too big. But I agree sometimes a very small school can also be a concern.  I would talk to some parents, especially ones with children who have moved on to high school etc.  Ask how they have got on?  Also look into whether or not the school does well because the children that attend are "selected" based on their ability from the beginning. Some schools do interviews and "choose" the children that can basically "hit the ground running" which in turn gives the school higher academic results.

But the best way - ask parents!