Should we use primary school with very low pupil numbers?

kk09

We live in a rural area and the local primary school has very low numbers. Our girl is due to go next year and likely to have class of 6 with just one other girl. We also have a one year old that we hope will eventually follow. Should we use the local school (where I went myself as a young lad) or another busyier school. Thoughts please?

echo beach

Depends entirely on the school and the teachers. If you've lived there all your life you should have a good idea what the score is. Small schools, just like big ones, can be 'good' or 'bad' or 'average'.
You should also take into account how far away the other school is. What about transport? What happens if their friends and after school activities are all a long distance away?

I'll admit to being biased in favour of small schools, because my own experience was a good one, but unless there is a real concern about the standard of teaching I'd stay local. Long commutes are tiring for small children and tough on parents, e.g. if the child gets sick or hurt at school it is so much easier if you or another family member are nearby.

Gurgle

Pro:
Smaller class size = more teacher time per kid

Con:
Personality issues - I was stuck with one teacher for 3 years, he didn't like me and made sure those 3 years weren't any fun.

kk09

The school is fine and teachers are good. Not worried bout education side so much, but the social side. Just one other girl is class, not so sure.

Then next closest school is another parish and this would not suit GAA which is big in family. The last choice is same parish but big transport difficulties. Plus think the education might suffer in other schools with bigger numbers.

The scales ain't tippin either side.

huskerdu

when you say that there is 7 in the class, is there actually one teacher for 7 kids, or is the same teacher teaching more than one class.

A smaller class does allow a teacher more time per child, but to assess this
the only number that matters is now many kids are in the room with the teacher.

My kids are in a big school with a normal teacher/pupil ratio and the advantage of the big school is that there are loads of great extra activities - choir / school concerts / after school classes. There are loads of motivated parents, so fundraising is good and the school is well equiped as a result. I
know that this is not the case with all big schools, but I am making the points that there are pros and cons to both and a good school can be any size.

A friend of mine moved her son from a tiny school because he was so bored - the numbers were so low that he was bored at lunchtime and there weren't enough boys to even have a kick-about. He is thriving in a bigger school.

byhookorbycrook

Socially you can provide outside of school through GAA etc. Small schools tend to be like a big family,as already pointed out, like any school, it'd only as good as the teachers.