How do you feel about very small schools?

Mirabelle

Sat, Mar 06 2010, 8:19 pm

So we are thinking about switching my big girl (will be 4 in the Fall) from her "medium sized" preschool (its part of a nursery through 12th grade school, there are 2 classes of 3 year olds each with about 15 kids) to a teeny school that only has a handful of kids per grade.
DD has been having some tantrum issues this year and I am thinking that maybe a smaller class would be better for her.

BUT, the school still feels so small. Most classes have about 5 kids. We went to visit and she seemed to really like it, but I know that I would never want to personally go to such a tiny school. Her current school has amazing facilities and is super professional, while this school is more relaxed.

What do you all think about it?

cookiemilk

Sat, Mar 06 2010, 8:32 pm

I started my kids in tiny schools and with the girls was a staunch supporter, helped with publicity and support and anything the principals wanted, like mowing the lawn, mailing the mailings and collecting ink cartriges, chairing auctions, runnng yard sales, and exhausting myself in the proccess. Well, last year the last straw broke on the camels back- since instead of growing like it should have it shrunk by about 30 % due to a rumor that remained unsubstantiated. I realized that in grade 6 my daughter would have one class mate so I took her out and we enrolled her in the largest school in our town, where, surprise, surprise, she is doing quite well with her newfound friends and social life.
I am tired of propping hte small schools up in the hope that they will grow. I also realize that there are no tuition breaks since there is no way they can do that, and that a small parent body has to pick up the slack and the volunteering due to limited staff. So Im done with them, next year the little one is to attend the big school as well.

shalhevet

Sun, Mar 07 2010, 7:03 am

In EY we come from the other side - my dd has 41 girls in her class in BY. But I'd still prefer that over a very, very small class. I have a friend who sends her dd to a school with 3 girls in her class. I think they miss out on many of the school experiences - trips, activities etc that you can't do for such a small class. And if someone is absent....

But of course there might be situations where there is no choice.

Mirabelle

Sun, Mar 07 2010, 7:11 am

Thats the thing, we do have a choice at the moment.

The bigger school is a bit farther away (about 10 more minutes driving), but at least for next year the schools would pretty much cost the same per month.

When we get up to Kindergarten the smaller school costs much less due to a special grant or something, but, you really can't compare the schools.

DH says lets give it a try for one year.....I am still not sure how I feel about it.

Isramom8

Sun, Mar 07 2010, 8:03 am

You'd think that in a small school, the kids would get more personal attention. But sometimes the bigger school is more established and professional, and sometimes a kid hates that much personal attention. My dd hated being stuffed into a closet-sized room with three classmates with every teacher staring in her eyes every minute all up close and personal. She couldn't relax for a second, and it was boring, since she had more siblings at home than classmates that year!

But later, she and her sister appreciated the hominess of their small elementary school. I mean when they went to high school with like 40 classmates, and four parallel classes in every grade, where the teachers didn't have extra time to bond with the students.

My son went to a small upstart yeshiva ketana (high school) for more personal attention, and says he should have chosen the larger, older one, because they knew more what they were doing.

Sun, Mar 07 2010, 8:13 am

I would say "it depends." We have used both small and medium sized schools, with generally happy results, but there are factors other than size involved.

Have you been able to pinpoint the cause of your daughter's tantrums? Does this behavior only occur in large groups? Have you found techniques that help her remain calm? If so, would the teachers at the small school be willing to use them? What is the principal's (or early-childhood director's) philosphy on dealing with tantrums? Are the other kids (and their families) pleasant?

You mentioned that your three-year-old liked the school when you visited. What did she like about it? Are those factors that would be present daily, or just for a special visit? What did you like about it?

Hope that helps!

Mirabelle

Sun, Mar 07 2010, 8:33 am

Isramom8 wrote:

You make some very good points. As I said in the first post, I personally would not have enjoyed such a tiny school, but I know that my DD is a different person than me.

Mirabelle

Sun, Mar 07 2010, 8:41 am

cm wrote:

Thanks so much for the good questions. We are in the process of trying to understand the tantrums. DD was an only child until this past October when my twins were born, that may have something to do with it. DD's teacher things it could be due to immaturity, which is quite possible as she is one of the youngest in the class. We are actually meeting with the school psychologist this week, that should help. Other than the tantrums, DD appears to be doing rather well in her current school, but the teacher says that she has these major meltdowns about 4 times a day (school is 6 hours long).

She does attend a special Sunday morning shul program for girls 3,4, and 5 and she is the only 3 year old there and does VERY well. However, there are only like 6-7 kids in this class.

On the day we visited the teeny school there were only 2 other kids in the preschool class, even though they have 5 enrolled. Apparently not all kids come on all days?

I asked DD why she said she like the small school and she it was because she liked the wide selection of play food... Rolling Eyes

amother

Sun, Mar 07 2010, 9:07 am

OP, I think 3yr old is still quite young and many kids that age have tantrum problems that they "graduate" when they're a bit older. DD goes to a relatively small school, just one class per grade and class size anywhere from 16 to 22. It's not super-small so she has enough girls to socialize but intimate enough you get to know pretty much everyone in the school from pre-K to 6th grade. What's nice about it is they're flexible enough to modify limudei kodesh, her class of 17 is split into two groups by ability and I can really see how she thrives with more individual attention. Some parents don't like two grades sometimes have to be merged for sports (like 3rd grade and 4th grade girls to have enough girls) but not a big drawback. One challenge though is when the kids go to high school or middle school and boom all at a sudden you're in a big school with 35kids in a class with 4 classes per grade. Another difficult bit is you never know boys/girls mix (it's a coed school), one year you can have 11 boys and 6 girls, another year with 13 girls and 7boys it can be tough.

shiradye

Sun, Mar 07 2010, 6:07 pm

I don't know what to advise you, OP, but you have gotten some food for thought here.

I can only tell you my personal experience. I went to a small school for two years of HS. Ten girls in my class. It was terrible. The academic standard definitely was lowered for it, as it catered to the lowest common denominator. I also grew up in a very small Jewish community where there was only one other girl my age. It was not a good situation.

When it came time to choosing a large or small h.s. for my girls, I went with the large one. They know what they are doing. They have a full staff. They even have a lady with 2 secretaries whose job it is to run extra-currics full time! My girls love the selection of freinds, the large teaching staff, the way the place is run like a well-greased machine. I didn't want my kids to be a pioneer like I was.

jackiejoel3

Mon, Mar 08 2010, 3:28 am

If she is the youngest kid in her class consider having her repeat the same "grade" next year and see if that helps. Especially if she was an oldest and only for awhile she may be emotionally immature and need that extra year to grow. 15 kids is not such a huge class and an established school is going to be better equipped to handle the situation. Don't worry about how smart she is. There are tons of different factors that lead to growth and if your child can't manage socially (5 year olds are not going to put up with a kid throwing tantrums all day) then it doesn't matter. my DS was the smartest kid in his class and the youngest. We held him back because he was to immature to move forward. Now he is one of the oldest still the smartest and is doing great!! Yes, I do have to suplement with extra math and reading in the afternoons so he is not bored but I would probably have had to do that anyway.

Marion

Mon, Mar 08 2010, 5:07 am

jackiejoel3 wrote:

There are tons of different factors that lead to growth and if your child can't manage socially (5 year olds are not going to put up with a kid throwing tantrums all day) then it doesn't matter.

Sometimes you can get a really great group of 5 year olds...

DS#1 was 3.5 at the beginning of school this year, but he's in an afternoon program with 5+ year olds. He wasn't toilet trained and he has a speech delay...meaning lots of temper tantrums as he was hard to understand and had a very limited vocabulary. And this group of 16 kids have helped him blossom. By the end of the first day several had "adopted" him. He talks about them at least as much as he talks about his other classmates. He has blossomed with that group. I think how accepting a group of 5 year olds is about certain things depends more on how the staff presents things and less on how many of them there are.

amother

Mon, Mar 08 2010, 8:57 am

Question to those who had experience in this:

I am going to send my dc to a small and fairly new school in Brooklyn. They have extended hours which no other school in Brooklyn has offered us so far and it's cheaper than the other schools in Brooklyn (due to some government programs/grants). My dc has no behavioral/developmental issues B"H.
I like the school because it seems to be very friendly. There're 8 - 10 kids per class. In kindergarten there're maybe 25 kids. My child will be 4 next September.

The question is, how hard will it be to transfer to a different school if we don't like this one for some reason. I've heard different opinions on this. Some people say, it's no problem as long as you're paying full tuition; the others say that if we go to a small school that nobody knows about - we're going to have trouble switching. What do you think?