Tell me about your experience sending to a small school

amother

Ruby

Sun, Sep 02 2018, 9:24 pm

I went to a large school for elementary with 2,000 students. All the principals knew me by name. It was run beautifully and I loved it. Nobody fell through the cracks. There were resources for everything.

Then I went to a large high school but smaller than the elementary - it wasn't even half the size of the other with just 800 girls (but same amount of girls per grade). It was the first time that I felt like a number. Only the girls with family names or from families with money meant anything. Everybody else was a nobody who was supposed to blend into the factory walls. Thunderstorm and I went to the same HS.
Size is not a factor.

Hashem_Yaazor

Sun, Sep 02 2018, 9:34 pm

I'd find it hard to believe that can happen in a way, way smaller school. My kids' school is from 2 yos through 8th and has like 260 kids in all those classes. It's impossible to be a nobody.

I'm happy that it works out in some large schools to be acknowledged but it can't be expected, I would think.

amother

Hotpink

Sun, Sep 02 2018, 9:40 pm

My elementary class had 17 kids growing up, 12 of which were girls, and 4 of which were frum. I was very close with my click of four girls and did not feel I was missing anything socially. After school us four had gymnastics, painting, swimming, tennis, ballet (over the years, not all at once). On shabbos we went to an old age home together and had a shalashudis with mixed ages of all the frum girls from the neighborhood. I also went away to camp in the summer, which expanded my circle a bit.
In high school I had 18 girls in my class, in a out of town bais yaakov. I loved it! You find your friends, and it doesn't have to be girls from your class. I had a few good friends from the class above and below mine.
I now send my kids to a new school. My older son has 18 boys in his class, mixed ages of 6-9 (its montessori), and my younger son has 20 kids, but there are three classes of his age group 3-6.
There is a huge benefit to a small school. The staff know each child and can work with whatever comes up. There is more flexibility. the kids aren't being "systemized" the parents have more power. the students all feel important. it isn't overwhelming to walk in the front door and see a million people/have as much noise.
I live in a city now that has four school options, two of which have hundreds of kids in them. I picked the montessori for many reasons, but mostly it was because I believe a small school is a huge plus.