Tiny schools - Opinions? Experiences?

[Gleena]

@Cazzle

These replies are all very helpful, thanks. Regarding the local school, it isn’t only poor academically, it also has a reputation for trouble. There are a lot of kids from disadvantaged backgrounds attending and I understand the police are regularly called in (this information is courtesy of a local police officer, who was complaining about the number of 11 and 12 year olds at that school who carry knives).

There are a few private schools but two have (IMO) unimpressive results on the standardized testing and the one that has good results strictly requires families to actively participate in religious activities outside the school. We couldn’t comply with that.

I think I’ll visit the little school today and get a feel for it.

Dunno where in Vic you are, are there magnet schools your kiddo can test into in year 5 or 6 if she doesn’t like/do well in the smaller school?

I’d go the little country school, myself. I did, actually, although my son is much older than your little one. He goes to a Catholic boarding school in Bathurst, NSW. It’s smallish - not so small as you suggest, but there’s 200 boarders in years 7-12 and 600 students all up. His classes now that he’s in HSC territory (year 11) are very small, 10 or less. I’m happy I pulled him out of his big, suburban school - which he ended up at because I wouldn’t let him go to the local HS which was dangerous, as yours is. He’s doing a ton better. His academics have improved heaps. We’re not Catholic, they don’t care, it’s all good.

More anecdotes - my bestie’s parents are teachers in rural/regional NSW, and she always went to schools with less than 20 total pupils in kindy - 12, and she’s really very normal. She just wanted to get out of the country, and now refuses to go out past the inner west of Sydney unless to visit her parents. But she had a good time (the stories she tells are both fond and hilarious). She got into a good school, too (ANU for science, which she switched to geography and did honours and went on to her Ph.D there, and later did a Masters at USyd for something completely different.) She taught classes at the Defence Force academey for a while, and she said coming from a small school background helped her relate to those guys.

Mind you’re we’re all 40 now, so take that with a grain of salt.

[mhendo]

@Gleena

I’d go the little country school, myself. I did, actually, although my son is much older than your little one. He goes to a Catholic boarding school in Bathurst, NSW. It’s smallish - not so small as you suggest, but there’s 200 boarders in years 7-12 and 600 students all up.

Does your son go to Stanis?

We used to make a trip to Bathurst each year to play them in rugby when i was a kid at Hurlstone Ag.

[Gleena]

@mhendo

Does your son go to Stanis?

We used to make a trip to Bathurst each year to play them in rugby when i was a kid at Hurlstone Ag.

Yeah, he’s a Stannies boy. And a boofy rugby player, too.

He loves it. Absolutely suits him right down to the ground.

[kferr]

My experience with a small school wasn’t very good. From K to 4th grade I was in an average sized district then moved to a tiny rural district for 5 - 9. The teachers fell into two groups - brand new and not good enough to get hired in a better district, or very old and treading water until retirement. There were no advanced courses of any sort and no languages. Because my previous school was so much better the administration at the small school wanted to bump me up to grade 6 but my parents disagreed for some reason. As a result I was bored out of my mind re-doing stuff I’d done the year before and my love of school went out the window. One slight advantage to the small school is that anybody who wanted to could be on a sports team. Fortunately my last three years of high school were in big districts so I caught up enough to go to a good university.