Small schools are amazing

So far in my teaching career, I've taught at schools with about 200 students and at schools with upwards of 800 students, as well as at a couple of schools that are somewhere in the middle. Several times, I've had parents ask me which is better. "I'm looking at moving to a new neighbourhood, but the in-district school for the house I saw is really really tiny. Is that okay?"

Here are some advantages of small elementary schools.

At a small school, everyone knows each other better. The principal will likely know your child's name, even if your child doesn't get in trouble. The teachers on recess duty know your kid; this is especially important if your child has behaviour or health needs or has experienced bullying. Your child will also be more likely to know kids in different grades because they'll all be outside at recess at the same time, and because extracurricular activities will be open to a larger range of grade levels. At my small school, it feels much more like a community. At larger schools, community-building is more challenging. A small school has fewer classes per grade level. This means that your child is more likely to be in the same class as their friends, and will be with the same classmates year after year. This can create a tight, family-like peer group.

Another advantage of a small school is that it's easy to get involved in opportunities behind the classroom. In a large school, opportunities such as getting to read the morning announcements or present at an assembly may be limited to a select few of the oldest students. In a small school, your child is more likely to get a chance.

It's also far less competitive to make it onto sports teams. For example, an elementary school soccer team can field the same number of grade five and six players, regardless of the size of the school. If there are 100 interested students, the kids who get a chance are those who play soccer outside of school. At a school with 20 interested students, nearly everybody can play on the team. While larger schools do have in-school leagues for the kids who don't make the competitive team, there's something to be said for the experience of getting to compete against kids at other schools. Also, the competitive team probably has a volunteer teacher or parent as a coach, while the house-league teams have limited coaching. At a small school, kids who aren't top athletes get a chance to develop their skills.

Lastly, huge schools can be overwhelming! When the bell rings after recess and seven hundred kids have to find their lineups, or when 40 different classes of kids are making their way through the halls to the library or gymnasium, things can get rather chaotic. As a petite teacher, I was sometimes afraid I'd be trampled at a large school - so I can't imagine how a grade one student would feel.

So there you have it! I love my small school and hope my own children get a chance to experience a wonderful school community like the one at the school where I teach.