Why we keep the group under ten

A bigger group would earn more. We have done the arithmetic more than once. We keep it under ten anyway, and here is the honest reason.

In a group of twenty, a child who does not understand can stay quiet for a whole term. Nobody notices, because somebody else always has a hand up. In a group of nine, silence is loud. The teacher sees it in the first ten minutes and can do something about it that same afternoon.

That matters more for our children than for most. A child still finding their English will not volunteer that they are lost. They will nod. They will copy the child next to them. They will go home and say the day was fine. The only way to catch that is to have few enough children that you can look at each face.

It also changes what we can promise you at pick-up time. We can tell you what your child actually did today, what they found hard, and what they said — not a general report about how the class went.

So the number stays where it is. Nine children, and a tenth seat we leave empty on purpose.