Are Large Schools Always Better For Kids?

Mina Yan | Apr 10, 2022 4:30 pm | Add a comment | 149 reads

When parents talk about the modern campus, and especially those found at international schools here in Beijing, they often say something to the effect of: “It’s huge. They’ve got everything! I wish I had that when I was growing up.” And while providing a child with access to the latest smart classroom and an advanced robotics lab might be considered every parent’s dream, does it really mean that one school is better than another simply because they’ve got more stuff?

No parent, nor any education researcher, is going to dispute the fact that smaller classrooms mean more individual attention and that teachers are better able to adapt to the learning styles of each student, but what about the school’s student body as a whole?

In Beijing, a school like Western Academy of Beijing (WAB) has more than 1,300 students while its teacher-to-student ratio is 1:8. Likewise, Dulwich College Beijing (DCB) has more than 1,560 students with a teacher-to-student ratio of just 1:6. Needless to say, students at these two large international schools are not getting lost amongst the masses.

DCB’s facilities include two air-filtered sports domes, a multi-purpose sports hall, six tennis courts, weight room, FIFA two-star-rated football pitch, rugby pitch, cricket pitch, and a swimming pool. The school’s campus houses two large theaters with 755 seats combined, two black box theaters, three spacious music rooms, seven practice rooms, two ICT suites including one dedicated to music, a professional green screen film studio, five art rooms, Early Years kitchen and art room, three libraries, 10 well-equipped science laboratories, well-lit classrooms with SmartBoards, and SE21, the state-of-the-art STEAM & entrepreneurship hub. Simply put, it’s everything a parent wishes they had while growing up. The environment fosters creativity, innovation, and has the resources to help children explore their interests. But what if its curriculum is at odds with your student’s learning style? Then will all those amenities ultimately serve their purpose? They’ve got small class sizes which means individualized attention all while being offered the resources of a large state-of-the-art international school. It’s essentially the best of both worlds.