thanks to everyone. It helped to write out my thoughts a bit in the post because it was hard to make sense of why I wouldn't want to try the new school.
I am glad that others understood my concern about a small group but also had good experiences. I know a couple kids there and they seem like great kids. DD also knows them a little and likes them as well. I guess it just seems that the experience at the school would be affected greatly by the social dynamics of a small group of children. Its not really different than her current classroom which has 26 kids but at least each year there are opportunities to mix the kids up and make new friends.
The lack of track record and reputation bothered me a little and was one of the reasons we didn't check out this school more seriously at the start of the school. I still had hope at that point that this would be a good year at her current school and so did DD. Now I think we are both disillusioned enough to give it a try. And if her younger sister can join her next year for kindergarten that would really clinch it I think. Her sister barely misses the public school kindergarten cut off and so is slated for transitional kindergarten next year followed by regular kindergarten if we do not appeal or work out a skip. Her knowledge seems to effortlessly jump by leaps and bounds and I expect her to be a poor fit for a 2 year kindergarten program to say the least. She is already a few years ahead.
We are going to try out DD7 for a day there and see how it goes. We also have our conference at our current school this week so that should help clarity our situation. DD7 is increasingly excited about trying out the new school though so I think the decision may already be made.
