Do Introverted/Shy Children Do Better in Smaller School Populations?

I second Sparklingbrook while DD was very shy until she was about 14, a bit shy aged 14-17 from 18-21 she has grown and changed so much and is now very confident and a real chatterbox.

Also what you need to consider is that your child will grow and change and adapt. DS1 is now in Year 10 and although he is still quite a shy person he is a world away from the shy boy that started in Year 8 now he is nearly 15..

Not necessarily!
It really depends on the child and the schools concerned.

A big school (and 1500 isn't that big, really) offers more people to be friends with, can offer more activities, and can be organised conciously to not "lose pupils.
A smaller school can have restricted friends, sometimes can do things like everyone in the playground at breaks (where as a bigger school offers more than one place to congregate), may have less money or room to allow access to the library at breaks, may "assume" everyone knows everyone.
On the other hand the big school could be somewhere your DS just feels lost, and the smaller school could be really caring.

You really need to go and look and ask the awkward questions - do not guess what the schools answers will be.

Rafa - that does makes sense, particularly the activity groups. My opinion is probably formed largely by my own experiences as a teenager. I went to 2 secondary schools; the first had 300 pupils from 1st year up to Upper Sixth. When I moved to another school in the Lower Sixth, I was quite intimidated by the increase in size - to 400! So the thought of a school of 1500 is rather frightening to me. My DS goes to a school of 900, my DD goes to a school of 750 and the youngest to a Primary school of fewer than 90.

The more I think about this, the more I think the size of the school is so far down the list of considerations that it's almost irrelevant. A very shy child can have problems in groups of 3 or 4 or even 1:1. The extra 27+ children in the class don't really make much difference after that. And the class sizes may well be similar in both schools.

What I think is more important is:
a) pastoral care - what's their year 7 induction program like, how well do they help children settle in, develop friendship groups, what do they do to support children who are having problems
b) a variety of activities, at least some of which suit the interests of your child so they can build up their confidence and perhaps meet other people.

Neither of those are really dependent on the size of the school and as DeWee says there isn't really much difference between a school of 900 and one of 1500.

I think though (particularly with those sizes-I wouldn't regard 900 as majorly small) it will depend on the school and the child, and the year/form they're in.
900 to 1500+ isn't that major a difference to me.

You may find though that with the really big school it's effectively split up into smaller sections, so has the result of for a shy child making it more managable. Dd1's school (10 form entry) they most of the time are in year groups (they have a playground per year group, for example) -even their year group is split in 2 for many things like trips etc. But it has the advantages of lots of opportunities as in a big school.

For dd1, in a lot of ways she would love a small school. But she can very quickly become a big fish in a little pond. She's very shy, painfully shy over some things. But she is very bright and very keen to volunteer and always works hard. So teachers remember her, and she gets a lot of opportunities. The big school has suited her in a way I don't think it suits dd2, or will suit ds, who are nothing like as shy.

I was at a very small school (75 entry) at secondary, and I loved it. However for my dsis, she found that there wasn't anyone in her year she really got on well with. In fact I think she got on better with my friends than her year for the most part. She, although also is shy, I think would have benefitted from a larger school. Because she would have taken the opportunities available and would have been more likely to find people she got on with.

Maybe look at the class sizes. Our local comp is huge but concentrates on making sure classes are 25 rather than 28 or 30, and even lower for the lowest maths sets.

Also in large schools they may have set up extra support for quieter types, at lunchtime etc whereas in smaller schools that might not be the case. Maybe ask.

Can he just not move to the same school as his primary school friends?

Picking a school is not always an irrevocable decision - is there scope to try a school for a year and move if it does not work out?

Yes...
DD did far better once class sizes got smaller at her school because they were set for GCSEs. DD could easily get lost, forgotten and overshadowed in her primary with fairly big classes. As a teacher, I see this happening too. Sadly your time and resources are limited and I always wish I had more time to just spend chatting to individual children and getting to know them even more. I think there is too small though - I wouldn't choose a school where it was so small that opportunities are limited.
I think DD used to feel a lot comfortable generally when the group was smaller, she would be a lot chattier and smaller groups led to a cyclic effect of more attention leading to her engaging in more conversation and then gaining confidence and then not being afraid to join in.
Having said that, DDs school was 100 per year group so I know not huge by any means, but not a 'small school'. It worked because there were enough other children for her to find friends she really clicked with and felt very comfortable with.

I think cliques have more to do with the atmosphere and ethos of the school than the size. My small secondary was very cliquey. And it was very obvious when people didn't fit in.

As a shy and introverted teen I think I would have preferred a bigger school. More places to hide or to fit in IYSWIM.

I also agree that if there are more children, there will be more likely to be more children he connects with. I would say that of any child who stands out as being different to the average in any way.

Before my current post I taught in a school of 1500+.

As a teacher? I prefer it. I have taught my current yr 10s for 4 years and I feel that I know them pretty well. Students at my school frequently say that the school is supportive and a real community - I think this is at least in part because we are small. I know of other schools that split cohorts into two or three or even four schools/colleges/houses in order to manufacture that community feeling. We get it automatically!

JF - clique question very interesting. That old saying 'birds of a feather' may pertain but I wonder if it is partly to due with teenage years too with kids trying out different styles and playing with their identities. I would think that most people are more comfortable in a group as they feel safer and less vulnerable so will accommodate themselves to fit into a group rather than stand out as an individual. Those who will not accommodate themselves tend to end up as the loners or leaders!

Sorry - should add that same dd has now had 3 happy years at secondary school.

Joh - whilst there is obviously a smaller pool from which to draw friends, I think a smaller school forces fewer cliques - kids have to tolerate each other's little differences. The main reason I'd go for a smaller school is that in smaller schools staff know all the children far better and can pick up on social issues quickly. There tends to be a more 'family' type atmosphere in smaller schools IME. Certainly at PS, my painfully shy dd coped far better in a tiny school where she was allowed to be herself than in a larger school where she felt rather intimidated and climbed into her shell. She has grown in confidence each year with a very small but strong friendship group.

No personal experience, but if your DS is shy to the point where it impacts his friendships I might be tempted towards the larger school purely on the basis that larger student numbers mean there are more likely to be others he can connect with (it's also easier to purposefully 'lose' yourself in a crowd in a larger school, not sure if you'll feel this is a positive or negative!)

Another consideration would be whether his existing friends will be attending either school. Even if the friendships don't persist, it might help him to hit the ground running.

What sort of Primary is he in Joh?

Mmm. Thank you for the extra info. We didn't have a choice so introvert DS1 started at the local 1500+ High School a mile down the road. He struggled a lot. But looking back none of it was to do with the size of the school IYKWIM. He didn't settle and after 9 months enough was enough.

We ended up moving him. The new school has about 300 less pupils. he has settled and he loves it.

Even at the current school they split the year into 2 and have two halves IYSWIM, to help with crowd control and lesson planning. he hardly ever sees pupils in lessons to the other half to him.