Which do we choose?

OP - there are friends, and then there are CLOSE friends. You’ll know which type applies to your son’s friends that are going to the Catholic school. Although it is true that most kids leave with different friends than they started secondary with, it’s not true for all. It depends on quality, and where really close friendship is there, there’s research that show maybe it really matters. My father is about to jointly celebrate his 80th with 3 of his close friends from primary school (touch wood).

Best friends forever; How friendship boosts pupils' grades www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-45652599

As others have said, the results your DS gets matter more than the difference between 2 good schools (and they’re both that, which is why choosing is both so hard and such a luxury). FWIW, my DS is also super sociable, has already made new friends 3 weeks into Y7, but that’s not stopped him taking being at a different school than his bestie since Reception hard. It’s hard to watch.

If Catholicism was important at primary why is it less so at secondary? I would have thought this was the deal breaker.

I was going to say probably the larger has more options but then saw how big it is.
That would put me off.

When you said small I thought you meant the whole school would be 500-600.

It's a nice position to be in to have 2 good schools to choose from. With the smaller one that's been turned around, I would have a look closely at the behaviour policy and how it's implemented. In my experience schools with long histories of poor behaviour and outcomes tend to end up getting some more rigid/draconian policies (i hate that phrase but you know what I mean). Check you'd be happy signing up to whatever they do, especially if it has since become under a MAT.

The intake of the larger school is 800? 😮 TBH I just couldn't send my DC to a school that big.

no the eldest is at one school then dd went to another, and dd2 followed her which surprised us but it has been equally good for her.

From my shortlist i let my dcs choose. Obviously only from those i was already happy with. In all 3 cases it has been the right choice for them.

600 PER YEAR?! That's 20 classes of 30.
No wonder they win everything sportswise, they must have half the county to choose from.

The "smaller" school definitely! (200 is not small... !)

I'd be very wary of the larger school. For example computer science, how many get to do it at GCSE? How do they "select"?
DofE - again how many actually get to do it.

I'd be very worried about lack of opportunity at a school of 600/year.

Gosh that's still huge. Must be just about the biggest secondary in the country. That would certainly give me pause, how can the head know every student? I was a year 11 tutor last year and I reckon I knew all the year by name; I'd have struggled with 600. If your Ds has been at a small primary, a secondary with 3,000 pupils might well be overwhelming.

op I am over invested in your thread clearly, but I am keen to know if that figure is right! Are there really 800 students in a year?!

As a teacher Ofsted reports are so flawed do not believe them. In fact one local to me regularly off roles pupils who will not get the grades in order to get the grades it wants! Is this what you want?
Go with what you feel is best!

Yes I meant to say that 200-240 intake is standard, most secondaries my way have about 1000-1200 students. 600 I would call a small school, ie 100-120 a year.

Wow an intake of 800! That is an enormous school! So a school of 4,000 students excluding sixth form. That's twice the size of the biggest school in my East Mids county/city.

That might give me pause, unless I could see what they did to mitigate against possible issues with so many students.

Also as others say, how old is the outstanding rating - the nearby outstanding school to us was last inspected 10 years ago. A recent good is supposed to be a similar level to an old outstanding as Ofsted have got tougher. Allegedly. Your DH's reasons sound more to do with him and less your son tbh.

A school with an intake of 200 is normal. Usually it’s 210 (7 x 30). If it’s 200 they expect below 30 in each class. With 6th form, you will have around 1300? This is not small.

Did you really mean 800? 5x800 is 4,000 without a 6th form. This cannot be right! Did I read that correctly?

mishgs. I've had experience of a larger Ofsted outstanding school. They had their inspection whilst I was a parent at the school. Ofsted missed a number of issues and wouldn't listen to parents who had contacted them. So I ignore Ofsted outstanding grades now. Ignore the Ofsted reports and ask for another look at these schools on a school day. Lots of parents ask for another look.

clary's point concerning the GCSEs available is very relevant. Ask lots of questions and email the schools if you have to.

Sit your DH down and have a frank conversation.

My kids attend an Outstanding school - think it was inspected over 10 years ago and believe me they have plenty of ineffective teachers!

But, we live in an affluent area and parents are not willing to allow poor maths teaching to impact on their dc's results, so the use of tutors is usually the way to plug the gap - nearly half the kids in my dc's class have a tutor, the school's GCSE results look like good teaching more like good tutoring!
If the smaller school in a less well off area is getting the same results as a school in a more affluent area I'd think the smaller school had better teaching because the results in the smaller school will not be inflated by tutors.
Besides this I believe in taking dc's views into account when choosing a new school - in the event the your ds is miserable at school/gets bullied, he may blame and resent you for forcing him to attend a school he did not wish to - the teenage brain is a difficult thing to deal with at the best of times, having a good relationship with your dcs is really important in the teen years, it keeps you in the sphere of influence.

Can't see if you've mentioned it, but why is DH so keen on the other school? If it's just the Ofsted rating that really is no guide to how your DS will get on at the school!! If he has genuine reason (the school will offer x, y,z ...) then of course this gives you something to weigh up and consider.

Picking up on points above. if the catholic school is in a sufficiently deprived area, then this will actually benefit your DS on university applications.
The "academic" extra-curricular activities offered by the larger school are likely to be study support - i.e. there is an after school session in every subject where your child can go and ask questions if they are struggling with anything in class.