The difference between a school of 812 and 990 is not that great tbh, when you spread it across 7 school years. Much of the difference may be in the 6th form anyway, so might only mean a few extra kids per year group in Y7-11. Round here annual intakes of 180 kids per year are standard, and many school have more.
Find out how the pastoral care is structured -- how many tutor groups do they have per year group, and how many kids in each. Do they have heads of year, or heads of key stage? What are the settling-in arrangments?
For example, dd1's school which has an intake of 96 children per year (which is small for here) do a new Y7 day in July when they meet their new form tutor and classmates, and check out the layout of the school. They follow that up with a new Y7 families barbeque on a Sunday in July, where they can meet their classmates again informally, and parents can meet other parents.
In September they start the new Y7 a day early to ease them in gently with a special welcome assembly to which parents are invited, and give each newbie a Y8 girl and a Y12 girl to keep an eye on them. Early on in the year they do a Y7 trip to an activity centre (raft-building, high ropes, that kind of thing) and have an information evening for all Y7 parents to tell you what the expectations are, and to allow you to meet the staff and other parents (again).
That is at the extreme end of what can be done, but gives you an idea of what to look out for in terms of pastoral care.
As for whether you'd get into school 2, check the LEA website and see what the admissions arrangements are, and what the cut-off distance was for the previous year.
hth