Am I right to be trepidatious about a 1200 pupil secondary school?

[tinseloatcake]

We are looking to move house to get into catchment for a good secondary school, and all the schools I am looking at are 10 form entry with 1200 odd pupils. I think that is a huge amount, and a far cry from the 300 including 6th form of my childhood, and my DHs.

I know school is about setting them up for life but am not convinced that something that big is part of an essential life experience.

Am I wrong on this?

(all good schools, or even ofsted outstanding in many cases)

It’s economies of scale. Fairly standard and the pastoral system should ensure no one is missed.

Is that right? My school (late 90s) was a 6 form entry, and 1100 pupils (inc. 6th form). Each form in Yr 7-11 was between 25-28 pupils. We were one of the smaller schools in the area. My sister's school was well over 2000 pupils and that was too unwieldy.

I teach in a 1800 pupil high school OP, 12 form entry.
It's fine - we have enough staff/pupil ratio.
Top teachers too. That's what matters.

I live in a city where 1200 is a low number for a secondary school. My kids school has about 1400, ds1 left last year with great results and was nurtured all the way through. Yr 10 child on the same route. Don't let it put you off!

It is fairly normal.

However, a 10 form entry school is going to be a lot more than 1200 pupils.

What you find is the staff that work there are used to those numbers and have systems to help with any perceived difficulties.

What is it you are worried about, specifically ?

I can't imagine a secondary school with only 300 pupils
Sounds very limiting.

I was brought up in the back end of nowhere, our school had 1500 pupils, my kids' school had about 1200. I never thought about it to be honest!

This is a normal sized secondary. I'd say you and your dhs experience are the atypical ones.

Big schools mean big resources. And loads of GCSE choice.

It's not the size of the school, it's the way it's organised.

My DSs attended a 1400 pupil Y7-11 comp. It was organised into year groups, so the DC identified first with their class of 28, then their language group (3 classes of Spanish), then their year group (280).

The other school we considered (1700 DC) organised the DC into houses, so they, beyond their class, identified with the other 2 classes in their year who were in their House, then vertically with the DC in their House in the years above and below.

Both schemes appeared to work.

Pretty average for a secondary school I would say.
I think its a good thing for a school to be large. More diversity, learn how to work with a variety of abilities and backgrounss, more likely to find a group of friends with shared interests rather than just having to be friends with the few people who happen to be available. More opportunities such as trips, drama, music, clubs.

Agree with PP - 10 form entry is way more than 1200 pupils but pretty normal sized for these days.

It seems large, but actually being a large school means more facilities and opportunities. And it won't actually seem so big to the children because they will likely initially spend most lessons within the same class or group of classes. And they will have a personal tutor who will get to know them very well.

However, a 10 form entry school is going to be a lot more than 1200 pupils.
10 forms, 25 kids per form, 5 year groups. That's 1250 - sounds about right.

25 is about average for a "form" although classes might be larger or smaller.

Its a fairly standard size for a secondary school. Nothing to worry about.

Are you sure you're remembering your secondary school years correctly? That's a very small school.
1200 is pretty standard for a secondary school and was in the late 70s when I started.

My kids went from a primary of 60 kids TOTAL to a ten form entry secondary and they loved it.

We looked round a couple and I preferred this one because it was always designed to be massive and had therefore been well planned and thought through. The other one we looked at was a bit smaller, but had grown a lot and it just felt a bit chaotic with bits tacked in everywhere.

It just depends on the school, and the staff, but I don’t think you should be put off just by size.

I went to an 8 class entry state high school and had a fantastic education- my husband went to a much smaller one and though he did well he was much more limited on subject choices and support. Ours go to a large (8 or 9 class entry) high school, I was put off the private options locally precisely because they are so small.

ps my secondary was 400 too- some just are!

I thought that was a very average size for a secondary. DS is in a similar size school with vertical forms and houses, and it works well - enough dc to find a friendship group and a decent set of subject options

The primary my kids attend is 840 (4 form entry) so the step up to secondary in terms of numbers isn't that huge. However a 10 form entry for a school without a sixth form would mean at the very least 1500 pupils if it was full.

That's far more normal that your experience OP, even my kids' primary had 400 pupils I'm comparison to your secondary experience. I went to a tiny primary with 50 or so pupils so it seems big to me but it's a great school.

My six class school had 1500ish pupils aged 11-18.
It felt normal!

Seems like a fairly standard size. I think my own secondary school was 10 form entry and had about 1100 pupils (years 8-11)
My DC secondary is 8 form entry but goes from year 7 to sixth form so has 1200+. The only other choices in the town are similar size.

My DD's school has just gone from 5 to 6 form entry. So 160 to 192 each year.

Not sure how 10 form entry only makes 1200 pupils to be honest, it would surely be around 1500 pupils without sixth form.

As already mentioned, my DSs school was 1400, Y7-11.

Their home class size was 28, but particular in the upper years, the economies of scale meant some of their GCSE classes were 18-20 DC-strong.

I was at a 1100 Y7-13GS from 1973 😂. Even back then there were just too many of us to fit in the assembly hall at one go. Their sensible solution was to divide us into lower, middle and upper school. Those were our 'identities', if you like.

thats completely normal sized secondary school,

My dds school has 1600, and my ds school which is considered small, is just under 900

Usually with the bigger schools, they have a house system, so it never feels as big as it is

ok this is really reassuring.

Yes I remember my childhood correctly - if i say it was a small welsh private school that might explain it! My primary was 300 as well, as is theirs now.

No real idea about DH, he said that but he sometimes says any old thing