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)

Also, if they haven't 'gone that way' already, smaller schools risk closure or merger.

My kids go to a 2000 pupil school. I always amazed that teachers know who they are. I honestly don't know how they manage it.

I think it's important to think about the set up of the school. Are they divided into houses or groups? Do those different groups mix or are they all kept separate. My secondary was that about that size. 10 forms in my year group. We were divided into 3 different buildings (all on the same grounds but separate buildings). 4 forms in 1 and 3 in the other two. We didn't really have much to do with each other except for the odd lesson like PE. It was pretty much like 3 separate schools in one. I was in one of the 3 form groups so there were 90 in my year group.
Then they changed it and we were all grouped together. So now the year group was almost 300 (we also spent too much time going from one building to another as we then all used all 3). It was very easy to become invisible in a year group of that size.
If the school has a house style system then it's not so bad.

Normal size! I work at one with 1300 students. Doesn’t actually feel that many and it still has a good community feel. Lots of extracurricular opportunities as well

My dc are at a small secondary school. Only 4 form entry about 600 pupils. I dont know why its so small, its a state school in the semi rural SE of england always oversubscribed. I worried it was going to be too small, ideally I would have preferred it to be larger.

My old primary school had around 840 pupils and secondary school was around 1700 total.

The primary school has (and had) far too many pupils. Secondary was around 1700. That was fine.

Lots of areas have massive schools.

My DS is at a school with pupil numbers of just over 600. Some years have 3 forms some have 5 as we had a bit of an increase in birth rates in the town a few years ago plus a property boom. He has ASD so it suits him as he wouldn't cope with large numbers.
The same school was over 1100 prior to becoming an academy; then was threatened with closure due to council plans and the roll dropped to 400 with the sixth form closed down. It then became an academy and the numbers have started to increase. Many pupils come to the school from 2 adjoining counties which helps to increase the numbers.

Standard. My kids' secondary school was that size and I live in a rural area. These days it's important to have a really good range of exam subjects and types of qualifications. The only way to achieve that is, as someone else said, by the economies of scale of a large school.

Ours is that size. It works fine as they split them into houses. I would say though if you want to be in plays or play in sports teams it's harder to be noticed. For example for netball, the school has an A and a B team, so regardless how big the school is, only 14 can play. That's where it falls down imv.

10 form entry will be 300 children a year, so 1500 if years 7-11, add on perhaps another 300 for 6th form, and you're looking at 1800.

That's the standard round here. Honestly, I'm not keen. I went to a small 3 form entry and these seem ridiculously large. My whole school including 6th form was smaller than 2 years!

However there are advantages with big schools as well as disadvantages. My dc have not had an issue with the size of the school, and it has given them some opportunities smaller schools wouldn't necessarily get.

I went to a secondary school in North London (left in 2006) and there was 8 form classes of 30. So 1200 kids. It was absolutely fine! I won't hesitate when it comes to putting my children into a big school.

I went from a 50 pupil primary (which I hated) to a 1200 pupil secondary, I absolutely loved it by comparison, it was so liberating.

In the city I am in 1200 in a secondary school is considered small! Most are around 2000 which I find mind boggling! My children attend the small (1200) school and it doesn't seem too big. Has lots of facilites.

When we first applied for Ds1 I was shocked looking at the sizes of the various schools as I attended what was considered to be a large school and it had 750 pupils.

I don’t think the numbers add up right - if it’s 30 x 12 forms that’s 360per year. Five years plus sixth form take you to at least 2000.

We are a high school with 1200 in and it’s totally manageable. I preferred working at a secondary with 4/5 forms per year as you got to know all the students. However it was hard when there were friendship issues. Hazing so many more students means more staff and more opportunity but you need to shout to be heard sometimes.

Dd's school has gone up to 400 in a year so they're tending towards 2000 in Y7-11

My kids went from a primary of 120 pupils to a high school of 1700. They were fine.

2000 in my inner city comp. DS is going to a school with 500 and I’m pleased about it. My school was much too big, the teachers couldn’t control us.

Completely normal. My secondary school had 1000 and I grew up in a regional area of Australia. DS’s has 1200 and DD’s 900. DS’s school definitely has a better range of subject choices as a result.

I went to a tiny primary and it was so insular and limited. I would never send my kids to a small secondary, not enough options for them in subjects or friendships.

Mine will be going from a 1200 primary/middle school to 3400 high school. I guess it will be overwhelming but they have the first year of HS in a separate wing before they get thrown to the wolves.

Wow, schools where I am have as many as 3000 - and vg track records.

I went to a 1200 high school and I had thought that fairly small at the time. Certainly felt like everyone knew everyone and all the teachers knew you and you definitely couldn’t hide anything from your siblings in higher years, dammit!

My DS's go to a high school with around 600. It has the benefits of smaller class sizes etc but it’s on a shared campus with another school so gets all the benefits that more money brings (better facilities etc).

I also went to a 1200 secondary school back in the 90s. I lived in a medium-sized town and thought this was a standard size. FWIW, I was pretty shy but the number of pupils in the school didn't bother me.

DD's is that size, 250 per year for 5 year groups.

In y7 they start of in halves or thirds, only having lessons within their section.
Then later they are mixed by mini options and then banded for GCSEs by core subject ability.

A larger year group means more chance of finding like minded friends, and more options in usual times for after school clubs.

Downside is if you have a noise / crowd sensitive child.

I've never heard of such a small secondary as yours was.
There are specialist teachers for everything at secondary. That's one of the reasons they're the size they are.

1200 is average. 800 would be considered small. 2000 would be big.