1 form entry schools?

[Musication]

We are moving back to the UK very soon and there are spaces in a what seems like a good primary school, however it only has a 1 form entry. My children are y1 and y3 and are coming from quite a big international school (possibly a bit too big!). We are going to go and take a look at the school once we touch down, but just wondered anyone's experiences of such a little school?
The negatives that I perceive are potentially a small pool of friends to allow for changes, possibly lack of extra curricular, not very good preparation for secondary. The benefits that I perceive are that the teacher will know the children really well, small friendly feel.
Any experiences to share?

My boys are in a one form entry primary in outer London. There is a real sense of community, as they move up the school staff know them already.

I went from a rural primary of 60 pupils to a 4 form entry secondary and yes at first it was slightly overwhelming, but you adapt quickly.

My eldest is off to secondary in September, however as he has SEN he will have additional transition, so hopefully that will help.

Sorry - just to add their is a variety of after school clubs offered (mainly sports related) and they have adequate resources (largely due to a very active PTA)

*there not their!

Ours is a half form entry with dual year classes. - nursery/reception, 1/2, 3/4, 5/6.
Positives are lots of friendships across the years. Older children really help with the younger. If you want to be on the sports team then you’re in. Teachers know all the kids.
Negatives - If you’re gifted at sports your unlikely to be stretched. The teams rarely win against larger schoold

We like it, it is like a family which is lovely.

Cons are I think that secondary will come as a shock, and if there are fallings out it is hard to escape

I think you've misunderstood what one form means. There are 30 children per class. 29 other children to socialise with is not lacking surely? They are only going to socialise with children in their class anyway. At my son's old primary school they were planning to go from one to two form and we were all in uproar about it.
I'm not sure what expectations there are for extra curricular activities these days, but where I grew up and now live, there are before/after school club provisions, some school clubs and you sort the rest out yourself, for primary schools especially. I'm a bit surprised if people expect constant extra curricular activities provided by schools, that isn't their job.

The benefits of 1 form entry is that all the staff know the child. Our DC went to a 1 form entry school and I don't think a larger school would have worked for them any better.

Ultimately the quality of the head and the staff is what makes the difference.

Our primary is 1 form entry with a PAN of 17. There were 21 in my dc1s year and 13 in dc2s.
They moved onto an 8 form entry secondary with no issues.
Dc1 has since moved onto a 1200 student entry sixth form college, dc2 will do the same.

We had mixed year classes, although dc1s year had modifications due to its size (the year groups either side were much smaller), so it was a single year group reception, then R/yr1 & yr1/yr2 mix, yr 3&4 and yr 5&6.

Dc2 stayed in R/yr1 in yr 1 cos he needed that extra nurturing and support, dc1 moved into the yr1/2 class.

Dc2 is bright and went into the next class for certain lessons when he was in the upper year of the mixed class - so in yr 4 he did certain lessons in the yr 5/6 class. In yr 6 the teacher communicated with secondary and set him individual lessons. This is all down the to school ethos and individual teachers, not the size of the school.

They both made friends, although didn't continue those friendships in secondary.

There was a number of after school clubs and peretepetic music lessons.

@delilahbucket

I think you've misunderstood what one form means. There are 30 children per class. 29 other children to socialise with is not lacking surely? They are only going to socialise with children in their class anyway. At my son's old primary school they were planning to go from one to two form and we were all in uproar about it. I'm not sure what expectations there are for extra curricular activities these days, but where I grew up and now live, there are before/after school club provisions, some school clubs and you sort the rest out yourself, for primary schools especially. I'm a bit surprised if people expect constant extra curricular activities provided by schools, that isn't their job.

I've not misunderstood! I know what one form means and I know roughly how many children are in a class. In my DC current school, however, DD was in a class where it just didnt work out - too many kids with poor behaviour and a subset of girls that weren't nice to each other. So they mixed the classes up a bit this year to address those imbalances. This also meant DD got a chance to meet some new friends which was nice for her. I guess this isnt possible in a 1 form school. I do not expect constant extra curricular activities at all- my DC do plenty out of school but it is quite a nice feature of a school if a few are offered. Not sure why your reply is so aggressive it's not a totally out-there question.

Thanks for all the helpful replies with your experiences - seems like it's generally a positive.

Mine are in a single form school. They're both in lovely classes so it's positive that they stay together all the way through. It is cosy and the staff tend to get to know everyone.

If it's a tougher class combination, you can get stuck with that.

Both DSs are in girl-heavy classes and it's a small pool of boys for them to know (they tend to be predominantly single sex friendships through KS2. It's taken a bit of engineering to help DS2 settle into a friendship group as there were only two clusters avaliable.

I deliberately chose a 1 form entry school because I didn’t want classes constantly mixed up (autistic child who needs consistency and who struggles enough socially without potentially being separated from friends) and the bustle of a big school. As it happens they’re in a very tricky class but school manages it well and for us the payoff of consistent classmates, a small friendly feel, a very nurturing ethos and all the staff knowing all the children is absolutely worth it for him. My other child would thrive anywhere - they go to the same school for convenience and it’s fine, but I’d probably have chosen somewhere slightly bigger and with better sports and music opportunities if I only had them to think about.

Getting a space for both children at the same school for “in year” admissions around here would be an achievement, so I imagine much will depend on what your other options are!

All of the schools by me (except one Catholic school) is one form intake, it’s very normal to have that size of school here. On the whole I really like it. There is a real community, family feel to the school. But the downside is if there are issues with the class.