Is it a given that larger schools will have more problems with bullying?

[Mum23468]

I have a SEN kid and I am considering schools for him. He has limited communication skills.

We're considering smaller rural primary schools in the hope that even if staff are very stretched, they'll have a closer relationship with the kids and be able to keep a better eye on bullying. Is this valid?

We’ve found the opposite. Our DS was in a school with two classes per year group (actually, some years had 3) and he really didn’t get on with another boy in the same class so in the next academic year they swapped a couple of the children (including my DS) into different classes. Also, some of the bigger schools have a full-time SENCo (who is usually a specialist in SEN) and some even have a full-time welfare officer/pastoral support. My ds’s school had their own speech and language therapist too.

As a teacher l would go for a bigger school. They are likely to have more experience teaching children with various needs. There is likely to be more experienced support teachers and teacher assistants due to greater numbers. Also in a small school a teacher is dealing with a multiclass situation so harder to find time for your dc. Also the class will have different children with different interests so your dc may find a like minded child to bond with. The most horrible bullying l have seen has been in a small school as the friendship pool is so small children will get more upset about losing their friend so try to keep others out.
If you have heard locally that the small school are amazing are helping children with needs fit in..fine but otherwise l would go to the bigger school.

Larger schools have more opportunity to separate pupils into different classes. There is a greater diversity of pupils so there's a group of friends to suit everyone. Smaller schools mean problem combinations of pupils are more likely to be thrown together.

A larger school would find it easier to keep children apart. Say your child has an issue with someone in Reception. They are stuck in the same class for 7 more years where as in a bigger school one could be moved to another class or sat away from each other in different areas of the classroom.
Bigger class means more or a chance that you meet someone who is similar and the teacher is more likely to have encountered a child with similar needs so could have experience with what strategies work.

I found it worse in a smaller school. The larger they are the more different personalities there are, so you're more likely to find someone similar. Also so many kids to pick on haha you can blend in or bullies get distracted to others :)

Not necessarily.
I was bullied horrifically at a tiny Primary school.
DD was bullied at Primary too but with a 3 class entry she could easily avoid the bullies and find other friends

I think bigger schools are more experienced. My school has people whose whole job is dealing with these sorts of issues. That isn't the case in smaller schools. It makes it more efficient....

Bigger means more chance to find your people and avoid others. More clubs and distractions too.

I think the one thing I wish someone had told me years ago (DS has SN and is 17) is that there isn't a perfect school.

We went with the tiny rural primary and it was mostly great, though DS was horrifically bullied in his final year. Over the years he was there, children did leave because of friendship group issues - there were hardly any girls, really there were three or four year groups where it was max 3/4 girls in a year group so issues there that actually couldn't be resolved. And many of the teachers didn't seem to have enough experience of SN as a pp has said.

BUT the small, nurturing atmosphere was wonderful, they spent a lot of time outdoors, the whole school was composite classes which meant that teachers were great at differentiating, DS made a core group of friends and academically thrived.

He then went to a big secondary where the whole thing was more or less a reverse of the above

The only advice I can give is go and see a few schools and pick the one that ticks most of the boxes. No one school will ever tick them all for children with additional needs.

We chose a big school. It's massively under funded and they have form for utilising my sons support worker else where.