Is there a future for SMALL schools?

[threecurrantbuns]

I am interested as my children currently attend a very small village school with very low numbers.

I see this a positive, but have been told there is no future for them and they with have to close or federate. And that they are very limited where funding is concerned so will only miss out on opptunities and facilities.

Interested in responses here as in a similiar position. I don't get the feeling our school is massively under-resourced though, generally I've been impressed with what's on offer with sports , music etc

At the moment our school is looking at joining with others for academy status - discussions are ongoing as to whether this is a good or bad thing.

I wold expect federation in the next few years. More and more small school are going down that route to share costs. Even middling size schools are teaming up to buy training and share resources. If you are a significant distance from the next nearest school I would expect the school to be safer from closure than a small school with larger schools only a few miles down the road.

The govenment bangs on about providing a range of provision that facilitates parental choice, hence academy status, free schools etc.

The reality is that budgets are forcing schools to rely on economies of scale which promotes one size fits all 'package deals'. The school I am joining in Jan will have 1000 children on role by the time the bulge class works through. In my area there are already a couple of 3-18 academies with special needs provision on the same site. While these megapolis schools are more economical to run the pressure of change will be in that direction.

:( this is my worry. My first two children are in key stage one at our tiny school.

It is a lovely school, but with a head approaching retirement and such small numbers I am concerned about its future and possible closure.

I have to decide whether to take places offered at an excellent but bigger school now while I have the choice...just incase or sit tight. Taking into consideration I have more children that will be going through the primary system in a few years.

OP - I think it depends very much on what you mean by SMALL.

Our school is pretty small (just under 100 pupils YR-Y6) and there are plusses and minuses to that. We have fewer after school clubs, and school trips are generally more expensive, but there's a really caring ethos and the staff know each child really well.

As long as the classes are all close-ish to 30 (we have 4 classes) then the funding should be adequate I would have thought.

However, you may be talking about a really small school - I would imagine that below about 50 children it gets much more difficult as you really have to have two classes and the funding is per child, not per class.

A couple near to me recently closed. A few years ago one had approximately 30-40 pupils. It dwindled down to less than 10 and despite joining in a federation with a cpuple of orher rursl svhools closed. when it closed the lea said that no child had been born in its rural catchment for several years. I think it ended up with 7 then 3 pupils.

We just moved dd to small primary in nearby village at half term.

Has intake of 20per year but mixed year classes so max it could take is 140pupils think currently has 132.

It has 5classes coe but voluntry controlled so within lea control.
it also has quite an effective pta.

it doesnt have as many facilities as old school no playing feild but does have large village green.The halls tiny so lots of plays happen in church next door and fetes in village hall.

3/5classes are portacabins and the original buildings victorian and very old .

They run a breckfast club but no after school childcare but have after school clubs run max an hour so quite an impressive range of extra curricular compared to her old larger primary.

Some are put off by school as say how will they cope when they go secondry.

Others say 20pan not enough to make loads of freinds.

Others put off my mixed classes and argue its too small.

Our lea has few academies than neigbouring lea where even bad primaries are going academy we have 1primary academy.

Due to changes in the area its likly that the schools shes joined will relocate to newbuild in future and probably take more kids as planning more housing. But head thinks thats meany years in the future so right now not stressing over it.

I have been impressed by new school as everyone knows everyone feels like a family and whol school intergration.
They taking whole school on trip to panto next month so guessing 3coach loads if kids whuch thinks brave.They seem to have more tas than older larger school.

Old school was 45intake a year so split classes over 10classes with possibility in future adding 11th class and 303pupils on roll.
They had no after school clubs or extra curricular.
just one school trip a year.
They had a libary which dd rarly ever went in.
I would say like many larger schools they had lots of facilities/opportunities that were under utilised.

A lot of schools near us are shiney beacons/newbuilds and parents seem impressed with taht compared to deliupaitated victorian/1960s school.

Saying that many here we outer suberb so close to few village schools are opting for older village and smaller schools.

The problem for small village schools is that they usually have a smaller percentage of children who qualify for free school meals and the pupil premium therefore they are seeing a huge cut in real terms to their budgets. Our Head is extremely concerned about funding cuts and we are potentially losing TA's as a result. I think it is a real worry for the future as I deliberately chose a small school for my children.

Our school has about 45 pupils and 3 classes.The kids get an absolutely first rate education - I would hate to see it close or amalgamate. A nearby school only has 12 pupils though

The other major threat to small schools is that the government is stopping the infant class size grant which makes a huge difference - £35k a year extra if you get over 30 pupils in KS1. Not yet clear whether the per head funding will be increased to make up the shortfall (but what do you think?)

Also, it really depends what they mean by Federation. Although our small school is great, I do think that we could share a head and some resources with another small school without totally undermining the things that make it special.

Our school has 45 split across 3classes.
So quite small. It has the things talked about family atmosphere very caring ethos between pupils. Teachers know all the children etc.
They do have a large outdoor area but don't have a lot of options for sport etc due to numbers.

Then the village community and friends link in with the school.

It's very tough as at the moment it is ok but I'm not sure how much they may struggle in the future, and there are some amazing 'bigger options' close by with limited spaces, obviously if the school here suffers places elsewhere will be limited.

Obviously we are know where near class sizes of 30...that was a big appeal of the school.