Choosing a school

[SPR1107]

So the local school in this area is 400 students age 4-7! Going up to just shy of 500 age 7-11.. split in to classes of 30, of one teacher and sometimes one TA. This is nearly one of the biggest in the county, with local village schools in surrounding areas ranging upward from 92 students from ages 4-11.

Originally I'm not from the area, and have tried to discuss this with people who are, but they all went to this school and are a little bit bias about it. I just keep getting 'don't be a snob, you live here, your kid goes to school here'.

Now I don't know if it's me that's blind-sighted.. as a child my parents drove us 12 miles to a school with 100 students age 4-11! So a huge difference and a huge sense of community.

My worry is, if I have a 'middle of the road child', who doesn't need extra support or isn't gifted, he won't get the attention or support that could be beneficial for him, because the class is too large.

Anyway, I have a year to think about this however, thinking of starting my DS in a preschool (currently goes to an out of town nursery), in the same area where he will go to school, so that he knows children before he goes.

The problem is, we live in one town, second baby will be at nursery in another (can't move them), and ds could potentially then be at a school in a whole other town. (DH working hours mean school / nursery runs are on me).

Am I being precious? Or should I be concerned about this? I have no current knowledge of school systems.

Do I send him to the local school, where he will be growing up, and where I could have a fair size support network for help with any drop offs / pick ups in emergencies etc. Or is it more important to get him into a school we're the ratios are a lot lower?

Appreciate I might be overthinking it all

Is the large school good/outstanding and has it been for a while? What about the smaller schools? Will you actually be able to get your child into one of the smaller schools if you are several miles away?

If a school has around 100 pupils, you can bet they have a PAN of 15 and two year groups in one class, so 30 children there too! There are some schools that have 20 in a class but this is increasingly rare as budgets are cut, 20 isn't financially sustainable. That said, I love small schools but not necessarily for the class size!
Chose the school that feels right but don't discount the 12 mile drive 4 times a day, the lack of friends locally and the imporance of family backup though!

We schooled in a small village school, smaller class size and 1 class per year. Its not been great tbh as the class has several sen as well as just disruptive influences which have impacted on my child's learning and the staff experiences have been limited, thus working resolutions have been limited. If I could turn back the clock I would look at locality vs small village.

You need to check whether it is at all realistic that your DC wouid be offered at place at any school other than the nearby large one. Check the greatest distance offered for each.

Also, large schools will have the ability to take smaller groups out of classes for focussed work, where a small school with fewer facilities might not.

I also think that the idea of the middle section of a class of 30 being left to coast is unlikely these days. There are several specific targets that schools have to achieve in KS2 and they couldn't afford to allow middle ability children to drift.

Sorry forgot to mention, all the schools have a good ofsted rating, but the juniors of the large school states 'requires improvement'... but it has just been changed to an academy last year.

The other schools would be difficult to get in to but not impossible.

I do wonder if the ability to make friends is harder in a smaller school, because there's less children to find things in common with?

Also, the senior schools are all large, so would this then be a huge shock at age 11, to go from a school of 100 to 1000