Small community school or large academy for primary?

[Roses1221]

We cannot decide where to send our DS. We’re lucky to have plenty of options and after visiting nearly every nearby primary have settled on two which gave us the ‘good feeling’. Both have great wraparound care, outdoor space, ofsted reports, distance wise they’re very similar. However, they’re polar opposites in terms of size! Any insights into small vs large, community vs academy would be appreciated from parent and teacher viewpoint…

School 1: community school, 150 pupils, one form entry, mixed year group of 3/4, original Victorian building with extensions (including one temp classroom/portacabin which has been there years)

School 2: academy, 2 form entry, 400 pupils, newer building, purpose built (ie corridor not doubling up as a library)

Appreciate your thoughts!

We were in a similar predicament and debated this for weeks and weeks (drove my potty in the end!)

We had narrowed it down to a one form lovely Catholic school (DD Baptised) and a 2 form entry one, which is our catchment school. In the end we went with the 2 form one for the following reasons:

1. More enrichment opportunities available (greater funding).
2. More clubs and activities on offer.
3. Better wraparound options
4. Greater opportunities for friendships (I was concerned that the one form may result in a gender imbalance).
5. If we don;t like the 2 form school, it would be easier for us to move her to the Catholic school than it would be to the 2 form which is always over subscribed.

I'd look at things like trips, extra curricular (do they have eg. Specialist sport teacher or art teachers?), music lesson provision. Bigger schools are usually better for this but an academy may be more results focussed and therefore not offer as much extra curricular. The size is a bit irrelevant to the ethos of the school. Ask questions about all those things.

Two form over smaller every time. For all the reasons othered put. By Yr4/5/ and defo 6 they need bigger pool of kids and other stuff

My dc moved from a school with 30 in a class and 3 form entry to a small school of 17 in a class. The difference in teaching is enormous. As a teacher myself, having 17 children to teach would have a profound difference on the time I could spend on personalised learning.

DD was in a class of 16 at primary and the following year in a class of 34 (long story involving NQT leaving very suddenly). For her, the class of 34 was hugely preferable. Being in a tiny class means there is a lot less opportunity for discussion and interaction and that worked really badly for DD.

Our daughter in year 2 has moved from a large local primary (650+ kids, 3 form) to a very small school. It's been really great. I love that everyone knows everyone. Kids from across year groups play together. Smaller class size also means she gets more attention. A lot of things would just go unnoticed in a big school but here it's easily identified and addressed. Also, the small school is much more flexible catering children's educational needs as per their ability.
I had read here about having limited kids for friendship. But I think it was easier for her to get lost in a class group of 30 - and she still wanted to stick around with select few. Here she has friends from across year groups which I think is very valuable.

I've been shocked by how many are saying choose a big school. It never occurred to me that anyone would want their child in a big school. I've only ever seen small class sizes and small community schools as the best.

It's been an eye opener and an interesting read.

@pompomsgalore

I've been shocked by how many are saying choose a big school. It never occurred to me that anyone would want their child in a big school. I've only ever seen small class sizes and small community schools as the best.

It's been an eye opener and an interesting read.

If it was a choice of a smaller class but with same funding level, still all one year group in the class, same facilities, same extra curricular etc then it would be better. But unfortunately smaller schools have compromises usually.

I personally wouldn’t send my son to a primary school that had any mixed year group classes.

The school I chose for my son happened to be the largest out of all the options, the staff were experienced in his specific needs, they had multiple staff who had basic BSL and experience with hearing impaired children, there were other LAC and they had always had at least one LAC for the previous 9 years. All staff received specific trauma training, all classrooms were dyslexia friendly. Physical classrooms were large and spacious, a wide range of cheap extra-curricular activities, good and fairly cheap wrap around care with easy to gain spaces.

It isn’t the size of the school that matters, its the ethos.

My preference in schools is one form entry.
Next on the list I’d choose two form, and then last choice would be split years.

I don’t really understand the issues people keep bringing up about friendship choice being an issue, 30 kids really is a lot of choice.

At my sons one form entry school the head knew every child on a personal level and there’s definitely no shortfall in extra curricular activities or wraparound options.

There are a lot of benefits to a split year groups. I teach reception/ year one and both ages benefited in different ways. I can see there are some drawbacks too of course.

We have a similar choice to make as you for our DD. We have chosen the school with a two form entry. It seems that the Head is able to stretch the budget so much further than in the one form school with Victorian buildings. There are more sports on offer, the whole school went on a trip to the Panto at Christmas etc.

Also, with two forms for each year group there will be two teachers who can bounce ideas off each other, share resources and share great lesson plans. I feel that this will only enhance the quality of the teaching.

Schools need 30 in a year group to maximise the budget. 20/25 gives a significant shortfall in £ each year. School budgets are based on roll and small numbers mean fewer teachers and class amalgamations.

Heads of 2 form entry schools do know their pupils. Being an academy doesn’t prevent any community involvement. They ARE the school in that community. They are just governed differently.

I would always try and judge quality of teaching and progress the DC make. It the school full of DC learning purposefully? Are the children happy and engaged? Is the head’s newsletter full of what’s going on? Is it a vibrant community?

Lastly I know that most DC separate out into gender based friends eventually. Even if they knew DS Or DD from nursery they tend to choose girls or boys eventually. You simply need enough to choose from by around y2/3.