One form entry or 2/3 form entry school

[Atl2018]

Hey,

My daughter is extremely shy and in large groups becomes quite withdrawn however, once she has warmed up (this could be after a few hours or visits) she is okay but she is still very quiet.
We are thinking about school placements for Sept 2023 and looking at the options at the moment.
We have choice of a one form entry (for the seven year Primary school time) or 2 or 3 form entry.

I am torn between the two. I worry if she is in a one form entry that she will get used to those other 29 children, make those friendships and then really struggle to branch out later on. Or she may allow those children to speak for her in school.
I am a teacher in the one form entry school (currently it is not one form entry) and I have children who are in KS2 who are still reluctant to talk and are incredibly quiet and nervous and I don't want this for her.
I accept she will probably always be quite quiet etc.

Or the other option is a 2 or 3 form entry mixed year (unsure which at the moment) which would mean she would mix each year and have to branch out.

Please could you let me know your experiences if you have had a quiet/shy child and how they have got on/are getting on?
Thank you in advance.

Sorry no actual experience, but my 'shy' DD is due to start reception in a 3 form entry this September. I'm saying 'shy' as her keyworker said she would do better in a smaller group. It was in November, now over 6 months later she gained a lot of confidence and as much as she's not very loud and sociable I am not too worried about her. I might be able to give you more insight in the Autumn.

I had a shy & anxious little girl as of last summer. Confident around other children, always making friends but refused to speak to any adults not in her immediate family & very anxious about going to new places alone. She went to a huge pre-school school for the year before school and I wish I’d pulled her out in hindsight as she became more & more anxious with life. She hated going.

We moved house before school started to a semi-rural area. We only had the option of one form entry & I cannot praise the school enough for what they’ve done for my little one. She’s just finishing up reception and she has transformed into a confident, happy, outgoing child. Still a bit shy around new adults. The school has a real community feel, children play with each other & have lessons across year groups. The teachers seem to know the names of all the kids. They are so thoughtful to the wellbeing of the kids. The school has an outstanding reputation in our area for all these things. But those things are particular to our school I suppose.

But speaking to DD over the year, she says she loves school because she feels safe. Because everyone knows her. Because the teachers all listen to her even when she speaks in a quiet voice. Because there aren’t too many kids who ‘might knock her over’.

Most people on here hate single form but typically haven’t had any experience of one. Just assume it must be a bad thing. For us, so far, the complete opposite. All schools here are one form or less & they all feed into one high school. So we do have the benefit of pretty much every kid going to said high school coming from small primaries. So I guess it’ll be a shock to all of them 😂

I love our single form entry school, my reception age son is thriving there.

I love that I know his class is the same going forward and he’s happy with that, and there’s no potential issues with teacher allocation (I always hear parents from 2/3 form entry schools moaning that they didn’t get the teacher they wanted for a given year). Everyone in the school knows everyone, we were randomly stopped by the year 5 teacher for a chat in the supermarket and she knew exactly who my son was. A bigger school might not have that familiarity that we love.

There’s no shortage of clubs etc, which other people cite as a downside too.

Just to add, the headteacher in the 3FE school DD is going to knows the names of all (500+!) children, so I don't think bigger always means less friendly. We were going to send DD to the 2FE school but ended up choosing our nearest school instead, as I don't think there is that much of a difference between the 2FE and 3FE.
I talked to some teacher friends and they suggested to me bigger schools are better for friendships and there less issues with gender imbalance, which I didn't think of!

@Atl2018
My DDs went to a 2 form entry school that became 3 forms. The Head knew all DC. The children are very secure in their own classroom and of course the teachers knows them all, very well! Children didn’t change classes every year and did make friends. However you can end up with fewer of one sex at a 1 form entry school and if friends move away it can be an issue.

I don’t see 1 form as a small school but when DD gets older sport, music and drama might be more important and smaller schools might not be as good at this. Yr needs are not the same as y6 needs snd prep for secondary.

Thank you everyone for your help. We will look round all of them And I guess see from there.

I'd go and see them both but on size alone I'd go smaller everytime. My ds is transferring from a 3 form entry (30 kids per class) to 2 form entry (24 kids per class) and a big part is due to size, there were 60 kids in the nursery unit and 90 in reception and it just isn't the environment we want for our children. Unless the 1 form entry school has very small class sizes I doubt it being to small would cause any issues, I also think it is really beneficial to mix with kids in different year groups which doesn't really happen at my ds current 3 form entry school.

Personally we opted for a larger primary as it gives good options for friendships.

I was a shy and quiet child from a 1 form entry primary and I moved up to an 8 form entry comprehensive for secondary. It was fine, to be honest, it was a catholic school so most children were from the same kind of one form entry catholic primaries as mine. When we looked around primary schools for DD I preferred the 1 form entry school to the 2 form entry, but it was more due to other factors and wouldn’t have been a deal breaker. I really wasn’t keen on the 3 form entry school though, it felt huge.

When this has been done before on mn (there was a long thread but dont know how to find it!) Most steered away from the 1 form schools. So many reasons, from not being able to find a niche/friends/to better resources at a larger school. Being limited to the same 10-15 kids the same sex as you for 7 years is pretty harsh and may mean people dint ckne out of their shell.

I wouldn't go on class size alone though. Which is nearest? That would be a huge factor for me - as well as getting a "feel" for the school when visiting. We turned down a school that seemed "better" because of distance as it wasnt "better enough " to overide bejng able to walk/scoot to school and have friends home etc.

I’ve seen friendship groups mentioned as an issue loads of times and I’m quite surprised that people think 30 is such a low “pool” and that gender imbalances are such a terrible thing.

30 kids is fine, 60 kids is fine, 90 kids is fine.

What it comes down to is the school and the actual class your child ends up in.

My son is in an absolutely lovely class and I’m so pleased that he will go through his primary journey with these children (other than those that move etc). I suppose I might think differently if the class wasn’t such a nice group of kids and there was no scope for rebalancing between classes.

I think it often is great for reception/year 1 and 2 when they all play with anyone and dont really notice whats happenibg in the class nextdoor so doesnt make a lot of difference. I think its a lot harder to have just one class for year 3-6 (particularly in my experience with girls as thats peak falling out stage). It gives them more of a chance to find some friends that tick like them. You also have the chance to ability set for maths (sometimes english) across the 2 or 3 classes and more teachers means more varied experience/different clubs. More chance of entering for sports for example.

I am aware there are rural areas where there are lots of 1 form or mixed form schools but given a choice I would go 2-3(to respond to OP) for all the reasons above.

However I wouldn't choose on year size alone!

I mean I think the larger year group is much better given a choice but a 1 year group isn't "bad" ifnits what you've got. And factors like proximity might be more important. 2/3 I'd say is better but not "at all costs" better!

We had this dilemma this year : we narrowed it down to a 1 form or 2 form as our first choice.

We went with the 2 form in the end. I am pleased we did as we have just started the transition from nursery to school with settling in sessions. There is more choice of friends - meaning that in a cohort of 60, friendships won't be limited to one class. There is a lot of mixing and free flow anyway in reception. Bigger the school also means more funding.

What swayed me was proximity to home. The 1 form would have meant a drive. We can walk to the 2 form without the stress of finding somewhere to park. It also just felt like a better fit for DD - we had her first settling in session yesterday with the current reception year group as she loved it. Put her hand up to join in with everything and was chosen to go up the front and play a musical instrument. She is quite confident, but even if she wasn't, I feel the 2 form would have brought her more out of herself than a 1 form entry.

Thanks.
The one form entry is the school I teach in. (ATM it is not one form).
The (I've done my research now) 3 form is our catchment school. In leaning towards 3 form because I want her to have the opp to mix and make more friends that just those in her year R class. I'm not bothered about the class size as such as I know from teaching 18 one year and 30 the next...less children did not make it easier just less marking at the end of the day! I also away to the 3 form as pp have said ther is nowhere to go if you do get a bad mix /disruptive child in the class and I'd hate to move her. She is so anxious! And won't speak Infront of people. My son who is a year younger is the complete opposite and will be fine wherever!
Thank you so much for your replies. It's given me food for thought 😀

Oooh I think that changes it too. I didnt ever teach in the same school as my kids vut at one point it nearly looked that way.
I think teaching in your childs school when its a small school might not be ideal... but thats where its probably worth asking other teachers who've done it.

They will get the " you just got to play Mary/stand up in assembky/do whatever because you're the teacher's child." From children - a battle you can't win either way. And it can become awkward of colleagues need to speak to you/you to them about X in the class whose picking on your child etc. And if parents realise you teach in school they may not include you in the same way... or try and butter up to you.

Of course this might not happen...but I've see it happen in the past 🙈.

On the plus side you'd probably get to see their sports day/assemblies/shows and know their curriculum.

Are you a class teacher at your school? Does that mean you would end up teaching your kids if it becomes 1FE? That doesn't seen ideal to me if you can avoid it. Although having them at your school is probably logistically more convenient.