Tiny village school or larger nearby school?

[cagggie]

There is a primary school walking distance from my house in our village that has 32 pupils, 1 headteacher, 1 teacher and 1 teaching assistant and the pupils are split into 2 classes taught by each of the teachers. It doesn't have a nursery class or offer wrap-around care.

Or there is a primary school in the next (larger) village a 5 minute drive from our house which has 230 pupils. All year groups are separate with their own teacher and TA as opposed to being combined. It offers a nursery class and full wrap around care.

It's a difficult choice because the village school having two teachers and two classes, will kids get more one to one teaching and a more tailored experience? But then with the larger school there is so much more money in it, more clubs, trips, better equipment, the wrap around care, more choice for friends etc? It's a very tetchy subject where we live as people are very passionate about keeping the local school alive but a lot of people take their kids to the next village regardless.

Personally I would go for the larger school.
I went to a tiny Primary and I didn’t like it, not enough resources, too cliquey, mixed classes BUT even so I still thought I would want a small school for my DC.
However they ended up at a 3 class a year school and I really appreciated a lot of things about it. It wasn’t impersonal, the staff knew everyone and f there were fallouts there was always someone for them to play with.
The small school could end up closing too

No brainer in my opinion. The larger school without a doubt.

I'd decide based on whether walking to school or wrap around care would make my life easier.

I think both school have pros and cons, so maybe list up all of them and decide?

Larger. More money coming in, more kids to mix with, etc.

Eg if I were a Sahm then I'd want walking distance. As I work FT I need wrap around care.

The limited options of friendship groups and facilities would put me off the smaller school tbh. My kids have always done better in larger groups.

That being said, not all children are the same and if the village school has a good reputation then you shouldnt dismiss it out of hand. The best way to compare is to visit both and see how you feel after that.

I always think primary school is less about academic standards (assuming they are up to par of course) and far more about community and social development. A nurturing, happy environment is worth a thousand ofsted reports.

Depends on your lifestyle. Being able to walk the school run is a huge time and money saver. A five minute drive is a half hour round trip twice a day to drop off and pick up. Having friends in the village is fabulous, going to the same school as people you don't get along with can be awful. No wrap around is impossible if you need to work.

You need to base your decision around your life.

Larger school without a doubt. I have done both with my DC. Eldest DC went to a village school the same as you have for the first 3 years, it was great for that starting school experience, but friendships can be difficult. You can't afford to fall out with anyone. Also academically your DC may not have anyone at the same level as them, something my dc needed to push them on. We also have a fairly big high school here. 1300 pupils. Imagine going from a school that essentially has one class worth of pupils to one that has 1300. I moved my DC to a 400 pupil school and it was much better for them. More friends, more opportunities and less scary leaving primary.

Larger school. 32 is far too small. And I suspect far too small to still exist before your child gets through primary school, particularly if there is another school only 5 minutes drive away.

I initially went with the smaller school. The downsides of a smaller school have really started to show this year and I'm moving DD to a larger school a drive away.

My dd is at a single form entry primary and they've pretty much all outgrown each other (y6). I'd imagine with an even smaller intake it would happen a lot sooner.

I can't wait for her to have room to stretch her friendship legs and meet a bigger group of kids to find her tribe.

230 pupils in the whole school is still pretty small in the scheme of things.

Larger school without a doubt.

Larger. I went to a small school and hated it. My kids had a way better time at their large primary.

Does the small school get scarcity funding? We do (school of 50) and as such are better funded than most primaries. Class sizes of less than 20, plenty of TAs, all classes go to several sporting events in the year (with everyone getting to play, we usually have an A and B team but everyone gets a go), swimming in every year in KS2, whole class musical instrument lessons every year in KS2 etc. It's not always the myth perpetuated on Mumsnet that small schools are poorly funded.

I'm interested by your post @

Your larger school is still actually really small. I would definitely go for the larger one. More room to grow and explore, more facilities and activities and more importantly more friendship options. A school of 32 pupils will also mean secondary will be a massive shock.

I'm interested by your post @Whee , as what you describe sound a lot like the small village school of 30-50 in the next village over. It seems like they have so much for their pupils, the students there all get 1-to-1 instrumental lessons too.

I'm kind of in the opposite situation to OP - our larger village has a large-ish primary school (about 200 students I'd guess), but it's not very well regarded... so I'm really considering the small school in the next village. I think the setting would suit my son's needs better too, but I'm always put off by what posters here say about small schools.

I've got a few years to figure it out yet, anyway.

I'd normally say waking distance, but id go for the larger school. It's still only a one from intake, I'd guess.
32 across a whole school is tiny.

No wraparound care would be a deal-breaker for us.

Do you know if there are children of the same age in the village.. and do you get on with the parents? Its going to be four or five children in the year... if that's 3 girls who have known each other since babies and yours is the only boy for example, it could be lonely. Or if you don't get on with the parents it can affect friendships.

Mine had 16 in the year at one point... and it could be awkward. A year group with 7 was a nightmare apparently!

Alternatively it could be a lovely start to school at 4yo.

I went to a school with only two classes ( they did have a nursery that joined infants for the morning). Some aspects were lovely but by year 6 I was bored out my mind as it's hard to pitch work at the right level for year 3 and year 6 ( might be better now as we didn't have a TA, the head occasionally took the older ones out to teach). Also there were 3 years in a row which were very girl heavy, ok for me but at one point the junior class only had 5 boys, most of who were in year 3.

If you'd asked me till my children were about Y5, I would have said small without a doubt but things change. At our school the head and one of the teachers changed (2 classes also) and it completely changed the whole school overnight. It lost a lot of it's family feel, which was one of the great things about it. Also by Y5 they were desperate to have larger/different friendship groups, and more opportunities (sport etc), which were missing at the smaller school.

How big are the classes in the big school - 230 is more than 7 class of 30 (210). With classes capped at 30 in KS1, that actually would mean classes of 35 in KS2. Unless they have an extra bulge class somewhere or something else going on, 35 is a lot in a class for KS2 and would concern me.

With the tiny school, does everyone actually stay the whole way through or do you get people starting and then moving to a bigger school part way through as they outgrow it? If yes, one option could be to start at whichever school feels best for your child now (possibly the small walking distance school) but accept you are likely to need to move at some point. I've known quite a few DC move schools now (including my oldest DC) and they have all settled in very quickly.