Would you go for a small village school with 90 children or a large school with 400 children

[PinkMimi]

We have accepted our first choice primary school which is a small village school, I’m panicking now that we should have gone for a larger school? Did you choose a big school or small school for primary and why?

We chose a single form entry school. Dd1's class was always on the smaller side. Only 20 children by the end of year 6. Dd2 has 32 in her class. Dd2 has had far fewer friendship issues being in the larger class. She still has quite a small group of friends two girls and two boys and this has changed recently and there has been no issues. Dd1 had a few friendship problems in year 5/6 but there were often no other kids in her year she could go and talk to with the class being smaller. Dd also had a close friend leave in Y3 and struggled to find another close friend. So far high school has been better with a larger group of people.

In hindsight I'd consider a larger school if I had dc going through primary again.

@PinkMimi I think you are just second guessing yourself! It sounds like you have really thought about it and your DD's needs.

All very normal- we got our first choice, which we adored, but were still slightly second guessing things even though there was nothing else we liked as much.

There are benefits to mixed aged classes - those children who need stretching can work with the older children, & those who need more help can work with the younger ones.
Plus all the kids know each other & will often play together. I doubt many Yr6s in larger schools know the names of, let alone interact & play with those in YR/Yr1.
Friendship problems can happen in any school, no matter the number of children. Yes, there's less children in your year group but you aren't confined to only having friends on your year group.

People often think that about average or larger schools but Ive not found it to be the case. My kids know lots of children in different age groups. They have year 5 and year 6 children who volunteer to help the little ones at playtime for example and run small clubs. My reception age child will often wave hello to an older child on the school run, it surprised me at first but it seems normal now. She also knows lots of year 1 and year 3 children as they mix at lunchtime and have siblings they know.
Bigger schools can definitely still have a family feel. But having enough kids for them to be friends with. Also with mixed age groups it means the friendship groups get split up every year which some children hate.

It's more of a problem if you are one of a few Year 5 or Year 6 children and you don't want to volunteer to look after the little ones at playtime. Not so much at the younger end of school.

My DC went to a 4 entry junior school. There was a small school near us. Every year from about Year 4 onwards several DC moved from the small school to the big school citing that their child had outgrown the school or wanted to get to know a wider range of children. The other elephant in the room is how your child will transition from a small school to a (normally) very large secondary school. It can be a huge shock.

Yes this is very much a case of you only need to volunteer if you want to, as there are loads of kids to do it!
Yup one of my friends her child has 4 girls in her year. 4!! So when someone falls out there is no other friendship group to go to.

Um. By definition there are not "loads of kids to do it" in a small school ...

A small school I live near is getting the official closure notice on Monday.

Mixed classes can be very difficult to teach. If you imagine a mixed year 3/4 class. The lowest ability child can be working at year 1 level or lower, the highest ability can be working at strong year 5 or above and then you have a range in between.

With a small class size it can be low numbers working at these sub levels.

90 pupils would count as quite a big school where I live. There were about half that number in my DC's school and it's nowhere near the smallest school in the county.
There are challenges to really small schools but also advantages and I am sure the same goes for big schools. I wouldn't make a decision based purely on size.
My DCs had a fantastic time at Primary School. I would go as far as saying it was idyllic. Even if we had won the lottery or something I would not have moved them. But there are other, similarly sized schools nearby that I wouldn't have sent them to (well, in fact I didn't! ) The difference was the staff, specifically the Head. Our Head was an amazing woman who, in my opinion, managed to make the most of everything that benefits a small school and find solutions to the downsides. There was never any question of "we can't do that, we're a small school" and my children had a very rich and varied experience at school. But it's not always like that. Much like with the "state v private" debate there are good, bad and indifferent schools on either side of the "big v small" argument, and different schools work best for different children. All you can do is look carefully at your options and make the choice you think is best for your child.

@wonderingwhatlifemeans you can get those differences in a normal class too

@crumblingschools oh yes but in a mixed class there is more of a thin spread of levels in my experience.

Differentiation seems to be getting wider in general since Covid.

Depends on the child, my DD is the eldest in her preschool class and she prefers to hang out with the other 4yos as she finds the 3yos a bit "babyish", i think she would struggle if she were in a class with children almost 2 years younger than her. She's going to a 2 form infant school so about 180 overall.

My friend went to a tiny village school though which was very famous five, random picnics and walks when the head felt like it.

Whichever is closest is the one i would go for!

I was talking about our average sized school.