Small school quandary

[Elzibells]

Background is DC is due to start school in September. We live in a very rural area with these 2 schools being the closest.

School A has 60 pupils in the school. DC would be one of 8 in her year group. 10 minute drive away. School hall. School field. Seems to have lots of facilites but something feels off. Also concerned about the drive as it's on a 60mph windy country road.

School B has 20 pupils in the school. DC would be one of 4 in her year group. 2 minute walk away. No school hall or field, just a small playground. Worried about lack of facilities and friendship opportunities. While this one would suit her for reception, year one and two, I'm worried it might become claustrophobic and boring.

Both were rated good by Ofsted. I'm generally anxious about the school start and wonder if this is overshadowing my decision making. DC is very sociable, articulate for her age and seems to be most comfortable when getting one on one attention.
I haven't been through this process before. What should I focus on to help make a decision and which one would you go for?

I’d give for school A but try for school C. My dcs went to small village schools of about 70/80 and although it was cosy it was very limiting. They were bored by y5. One of them never really had a strong friendship as there just wasn’t a ‘kindred spirit’ in the group of 5 of the same age and sex. They all just had to play together despite being rather mismatched. We had a house move and youngest did y5 and 6 in a much bigger school and had much more fun, a group of chosen friends and two besties, proper sport, more independence and specialist teachers. A much better preparation for secondary.

@Elzibells out of curiosity, what is the official PAN for each of the schools?

Is any land locally earmarked for housebuilding, which would potentially improve the viability of school B? (I mean, are the numbers dwindling, or are they meant to be that big?).

Although if the twisty national speed limit road is the only way of getting to anywhere else and there is no public transport (?), I'm wondering whether this aspect is at least part of the reason for school B being kept open?

My kids are at a small school, approx 85. I'd be very worried about the funding for a school with 20 children, the small number of teachers and the age range in a class.

Definitely option c. Both a and b are too small.

Why on earth didn't you apply to that one? The small one will probably close.

DS has just finished year 6 in a school with around 100 pupils. It was great for most of his time there, but the past 18 months have been tricky friendship-wise, and he is ready for a bigger pool of people. I suspect in a school of 20, he would have hit that point much faster, so personally, I'd be going for the bigger school.

I would also share the concern of others that the school with 20 may not stay open long term. Schools that were a bit larger have been closed and amalgamated in our LA recently.

As for the windy road, we had a similar experience. I was a bit put off when he started there but when you drive such a route everyday, you get very used to it, and quickly know where the sticky points are and how to navigate them.

Lack of school hall and/or field is a big thing - my kids are just finishing up at a 15 per year group small school which has no hall, but does have a big school field which mitigates that loss of space somewhat. There's some flexibility in that they have a partition between two classrooms that can be removed and opened up for a "hall substitute" - but it can limit things in terms of requiring lots of lateral thinking at times - although they've had no end of different groups coming in to do karate, cheerleading, basketball (off the top of my head this year) etc.

The answer to your question about what to focus on is:
Which school can you get her to every day? This means where will she be happy, a big part of which is where can the school meet her academic and social needs, so you don’t have a battle every morning, and where can you physically get to every day (even the days when you are not feeling 100% or the car isn’t working).

Same as for all children: start with the closest school that fits the criteria above but be prepared to move her when she gets older if it is no longer the best fit.

Why are people focusing on fields?
Lots of town and suburban primary schools don't have fields.

Does the tiny school have empty classrooms they can use instead of a hall?

Focusing on fields just as it's how the school my kids are at tend to work around the lack of a hall - they use the field (and the sports multi-game type bit of it in the wet) to work around a lack of hall a lot of the time. It's hard to explain - but the field is over quite a busy road from the school so it's not as if they could extend and build a school hall or extra classrooms on it, and they can't extend onto the actual school itself as it's pretty heavily listed.

As for spare classrooms to use as a hall - we don't have that luxury - if a "hall" is needed it's tables moved back and the partition wall opened - but it was definitely the right kind of school in terms of scale and ethos particularly for DD2, and also supported DD1 socially at a time she was starting to struggle.

We are closing next week and we are a small school in London. We had around 100 children at the beginning of the year and now have less than 60.

Closing a school is not an easy process for anyone staff or children. I will be looking for a job in a 2 or 3 form entry next as I really don't want to go through this again.

I’m advance thinking the same dilemma in reverse for my now toddler (thinking about nursery after Christmas).
school A - combined school, 2 min walk, 430 pupils in classes of 30. Good.
school B/C/D - infant schools all < 5 miles, 40-230 pupils in mixed year groups of 10-15. All outstanding.

A school they can fall out of bed into has to be worth considering.
As I said to Op you never know the day when the car is off the road, flat tyre or you are off the road - twisted ankle or something unable to drive.

Local friends, kids able to make their own way home.

Has to be less hassle than faffing driving to school.

School A, as long as it feels right when you visit. Definitely don't base your decision on what Ofsted deem to be 'Outstanding'. This is often at odds with what parents and teachers look for in a school anyway and the goalposts are moving all the time.

Good is good enough. You don't turn down a school a 2 minute walk away in favour of something 5+ miles away unless there's something seriously wrong with the place.

Plus, if the outstanding schools are all infant schools you have to go through the process again in 3 years. Are the junior options ok? I'd go for the primary school, definitely.

Try not to jump to too many conclusions before seeing them. Most people I know just 'knew', regardless of what OFSTED said (only time I would care much about those reports is of it had been graded as 'Requires Improvement'. Even then, that would just be on tbe basis of asking questions to understand why, and safeguarding concerns).

We had a similar dilemma this year (Infants were slightly bigger) and went for the equivalent of school A, after visiting (luckily, we loved it). I wouldn't underestimate the usefulness of close to home and of consistency across the primary years (unless, of course the schools are on the same site and work closely together).

I had exactly the same dilemma. I chose option A. I didn’t want a super small school and I hated the fact option B didn’t have a playing field or big hall.