One-form school?

[pizzanoodle]

Hi everyone,

We really like the tight-knit community of the one-form school. The teachers there say that they are able to observe the students more closely given that there are only 30 students in a year. They can provide more personalised attention to each kid.

Are these true in reality?

We also worry about whether one-form schools are underresourced. The teachers there also talk about having to wear different hats. Larger schools were sharing that teachers at smaller schools do not have time in reality to double as subject leads. They also say that in smaller schools, retention is more difficult as teachers will need to move elsewhere for career progression. I also worry about having enough people on the leadership team. At one large school we visited, there was one head, one deputy, three assistants and each year had a lead.

Are these worries unfounded?

Would be very interested in everyone's thoughts!

Thank you!

One form entry leaves no room for mixing up classes if there are personality clashes, behaviour issues or bullying. It also means no ability to set for Maths and English (some people like or don't like this so might not be a problem)

Just to add that this kind of flexibility isn't even guaranteed in a larger school - in my experience as a parent and a teacher, schools will only mix classes as a last resort, and very much at their own discretion. I've only ever seen it done if the overall behaviour/abilities of the classes are so skewed that it might potentially affect results - not for individual friendship issues or personality clashes.

And, while my own DD attends a two form entry school, the Head is ideologically opposed to setting, so it doesn't happen. I do think two form entry is probably the 'sweet spot' for other reasons (resourcing chief among them) but I don't this larger schools are necessarily more flexible and wouldn't choose on this basis.

Personally I find it madness that some larger schools don't mix classes when they can. Maybe not every year, and certainly not wholesale changes just for the sake of it, but it seems daft to keep two groups of same age children separate for 7 years. So many missed opportunities for potential friendships. I've seen it before where there becomes a them and us culture by Year 5/6. The children start to see themselves as two separate groups, rivals almost, rather than one united year group. A happy medium of occasional changes every couple of years definitely seems to be the sweet spot for creating togetherness with secure friendships throughout their 7 years together as a year group at primary school.

The only thing I would say is check the numbers in the classes especially in nursery and reception. If the numbers are falling then the school could be vulnerable. Schools in London are closing and merging and it is the smaller ones that are more vulnerable.

@BoleynMemories13 Exactly what happened to us with DD - she struggled with friendships all through Reception and Year 1, and much preferred the girls in the parallel class to those in her own. School reserves the right to mix the classes at their own discretion, but refused to consider a move for DD, even when a space in the other class came up. She's settled a bit better in her own class now but still says she has more in common with the other group, and the two classes and sets of parents now operate as two entirely separate entities.

I also had two separate occasions as a teacher where parents requested flexibility in moving a child or mixing classes due to bullying issues - both refused by the school. It just doesn't happen except in extreme circumstances IME.

Currently in a one form entry. There are some pros- the kids are very well known and there is a lovely community spirit. The kids grow up together and know each other and a range of teachers well. But…

1. there is a luck of the draw gamble. One of my children has a wonderful group and a really lovely class. The other has a lot of challenging behavioural issues and they’ve not been able to shift the class around in a way a two form plus school could do (although interesting to see posts above saying it doesn’t always happen)
2. You lose some economies of scale
3. You can get some odd quirks of boy/girl mix. One year has 26 girls to 4 boys. One of my children has 20 boys to 10 girls which has its challenges.
4. The potential friendship pool is smaller - I think this provides stability early on but the kids seem very ready to leave by y6.

I'd agree with that @Bunnycat101

I think what seems like an asset when you are looking round schools, before starting Reception can become a negative when you move higher up the school towards Yr6.

We looked at 4 schools - 2 in catchment and 2 slightly out all 1 form intake.

The 2 slightly out of catchment were an over subscribed 1 form intake with 30 in every lower year and 34 in all the higher years. School was at capacity size wise and the council wouldn't let them extend so it had a squeezed feel about the place. The second was a half form intake as they only took 15-20 kids by choice teaching classes as 2 year groups. Loads of space but didn't have a good feel to the place. I have a small August born and I thought she would struggle with kids up to 2 year older than her and 20cm shorter than the average 7 yo girl when going into yr1-2 at aged 5 and a couple of weeks

Catchment schools both 1 form intake. School 3 had been under performing and only had small classes higher up the school which they doubled up on. School 4 was at capacity for those years but numbers across the 2 schools were similar for the younger years 25-28 a class both school there's usually 50-55 kids across the two schools. School 3 had a school on the move feel and school 4 felt a bit complacent and felt cramped with classrooms used as corridors to get to other parts of the school where as school 3 was an old school from the early 1900s with spacious classrooms.

We went with school 3, it turned out others had a similar opinions to us as this year the split between the two schools was 30 to school 3 and 20 to school 4. We have just finished the first half term and very happy. She has a teacher and 2-3 TAs in her room. We had issues during the first couple of weeks due to her food allergy and the head and deputy head knew who I was and all about why I wanted to speak to them as soon as I approached them at the start of school.

4 single form intake schools but all had difference that made them right/wrong for us. If you had told me that school 3 would have been our preferred option before we started looking I would have laughed. We thought it would be bottom!
Had school 1 been bigger and had 2 form intake it would have been more appealing than it was as an oversubscribed 1 form intake on too small a footprint. It's so school specific