Which school would you choose?

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Primary school 'A':
One class per year, about 160 children plus 2 nursery classes
Victorian and Georgian buildings in OK state of repair
Mostly tarmac playground but with many small trees and bushes and some wooden elements for climbing, balancing etc
On a busy two lane road
Nearer to home and safer walk to school than school 'B'
Near to shops and services
My old primary so I feel sentimental about it

Primary school 'B'
2 or 3 classes per year, 400+ children plus 4 nursery classes
Victorian building in OK state of repair
mostly tarmac playground which has recently been done up and had things added.
On a busier road than school 'A' and right on a roundabout too.
Further to walk and several roads to cross
In the opposite direction to which I would usually want to go to do shopping or go into the centre of town etc.

I suppose it seems obvious that I prefer school 'A'. My main thoughts are that as 'B' has more than one class per year this allows streaming for certain subjects. Also with a bigger parent base there will be more people involved and more money avaliable for projects etc. 'B' has also had more cash put into recently with a new dining hall/sports hall being built and special music unit.

Opinions please!

I know it's a boring OP, but does anyone think a big school is better than a small one generally speaking?

I'd go for school A myself - I don't think there's that much to be gained from a much bigger school. Also unlikely to be that much streaming in a primary school, or probably much to be gained from it anyway.

Rita - thanks, what about the fact that a bigger school will have more parents to contribute to the life of the school in different ways?

I went to a primary school with about 500 pupils and really don't think there was much more contribution to school life than at DS's school with about 150 pupils. I wouldn't necessarily want DS and DD to go to a really small school but I don't think the parental contribution part would concern me.

Have you looked round both schools? And when do you need to decide?

You havn't given enough info to make a decision. I want to know about class sizes, the tecahers and headteacher, the ethos, curriculum, other activities that are offered. How are lessons taught, how are special needs, talents etc catered for.

School size and classes per year is neither here nor there for me.

My children went to a small village school, due to the eldest being sent after statementing, the middle child didn't happen to gel with most of the the boys in his class and was so miserable that after his best friend left (admittedly it was a mixed age group class) he begged to go to a larger primary school in our town for his last year! Comparing the two we think there is more chance for children to get a good group of friends in a larger school (and even to change classes if there is a big problem) and there were more activities and opportunities available, also, and this is a big issue, it can be very hard to adjust to secondary school if you come from a small school. Am not sure there would be actual streaming in a primary school, but differentiated work within the classroom, in our experience a bright child would find more like minded children in the larger school. I also felt that the impact on the school of teachers falling ill was far greater in the small school, and if you have boys they are probably more likely to experience the benefits of a male teacher in the larger school!

Looked round them both last summer.
I was shown round school A by two yr 7 girls so the teachers didn't really look up when we peeped into the classrooms (the classes had just gone in afte break tho so it wasn't really a good moment to interupt), this contrasted with being shown round school B by the acting head. All the teachers looked up and smiled, every child we met in the corridors was uber polite (I suspect this was partly due to a points system for politeness that they have there).

I'm not sure if I'll actually have a choice. School B is our catchment school. DD1 is joining P2 (she's 6 in the autumn). We have applied for a place at school A and they have told us they can reserve a place from now till when the school year starts in August. Since the class size increases by about 5 children between P1 and P2 she'll only lose the place if 5 children move into that (fairly small) catchment area between now and August.
If she loses the place I assume she'll be able to go to school B but only if there is a place there...

island - they are both local authority primaries in Edinburgh. So class sizes are the same, curriculum probably similar. They have the same amount of sport, art and music classes.
School A is traditionally a bit more 'relaxed' (hippy in my day). School B had the reputation for more being disiplined and more studious in my day. However the league tables show them to be neck and neck as far as attainment goes.
School B has a new head after the previous one of 20 years left. School A has had the same head for 3 or 4 years. Both female.
Special needs and talents - I assume they are catered for according to legislation and the avaliable budget (ignorant emoticon)
Ethos of school A {quotes from handbook}'To provide a welcoming, safe and caring environment in which each pupil is valued and supported'. 'Parents and visitors often comment on the very positive ethos of our school and that it feels more like a 'village school' than one in the very heart of the capital city'(Edinburgh).
Ummm, I wasn't given a handbook for school B but it still seems to be quite keen on discipline and good behaviour.
Both schools feed into the same secondary which is at present being entirely rebuilt.

Joe90 - Since DD1 is moving from a small infant school I think it would be easier on her to be at a small school. We are moving from Spain actually so it is a time of great upheaval generally for us.

A

I'd choose A because I prefer schools that are friendly to those that value discipline, and I like them trusting their older pupils to show you around. Plus the easier access would be important to me (my children cycle/walk to school now and I think it is great for them). I do think that only having one class per year can be problematic, but my two have been happier at smaller schools where they know everyone and I think with changing school systems that is a real plus (we've done it twice). I wouldn't worry about streaming because they don't really do much more than group work in any case (except for extra help/G&T which can be done in any school IMO).

I prefer larger schools as it gives the children more choice of friends. Also it does give the opportunity for streaming. Ds is in Y3 of a 3 class per year junior school and he is streamed for maths. When he gets into Y5 he will be streamed for both maths and literacy. Dd has already been through this school and it worked well for her. It also made her transition to secondary school easier as she caame from a school with nealy 90 in the year to one with 120, so not too much difference. Having said all that, in your situation it looks like A is more convenient for you so that may suit your situation better.

We had the same choice of large or small - both very good. We chose the smaller as it suited our ds at the time (sensitive etc) However, the other massive benefit is that since joining the small school, it turns out that this small school has a very active PTA/Friends with lots of keen volunteers - tonnes of money raised each year. The bigger school currently has a 'bit' going on but they had almost a year when nothing happened at all as nobody was willing to take it on - such a big job and so many parents that it's difficult to ask people to join in. Bigger is not necessarily better!

They both have their pros and cons IMO the main advantages of a small school are the head & teachers will tend to know the children, siblings,parents & family circumstances quite well and this can be really useful if a problem arises. I also find smaller schools tend to value parental contributions/help more as they tend to have less money and so you feel really invovled with school life. The larger schools will offer your dc with more friendship choices and streaming can boost their academic performance but some larger schools can seem more inapproachable. I think you should go with your gut instinct and FWIW I'd plump for school A.