Choosing between schools - very different sizes

[maillotjaune]

DS1 only in Y5 so not an urgent problem but I'm looking round this year at open evenings to get an idea.

Among our choices are the 2 closest secondaries, and my preference is for DSs to go to one of these schools.

School 1 has 2300 odd students.

School 2 has about 450!

They have very similar GCSE results although school 1 has been consistently good whereas school 2 has made dramatic improvements in last 3 years since new head came in.

I have lots of other things I'll find out about over the coming year but I wondered if anyone has any thoughts about the relative merits of very big / small secondaries?

I think I'd be concerned about after school clubs with the smaller one - they may not have enough children to offer a good range of activities. Also I'd ask about GCSE ('Gove' Levels!) choices - with only 3 classes persumably per year group they may not be able to offer the full range of option choices - maybe only French for example, rather than two languages.

The large one I'd worry about logistics - getting around the school, overcrowding in corridors and at lunch time.

Thanks Titchy. The options are a concern - at A level they are in a kind if consortium with another local school (and we did that at my school so quite comfortable with the idea) but I probably need to fond out more about that.

It takes a very confident child to do well in such a large school. He will go through it not knowing half the kids and teachers. 6th form consortiums have sprung up round here in the last couple of years and seem popular because they allow the kids to spread their wings, make new friends but less settling in required than going to a completely new school or 6th form college.

Yes, DS1 is the kind of quietly confident kid who will probably fit in fine anywhere.

DS2 is only 18 months younger and is not confident. At all. And I don't see that changing.

I would like them to be at the same school but I'm worried that if I choose the smaller school because it would suit DS2 better I may not be making the best choice for DS1.

How did this all come round so quickly?

It depends how the schoolis organised.

Our largest local secondary has 400 in the post 16 block and the rest of the school (1400) are split in two. Five classes of year 7 enter each half of the school and they are taught in those blocks until year 11. Each block has designated subject teachers and deputy heads. The head of year and form tutor stays with them up to 16.
All facilities are shared so they have a good library, science and art and music blocks and a very good selection of after school clubs.

Other schools in the area have seperate teaching areas designated to year 7s and stagger break and lunch times so they feel less intimidated by the older and larger students.

Ok will find out how big school organises itself, particularly with regards to Y7. Great ideas, thanks.

well it really depends on how the large school deals with it's size.
My Ds2 has just started at a secondary with 2500 pupils and the size did concern me.. however the school is split into 5 mini schools with a number of deputy heads. Then the forms they go to for registration etc are within their mini school and are cross year, so in my sons form they have pupils from y7-yr10 I think.. and
Ds2 is loving it, and he's not confident at all.
And of course then there's the benefit of incredible facilities, numerous clubs and societies and a vast range of academic choices.
as we are rural and in an selective area, this was really the only option for Ds2, but I have to say, I'm seriously impressed with it at the moment compared to the grammar ds1 is at, which is half the size.