Do Introverted/Shy Children Do Better in Smaller School Populations?

[JohFlow]

Just that....

Over to you...

Maybe look at the class sizes. Our local comp is huge but concentrates on making sure classes are 25 rather than 28 or 30, and even lower for the lowest maths sets.

Also in large schools they may have set up extra support for quieter types, at lunchtime etc whereas in smaller schools that might not be the case. Maybe ask.

I think though (particularly with those sizes-I wouldn't regard 900 as majorly small) it will depend on the school and the child, and the year/form they're in.
900 to 1500+ isn't that major a difference to me.

You may find though that with the really big school it's effectively split up into smaller sections, so has the result of for a shy child making it more managable. Dd1's school (10 form entry) they most of the time are in year groups (they have a playground per year group, for example) -even their year group is split in 2 for many things like trips etc. But it has the advantages of lots of opportunities as in a big school.

For dd1, in a lot of ways she would love a small school. But she can very quickly become a big fish in a little pond. She's very shy, painfully shy over some things. But she is very bright and very keen to volunteer and always works hard. So teachers remember her, and she gets a lot of opportunities. The big school has suited her in a way I don't think it suits dd2, or will suit ds, who are nothing like as shy.

I was at a very small school (75 entry) at secondary, and I loved it. However for my dsis, she found that there wasn't anyone in her year she really got on well with. In fact I think she got on better with my friends than her year for the most part. She, although also is shy, I think would have benefitted from a larger school. Because she would have taken the opportunities available and would have been more likely to find people she got on with.

The more I think about this, the more I think the size of the school is so far down the list of considerations that it's almost irrelevant. A very shy child can have problems in groups of 3 or 4 or even 1:1. The extra 27+ children in the class don't really make much difference after that. And the class sizes may well be similar in both schools.

What I think is more important is:
a) pastoral care - what's their year 7 induction program like, how well do they help children settle in, develop friendship groups, what do they do to support children who are having problems
b) a variety of activities, at least some of which suit the interests of your child so they can build up their confidence and perhaps meet other people.

Neither of those are really dependent on the size of the school and as DeWee says there isn't really much difference between a school of 900 and one of 1500.

Rafa - that does makes sense, particularly the activity groups. My opinion is probably formed largely by my own experiences as a teenager. I went to 2 secondary schools; the first had 300 pupils from 1st year up to Upper Sixth. When I moved to another school in the Lower Sixth, I was quite intimidated by the increase in size - to 400! So the thought of a school of 1500 is rather frightening to me. My DS goes to a school of 900, my DD goes to a school of 750 and the youngest to a Primary school of fewer than 90.

All useful comments - so thank you.

I think all larger schools could have practices to help shy children along - but are we saying that these really compare with an actual smaller school ethos/environment?

I also think that as parents we generally know where our children naturally thrive. My DS (for example) feels naturally more at home in a smaller (friendship) grou, 1:1 or smaller group work scenario - so therefore would a smaller school seem an easier and more efficient fit fro him?

I agree with Low too that how a shy child feels about an extra 100/500 children varies. I think my DS would be overwhelmed with a 1,500 strong school.

Not necessarily!
It really depends on the child and the schools concerned.

A big school (and 1500 isn't that big, really) offers more people to be friends with, can offer more activities, and can be organised conciously to not "lose pupils.
A smaller school can have restricted friends, sometimes can do things like everyone in the playground at breaks (where as a bigger school offers more than one place to congregate), may have less money or room to allow access to the library at breaks, may "assume" everyone knows everyone.
On the other hand the big school could be somewhere your DS just feels lost, and the smaller school could be really caring.

You really need to go and look and ask the awkward questions - do not guess what the schools answers will be.

Also what you need to consider is that your child will grow and change and adapt. DS1 is now in Year 10 and although he is still quite a shy person he is a world away from the shy boy that started in Year 8 now he is nearly 15..

I second Sparklingbrook while DD was very shy until she was about 14, a bit shy aged 14-17 from 18-21 she has grown and changed so much and is now very confident and a real chatterbox.