School Size

• Some students who have been at a small primary school, for example, one form entry, and who might find the transitionTransition is the movement between Years 6 and 7*, the most common point at which students move from primary/junior school to secondary school. to a large secondary school difficult,may flourish best in a smaller secondary school.
• In a smaller school it is easier for the staff and students to get to know each other as part of the communityCommunity schools are the standard type of maintained, state school.. In a school of 600 students, a good Head teacher will know the names of most of children.
• If your child has had problems at primary school, sometimes anonymity can be a benefit. In a small school, if a student misbehaves, everybody knows about it. In a larger school, it is easier to start with a clean sheet.
• Smaller schools are often forced to have closer links with their communityCommunity schools are the standard type of maintained, state school. and other schools because they are not big enough to function in isolation. This can enrich the curriculum for students. 
•  Sometimes, by Year 6, students feel restricted by the size of their primary school and a large secondary school can be a liberation for them.
• A large school can be alienating. For example, when I worked in a school of 2300 students, after three years, I was still coming across children I had never met before.
• Larger secondary schools can often afford to have more resources on site than smaller schools, for example a drama studio or well resourced gym, from which your child might reap benefits.
• Larger schools sometimes offer a more diverse curriculum because they have more staff available with a greater variety of specialisms, and more students to make classes viable.
• Often, large schools create smaller groups within them through HouseSee also 'Head of year/ Head of house'. A house is a team that groups of students are organised into for reasons of motivation and camaraderie. Houses usually stretch across year groups. systems. If these are successful, a student can have the best of both worlds, the facilities of a larger school with the intimacy of a smaller one.

Further Information

OfstedOfsted, Office for Standards in Education, is the government body which inspectsschools, measures their success, and writes reports of their findings. All Ofsted reports can be found on their website.

The  OfstedOfsted, Office for Standards in Education, is the government body which inspectsschools, measures their success, and writes reports of their findings. All Ofsted reports can be found on their website. report gives you the number of students on roll.

The ‘Information about the School’ section tells you whether the school is bigger or smaller than the average -sized secondary school.

 

Prospectus

This will usually tell you how many students are on roll and what form entry the school is. 

Summary