Supporting the growing number of small primary schools is essential if we are to safeguard our communities. Anne Peck discusses what these schools need to survive as they face the challenge of dwindling rolls and tight finances, while Tara McGovern, headteacher of Therfield First School, tells us more about what it is like to lead a small school
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Supporting our small primary schools by Anne Peck

A steady decline in the UK birth rate over the past 10 years coupled with families moving away from areas where it is no longer affordable to live has left hundreds of primary schools having to adapt to falling numbers of children.

An analysis from the Education Policy Institute predicts that the number of pupils at state-funded schools will decrease from a peak of 7.57 million in 2022/23 to 7.14 million in 2028/29 – a fall of 436,000 (Cruikshanks, 2024; Headteacher Update, 2024). Further falls of as much as 944,000 are predicted by 2032.

The research forecasts that pupil numbers for primary and secondary schools will decrease at an average rate of 1% per-year until 2028/29. For primary schools, it shows sharp falls in rolls particularly in the North East of England, where numbers could fall 12.7% by 2028/29.

Falling pupil numbers will affect every school to some degree over the coming years, but it will be those already-small primary schools which will inevitably feel the shockwaves the most.

 

Small school challenges

According to government figures, there are currently more than 2,000 state-funded primaries that can be classified as “small schools”, using the National Association of Small School’s definition – which is a school with fewer than 100 pupils on roll.

They may have always been small schools (such as rural or geographically remote schools) or they may have experienced a drop in numbers more recently. Some London boroughs, for example, have seen an exodus of families since Covid, driven by the race for space, the increase in remote working opportunities, and rising rental and house prices.

Whatever the reason, small schools often share similar challenges. These are not dissimilar to those seen in larger primary schools, but small schools are much more sensitive and vulnerable to them.

You could liken it to small schools being a row boat and larger primaries being tankers – if there are waves in the sea, they will both feel them but the danger is heightened in a small boat.

For example, if a couple of families in the local area move away, this could have a huge impact on a small school and its funding provision, but a small fluctuation in numbers would not be felt so acutely by a bigger school.

From the conversations I have with small school leaders about their challenges, usually top of the list is budgets and maintaining financial sustainability. 

Delivering a great education to children on an ever-decreasing budget is difficult and there seems to be little room for error. 

Whatever cuts are made to the school budget, they can’t come at the expense of the quality of education pupils receive. One downgraded Ofsted report and parents are likely to take their children elsewhere, precipitating a fall in numbers. This is a downward spiral that can be hard for small schools to survive.

Maintaining educational outcomes can also be challenging when schools become so small that they must move from one-form intake to mixed year classes.

Faced with a classroom of children who are at different points in their learning, designing and teaching a curriculum which meets the needs of all learners is particularly tricky, especially when it comes to sequencing content. 

The skill of a small school teacher is in knowing who is developing their understanding and who is adding to and deepening their learning in a mixed age setting.

Culture is a significant challenge for small schools. With a small team everyone is important, and they all need to buy-in to the ethos of the school as they will have to wear many hats and will almost certainly have to juggle a greater workload. 

For example, a class teacher in a small school may also need to be the lead for multiple subjects and hold other essential roles, such as safeguarding or SEND lead. Creating a culture where staff feel empowered and valued is essential if small schools are to flourish. 

 

Welcome to Therfield First SchoolBy Tara McGovern

Therfield First School is situated in a small village in rural Hertfordshire and has just 64 children on roll. I have 23 years’ experience working in small schools and have spent the last nine leading Therfield.

Small schools like ours have an important place in the community. Therfield is home to less than 600 people so just 25% of our children come from the village itself. That means we have to be the school of choice for the wider area if we are to remain viable.

To become everyone’s first choice school, we have to invest a lot of time and energy into “PR and marketing” – we need to win over local families and we have to put the work in every year. 

We don’t have a nursery on-site which puts us at a disadvantage. That said, we must be doing something right as this year we were oversubscribed by more than 350% for the third year in a row.

We have found that as a small school we are often a top choice for parents of children with additional needs. While we welcome pupils of all abilities, we have to be realistic about what we can offer without the additional adult support and budget of a larger primary school to be able to accommodate more complex needs.

Nonetheless, the profile of our pupils has shifted a lot in recent years, and we have an increasing number of children with autism, ADHD, speech and language difficulties, and behaviour needs. They can flourish in a more intimate setting like ours, but it also takes up more of our staffing capacity, and we have a small site with less spaces outside of the classroom.

Finances are probably our biggest issue as a small school. We have to be pragmatic about it, rather than treating it as a paper exercise. We look carefully at how we spend our budget to maximise every penny. It is very difficult and there are some areas where we just can’t cut back any further.

For the things we can’t afford, we rely on people’s good will and our parents and families, who can help us out by donating skills, materials etc. As a small school headteacher, you need to get creative to deliver educational impact with limited time and budget. 

I have dedicated considerable time over the past nine years to securing outside funding by way of grants and community projects to boost our budget, generating in excess of £100,000 for the school. This has been instrumental in being able to further develop and create additional teaching and break-out spaces. Our school looks fresh, vibrant, welcoming and is a place where children (and staff) are proud to spend their days. This would not have been possible without that funding.

From a staffing perspective, there is nowhere to hide in a small school – it is not somewhere you can coast. We have a lot of part-time staff as the job is becoming increasing challenging to juggle alongside family life and out-of-school commitments. I try to be as flexible as possible and prioritise their wellbeing. Staff spend so much time in school that it is imperative we create an environment based on collaboration, support, celebration and team spirit. We seem to be getting this right as we have exceptionally low staff turnover.

If you want a job where you can make an impact, a small school is for you, but it is also incredibly hard work as staff need to pitch in with break and lunchtime supervision as well as taking on different subject lead roles. 

And as the only member of the senior leadership team, for me it can be a lonely journey at times. I undertake all management responsibilities, including being the designated safeguarding lead, mental health champion, and subject leader for maths, English, PE and PSHE. I have leadership support outside of school though, as part of a steering group of local small schools in Hertfordshire, where we offer support to each other and share best practice. 

I also champion small schools out of county and I recently took part in a small schools webinar as part of the HFL Education Small Schools Programme. During the webinar, I spoke about delivering the curriculum to mixed year groups and how I created additional spaces in school to best support the teaching and learning provision at Therfield.

There were a lot of heads on the webinar and it was uplifting to be able to share my successes (and challenges) with them and to feel like small schools can be celebrated for our uniqueness, rather than being pushed to merge, join trusts or become federations. Most questions centred around how to be successful in gaining outside funding, highlighting the dire financial position that small schools are currently facing. 

And of course I took part in an episode of the Headteacher Update Podcast in July focused on marketing your primary school where I spoke alongside fellow small school headteacher Rachel Jones from Kingsley St John’s Primary School in Cheshire (see below for the link). Working in a small school is incredibly challenging, but you also get so much out of it. For me, there is no other school I’d rather lead. 

 

Anne Peck is head of primary: curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment with HFL Education, formerly Herts for Learning and Tara McGovern is the headteacher of Therfield First School in Hertfordshire.

 

Headteacher Update Autumn Term Edition 2024

  • This article first appeared in Headteacher Update's Autumn Term Edition 2024. This edition was sent free of charge to UK primary schools in September 2024. A free-to-download digital edition is also available via www.headteacher-update.com/content/downloads 

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