Big and little schools  

The UK in the era of comprehensive state education has had very different views on school size depending on the age of children. A typical local authority provides small schools for 5-11 year olds. This means they can be close to the homes of the parents. The Head can know all the children in the school and can do some teaching. It cuts the strain on local roads, and even allows the possibility of more children walking to school. That same typical authority may think secondary school children should attend schools with 1200-1500 children on the school roll. This means they draw on children from a very wide area. It increases the strain on local roads. Head teachers often do no teaching, as the administrative and personnel tasks are all consuming. Whilst Heads and senior teachers would claim to know all the children, in practise their knowledge must be patchy at best...