Over the past few months, we have been interviewing Year 5 students for a place at Frensham in Year 7, 2026. One of the questions we are often asked by parents at these interviews is, does the size of a school matter?
Frensham is a very small secondary school and Frensham Junior School is a comparatively small primary school, and like many schools — or at least those that aspire to be great — we attempt to offer broad experiences for our students. That is, experiences that recognise the need for the multifaceted development of each individual, and aim to enhance intellectual, spiritual, social and physical growth.
Optimising multifaceted development for each individual within a conventional schooling structure presents challenges. Conventional schooling demands that students’ progress through programs and activities with their particular year group. Underpinning activities for each year group are certain assumptions; for example, it’s assumed the majority of students in that cohort require a certain level of learning experience to enhance their development. Of course, these assumptions are often wrong. Some students are not yet ready for the experience; others have already moved beyond it.
Like Frensham and Frensham Junior School, most good schools now have specialist Diverse Learning Teams. Systems exist to recognise and cater for the needs of High Potential and Gifted Learners and for those learners with additional learning needs. In conjunction with the differentiation of learning that already exists within the Frensham Schools classrooms, this goes some way to alleviating problems, but it is not enough. In order for schools to truly personalise the learning of students, they have to first know the student. Staff must know them as a learner and as an individual.
Students themselves need to know that they are known. This may seem like an unusual statement but most research suggests that unless a child feels known, and they trust the knower, it is difficult for quality learning to take place. There is a lovely statement attributed to prominent American child psychologist Haim Ginott, that says, “To reach a child’s mind, a teacher must capture their heart. Only if a child feels right can they think right.” It also helps if the school knows the families of their students and understands the life experiences the student may have had or is currently having.
Larger schools can offer an extensive range of programs that can go some way to meeting individual needs of their students. This can happen more by chance than by design. Whilst we also offer broad programming at Frensham Schools, it is different from ‘knowing’ every child and personalising their schooling experience to ensure they are challenged and supported appropriately. It is the latter that we strive for at Frensham Schools every day, and it is one major advantage of a smaller school population.
So, when faced with the question of school size from potential students and their parents during interviews, I am able to truthfully answer: that at Frensham and Frensham Junior School every child is known, and that this is an important point of difference for us. It is something our staff work hard to achieve, and it is only possible because our size affords us this luxury.