When most people think of a primary school they probably picture a small building, around 250 children in the playground, and 10 teachers ready to teach and care for them.

However, around 20 per cent of children in England are educated in large primary schools of over 400 pupils, and 3 per cent in very large primaries of 600 pupils or more. In fact, nearly 900,000 children are taught in large and very large schools.

As two London heads leading very large primaries school size matters to us. We chat to our colleagues about it; we talk to the parents and governors about it; we even discuss it with the children in our schools. The subject creeps into our conversations about teacher deployment, playground rotas, performance management arrangements, ticket allocations for Christmas concerts, and so on. It’s everywhere but why?

We believe much of leadership is generic, whether one runs a village school of 20 or an urban secondary school of 2,000, the school still needs vision, direction, strategy, performance review and innovation.

On the other hand, the way leadership is conducted is a different matter. Size of school, we argue, affects how leaders work. To support this claim, we looked at three areas of school activity: distributed leadership, teaching and learning, and logistics.

Distributed leadership can be seen as just another academic buzz phrase. But this is not the case for heads of very large primary schools. To them distributed leadership is an organisational imperative. High performance and sustainable success in a very large school needs more than a ‘superhead’.

At our schools we distribute leadership to all levels of the organisation – and not just to teachers. We invest huge amounts of time and effort identifying, nurturing, developing and promoting talent.

We constantly search out effective leaders in every corner of the organisation. We find them, support them and put them in the right positions with the right resources.

And very importantly we trust them. If you want innovation and initiative, colleagues need freedom, autonomy and professional space. They need to design their own leadership ‘flight plan’.

But we are not advocating a free-for-all. The parameters are wide but they are there, governed by the school’s shared vision, values and policies.

Of course distributed leadership can and does happen in many smaller schools. However, from our own headship experience, we argue that distributed leadership is a requirement in very large schools, but more a professional choice in smaller ones.

It’s an imperative for all primary school heads to keep a firm grip on the quality of teaching and learning in their schools. To achieve this, lessons are observed, work monitored, expectations exemplified and assessment data analysed. It is the role of the head, irrespective of school size, to ensure consistent high standards while seeking to further improve the provision offered to all children.

In smaller schools the head, or head and deputy, can ensure consistency: in the grading of lessons; the feedback provided; and the support offered. If asked by an Ofsted Inspector about the relative merits of the teaching force the head could provide the relevant grades based upon first-hand experience. The head could, if needed, observe all teachers in a smaller school in two days.

In larger schools the processes required to achieve quality and consistency are more complex. With
30-40 teachers the head and deputy alone cannot effectively observe all teachers teach, give them suitable feedback and provide the training and support needed to improve their practice. Moreover, to monitor over 600 children’s books requires a team of colleagues with shared expectations of high standards. The challenge in a very large school is to establish a team of around five or more colleagues with the same professional understanding that the head and deputy have in a successful smaller school.

Logistics have an impact upon the organisation and management of all schools, however, the larger the school, the more complex the challenge. Areas as diverse as communication, assemblies, timetabling and performance management are all affected by the size of the school.

Take something as ordinary as the beginning and finish of the school day, for example. At these key times around 1,000 children and adults teem into each of our playgrounds. Detailed systems have to be introduced to ensure that over 600 children can enter the school safely and be returned in an orderly fashion to parents and carers at the end of the day.

Timetabling has to be organised on a scale more akin to the secondary sector. The allocation of 60 or more teachers and support staff is complex. Not only do we consider the suitability of staff to the age and phase but also how they will work with other members of the year group team.

These and many other logistical demands can only be met if the school has developed sophisticated and sustainable routines. Moreover, these processes then have to be successfully communicated to around 700 people (children and staff) and rolled out on a regular basis.

We do not believe any particular size of school either guarantees or disqualifies a school from achieving success. If the vision, values and leadership are right, beauty can be created in any setting: small, medium or large. Moreover, we do not believe any particular size of school is more difficult to run than any other; all schools have their challenges.

However, for us there are three key reasons why 'big is beautiful’. First, with so many people from so many backgrounds coming together to live and learn, there is always something exciting going on! The dynamism is intoxicating. Second, the number of colleagues on the team – around 100 in one of our schools – provides a breadth and depth of professional knowledge and experience which has a profoundly positive impact on the quality of service we offer.

Finally – and most importantly – we can make a difference to the learning, wellbeing and happiness of over 600 children from around 300 families.

This, for us, is the most beautiful feature.

Dr Martin Young is headteacher of Cranford Park Primary School in west London, and a newly appointed NCSL National Leader of Education.

John Grove is headteacher of Belleville Primary School in Battersea, south London.

Next steps
What do you think of Martin and John’s perspective on leading very large primaries? Write to us at ldr@ncsl.org.uk or log on to our feedback sub forum in ldr interactive in September – you’ll find us in NCSL In Dialogue.