Welcome to the NSSF

Our members come mainly from schools and from Local Authority Advisory Services, plus a few Researchers and School Governors.

We have a growing number of education authorities in membership who, by paying a much reduced membership fee, have joined all of their small schools in one transaction. The total membership of schools in the UK exceeds 1000.

Along with access to a wide range of resources and information, these groups find our FORUM meetings particularly useful!

Regional representatives keep us in touch with the work of small schools across the UK and the services and support offered by education authorities.

We don't get involved in local or national arguments about the viability of small schools: the fact is that small schools are effective and we seek to make them even more so.

Our definition of small primary schools includes schools of up to about 100 pupils in nursery, primary, first, infant, junior, middle deemed primary and special settings.

This is not a rigid maximum and we have some larger schools in membership, both because recent DCFS funding grants define small as up to 200 and because some larger schools recognise that small schools have organisational and management strengths that are worth emulating in larger settings.

• LA membership keeps us in touch with the work of small schools across the UK and the services and support offered by education authorities.

• Regular updates and articles via our website - keeping members in touch with good practice