I'd love to know more about what happens behind closed doors when class lists are 'negotiated', and if/how a child is matched with a teacher.

Presumably there is some effort made to balance ability, personality etc?

Not in our school, but then there's only 15(ish) per year, and two years in a class (apart from reception).

(Sorry, that wasn't particularly helpful was it?)

I don't think children are necessarily matched to a teacher - although I suspect that if they have a kid who may be "challenging" they will make sure he's in a more experienced teacher's class.
I know (as a school governor) that they spend a lot of time looking at friendship groups and taking the advice of the previous teacher/nursery setting.

And obviously girls can be just as challenging - no idea why I wrote "he" .

I don't know, but I do know that DS1's current school is going to get a shock in September, they lose DS1 up to the primary school, and DS2 comes into reception.

Now he's quite well known at the school (as I used to take him into assemblies with me, and also some of the teachers go to our church)....and from the "outside" perspective he appears very similar to DS1 (who, without wanting to sound braggish, has been fantastically well behaved at school and is well like and respected by the teachers) - however they're going to be shocked when DS2 arrives, he is SO totally different and I can him getting himself into quite frequent trouble

Haha FAQ, yes I think they had a shock when DS2 went into school after DS1.

They had an even bigger one when DS3 started...

I think a lot of thought goes into putting classes together.

I think most constructors of class lists will try to make sure that every child has at least one friend in the class, and will try to avoid severe incompatibilities.

I think a lot of thought goes into putting classes together.

I think most constructors of class lists will try to make sure that every child has at least one friend in the class, and will try to avoid severe incompatibilities.

in secondary?
ti was random wher ei taught
but it was a GET THIS......... 16 form entry

At the junior school I work at we have a 2 form entry & most of the children come from our linked infant school - they are split into two classes by the Year 2 teachers & they just take one each - they are split evenly ability-wise & they try to make sure they all have at least a few friends in the same class, though tbh at that age friendship groups are often very short -lived.

When they move up at the end of year 3, they are usually mixed up, some groups that don't 'gel' may be split up, some may be kept together if they are working well together.
The challenging children are not necessarily given to the more experienced teacher - after all, the newer teachers have to learn how to deal with them - and if there is more than one, putting them in the same class could cause even more problems.

We do get requests from parents to keep their child with their best friend - one year a parent requested this & came charging in to complain when the lists came out & they were in different classes - unfortunately, the teacher couldn't tell her that the other mother had asked for them to be split up!

We have always spent alot of time looking at friendhip groups (both positive and negative)
For certain children we choose the teacher specifically, i.e if there is a child with behavioural issues we will put them with a teacher that has strong behaviour management.
If it is a new cohort (Rec class in Primary/Infants or Yr 3 in Juniors) we make sure there is a wide range of birthdays so that the class is not over-weighted with older or younger children.
We spread SEN children evenly through the year group so one class does not have an excessive amount.
We make sure there is a relatively even balance of boys vs girls.
We take into account requests from parents, where possible.

At my DC' school, Reception is a straightforward split by age, oldest half in one class, youngest in the other, Yr1 they mix the classes alphabetically, Yr2 is (so i am told) streamed but the school don't tell you this, it's disguised as friendship groups

At secondary at 11 they try to get an even spread of ability in classes (unless they are going to stream them from the off). They also might get sorted according to MFL choices and parental requests for their child not to be placed with xxx might also be taken into consideration.

Further up there might be a bit of social engineering at GCSE to rejig the groups, for instance, HOD takes nightmare child but offsets that with having able assertive students. What most commonly happens is a rotation of classes so that one class isn't always taught by the same teacher year on year. But often hands are tied due to the complexities of timetabling

At DS1s school they make sure both classes have a good mix of older and younger children. there is a certain amount of teacher matching goes on but obviously they can't know every child, some will not have attended the nursery! One of the classes seems to have some of the more "challenging" children from the nursery in it and the other has the more sensitive ones. Over all there is quite a mixture really

oh god yes DS3..........

he was "helping" me play the piano at our evening service last night..

which involved crawling down the middle of the aisle (after wriggling in my BF's arms and wanting to get down), pulling himself up, hammering loudly on the keys at the top of the piano.......then crusing round the back of me to the other side to hammer the keys on the bottom of the piano.

When he was bored with that he had a go at climbing the 2 steps up to the choir stalls and tugging on the (very expensive) microphones, and when that got too boring he was sat in the middle at the front "shouting" at the top of his voice

OTOH - I thought the school wouldn't know what hit it when DD3 started as the other two are quiet, well-behaved girls whereas she is a holy terror.
Well, lo and behold, at her last parent teacher meeting we were told she is a model for good behaviour for the rest of the class.
However, she is worse than ever at home.

I've been told that the current class teachers get together and an initial 'working list' is compiled after discussion of various individual student strengths/weaknesses and personalities/friendships. The list is then discussed with the lower school head (who really doesn't know the children) and she ultimately has the power to place/approve. She evidently doesn't like to 'be told what to do', and sometimes pushes back if parents are too overbearing with requests.

Most other parents are busy 'lobbying' for specific teachers. I haven't done so, but keep wondering if I'm making a mistake by being passive (or is it actually letting the school do their job ).

For year 7 the following things are taken into account

Every child, wherever possible, is placed with someone they knew from primary

Wherever possible children are not placed with a child if there is known to be an 'issue'

Children are placed in the same Houses as their siblings (unless there are good reasons not to)

Any special needs are taken into account....so a child using a wheelchair will be placed in a form group where wheelchair access is not an issue.

These are for mixed ability form groups. Children may then be placed in Sets for subjects based on their ability in that subject.

The rest is random. We don't get to cherry pick!

I let the school do their job too Earlybird, after all they know everyone involved. At DS2s last school the lists went out at the end of Y3 (shortly after we left) and apparantly one group of parents spent the next couple of weeks trying to get the teachers changed as they didn't want the "crap teacher". The head backed down and changed the teachers over leading to much playground gloating. I can't even begin to imagine how awful that poor teacher must have felt and can only hope that someone was supporting her. I still can't believe the head was so lilylivered as to give into mob rule, though I guess you couldn't have expected the teacher to have to deal with those parents for a year knowing they disliked her so much

It is random in my school. But we do not put all statemented children in one class.This is because all valuable ta support would be concentrated in that class. So a few children are placed into a class, the rest are assigned randomly.This is a bit confusing isn't?