Mixed year groups for Key Stage 1

[PamT]

The new class listings have just been posted at our school for Key Stage 1 which has restricted class sizes of 30. DS2 is in a year group of 36 children, so consequently they have been split. 30 are in a year 2 class and the remaining 6, including DS are in a class with 20 year 1 children. My main concern is that he is due to do his SATS next summer and I feel that he will be at a disadvantage because he won't be with all the other children who are due to sit them. I suspect that he has been left with the younger group because his reading and writing skills are below standard, though he is very intelligent and does really well at Maths (once he stops daydreaming).

Can anyone reassure me that these mixed groups do work or should I go to school and make my concerns known?

[susanmt]

Mixed classes are very common where I live as we are in a remote rural area with small schools and therefore a lot of mixed classes, including 2 schools I know of where there is one teacher for the whole school! IME as a secondary teacher the children who have come through this are socially much better as they have learned to socialise with other age groups.
He may well do better as the teacher will have to give the 6 children attention to get them through their SAT's (another contentious topic, not something we have in Scotland, thank goodness!!!!!) so he may well get more individual attention.
But if you are concerned go to the school, I am sure they will be able to explain why and reassure you.
At least they are keeping class sizes to 30!

[PamT]

Good Morning Susanmt,unfortunately this school is bursting at the seams and they have recently upped the permitted pupil numbers which makes every year group somewhere between 30 and 40. I thought it was government legislation that no class should have more than 30 pupils in KS1, which I do agree with, but I also feel that it is unfair to segregate such a small number and keep them away from the rest of their year group. In another 12 months they will be pushed in with the rest of that group when they move into KS2 and they will then be the outsiders. DS1 is already in a KS2 class of 38 in a classroom which was designed to accommodate a single 'village school' sized class and another KS2 class had 42 children.

I probably will go to see the new teacher for some reassurance and perhaps ask her how the current year 2 pupils fared in their SATS as they were also a split group. (This is really going to cement my relationship with her one way or another isn't it?)

I too am against SATS at 7 and I don't actually get too worked up about the results because I know how immature both DS1 and DS2 have been in the early years at school. They still have a few more years before the SATS at 11 which will have more bearing on their High School education. My main concern is that DS2 doesn't miss out on the work that other members of his year group are doing just because there wasn't room for him in the class.

[susanmt]

Sounds like a very difficult situation, PamT. In Scotland, class sizes must not be more than 33 legally so this kind of situation would never happen - 38 is kind of victorian! Hope it works out!

[janh]

PamT, for what it's worth my kids' primary school has nothing but combined age classes (except for Reception, intake is 40+ so they are divided into 2). There are then 3xY1/2, 2xY3/4, 1xY4/5 and 2xY5/6. The KS2 classes are of around 35 - the KS1 just about 30. Ideally we would have 3xY3/4 and 3xY5/6 but although the space is there the budget isn't.

My main gripe is the Y4/5 class, the division is done purely by age, albeit on the very valid grounds that parents cannot argue with the calendar. They first instituted this arrangement when the present Y11 (now 16) were in Reception and had a meeting at which they made it quite clear how and why it was to be done (so no arguments about little Johnny having a genius IQ, if he was born in August that's where he goes!)

From my kids' experience, they do perfectly well in a class with younger children, although it can be a pain when they are friendly with the older children in the year but are never in the same class with them - in fact that has been my main problem, plus the fact that if your child is immature as well as young (as both mine affected by this are) then being with even younger children does not give them an example to work up to.

Academically mine have done fine. Maybe they would have done better in a class with older children but we'll never know! It is also frustrating for me because they only spend 1 year in a Y5/6 class and there are two fine teachers but they only ever get 1 of them.

I have always been told that they all do the same work whatever class they're in - certainly they will be prepared for SATs just as strenuously. If you do go into school and ask about it, be warned that many teachers have a tendency to take all comment as criticism (apologies to mumsnetters who are teachers, I'm sure this doesn't apply to any of you...) so be very careful how you phrase your enquiry!

HTH

[Alibubbles]

My daughter was in a few classes that had vertical grouping. The year 2 children in the vertically grouped class (yr 1/2) consistently did better in the their sats than the straight year 2 group, by as much as 10% and it was consistent each year.

I did turn down one very good c of e school because my two are only a year apart and they would have been in the same class, which I thought unfair on them both.

I was not really in favour of it experience as a governor tells me that there is a smaller spread of ability in a mixed age class than a straight age class, strange but true. I seen the statistics to prove it.

I wouldn't worry too much, I have an exceptionally bright child and she has never suffered because of it, infact she flourished.

[PamT]

Alibubbles, your first comment about the children in the mixed group doing better is very reassuring. Whilst I don't agree with making 7 year olds sit SATS I do feel that they should all be given an equal chance. Susanmt could also be right in saying that the 6 children in the mixed class will receive more attention from the teacher (they are probably the lowest achievers within their year group so far). I don't think I will really be satisfied until I have spoken to the teacher but I am a bit nervous about doing this as I don't want to get off to a bad start with her.

[Alibubbles]

PamT, In my daughters class there were 10 year 2's in the year 1 class. My daughter had worked all year in a year 1 class with a group of children 9 months older than her and two terms extra in school. I was very worried when the class was split about how she would fare, educationally and socially as she was not confident at making friends.
I needn't have worried, being an older one in the class gave her that confidence as the teacher would always givce responsibility to the older ones in the class.

She out performed all her peers in the straight year two class. She got level 4 in her Maths and just short of level 4 for English.
She was in many mixed year groups all through junior school as well, again she achieved level 6. Your son will be fine I'm sure.
Have the school picked them on birthdays, ours did, it was the youngest who stayed in the year 1 class, but they were infact some of the brightest!

[PamT]

Alibubbles, the 6 children who are being left with year 1 are not all the youngest, though DS is one of the younger ones, he was a January intake whilst a couple of the others in this group were September intakes. I think they are probably the ones who need most help to reach the required standard. DS doesn't do too well with his reading and writing though he is good at maths, he still hasn't matured into the 'work not play' situation either and tends to daydream quite a lot. I've heard mixed reports about this particular teacher, so I am open minded at the moment but I know how important it is to get a good start at school and how much more difficult it is to catch up later on.

[robinw]

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[SueDonim]

Although I've no experience of SATS, my dd's have been in mixed age classes, as they were at a small village school. The children vary in age by as much as four years, not just one year but the end result is fantastic. By the time they reach secondary level the children outperform academically the 'normal' classes of the bigger school and also have better developed social skills. Mixed age groups, far from being a drawback socially, are good for both younger and older child. The younger ones can learn from the older ones behaviour whilst the older ones develop a more caring attitude to their juniors. Also, mixed age class sizes are limited to 25, unless that is just in Scotland?