Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To send ds2 to a different school to ds1

32 replies

mistysun · Yesterday 09:19

Probably worrying over nothing here.

I have two kids, both boys, both alright apart but with typical challenges and behaviour that’s mostly age appropriate but in different ways.

Time has come (almost) to apply for DS2’s school place and obviously thought he’d go to the same one as Ds1 and he probably will but I am worried as their behaviour together is really not very good. Even now when I’m picking up ds1 and have ds2 in the playground with me when they clap eyes on one another they instantly start charging around, running off, generally being wild.

I can’t stop worrying about if they behave like this at school. And part of me is wondering about considering different setting for ds2. Can’t decide if it’s madness or not though.

OP posts:
Anothercake · Yesterday 09:20

This would be a crazy reason to send them to different schools.

Mum4MrA · Yesterday 09:22

Sorry it’s madness. It will make your drop offs and collection incredibly complicated, inset days and sports days etc on different days. I wouldn’t unless there are other reasons why the school isn’t suitable. Surely school will be able to moderate their behaviour 🤞

x2boys · Yesterday 09:23

They will be in different year groups and have different friends plus they will mature as they get older
Also logistically how easy will it be to get two children to two different schools at the same time?

mistysun · Yesterday 09:24

I hope so but I don’t want them to have to, if that makes sense.

It would make drop offs and pick ups slightly more complicated but would be manageable. I’d be prepared to do it if it meant they got their best experience out of school and not shadowed by being X’s brother.

Schools around here are small so it’s not like they are two siblings in a sea of hundreds, which I probably should have explained in my OP!

OP posts:
mistysun · Yesterday 09:25

x2boys · Yesterday 09:23

They will be in different year groups and have different friends plus they will mature as they get older
Also logistically how easy will it be to get two children to two different schools at the same time?

While they will be in different year groups they’ll be in the same class for at least two years due to mixed classes Smile

OP posts:
VividDeer · Yesterday 09:25

No way
I thought you were talking about secondary school. I do know a family where they all went different because different years had more kids so one didn't get into the desired school

Fireybricks · Yesterday 09:31

I wouldn’t want to send my kids to a school with mixed classes. Sounds crap.

Hankunamatata · Yesterday 09:34

Primary school? No I wouldnt send them to different schools just because they get a bit loud

SparkyBlue · Yesterday 09:38

I thought you were going to be talking about secondary schools so I was going to say in come circumstances I totally agree with the reasons for different schools. Due to SEN with one of my children I have my children in different primary schools. It’s necessary for us but an absolute nightmare working around it. But your reason makes no sense at all. However I wouldn’t like mixed classes so I’d contemplate moving both to a school that didn’t have that.

mistysun · Yesterday 09:41

So I’m genuinely asking, why does it make no sense? I completely understand saying I’m being unreasonable and that is the consensus but I guess the no sense thing has confused me. I’m just worried about them behaving at school as they generally do when together.

OP posts:
Anothercake · Yesterday 09:42

Fireybricks · Yesterday 09:31

I wouldn’t want to send my kids to a school with mixed classes. Sounds crap.

I also agree with this

BaronessBomburst · Yesterday 09:42

Is the school so small that there's only one class per year group? DS school had mixed classes but there were three. They made a point of splitting siblings and cousins into different classes. They also split DS and his best friend after group 1 but that's another story...... 🤣🤣🤣

Anothercake · Yesterday 09:42

mistysun · Yesterday 09:41

So I’m genuinely asking, why does it make no sense? I completely understand saying I’m being unreasonable and that is the consensus but I guess the no sense thing has confused me. I’m just worried about them behaving at school as they generally do when together.

Because they'll get older, they'll have other friends, the teacher should have more control. They'll behave differently at school compared to after with you.

mistysun · Yesterday 09:44

@BaronessBomburst there are only three classes in the school, KS1 are all together mixed 3/4 and mixed 5/6.

I am probably being stupid; I like the school, just worried they will go all stupid and wild and that the teachers will dread having them, or that they’ll behave poorly at break and lunch times.

OP posts:
mistysun · Yesterday 09:45

Anothercake · Yesterday 09:42

Because they'll get older, they'll have other friends, the teacher should have more control. They'll behave differently at school compared to after with you.

I’m still not seeing why being concerned doesn’t make sense - they are all possibilities but not certainties.

OP posts:
AlwaysPurple · Yesterday 09:47

Kids often behave much better at school when away from parents. And I'm sure in a school that small, the teachers are used to having siblings in the same class. They'll have their strategies for handling them. If their behaviour together really is a nightmare, then think about moving one of them to a different school, but I'd give it a good go first.

Voltorb · Yesterday 09:50

I wouldn't send them to different schools but equally the school that your eldest attends doesn't sound like the best school to suit both children.

Are reception really mixed in with kS1? That sounds like a recipe for disaster and not at all practical. In smaller schools they are normally left with nursery or a separate entity entirely due to the different curriculums.

mistysun · Yesterday 09:52

There isn’t a nursery Smile

I am happy with the school; the results are really good and it’s a lovely place. I am being stupid, I just worry too much about what people think and can imagine them treating the classroom like they do our home!

OP posts:
Klearst · Yesterday 09:53

Have a really good look round other schools. Don't compromise your son's education for the sake of separating them but if you find a really good alternative where you think he will thrive, then why not?

It does seem a bit of a sledgehammer solution if I am honest, but one of my children has SEN and I am much happier for my other child's sake when they are in different schools. I do think setting things up so they are less likely to fall into a role of trouble maker is something worth considering. But you would be taking on a load of extra hassle and they still might end up making raucous friends.

Do not send your son to a school you are less happy for the sake of separating them though.

Voltorb · Yesterday 09:56

mistysun · Yesterday 09:52

There isn’t a nursery Smile

I am happy with the school; the results are really good and it’s a lovely place. I am being stupid, I just worry too much about what people think and can imagine them treating the classroom like they do our home!

I would definitely look at other schools and move them both if possible.

I can't see how just turned 4 year olds can learn through continuous provision whilst 7 year olds are simultaneously trying to write paragraphs about the great fire of London is an environment that suits all the children equally.

BendingSpoons · Yesterday 09:56

I wouldn't really like siblings in class together, however it is presumably common in this school. Presumably this is the 'best' school for your family - by best I mean closest etc which is why you chose it, not necessarily objectively better. Therefore I'd worry I'd feel guilty of DS2's school ended up not as good.

mistysun · Yesterday 09:57

I won’t be moving ds1, he’s settled and happy. It’s ds2 I worry about going into the school and clapping eyes on ds1 and it’s like a switch turns!

OP posts:
Whinge · Yesterday 09:58

mistysun · Yesterday 09:44

@BaronessBomburst there are only three classes in the school, KS1 are all together mixed 3/4 and mixed 5/6.

I am probably being stupid; I like the school, just worried they will go all stupid and wild and that the teachers will dread having them, or that they’ll behave poorly at break and lunch times.

Are yoy saying your son's school have recpetion children, year 1 and year 2 together?

It sounds like they're struggling with falling numbers, as all 3 of those year groups together really isn't in the best interests of the children, or staff.

What are the other schools like in the area? You say they're small, but how small?

BaronessBomburst · Yesterday 10:01

I liked the mixed classes. The children socialised more, and they were given work more suited to their abilities rather than just their age.

*Edited as just caught up with your update. That really is mixed! A much bigger age spread than at DS school, where mixing was a choice not a necessity.

UnaGatita · Yesterday 10:01

mistysun · Yesterday 09:41

So I’m genuinely asking, why does it make no sense? I completely understand saying I’m being unreasonable and that is the consensus but I guess the no sense thing has confused me. I’m just worried about them behaving at school as they generally do when together.

Completely understand. Although I work in secondary school family dynamics can be a nightmare to manage. I don’t see a problem with different primary schools if you can manage the logistics. Once they have their own sets of friends they should be established enough to cope with the same secondary a year apart where there’s no class mixing between year groups…