Year 7 class groups allocation

It’s more that they branch out, they meet new people, and sometimes they’ve got more shared interests with the new friends than the old ones.
Plus as a pp, says, convenience is a factor, if two children who were friends at primary school don’t see each other much at secondary school for whatever reason then that can cause a friendship to drift.

It’s not always the case, I know some adults who are still good friends with their friends from primary school, but it’s very common for friendship groups to change at secondary school.

No. They do not fall out but they widen their friendship group, As they should. Clinging to old friends, when so many others might be suitable friends, is a bit limiting. My dds knew no one when they started. Both were fine. Making friends is something they do afresh in y7.

They don't fall out but they do branch out

People mature and develop @LabPic
People tend to talk to people that it is convenient to talk to - people they walk to school with, or get the same bus, and people they are in the same classes with, or maybe sports teams or whatever.

If doesn't mean they "fall out", it is just pretty common that people meet new people and sometimes share an interest with them, and people they were friendly with at Primary school can often drift apart a little. They don't all, of course, but it is very, very common.

I know, I couldn't believe it really. DD and her 3 friends had literally been BFFs since reception, never any fallings out at primary - I thought they'd remain close at secondary. So I wonder now whether the primary friendship was almost through habit, and once they had the opportunity to meet new people they all wanted to spread their wings. Of course this may not be the case for your DD but I've read about it on here as being quite normal, so don't be surprised!

But how does this happen, surely not if they have been best ferns since year 3? They are inseparable, I cannot imagine they won't stay Bf. I know I am probably being unreasonable but how do they just move on to the next set of friends? It seems strange to me.

I'm not saying they will fall out. DD and her primary friends haven't fallen out, no drama, they just all made their own new friends very quickly.

My children’s high school actively split up friendships.
The school has a 10 form intake and they generally have no more than 2 or 3 children from each school in any 1 form. They also try and put them as boy/girl if they can.
Of ds2 classmates from primary 37 went to his his school and there is 1 other girl in his form group.

best friend.

Is this usually the case?

My dd will be going with her current bf to a secondary next year together with a third girl who she also likes. Are you saying they will all fall out?

Think yourself lucky you have the same school as friends! My child is getting sent to a school miles away not knowing anyone 😢

My DS started secondary school knowing no one else so I think it would have been tricky for him if friendship groups were kept together.

The school got them to sit exams. The top 30 were placed in class 1, the next 30 were placed in class 2, and so on . . . .

I'm pretty sure DDs school split up friendship groups.

But... by the time they had their PE group (single sex), their STEM group (set by ability), their arts group, their humanities group and their form group... they saw a massive range of people every day anyway. Plus then mixing with the other half of the year and yr8 for extra curricular activities... massive range of friends.

The secondary school dd3 attended outright aimed to break up primary school cliques. Its a 8 class intake so obviously some would end up together and some would end up in sets together. However, for their form they aimed to ensure that noone was with their BFF
This ensures they are forced to mix with others and looking at dd3 and her then bf they flourished. Bfs big sister struggled but her primary bf flourished.

The school is very open that this is what they do so it comes as no surprise. They still se their friends from. Primary regularly.

DS's new school seem to have deliberately separated the kids from his primary as none of them are in the same form (there were only 4 anyway), but I suspect it's a bit different as it's a grammar school so a)has a wider catchment with tiny numbers from each school and b)doesn't do sets until GCSE.

It will vary, school to school.
My dc (2 different schools) were both put in different forms from other dc moving up from their Primary schools.
I think it makes a lot of sense - it means you don't get individuals trying to break into ready made friendship groups, etc. Everyone is in the same boat and 'new' to all the other people in their form.

Obviously they can still see their old friends at break and lunch, and often they will be walking or traveling in from the same direction so get to "commute" or walk to and from school together.

The Primary and secondary schools will have spoken too, and any special circumstances the secondary schools need to be aware of - be that SEND, behavioural, pastoral or whatever, and then the secondaries try to find the best balance they can.

At our high they are in forms but only 1/4 of lessons are with that form. Rest are mixed up or sets. Do it really isn't a big deal

It depends totally on the school.

The one mine went to relied on the junior school to give the names of a couple they might like to be with. Pity our juniors seemed to take it as a challenge to do the least suitable pairings, but it wasn't the fault of the secondary. They also try and have a couple of forms that they put the children who are needing a little extra support in (like anxiety/not knowing anyone else etc, not anything more extreme), and make those classes slightly smaller.
Another says it's totally random and for the most part I think it is. However I have noticed over the years that if any parent has contacted the school and asked for their child not to be in the same form as another, then they inevitably are. Sound ridiculous, but it's happened far to often to be a fluke and they're about a 10 form entry.
Another school I know puts them in birthday order and then goes down the list. At least they say that anyway!

Some schools have halves of the year, which don't really mix, so if there are children who are difficult together then they'll put them in separate halves which means they never have anything together.

I think schools tend to separate best friends, from what I notice. They also split up if many kids are coming from one school. This way everyone is in a similar position of meeting new people. Otherwise, groups form and harder for the kids coming alone have a harder time making friends. My dd is the only one coming from her school and we know some schools that have 7 or 8 girls going. They split up those girls into different groups.

There are three going from DD's primary school and they've been put together. They are friendly rather than 'besties' though if that makes a difference?

At her school they will be streamed for maths, science, computer science and languages. The maths SATS results will inform the streaming for all four subjects so they will effectively have those subjects with their maths set.

They will be with their form for subjects such as art, PE, drama, music etc.

They are completely mixed up for English and DT.

I think DC's school made a point of not putting friends together. I have no basis for this, other than that DD went up to secondary school with around 100 others from her primary and yet the only 2 girls from her primary school in the same class as hers were ones she'd scarcely ever spoken to.

I think it's positive not to be a in class with friends tbh. You can still see friends at breaks etc but you're forced to get to know other in your class. And it's likely that at least some classes will be out of the core class grouping even if your DC's school timetables most together in Year 7.

As a year 7 form tutor, the latter part of year 7 was always a nightmare with the girls. A and B were best friends at primary, B made a new best friend, A was in floods of tears. Rinse and repeat.
Much easier if they're not with their friends; they can make new friends and still be friends with the old ones (often that's who they walk to/from school with, regardless of which class they're in), and much less upset.

For the feeder schools both positive and negatives were taken into account. For the parents they were able to make both however the children were told to focus on the positives mainly to stop children being mean with I put you on my no list etc. One of the feeder schools had a 90 year group intake as opposed to the others which were just 30 each.

Although they may make friends quickly it is nice to have a familiar face in the class.

It varies school to school, but my experience of different approaches is that whatever a school does there's always going to be parents annoyed/upset/worried it.

The best approach I've seen parents take is to be calm and say "I understand you're disappointed. You'd have liked to have been with... But your class will have lots of other potential friends and you'll still see each other at break/lunch and out of school '.

We could give three (or might have been four, I forget) names of children they'd like in their form. I only put two for DD but she got both of them