Primary education in the 1990s

[hammeringinmyhead]

Now I have a small child of my own I've been thinking about my experience in primary school and I wondered if anyone either worked in education in the 90s/had this happen to them and could shed some light, or could tell me if weird decisions like these still happen?

I'm a September birthday, and I did year 1 as normal in 89-90. Then, the 6 of us who were September to December birthdays skipped year 2 and went straight into the year 3 class. We stayed with this group of older children for 3 years.

The year we would have been in "class 6", so the last year of primary for all of the older children in my class, they combined year 5 and 6 into a big group and split them, 15 from each year in a class. So I was back in a class with half kids I hadn't been with since I was 5, and half the children I'd spent the last few years with.

So, I went 1, 3, 4, 5, 5&6 combined, 6. And ended up (along with 5 others) doing the year 6 curriculum of vikings or whatever, twice.

Can anyone advise what the logic would have been here? I hear people my age saying they "skipped a year" but then the high school wouldn't take me until I was 11 so it seemed a pointless exercise and was really hard on friendships.

I went to church school. The school had three classes plus a combined nursery and reception. The classes were year 1, year 2 then year 3&4 combined. there were about 15 kids in each class (small school). We then went to middle school after year 4.

I went into nursery and reception then straight into class 3 in 1990 with about 5 other kids. All my other peers worked their way through the classes. Eventually i was in year 4 with all the kids i was in nursery and reception with then off to middle school.

I remember us being split in that class into ability groups and i was in a higher set at 6 years old than some of the 8/9 year olds so presumed it was because i was higher than average.

looking back it was a bit strange because at middle school i was always in average sets for everything except english where i was in top set so i wasn't exactly britains brightest child

no idea why me and 5 other kids jumped forward 3 years lol

I'm so glad it wasn't just me! I asked my mum if it was ability or something to do with class sizes, and she thinks it was because I was getting bored and understimulated in class 1. But it just seems such a pointless exercise, because I had to "repeat" the last year, which is about as boring as it gets!

I would have started in about 1990. Summer birthday, so only 1 term of reception (those born before Easter started in September). So we had a term of learning the basic reading, writing and maths the others had a term to learn... So less time in the play area compared to the main reception class.

We had three classes per 2 years, so apart from the reception class, it was all mixed years. But in my Yr5/6, the class teacher was deputy head. So we had 2 mornings a week with a succession of supply teachers that supervised us copying out worksheets. In the afternoons, there were less teacher in the Junior school, so the classes were redistributed so it was 40+ in a class.

Secondary school with a constant 32 children per class was simple in comparison. We also stayed in our form groups the whole of yr7, and were just set for a few subjects in yr8/9, but only two sets per subject (3 for DT but that was alphabetical not ability)

Im guessing i would have had to repeat the work too but i dont really remember. I dont remember ever being bored but i remember me and the others who moved up (another 4 girls and 1 boy) talking about it and wondering why we couldn't be in the other class?

I asked my mother and she didn't know why either, she just presumed we were all 'mixed in' and never really asked as the teacher said i was doing well.

Strange lol, if it wasn't for the fact you stayed until year 6 id wonder if we were at the same crazy school lol

i was born in march so i wasn't a september baby either

I was in primary school in the 90s. It was a small school and as I was summer born I was often put in mixed classes - autumn born year 5s were in with summer born year 6s.

I had this and I'm a March birthday. My mum said initially I skipped year 1 because it wouldn't have been challenging for me. After a few months my mum insisted that I was moved back with my peers because the teacher was extremely nasty to me.
I also had the mix of year 5 and year 6 for two years and unfortunately was left with another horrible teacher for those two years. My primary school seemed to be a hotbed of shit and nasty teachers. Thank goodness education has moved on and my own DC have absolutely lovely and hard working teachers.

It was most likely a numbers thing- too many children in the y2 you should have been in, and space in y3- the 90s was when 30 in a class in infants started to come in I think- although 36 y2 and 24 y3 would be daft! They should have done a spiral curriculum so you didn't miss topics though.

When I reached year 5 of primary, I was put into the year 6 class with a number of my year group. When I actually reached year 6, the rest of my year group come up. It was a small school and I think it had something to do with balancing out classes. Great for me as I had two final residential school trips.

I went to primary in the mid 80’s/ early 90’s and this was common in my school. I did Reception twice (summer born and we started at different points in the year then with a part time period). Then Second Year Infants (Y2) —> First Year Juniors (Y3) —> Third Year Juniors (Y5) —> Fourth Year Juniors (Y6) —> Fourth Year Juniors.

Like I say, I’m summer born so by the time I was in juniors it was done on a set basis. I was top set so went into a class (along with about eight others from my age group) with older kids. It was partially to do with the number of kids in the year, but also ability based. Some kids from the year above were moved down to the class that was mainly my age group.

I know of at least two kids who skipped a year and went to secondary early too.

I had exactly same experience in 80s, it was really hard on friendships in the transition to high school.

Same - late 80s, early 90s. AFAIK it was to help merge the newly invented Reception year into the existing structure. I was with the older kids as I could already read.

2 girls I know skipped but went right through until y13 a year ahead. High school was a grammar school though so maybe if they went to a comprehensive they would have had to wait until they were the correct age?

Was it not just a 'composite' class? Often used in primaries when they had too many surplus children in each year and had to create one class of 30 with them all. I was in one for my second year of infants in the very early 80s. Eldest of our year were put in with younger of the year above.

I don't remember the work being too hard, but not as much of a set curriculum then and I thought the work was differentiated. I think they still exist in small schools

We didn't have composite classes - 1 class per year with 30-32 in each class. And when I was in my second go at year 6, with my actual peers, there were no rogue year 5s in with us (still have class photos) so it was just us 6 kids they did it to.

Thanks for the experiences! It was things like the comments about 30 class sizes and reception being created that I was curious about.

I skipped y4 and did y5 twice. There were 6 of us who should have been year 4 put into the class of the year above. It wasn’t based on age but it was based on ability. I think it was purely down to numbers. It was a really crap experience. The class teacher tried to motivate the older kids by telling them that the year 4 group were performing better in tests etc, so we spent the whole year being bullied by the older kids. Then the following year we went into a ‘normal’ year 5 class and had to repeat the curriculum again. If that happened to my child now I would move them to another school.

I went to primary in the 90's. I started reception during the second intake in 1992 and from there we had mixed classes. Half of us then stayed on as year 1 and half went up to year 2. I was a summer baby and stayed in year 1. The the other half was then made up of children from the "year below"

I think it evened out in year 3 and from there we were all in the same class for years 3,4,5 and 6.

Exactly the same happened to me OP.
Only difference being there were 7 of us moved. ( All different birthdays)

I, for e.g was spring.

My school was 2 class entry and in year 5 classrooms were in huts and could only cope with 30 in the classroom so 6 children skipped year 5 and went straight to year 6. I was given this option and my parents asked me what I wanted. I decided to stay in year 5 because the 6 children had to do year 6 twice and I didn't want to repeat the content.

My DH was nearly moved up a year in primary because he was Autumn bday and academically ahead. They got the Educational psychologist in to assess him, and they recommended not to move him, as he was "sensitive" and they thought he needed the emotional support of his friendship group. This was in the 70s.

Shocks me to think how easy it was then to get the Educational Psych in - just to assess a child just because they were clever. You can't get Ed Peych time now for love nor money even if your child has special needs

I remember the school picking out a few kids at the end of Year 4 to be put up to Year 6. They then had to repeat year 6 so they went to secondary at the usual time. Strange decision as we learned long multiplication in year 5 so they'd have missed that. I don't remember them doing the same when we were in year 6 and bringing younger ones into our class

Sorry this was early 80s

IIRC all our classes were mixed.
So year 1/2
3/4 and 5/6
Although maybe 1/2 weren't. I don't remember being in reception, although my mum said I was.
So i would be with some children my age and some a year above for 1 year. Then some my age and some younger for a year.

DCs school was similar when ds1 started (38 child intake. So 30 were in reception and 8, usually the oldest, in a mixed r/1 class. Then mixed as my school had been until the end. Although due to building work expanding the school he was lucky enough that his cohort were split into 2 classes of 17/18 pupils each for year 5 and 6)
DS2 was the 1st of the 'boom" year intake so 60 children, 2 classes per year group.

I think class sizes were fixed at 30 back then (although I know they're not strictly fixed at 30 in junior and secondary now). I remember there were nearly 40 kids in my class at primary. Maybe they moved kids around to try and even the numbers out if they had a smaller year group?