Mixed age classes in primary

[MsMarvellous]

My kids go to a small rural primary and we've just had an email home to say that the school will be moving to mixed age classes from next year so that we can financially stay afloat.

I just wondered who has had experience of their child going into a mixed class from a traditional year group class and how it has worked.

My gut reaction was "argh no" but I'm wondering if there could be lots of positives here.

When relocating,we looked at a school that did this. The teachers showing us around made it sound very positive. It put us off and have heard from other parents that this way isn't really working. I'm glad we went with our gut and chose a different school.

There are positives:

A chance to have a wider group of friends.

MAT Children can work with older peers

Struggling pupils can revisit topics alongside the younger pupils

Older pupils learn patience and how to support younger pupils

Younger pupils have lots of positive role models and learn how to sit, listen and generally behave.

School stays open so you have a nice local rural school available to you.

@LetsGoCrazyPurpleBanana I don't really have a choice for another school unfortunately at this point so going to have to be positive!

@pompomseverywhere thanks for those thoughts. Really useful. My eldest is about to go into year 6 anyway so probably wont be too impacted anyway. My youngest is pretty high achieving so will provably benefit from being stretched and challenged a bit by having older kids around.

I'm sticking my positivity hat on!

Sending to a mixed year group wouldn't bother me (I am doing this). Done well, I think I prefer it.

Having my child's school convert to this would bother me though. It's a different way of teaching, and teachers always have a preference one way or another. I would expect some staff to leave (I guess they'd have to loose some anyway, but also in the coming year). In a few years it may thrive, but I wouldn't want to be there while they worked it out.

Sorry, not the positive you wanted.
But I've not been in that position, just my gut feeling (well I asked when looking at schools), so take with a pinch of salt.

It's done because you have to keep classes to a maximum of 30 children. If there are 20 in one year group and 40 in another they have to be combined. In my opinion, it is better to have e. g. Mixed Yr 1 and 2 than Yr 1 and Reception as they are all working on the ks1 Curriculum. Mixed Receptiin/yr 1 would have to be using the Early Years play-based curriculum and the very different Ks1 curriculum. Quite difficult for the teacher and the temptation is to make the younger children follow a more formal style of learning.

In the 80s I worked for a while in an infant school that had three classes Reception /yr1/yr2. Quite tricky to keep everyone challenged at an appropriate level.

I went to a rural school with mixed ages. In Australia it’s called a composite classroom.

There were absolutely no negatives for me. It was a very positive experience and one of the best schools I ever went to.

I went to a mixed ages school and so have all my children and I think they are a great idea. It means that children who struggle a bit aren't always at the bottom in terms of achievement as they will sometimes be the older set in the class. This really improves self confidence. The same for the more able ones, they can see the older ones and are encouraged to learn and push themselves.

We are in rural Norfolk and all the primaries nearby have mixed age classes. We’ve found it a really positive experience

We had mixed age classes at my primary school I honestly don't remember it being a big deal.

My oldest DD goes to a small rural mixed class school (yr 3+4 together, yr5+6 together) and is thriving there and is exceeding expectations in all areas (she is yr4). She moved from a non-mixed school when we moved house so has experienced both. She said she doesn't really notice it being mixed- everyone does a topic and then they have differentiated work/group work - which can either be by yr group or ability- which is the same as happened in her old school anyway to account for different abilities. The only potential downside I foresee is if she doesn't gel with a teacher or the teacher isn't that good then 2 years is a long time (obviously not a problem for your DD going into yr6).

Younger DD (yr2) goes to a different school which is not mixed. Dd1 had the option to join her when a space came up and she declined because she loves her school.

My kids will be in reception and yr2 in the same class in September. It's been great for my eldest so far, nearly two years in. I do wonder if it benefits the younger children more than the older ones, but we'll find out I guess...

Thanks everyone. This all sounds great.

I have taught mixed classes for fifteen years now and my children attend the school. Due to fluctuating numbers some years they are in a straight class and some years in a split.

The main disadvantage is that children need to be capable of independent work from a young age and it is more difficult for the teacher. (I teach Infants)

However there are many advantages I teach most of my phonics etc using stations so all children are working at their level not necessarily within their class grouping this gives the older children a chance to revise topics they may have not had the chance to .

Do you just mean composite classes or like a rural school with just 30 kids in the whole school so one class?

My primary school did this in the 80s. It wasn't a cost cutting measure back then so we had full year cohorts being blended into two classes.

I don't recall any negatives from the system at all.

My nephews attended the same school and they're both performing really well in secondary school now.

Like any school, the success of this will lie with the teachers. If they have passion and commitment to children achieving their potential it'll be fine.

We are rural but with one class per year albeit smaller. So composite to allow for fewer classes of no more than 30 kids. Eg avg class size is about 20 kids i think

I HATE it! My child just moved to a school like this and I've discovered that despite being Year 2, she's been doing the exact same work she did in year 1 in her last school! So I'm having to move her again

Twice now I've had a phone call to ask me what year she's in! Why on earth they couldn't ask her how old she is and when her birthday is or just look at her file, I don't know. Honestly, my mum's dog could run this particular school better!

On the whole though, I think it depends. I don't personally see how two different levels of teaching can be done in one room. As there's more year 1 in her class than year 2, my child seems to be just being taught as year 1! 🤦🏼‍♀️ They don't even change her reading book either, she's had the same one in her bag since September!

I have a view point different from the educational side, this was me in school 2 year groups mixed together when I was in year 5 my friends were all year 6, they moved to secondry school I moved to year 6 and made friends with the year 5 kids then when it was time for me to move to secondry what didn't mix ages all my friends were either year above or below so I went with not a single friend and it really affected me in terms of making friendships.

All classes are "mixed age classes". I've taught a class of one year group with kids ranging in age from 5-8 at one point. There is a very wide mix of ability and behaviour in every single class. Wouldn't put me off personally. Lots of advantages to a small school which outweigh any negatives of classes like this.

DD's primary school only had 5 classes.

Class 1 - All reception and younger year 1s
Class 2 - Older year 1s and all year 2s
Class 3 - All year 3 and younger year 4s
Class 4 - Older year 4s and younger year 5s
Class 5 - Older year 5s and all year 6

It was the best primary school in the LA and in the top 10% of primary schools in England. It was an outstanding school in every way, and I was very happy with the school.

I don't know about educationally, but socially quite problematic. Friend's son did reception as normal and then the school said they were putting him and a few others in a composite class with some year 2s (when he was Year 1) because apparently they thought he would cope well. He made a lot of friends with those year 2 boys, some of whom were a better influence than others. Then the following year, just when he had settled, they moved him back into his original year group, but by now all the nicer boys were in established friendship groups and he had a difficult time as he was no longer with the boys he had thought were his friends. I thought that was very unfair, and was all about the school solving its numbers problems and not in his best interest at all.

Actually, I agree with you @Biscuitsneeded about socially. DD had a friend who was 7 months older than her. When they were in the same class they were friends, but when her friend moved up and DD didn't her friend didn't want to have anything to do with her.

Interesting @Biscuitsneeded. My youngest is year two and a ready has friends. I'll ask about who they'll be keeping him with as he's struggle starting again.