Primary School class split

[Mummaearth]

AIBU - My son currently attends a small primary school and is currently in a year 3/4 class. Have been spoken to by the head and told they are restructuring the classes and his new class will be going Y4/5/6 from September. However, due to numbers, a couple of the children will have to move to the Y2/3 class which they will call a Y2/3/4 class but the majority of the class will be Y2 & Y3 and there will only be about 3 Y4 children in that class. They have told me he is one of the ones to stay in that class with the younger year groups as he struggles, which he does because he is dyslexic!

AIBU to think that this is a horrendous move that will destroy any self esteem he still has or am I just being an overprotective Mama bear whoe doesn't want her son hurt?

I'm with you on this. This isn't going to help him at all. It's not fair to single out three children.

Do you have alternative suggestion though? These are the disadvantages of really small schools. If your son is struggling it may benefit him or you could consider other schools or request for him to be in the older class?

Not a chance my DC would be still at this school. Not a chance!
How is he going to benefit? Socially and academically he his being held back. I'd seriously contact the local education welfare but primarily I'd be finding a different school.

Yes, I want him to move into the same class as the rest of his year group. And yes, we are now going to look at other school although I love his school in every other way. I just think this is going to be such a kick in the teeth for him to be seperated from the rest of his year group.

Is such a tiny school really sustainable?

For all 3 of my kids Year 4 was a crucial year, the one where they actually realised their potential, including the youngest (also dyslexic). Had be been able to start school a year later and been with the younger class all the way through that would have worked fine but it wasn't an option. To be "kept back"- because that is how it will appear - would have destroyed his confidence. 3 years in one class sounds like an almost impossible task for the teacher too.

BUT you never know, someone else might find some positives.

How small are the year groups though?

I would say all three parents need to say "no" and you need to engage the other parents to get anywhere with this. Of course, this stems from a funding issue, so god knows what the school can do about it.

I would love to hear some positives as I am struggling to find any and feel like I must just being over protective. Up until now he's handled the dyslexia really well and is pretty postive about it, he's just happy to understand now why he struggles. But I think this will have such a negative impact I feel like I can't bear it!

I'm not sure of the numbers and have asked the Head for them but she has not yet replied :(

There is about 12 in each year group but I believe year 5 and 6 are the smaller years which is why most of year 4 is going in with them.

I was in composite classes most of primary school. My year had 14 and we were always split 7/7 or 6/8. I would not be happy with a 3/9 split as they seem to be suggesting for your ds’s year group.

There is no chance I'd agree to this, I'd try to get the other parents and go into school together.

How big is the Y4/5/6 class going to be without these three children being put in the Y2/3/4 class? It seems silly to move just 3 unless it's going to be a class of 36+ or something if they left them all together.

I suppose one positive aspect of it is that being the youngest in a class which will range from 8 to 11 will be very difficult for many children - either socially, educationally or both. Your son might actually end up feeling happier and more confident being one of the oldest and most advanced students in the younger class. It does depend very much on the child.

It happened to me for just part of a year when I was little but the other way around - I was moved into Year 2 a term early with 3 other children (I think the Y1 teacher was long term sick and our class was split between the other 3 Y1 classes, one YR class and one Y2 class). Obviously that doesn't have the same stigma as being one of only a few 'left' in a younger class but I do remember feeling quite frightened and lonely in that class. The Y2s seemed really big and intimidating!

I personally think that I could be fairly socially damaging as mentilly there is a big difference between a 6 year old year 2 and a 9 year old year 4.
Actually, surely that means he’s going to be further behind then the rest of his class as they will become more developed in the new class. Am I right in suggesting, what they basically doing is holding them back a year

Surely it would be better if they split the following. Early years had their own class, year 1 and 2 together, year 3 and 4 together, and year 5 and 6 together. That way there is not as much of an age gap And they can all say together, HOWEVER I am aware that KS1 classes can by law only have up to 30 children and KS2 32 children. However by the sounds of it it doesn’t look like it would of been an issue, if it is that small.

Op, if I where you I would ask if there is any chance of them being able to reconsider, otherwise; like @Hollowvictory has already said; I would think of seeing if you could transfer your son to a school which would allow him to be with the normal age group.

sorry, It could be not I 😂

That's too few year 4 children in the class, they should either put them all together or split half and half. I have also heard the idea that if a year group is split across classes then the more mature or bright children should be the older ones in a mixed age class, so they can work more independently on their own work while the teacher is working with the other years, and so you don't have older children in a class with many younger children ahead of them.

I would ask the head teacher for a copy of the school plan, to include the impact assessment on those children held down. If she says there isn’t one, ask why not? Has she not thought and documented the impact of those children?. Be bloody minded, but formal, in your dealings. Make sure everything is documented. Follow up each conversation with an email summarising the conversation.

How is you son at maths, will holding him back re dyslexia, hold him back for maths as well. You might want to say that unless they cross-set for maths, it will harm the one subject he is good at.

And no, 4 children is not enough to form separate section of the class.

They've chosen the weakest children and those are the students who are being put into the younger class. There are also several fairly disruptive students in the younger class that are very time consuming for a teacher. The Head is trying to tell me that this will help my child improve and make progress but I just can't see how.

I'm in Scotland and composite classes are a fact outside big towns
my daughters school has several composites here the rules are that there should be at least 4 from a year group and at least 2 of the same sex ie not 3 boys and 1 girl or vice versa unless it is a tiny school with only 3 in a year
they now have 5 classes for 7 year groups so they try and alternate so one year the 4 class is split into a 5/4 and 4/3 but when the 4's become 5's they will try and keep them together and either split the new 4 or the 6 class P1 and P7 are never split but there maybe a few p6's in with the 7's or P2's with the P1's
composite classes are supposed to be not more than 25 as opposed to 30 for a straight class generally they split on reading groups so if splitting the p4's the strongest readers will be with the P5 , this makes more sense than age as it stops the spread in ability being too wide and if you have only 5 P4's in a class of P5's it is better if those 5 can work together rather than being at 3 different levels between 5 pupils, my DD's class was split when she was in P2 and P4,
There are only 11 in her year group so sometimes they are altogether like this year it is a P6/5 with about 7 from P6, it is still called 6/5 even though it is half of P6 and all of P5
They always put highest class first so though the P6 class is split they are in 7/6 or 6/5 never 5/6 as that could make the 6's feel they are under the 5's ( this happens whatever the balance of numbers)
so they should describe it as a 4/3/2 class not a 2/3/4 class to avoid the 4's feeling a demotion and being under both 2 and 3 however doing well in a class rather than struggling at the bottom may help your son's self esteem in the long run, there must be other Y4 with him though
sometimes it is difficult for the head as if the role is under a 80-100, she will only get 4 teachers for 7 classes if it goes below 75 there may be only 3 teachers funded and if the year groups are not even like a 10,15, 21, 13, 26, 13, 10 it makes it very difficult not to do multi splits that is 98 pupils so 4 classes of not more than 25 it is not easy the headteachers just prays for 3 extra pupils as the soon as she has 101 she needs an extra teacher

I suggest you post on the education board, there are some very helpful Prolple there who will know if this is not just reasonable, but appropriate.

Y2/3/4 is such a broad age range, it will never work. Aside from isolating your son from his peers, they're planning on putting him in a class with children between one and three years younger than him and (rightly or wrongly) the teachers focus is going to be more weighted towards the younger ones - maybe meaning DS won't be getting the support needed for his dyslexia.

Logistical nightmare.
I have no idea how a teacher is meant to plan a lesson to include 3 year groups either?

Most definitely start looking for another school for him.

there is a primary school about 13 miles away with only 15 pupils (P1-70) it is also about 11 miles from the next nearest primary which is why it is still open

I would ask for him to be moved up with his peers or move school. Small schools do struggle with how to handle numbers and classes and it’s not always the right fit.

An alternative might be a yr 2/3/4 and 3/4/5/6 with even numbers of the brightest year 3 and 4 students in an otherwise 5/6 class.

The Head is trying to tell me that this will help my child improve and make progress but I just can't see how.

If she is doing it to help your child, as for the copy of you child’s plan, showing where this will be the case, ask for specifics. I doubt it has been thought of and this strikes me as a method of evening out class sizes, irrespective of if it helps the children.