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?

Oh, and I'm not against mixed age classes, most schools around here have them. But it sounds like this change and split of a single year group is budget driven.

My DD’s school does something similar (but different names for classes as not in UK so will give ages instead). This year they had:

13 nine year olds and 6 eight year olds
6 eight year olds, 12 seven year olds and 4 six year olds
8 six year olds, 11 five year olds and 10 four year olds

The split is decided for academic and social reasons and the children have a say in it. Children who, for whatever reason, want one classroom rather than another when their group splits are allowed to move - it is almost never needed though. It also means that year groups are intact one year and split the next.

For DD it has not been a problem, and has had the advantage of helping her make friendships in the years above and below hers.

My local LA school has an intake of 8 (58 on roll) and has 4 classes. Not sure how they afford it! I think you need an intake of 15 to afford 4 normally, with R on it's own and the rest with 2 years combined. Op's school should up their intake and could then run 4 classes instead of 3.

But how do they up their intake? I'm guessing they're under PAN because of competition from other local schools. The birth rate has dropped in the last couple of school years - a lot of the schools around here are under capacity for this year's R (some are only two thirds full).

Well it’s not an ideal situation but you asked for positives, so:

• Your DS will be at the top end of the class ability-wise, not the lower end. Might actually be good for his self esteem, not to feel he is struggling and falling behind.

• his self esteem will only suffer by staying down if it’s made clear that it’s because he struggles. You could frame it differently: Three responsible well behaved children we chosen to stay and set a good example to the younger ones.

• your son already knows the year 3s after being taught with them this year. And there are going to be other year 4s with him. He’s not the only one after all.

• he will get the additional consolidation and help with literacy he needs. He won’t be rushed. Next year he will be joining his class again and it will stay that way. It’s not forever. This is a one-off opportunity to really give him an extra go at mastering the basics reading and writing. I’d ask that this be made a really strong focus for him to give him a boost ready for when he rejoins the rest of his class.

Mixed age classes - not an issue per se.

Mixed age classes across two key stages - a bit more of an issue, because of the difference in the NC for the two.

Mixed age classes where a year group is split - a lot more of an issue, because the two 'parts' of the same year group have such different experiences, exacerbated if one part of the year group is with children from a different key stage and the other is not.

Mixed age classes where year groups are split very unequally in terms of numbers - a real issue, because those who are in the small minority and have a different experience are likely to be less well catered for in the following year.

Mixed age classes where year groups are split very unequally in terms of numbers and the split is done in terms of 'ability on paper' - worst case scenario, as you have a small minority who are already struggling but are made to feel even worse about themselves by being separated from virtually everyone else in their year group.

So the OP's split is genuinely worse than many others described here.

It's far from ideal but if your child struggles academically and if his self esteem
In this area is low then perhaps this is the right option for now. Being the oldest in the class and potentially one of the most able may boost his self esteem and help him to over learn and Consolidate skills. If he was in the other class he may academically be the weakest which could have a huge impact on him.
If this is the only option I would want to know what social opportunities will there be for your dc to spend with his friends- apart from lunch and break. Like clubs etc. I take it this arrangement will only be for a year? Is he Likely to be back with his cohort next year?

Is there an alternative for this school though? Presumably they can't employ more teachers due to funding issues.

You could book an appointment with the headteacher to discuss your concerns, and see if she suggests any alternatives, or can alleviate your concerns.

The alternative for the school seems to me to be to have a very large Y4/5/6 class, incorporating the extra 3 Y4, and a smaller Y2/3 class, which would be appropriate given the younger age group and the extra difficulty that they are split across 2 Key stages.

Our school (catholic ages 3-11) has 100 children over 5 classes.

Nursery.
Reception and year 1.
Year 2.
Year 3 and 4.
Year 5 and 6.

That's bloody expensive to run, WatchTheWheels, they must be in a v strong financial position.

Another option would be to split Y2 across the lower 2 classes, enabling a fairer split of Y4s across the upper 2 classes.

I can see that the school may not want to do that, and would prefer to minimise the number of split year groups, but I suspect that the R/Y1 class will be quite small, given that OP has said both the upper 2 classes would be >30.

If each year group is in fact 12. you could do it like this:
R/Y1/6 of Y2
6 of Y2 / Y3 / Y4
A smaller class of Y5+Y6

We are in Scotland so perhaps a bit different but this happened to ds2 twice. The selection was done by age. In P4 he was in a composite 3/4 class. 4 P4’s and 20 P3’s) This was particularly tricky as P3’s are infants and P4’s Juniors. The infants have lunch 15 mins, and finish 30 minutes, earlier than the juniors. However the teacher was excellent. By far the best teacher he has ever had. She made the most of the times she had the 4 P4’s on their own and ds came on in leaps and bounds. The split happened again in P7, with two teachers jobsharing, and I was told that it would be the 4 youngest in with P6 although actually it wasn’t. This didn’t work well as the P7’s have privileges and are house captains and vice captains and the 4 missed out. That said ds2 liked both teachers and was happy in the class but I do think it left him short of friends to go to secondary with.

@PoppadomPeach
Y2/3/4 is such a broad age range, it will never work.

Of course it will work. There are plenty of children in such classes in schools across the country.

Teachers frequently have to plan across more than one year group or key stage - I myself have a class of reception/year 1/year 2; three different year groups and two different key stages. It's quite a lot of work but it's manageable and can be done.

Small schools have to find a way to split their numbers and most of the time there will always be a parent who isn't happy with this decision. In my own children's school, the split is decided on birthdate. Any child who is born on or after the 1st April will stay down with their younger peers, those born before 1st April will go up.

If they had done it on birth date that would have been great, as no stigma attached but it's been done on ability. That's the key issue I have as he's going to feel like he's done something wrong or not worked hard enough.

I'm dreading today as I know that I'm going to have to tell him. I'll put as positive spin on it as I can but I know he's going to feel like he's being held back from his peers. He's going to hate being with the little kids :(

I guess this is why I'm awake at 4.35AM, worrying about having to have that conversation with him later.

Well I guess this why so many small schools are closing. More every year. Parents don't like the composite class when they believe it negatively affects their children. They pull their child and send them miles out of the area. Numbers fall and school unsustainable. County closes school and parents protest. It's a cycle. It seems to be unstoppable.

I would do focus on just looking for another school.

I would consider the 2/3/4 class if he had 2 good friends with him (2 just in case one friend is absent or ill).

But tbh I wouldn't want him in the 4/5/6 class at all as being amongst the youngest as well as the the weakest academically would be the worst scenario.

I think birthdate would be even more unfair. As they are all the same year group, they have the same expectations, they learnt to read and write at the same time. And whilst summer borns statistically do worse there is not reason to make this even more likely by sticking them with the younger kids.
But also my dc is years ahead on reading so it would be inappropriate to put them with younger kids.
If a child is struggling it makes more sense to put them at a class that fits more with their 'ability'- current level.
Just try to convince the dc it was random

It's the just three kids thing that makes it unreasonable.

The head would have a hard job convincing me this was in my child's interests (and OPs child's wellbeing has sure not motivated the decision, that is purely a circumstance of the school funding). My experience with my 3 is that they each started to come into their own in Y4. If they hadn't had people to keep up with, to model, to compete/bounce off as it were I'm not sure that they would.

I would have no qualms in kicking up a stink if it is not the right thing for your child.

We chose to leave small school with similar year splits, and have moved to a town school with much larger year groups - so much better - and teachers move every year whereas small school has same teacher for 3 years - this didn't seem very healthy or positive in our experience - good luck with what you decide

The thing is, the Head isn't trying to do what's best for your child - they're trying to do what's best for a hundred children. By all means argue your case, and move your child if that's what you think is best, but it's the 'kicking up a stink' thing that gets me. Heads are under so much pressure, and they're just trying to do their best for their schools. Parents sometimes react as if teachers and heads are actively trying to screw up the kids in their care, instead of trying to do the best they can in an extremely difficult financial climate. .

@Likeacompleteunknown. I am not without sympathy for Head teachers and god knows the situation for many rural primaries is verging unsustainable. of course the head is not trying to deliberately screw up a child's life chances. Is the OP's kid meant to "take one for the team" here?

The thing is, the Head isn't trying to do what's best for your child - they're trying to do what's best for a hundred children. 32 or 33 children would be less affected by being in a class of 35 or 36 than the 3 children who would otherwise be kept back with the lower years.

No, that's not what I meant. As I said, the OP has to do what's best for her child, even if that means moving school and thereby exacerbating the school's financial position. I guess I'm just a little over-sensitive from having been on the school's side of the fence and so often seeing parents react aggressively to decisions made with only the very best of intentions. Heads and teachers are faced with the twin pressure of having to make difficult decisions, and then having to take a load of aggro from parents and be told they don't care, or don't understand, or have no judgment. Sorry if I misjudged your post.

No way that will be so awful for him. My 9 year old is dyslexic too and I would hate this. And I would be throwing around disability rights and inclusion evidence. How is this inclusive to put him in a class of kids years younger than him? What a horrible situation OP.