why do schools insist on jumbling classes every year.....

[staydazzling]

in an ideal world where all kids ended up with who they wanted it would be ok, but more theyll get 2 friend options and end up with 1,which can lead to disappointment in young children, it never seems to be an even split, lets say a class of 30,and 3 classes ends up. with like 15 in one class, 6 in one and 9 in another, it must be quite unsettling at times aswell, AIBU to wonder if its all necessary? (dripfeed i went a v. small school so no change of class ever till. comp back inthe days where classes were nearly 40 )

why do schools insist on jumbling classes every year.

Not all do.

I work in an infants and once classes (3 form entry) are decided before Reception starts they remain the same until the end of Y2. When they move into the local juniors they stay the same at least for Y3. They sometimes jumble them at the start of Y5.

DD's school was only one form intake so no mixing throughout primary. Her secondary form was the same in Y7-9, then mixed for Y10-11.

One primary school I know kept jumbling their classes about for one year group in particular as there were some more challenging friendship groups amongst them and they could never quite find the right mix.

How about kids can be disappointed as it's a fact of life and probably something they should be learning that early as an emotion, rather than their ott parents complaining about moving class groups and treating their children like precious little flowers.

Give over OP. They still have enough stability, that is all that matters.

Ours do it most years through infants, I assume much of it is so they have a mix of abilities in each class

By the end of reception one class had 3 dc with a dx of asd (that I know of) when they started my ds was the only one with a dx. Much better to split children with send evenly through the two classes I’d think

Primary school I went to had mixed classes, two in each group so yrs 1&2, 3&4,5&6 do each year the oldest would move up to the next grouping and those staying would swap teacher so year 1&2 classes had Mrs A and Mr B year two became year three and moved into the year 3&4 classes, year 1 became the 2 the former reception class became yr 1 and those who had Mrs A now have Mr B and vice versa. So a good amount of mingling and changes of teachers but still kept friends around you.

In Dc school, classes get mixed up in year 2 and 5. I know it’s a good way to make more friends but it’s hard to see friendship groups split up. Dd has 2 girls and 2 boys that she plays with everyday without fail, now she’s going into year 2 she’s worried they’ll get split up. I think they should take note of who’s closer to who.

In the school I work at, we muddle each year group at least once (Junior School). This year it's just Y4 going to Y5. They are a difficult year group, and although we can't necessarily make a "better" mix, it's been done to give some children a break from difficult children who they've been with for two years. Because of the nature of the year group, they'll be with different difficult children, but at least it's a change.

Reasons classes might be mixed up could include: gender, age, friendships, difficult combinations, behaviour, ability, the list goes on.

Because we have a very transient population (almost half of next year's Y4 were not at the feeder infants in reception) the class make up can change quite considerably throughout the year. My class, for example, has had nine children arrive and five children leave since September. Most of the new arrivals have come with no English, which changes the academic make-up of the class quite a lot. So they are being spread out a little for next year.

It's also lovely when they get to Y6 and really get along as a year group rather than just individual classes; because they've been with most of the others in a class at some point, they know everyone more or less.

I think this is good for their social development, I wish my DC school did it more. If your DC is shy/finds it difficult to make new friends, maybe request they are kept with one long term friend throughout the changes?

They did it every year at DS’s school. Ultimately it was very good for them; they were a very united year group as they’d had to get to know each other.

Our school mixes classes every year - 3x classes in each year group. There is no option to request that you are in a class with particular friends.

I see it as massively positive. The school puts a lot of effort into placing children with the 'right' teacher for them and some smaller, more tricky groups have been split up and the children do well as a result.

It seems to work to balance abilities across the classes as these change significantly in the early years and there is no way of predicting in YR whether you will end up with one class miles ahead of another.

Some friendships from YR remain but many others have changed. It also makes it much easier for new children joining the school as friendships are more fluid.

I do believe that sometimes parents will approach the school if they have a request for a particular teacher for their child but this is almost certainly the exception. I'm sure that there have been disappointed children sometimes but they seem to accept that they will still see friends at break and for PE and they seem to just get on with it.

After 6 years the whole year group seems to get on well together as they have all spent time with so many different children over their time at primary school.

DD goes to a private girl’s school with class sizes of about 16 and they have jumbled every year. It means when she leaves this week she’ll have formed some sort of bond with every girl in their year and will be used to making friends quickly and can work alongside a wide range of people.

It hasn’t bothered us, in fact I think it’s done something to dissipate some of the bitchiness and clique forming that you often see in schools like that.

It's partly because sometimes there's real issues and they need to shake up classes, you don't want to be stuck with a school bully for 4 years

We do this every two or three years. Many parents don't realise how much the friendships have moved on if they still only organise play dates with the Mums they get on with personally. It is nearly always a good thing to do. It builds resilience and encourages children to work politely with a wide range of other children, making colleagues in a way as well as friends. Such a good life skill. Parents don't like mixing with a new set of parents, mostly, as it feels like too much hard work - which shows they need the skills more than the kids!

My DS’s prep does this as well every year. I think it is a good thing. It breaks up unfortunate dynamics that have build up. It also allows for rebalancing of ability and behaviour across all classes as children mature

Ours were changed around each year in KS1. Then classes stayed the same in KS2. It worked well as by then the school mostly knew who to separate.

they're jumbled in year 4 at my kids school.Distribute all the nightmare kids evenly. The sexes get skewed too if there's a lot of movement.

It gave DS the chance to escape some bullies and in the final year of primary school they did it again as part of prep for high school when they'll all be separated and have to mix with children from other schools.

My kids school doesn’t do this at all.

My DC do this every few years. Was weird for me and DH because we both went to smaller schools where this doesn't happen. It was more traumatic for the Y1 parents than for the DC. Having had 3DC through the whole school I can see the benefits but it can be hard on the DC who struggle with friendship. My clever popular child sailed through it all and made more friends each mix up (probably because they've kept her top group of 4 together the whole way through school since the initially mix up in Y1 which has been beneficial educationally, presumably it's easier to teach the top of the year when you have 4 kids at the top together who push each other on than 1 smarter kid in each class, helps that they all got on of course).

Ours are changed most years 2 form intake 30 per class. I think it’s good as children make new friends and they can split disruptive children up and also those affected by negative friendships.

Ours does it every single year from Reception to Y6. The kids know about it from day 1 and they make a big deal of it from the start so it comes as no surprise. No list of 2 friends etc. The idea is that you get to know your entire cohort over the seven years of primary school and that you will still see your friends in the playground. It made a big difference and really sorts out cliqueness and they have lots of ‘all year’ events. In fact they have an end of year picnic for the entire Y3 class (DS1’s class) and it’s nice that all the kids know each other well.

To shake up class dynamics
To prevent a class forming an identity of a loud unruly class
To separate groups of students that don't help each other achieve
To give quieter students a new opportubity to make friends
To balance our abilities as ability can change through school

Personally, if parents were complaining about the 2 friend thing being so upsetting, I'd get rid of it and still keep class moves. The school ask with a view of trying to factor it in, but people being friends isn't a reason to group or not group people.

Given some of the strong feelings here, I can see why we get some calls throughout year 7 of 'why is my DC not in a form with their best friend from primary? They're already worried about secondary without being split up from their friends. How do we get a class change?'
By the end of the week they've made new friends and there's no drama other than the parent who thinks their child has to be with their best ever friend from nursery.

We’re expats and all the schools here do it every year. Expats tend to be transient so having a good spread of friends across the year group is seen as a v good thing for when the inevitable goodbyes happen.

I don't have a problem with it. Our primary school does it as often as it sees fit, depending on the year.
Ds1 they did it 3 times.
Ds2 they've only done it twice, in his schooling, so at one point they were together for 3 years.

Others classes/years, they do it every other year. If necessary.

One of my children has gone through primary with their year never being mixed whilst my other child's year have been mixed twice in 3 years. Dropping class numbers leaving it very unbalanced as well as an unfair balance of children with additional needs were behind the mixes. Fortunately my child has stayed with their friends in the mixes, however there are definitely tighter friend groups as they cling to what they know a bit and less all class parties as a result. Pros and cons to both sides but best to trust that the school have all the children's best interests at heart when they mix and it is a logistical nightmare for them to sort so everyone is perfectly happy.

Never happened at DD's primary as it was too small.
She'd love her high school class to be changed next year as she doesn't like a lot of the kids in it! Looking forward to yr9 when they will change after options picked.