Mixing up classes in primary school

[Faciadipasta]

My dc has found out today (with no warning) that their school has decided to mix up the 3 classes in their year group as they move from year 2 to year 3 in September. They are the only year that this is being done with. A LOT of the children were in tears at pick up today. I'm really worried that they will all have difficulties making new friends, and a lot of them are already saying they don't want to go to school any more now. If this has happened to your dc how did it go? Were the kids happier in the long run?
It just seems really mean, I'm sure they have reasons for doing it but I feel like these kids have already all had so much to deal with, being the cohort that were in reception when covid hit, so they've missed so much in terms of continuity and security within school and now they are having their friendship groups broken up as well. I think I'm almost as upset as my DS (who has been in tears since he got home) the reasoning the school has given is that the class sizes are uneven. They currently have 2 classes of 24 and 1 of 30 so they want to make them more equal. I do understand that point but I think only 2 children have actually left the year since they joined so why couldn't it just have been more balanced from the beginning?

Particularly with this cohort, many additional support needs will have surfaced and they will need to be balanced across the year group to ensure best support. It isn't about friendships. A huge amount of thought will have gone in to it.

They will still see their friends at playtime or after school.

It really should not be a big deal. It was routine every couple of years at dc school. Do they know the split and teachers yet? It will help rebalance needs and resources across the year group and there may be additional children arriving. Hopefully the school will do whole year and new group activities to help them get to know each other better.

For many children the end of year 2 means leaving their infant school and moving to a new junior school. They have a completely new start with children moving to a variety of schools.
The school will have good reasons for the change and the children will be absolutely fine, especially if parents are positive themselves .

They didn’t mix DS1’s year group going infants to juniors because of COVID. I wish they had…his class has a disproportionate number of challenges (it’s no coincidence that they’ve had the Head of Year each year since Y1 as their teacher) and DS1 could have really done with getting to know the children in the other classes.

I think your school has handled it badly if they announced to KS1 children before parents were notified.

But other than that I think it is a fine thing to happen. I would be nervous for my kid that they might get sat next to an annoying kid or whatever, but I would be fine with it happening.

My child had mixed year classes, I chose the school on purpose for that, it meant every year half the class was new. This was good for ours. No issues arose from the changes.

My kids went to school in the US. There were 8 or 9 classes for each year group in primary, and every year they were mixed up so they had all new (or mostly all new) classmates. I don't think it's a bad thing.

I think this is completely fine and it would be helpful if parents were positive and didn’t make a big deal about it. Friends can still play at break times and after school. But school is for education, not fun, and teachers have a lot of other things to bear in mind.

I think if the kids had been aware it was even a possibility it might have not been such a shock. Ot hasn't happened to any other year since they've been at the school (because of covid) and they are the only year its happening to now so I think they all feel picked on which doesn't help

Not an issue. The kids will be fine. They will still see existing friends. They will make more friends.

I’m really disappointed our school isn’t mixing them up. Part of the reason for choosing the 2-form entry school over the smaller schools was to give them a bigger cohort. Never mixing them up means they don’t have this advantage. New head next year though so hopefully they’ll rethink this.

Honestly he will be fine - my son in year 2 and they did this between reception and year 1 and they've made strong friendships again and still maintained those from other classes as well. He has a good friend in all three of the years classes now. There will be a good reason for it.
I also worried myself sick when all his nursery friends were put in another class in reception and he hardly knew anyone in his but I needn't have, I think he's got a much wider social circle because of it.

There may also be certain groups of friends that aren't a good mix and are distributive in the classroom or where social issues are occurring.

Our school used to do it at Year 2 (which is what happened with DD) then decided to do at the end of Reception and Year 3 - DS was suppose to be the last year that went through the Year 2 mix up but they delayed it until Year 3 (last year).

This year its 1 and 3 with an idea to move to Reception and Year 3 in a couple of years.

It is a GOOD thing. Staying in the same class is fine if it is a 1 form school but if there is scope it is an important learning tool - getting used to new classmates working out what friendships are important enough to keep and what are ones that you let go because you are in different classes, allows for mixing up of groups that may cause difficulties etc and get a new class dynamic. Also good prep for High School.

A lot of schools do this every year (ours does).

your school has handled it badly as they should have told parents first and given more warning.

but it’s always been a good thing for us - it rebalances any additional needs, splits up unhealthy/obsessive friendships, puts people together who can work well. Kids adapt really quickly.

good thing to do is lots of play dates for the new class over the holiday - like invite the whole of the new class to the playground so they feel they know each other a bit.

It’s a natural thing between KS1 and KS2. It isn’t as if it’s a completely new school with new children.

Reassure them, they will still see their friends at break, lunch, before and after school and at play dates you arrange. Of course they will make new friends just like they did when they started school.

There are lots of reasons for mixing up classes especially a 3 form entry. Anything from evening out ability (low, middle and high ability children) any specific 1 to 1 children who require an LSA, boy or girl heavy which may or may not cause issues, friendships which parents think are wonderful are not necessarily wonderful in classrooms if they exclude other children or misbehave together.

Personally a class of 24 is easier compared to a class of 30 with a teacher and an LSA or volunteer (me, but with qualifications and over a decade experience) so I can understand the shuffle. Rather than moving a couple of children into the smaller classes they saw fit, and rightly so, to even up the classes based on other criteria.

They will be fine. My sons experienced this every 2 years at primary, 90 cohort, originally they were setted so shuffled round to different classrooms for high ability, middle and low during the morning for core subjects then they kept all classes as mixed ability.

We are one and a half form entry and so mix every year. There will be a lot of consideration given to keeping friendships together where possible. Your child will end up with twice as many friends - he will retain the friendships in his old class and make new ones.

Happens yearly at my children’s school. They are a two class year group and they get a yearly mix up. I’ll admit there are tears but on the plus side new friendships develop.

I grew up on the continent and classes were mixed every year (the school was 3 form intake)

The school I work at (in the UK, also 3 form intake) mixes classes every 2 years, so from R into 1, 2 into 3 and 4 into 5. Then at the end of Y6 they all go to a selection of secondary schools.

Children change - what was once a good mix of pupils can become unhealthy, SEN may emerge, new children joining the school may have changed the dynamics and a rebalance is needed, academic abilities change and may need to be evened out.

The mixing should happen with a great deal of thought and benefit each child.

It is a good thing 🙂

Ours mix every year. It's fine. My daughter wasn't with her 'best friend' this year, and won't be next either. They still play at break and lunch when it means she has a wider mix of children she knows and plays with. They also did this when I was at primary school. They'll be fine.

I think it is very important that YOU do not react badly to this as it will compound your DS's distress unnecessarily. It happens in most schools. It would be best for you to be upbeat about this, so he can take his lead from you. The more he sees that it upsets you then the mor4e upset he will be.

You may be right that this has not been handled well, but letting him see how you feel will not help him.

We had to do this because a stupid DM decided against advice she wanted her precious twins to be in the same class in reception

A year later she changed her mind and they used the excuse of a couple of other fallen out friendships to mix up the classes

It destroyed friendships of DC and DM and it was a real shame

There were some awful new DMs and their DC in our new class

I hated the school with a passion for that

I can assure you that "A huge amount of thought will have gone in to it." is not necessarily true.

In my experience it is perfectly possible that - if challenged - the school will admit that it was done with no real thought and then try to deal with particular issues that arise by completing reallocating again! ie make changes to the original re-org plan to deal with issues eg "A wants to be in a class with B because A struggles to make friends but she is good friends with B", or "C is a nightmare and he picks on D all the time, so it makes sense to move them to different classes"

Ours always mixes at the end of Y2. It’s a good time to do it - half way through the school, KS2, they know the personalities/needs by then, but still plenty of time for them to settle into new groups.

It was great for my eldest (her class was dysfunctional with a bit of a queen bee thing going on). Think it will be good for my youngest too.

I realise it’s not so good for those lucky children who have a great friendship group in their original class, but those who haven’t been so lucky need a second chance. Plus all the comments above about balancing out numbers, needs, new joiners etc.

I agree that it’s not good to have done it without warning. I would guess they didn’t want parents kicking up a fuss?

Also, I get that kids need to be challenged, but isn't it always said that routine and security are the most important things for kids, and surely having the same class for as long as possible is a good way of providing kids with routine an security?