Page 2 | Pissed off Reception classes being split

Irritatedmum · 2022-07-05T16:22:33+00:00

There are two classes in each year at my DDs school. She’s had her transition day today (moving to year 1) and has come home absolutely devastated that they’re mixing up the classes - and she’s being split from her friends. All of them. She’s devastated, I’m so upset her her. I don’t understand the reasoning for doing it (they didn’t when my oldest moved from reception) and why she’s being split from her friends. Is this a normal thing? I’ve emailed the school.

waveyourpompoms · 05/07/2022 17:45

Of course it’s not cruel. It’s a good opportunity and you need to show your child the positive side of this.

Original poster

Irritatedmum · 05/07/2022 17:45

Thank you Catkin - it’s literally all of her friends too. Not just one, but all of them. If we’d known it might have been different but we’ve had zero communication from the school.

OP posts:

Orangello · 05/07/2022 17:46

She will have new best friends in the new class on first day. It is often necessary to split good friends up, they might be distracting each other and the entire class.

waveyourpompoms · 05/07/2022 17:47

Why would it be different if you’d known?

You child is going to pick up on your attitude here and take nothing but negativity from it.

Hockeyboysmum · 05/07/2022 17:47

Yabvu. Dont email the school. They have jobs to do and dont have time to deal with every parent overreacting. Children dont dictate their classes. And for all you know some parents may want their child separated from others. Cant please everyone

Original poster

Irritatedmum · 05/07/2022 17:49

@waveyourpompoms i could have prepared her for it - as it was her grandad picked her up and brought her home and she walked into the house crying, that was the first we knew about it. If we’d known we could have been planting seeds for a while that she might be making new friends. I can’t see why people are being like this about a (just) five year old, I’m not talking about a teenager!

OP posts:

GCRich · 05/07/2022 17:49

Irritatedmum · 05/07/2022 17:45

Thank you Catkin - it’s literally all of her friends too. Not just one, but all of them. If we’d known it might have been different but we’ve had zero communication from the school.

YANBU. Obviously if the school come back and say "she works really well with boys, but if she is sat with her friends she never concentrates. Ever" then you might decide the school are doing the right thing.

If however they just haven't considered your daughter because she's well behaved and they're too busy trying to work out how to keep other badly behaved kids apart then I am not impressed. Also it makes a difference how she is making friends. If she made loads of friends in the first week then that is very different to if it took her all year to find her tribe and it's not being taken away again.

EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall · 05/07/2022 17:50

They do this every year until around year 4 at the school my dcs go to , totally normal and they soon get over it.

When they go up to secondary school the same thing happens, which I think is a bit harsh!

GCRich · 05/07/2022 17:51

"now" not "not"

waveyourpompoms · 05/07/2022 17:52

Irritatedmum · 05/07/2022 17:49

@waveyourpompoms i could have prepared her for it - as it was her grandad picked her up and brought her home and she walked into the house crying, that was the first we knew about it. If we’d known we could have been planting seeds for a while that she might be making new friends. I can’t see why people are being like this about a (just) five year old, I’m not talking about a teenager!

They’ve given you well over a month to prepare your daughter for what will happen.

She hasn’t walked in on her first day back to a new class.

Fallingfeelslikeflying · 05/07/2022 17:53

At the start of year 1 my DD's school 'mixed up' the two classes, but in actual fact they stayed almost identical bar 2 or 3 kids who got switched, my DD included. I never even thought to ask why. She was a bit anxious about it at first, but she quickly made lots of friends in her new class and she still has friends from her old class too. They're mixing them again in September when they move up to year 4, so it will be interesting to see what they do!

ZenNudist · 05/07/2022 17:54

Fine to be pissed off but it's normal and complaining will do nothing.

Mol1628 · 05/07/2022 17:58

It’s normal. She will be fine. Bet you as soon as she’s in her new class it won’t be mentioned again she will be so busy within the new class.

SilverMop · 05/07/2022 18:03

It sounds like communication about this could have been much better.

I am a teacher and our reception classes are being mixed, because they are are currently very unbalanced. They have been carefully sorted to ensure the mix of children will work better in y1. Children and parents were notified of this prior to transition day, so there were no surprises.

It does seem strange that your Dd has been separated from her best friends and I would definitely try to find out why that decision was made.

DinosaurWarrior · 05/07/2022 18:03

As a teacher I can confirm loads of reasons why we do it. Ability, behaviour. All these things you didn't know about when they joined in Reception. She will still see them at playtimes. She will make new friends. YABU 🙃

MardyBumm · 05/07/2022 18:04

Lol so many of these threads. When classes are put together before the children start reception, hardly anything is known about the children. SEN that has been missed by nursery/parents is often diagnosed in reception and you can end up with a class that has lots of children with SEN, lots of behaviour/friendship issues and varying levels of academic capabilities and another class that has absolutely none. Classes are mixed in the best interests of the children. It would not be fair for your child to go into year 1 with no support because the teacher has loads of children that have additional needs and certainly wouldn't be fair for all the children with additional needs not getting the support they need. So they need to be mixed. Yes it's a shame about friendships but they won't be playing in Y1 like they did in reception and will still see their friends at lunch.

Also lol at whoever said class lists are sometimes randomly made.

GCRich · 05/07/2022 18:04

ZenNudist · 05/07/2022 17:54

Fine to be pissed off but it's normal and complaining will do nothing.

I have no idea whether complaining helps, but I can say with certainty that expressing concerns CAN help and can lead to the teachers re-arranging the classes again!

GCRich · 05/07/2022 18:06

SilverMop · 05/07/2022 18:03

It sounds like communication about this could have been much better.

I am a teacher and our reception classes are being mixed, because they are are currently very unbalanced. They have been carefully sorted to ensure the mix of children will work better in y1. Children and parents were notified of this prior to transition day, so there were no surprises.

It does seem strange that your Dd has been separated from her best friends and I would definitely try to find out why that decision was made.

That answer makes sense and seems like a good one. You seem to recognise that there might be a good reason, and it might be an oversight, and that a good school will at least be welcome to a short dialogue to allay concerns, if nothing else.

fishingpaintings · 05/07/2022 18:06

Normal. My son has been separated from his two closest friends. Knowing how they bounce off of each other I can only respect the school's knowledge of the friendships of the children.

JimmyShoo · 05/07/2022 18:07

Both my children were mixed three times in Primary, including after reception. They both adapted within no problems, still saw their ‘old’ friends at break and lunch time.

GCRich · 05/07/2022 18:07

DinosaurWarrior · 05/07/2022 18:03

As a teacher I can confirm loads of reasons why we do it. Ability, behaviour. All these things you didn't know about when they joined in Reception. She will still see them at playtimes. She will make new friends. YABU 🙃

As a parent I can confirm that sometimes teachers do it thoughtlessly and are willing to change their minds in the face of reasonable requests.

cadburyegg · 05/07/2022 18:07

It's normal, happens here every year

GCRich · 05/07/2022 18:09

MardyBumm · 05/07/2022 18:04

Lol so many of these threads. When classes are put together before the children start reception, hardly anything is known about the children. SEN that has been missed by nursery/parents is often diagnosed in reception and you can end up with a class that has lots of children with SEN, lots of behaviour/friendship issues and varying levels of academic capabilities and another class that has absolutely none. Classes are mixed in the best interests of the children. It would not be fair for your child to go into year 1 with no support because the teacher has loads of children that have additional needs and certainly wouldn't be fair for all the children with additional needs not getting the support they need. So they need to be mixed. Yes it's a shame about friendships but they won't be playing in Y1 like they did in reception and will still see their friends at lunch.

Also lol at whoever said class lists are sometimes randomly made.

You might be referring to me. Maybe not "randomly" but they can certainly be made in a way that appears pretty random to the kids and parents, not least when the school subsequenty listens to parents concerns and changes things again in response to the concerns. Makes it look like the first attempt wasn't that scientific.

amigreedytowantmore · 05/07/2022 18:09

Are you sure there wasn't a letter about naming so many friends so they could try and keep friendship groups together? There was uproar amongst parents for DD reception class when they were split but most hadn't bothered to return the form and said it was the teachers job 🤷🏻‍♀️ we were one of the few that returned the form and DD stayed with a good number of her friends

RuthW · 05/07/2022 18:11

Thought all schools did this.