Be honest… would you be ok with your child in a classroom like this?! Apparently common in state sector

[Mrppp]

our daughter is due to start school next September. We learned today that the classes are merged from ages 5 to 9. So 5 and 6 year olds in one class, 7 and 8 in another etc. This means in some instances children with be two years apart, depending when they are born, but in the same class?

surely this is crazy? Development is huge over a year at that age?

İ went to a school like this. İt meant I was put with older kids when doing work and had a different set of friends each year as the classes would change ratios each year and when I got to year five/six there wasn't really much for me to learn in literacy and numeracy as I had always been doing work a year ahead, so I messed around for a couple of years. I don't think there were any emotional issues with it though. I remember enjoying year six the most though as I was finally in a class full of kids my own age and not one of eight or nine of the younger kids.

One of my friends at university was the only child in her year throughout primary. The school had two teachers -- her dad was the head and her mum the deputy. (Apparently she used to go home and solemnly tell them what 'Mrs Jones' had said today, leaving her mum saying 'Yes dear, that was me.')

My dc's school was like this. There were 45 kids per year, so 3x year 1-2 classes, 3x year 3-4 classes and 3x year 5-6 classes. It worked well!

Very normal in lots of areas with small schools. I went to a primary school in the 90s that had two classrooms..... infants and juniors. I remember there being two children in the entirety of Year 6 when I started.

DDs are in a school with mixed classes and they've done really well. There is huge variation in ability within the same year group so it's actually been really helpful for them to be with the older ones for their reading/phonics lessons etc.

This is really common in Scotland, and I think it has been very positive for my DC.

Composite classes tend to be smaller. At that age, there is a lot of differentiation even within a single class, so everyone should be getting appropriate work.

At our school, year groups often tend to be split in two, e.g. a p1/2 and a p2/3. The e.g. younger p2s are more likely to be in with the p1s, and it often really helps their confidence to be the oldest in the class. The older or more advanced p2s will do work with the p3 groups, and it will help their confidence also.

The negative thing is the shuffling around each year as the numbers on the school roll change, and they need to rebalanced the classes.

Normal at my kids’ school. One form entry but then they accept additional kids in year 3 from a local first school, so make 3 classes of mixed years 3/4 and 5/6 when needed. It comes down to cost - they can’t afford a teacher for a class of less than something like 23 kids, and can’t have more than 36.

Yep, i went to a small primary school ( 30 kids in the whole school) and I was taught like this. All I can say is I don’t think I was effected as I hit my targets and now I am a secondary school teacher. I think it would work aslong as the teacher is keenly aware of differentiating for the different years. I have heard it works well for the younger age group to be stretched and challenged as they can join in with the older students learning

My DD was in mixed age classes throughout Primary.
It has some advantages and some disadvantages.
I think it's much harder for the teachers.

I was raised in a small village with one village school with 15 kids ages between 9 and 12. Each year around a round table and one teacher. There was another school with about 20 kids ages 3 to 8 with two teachers one for pre schoolers and one from 5 to 8.
Some of us have degrees, PhD and master, some did an MBQ, some did an apprenticeship and a degree after. Some drop the school at 16 and when to work in the family farm or the family business.
All of us are fine in adulthood. We still meet regularly and I see them three times a year when I visit the village.
I think they will be fine.

This. I'm a TA who has worked with amazing teachers in classes with mixed ages. As long as work is differentiatiated, it can work perfectly well.

If done well it can be great - pupils learn at their own pace instead of having to fit into age groups. I was a year ahead by the time I went to secondary school - unfortunately I then couldn't be accommodated in the age-based structure and got very bored

Mine were in a mixed age (two years together) primary. They thrived, were happy, did well, built excellent relationships. We later moved to another country, and they did well there in a selective school in a very different educational system.

Worth saying, in our experience, the parents AND children built excellent relationships in our smaller village school, though we lived in the neighbouring village. There were sudden bereavements and incredibly tough times for some families in the school, and it was incredibly impressive how the school community pulled together to support.

I went to a small infant school. When I was in year R, we were with year 1 too. That was 34 years ago. Very common in smaller schools.

It's fine. We were in Ireland when one of my kids started and school starting age is far more flexible than England. It can be anything from just turned 4 to almost 6, so all my kids had a wide range in their classes. Eg, one had a girl born in say September 2010 in the same class as a boy born in June 2008, with most of the class born in 2009, but a fair few in 2008 and the teacher (and some very good TAs) handled it well.

My children’s school do this, no problems at all.

Two year groups in one class? I think that's really common. It was the case when I was at school and in several schools I've worked in. Every class will have a wide range of abilities anyway.

We had that when I was in primary (1990's) it was a small school (not rural just small) and when I started it was r/1, 2/3 and then 4 separate. By the time I left it was r separate, 1/2, 3/4, 5 and 6 separate.
I never had a problem and loved the small size

Both my children went to mixed year classes in a small primary school as does my niece now 25 years on. The benefits are that they learn ok up to the older children and in schools with really small groups as my daughters she was the only girl in her year for 4 years but most def with the girls up and then down building great relationships across 3 year groups.
i think you are worried as its not something familiar to you, hope all the messages help you feel more positive.

My DC both had mixed age classes in infants.
It wasn't an issue.

My kids were in a school that did this, as it was tiny. They both thrived and passed the 11 plus and are now at grammar school. Depends on the school, but it can work.

The primary school I went to had some mixed classes. My year 4 class had some year 5s in, then there was a solely year 5 class, and then there was two year 6 classes with some year 5s in each of them. It worked really well in my memory at least, with lower attaining year 5s going to the year 4 class, average in the year 5 class, and higher attaining in the year 6 class.

My son is starting school in the autumn and his school, while it doesn't have mixed age classes, it does mix up the first 3 years for some lessons, so they can work in ability groups.

If you go to a school with classes big enough to have a full class per year, they'll all be divided into groups according to their ability anyway.

It was normal at our primary (very small rural school) and worked fine. At one point both my dds were in the same class which covered 4 year groups. The work was all differentiated, they weren't teaching the whole class at one time generally.

My DC are one school year apart so I’d have avoided this like the plague, and it impacted some house-move choices. But my DC’s personalities are what makes this a bad combination.

I wouldn’t have been concerned if they were further apart in age.

As it was they still ended up in some learning groups together, despite being in 60-pupil year groups, as one was average in reading and the younger one particularly good.

@Mrppp

There are a few things I would consider.

Yes, you get continuation of a teacher but what if DC doesn't like the teacher? What if the teacher is poor? Very little can be done or will be done.

What if the year group is split? A PP above said y4 was split into upper with y5/6 and lower with y2/3? How do they choose who goes into which class? Age, ability, friends, attainment? This would never ever be acceptable to me. Labelled thick and kept down is awful.

Is the teacher sufficiently skilled to differentiate the work? Are they doing whole class lessons? How are bright dc stretched? How is the classroom organised?

Friendships: yes, in small village schools everyone knows everyone else but only y6 go up to secondary. What's the prep for this?

Are you happy about lack of team sports? What about orchestra and other performing opportunities? Has this school got the breadth you want and will it suit your y6 dc when they reach that age?

If you don't have any choice of school, just try and get the best out of it but be aware that friendships might be limited and so might educational breadth.