To think that my 5yo will thrive at a mixed age class?

[CVVFan]

It has just been announced that my 5yo will be in a mixed age class with year 2’s from September. He’s really switched on with maths (can multiply and divide, as well as fairly complex mental arithmetic) so I’m hoping this is very good news for him.

he turns 6 in October

He will be doing year 1 work in maths either way, so I can’t see how it really helps at all as the teacher will only half the time for year 1 work.

Wouldn’t bother me, age is a very loose measure for learning, the range of ability in a normal age group class is vast anyway

If they do it well he will be working at year 1 level. If they do it poorly he will do two years of year 2 that was what my friend found when her son did this.

Uh... Well done?

My twin six year olds have been in a mixed y1/y2 class this year and it's been fine. They split the class for some English and Maths, so the teacher works with just y1 or just y2. Yes they get less teaching time but they are in a smaller group so more focussed attention. They are mixed together for other subjects I think.

It might not work so well for him when he’s in year 2 though, and one of the oldest as well as being capable for his age!

And yes, theoretically he should still be doing maths with the other y1s, they’ll probably split in to 2 groups for maths and possibly English.

He'll be doing year 1 work.

My daughter has been in a mixed class both as the youngest and oldest and it really really works. She loved being one of the youngest and had the year above looking after her then when her turn came she was happy to take care of the younger ones...when I say take it it's in the playground. They do maths etc separately in age levels. It honestly works. I'm disappointed that next year she's just going to be in her school year only. The responsibility of looking after younger children and looking up to older ones is hugely beneficial.

If you think he'll thrive this year then what happen the next year when he's with children a year younger? I think mixed age suits most children half the time. One year they might like extra challenge, next year they are bored or one year is just fine then next year they notice kids a year younger out-performing them.

What’s the situation, will these two classes (yr1 and 2 from September) be combined the whole way up the school because they’re two small classes? In which case, yes I think it will benefit the students in the younger class who are capable of doing the older work.
Or next yr when he’s in year 2, will he be in with the new year 1s? If so, I’d worry he’d be bored next year.

I actually don’t know! I had assumed he’d move with the following year so Y2/Y3 or maybe they’ll rejoin them all as Y2. It’s not a small school, there are 30 children per year

There are 30 kids a class? Why are they being combined then? It’s going to be 60 kids?

Or do you mean the yr1 and 2s will be split into two 30 student classes, but based on ability, rather than age? Or just mixed up randomly?

Why is this happening? Are they short of teachers and so are saying that one teacher plus a few TAs will have all the students?

I’d assumed this was a small school that didn’t have two teachers available for two small classes so they were being combined.

I don’t know how many children are starting reception in September, nor what will happen to the 15 younger current reception kids .

So my DS’s son class will be made up of the 15 oldest ones from current reception kids and 15 youngest ones from Y1. They’ll have on teacher and one TA

If I'm honest, I would be asking a lot more questions about this. My DD is going into a mixed age Yr1/2 class next year, but it's a well-established system and classes aren't split by birth date. She then stays in the same class, with the same teacher, for Year 2 and some new Year 1s join the class at that point - but I can't see how that would work with your set-up.

This seems like something they're doing in response to a child numbers issue, rather than a change in methodology? I might be wrong though, I would suggest asking them the rationale for this.

I’ve asked the head teacher similar follow up questions, as see it as an overall positive but would like to know what happens next year.

Even in a year group the ability level of children differs greatly. My son spent two years in a mixed 4/5 classes (so was youngest one year and eldest another). They were on their own year groups and sets for maths and English, for year 6 they were on their own, assuming due to focus on sats. I didn’t question it as knew he’d be fine and was quite happy with it.

We have the same arrangement at DS’ school except he’s going to be one of the Year 2s in the mixed class. We’ve been told that they will be taught separately for subjects like Maths and English but will work together on other subjects with the topics picked rotating every two years so it doesn’t get repetitive for the people in the split class. They have two class teachers (although one is only part time) and a TA so that they can divide up the year groups as needed. It’s all done in age in our school.

For the current Year 1s in the split class (ie the oldest half of the children), they’ll go straight to Year 2 along with a few of the older children in my son’s Year 1 class (March/April birthdays). Children currently in Year 1 with birthdays after May will go to the split class for Year 2. When they get to Year 3, they’ll all join up again. I think I’ve made that sound more complicated than it is but, basically, there are three classes for two year groups!

Yes, definitely ask all of the questions!

I see it as a positive for my DD - mainly because the school is very values and community-focussed, and I think that this helps them with both leadership and accepting that they don't know everything. But the school really work to make the set-up work well for the kids.

Lots of village schools do this the work is differentiated for each age group in the class.

Mmm it’s slightly confusing:

There's 45 children in each cohort, so we have to split the year group across one and a half classes. The oldest 15 from the current Reception cohort join up with the youngest 15 from the current Year 1 cohort and the younger 30 of the current Reception cohort form Class 3. Next year, DS would be in Class 5, which would be 30 Year 2s.

This is exactly how it works in our school.

Happened to my DDs as their school was a small village one with only 3 classes. DD1 started in a class with R, y1 and y2. After a term, the teacher had a chat with me and said she wanted DD to work with y1 for Maths and English as she was quite advanced, despite being a late July birth. She always worked with the year above, occasionally 2 years above until y6 when she was given some "more able" work but ended up helping the younger ones a lot of the time. She has just handed in her PhD thesis, so it didn't do her any harm.

That is a normal arrangement when there's 45 in a year.

If they are used to doing it, it will likely work well as they will have a two year rotation of all the topic work, trips etc. So theoretically, all the children will do the same work regardless of what class they are in.

The curriculum has changed though and it is now about mastery so it wouldn’t happen the same now.