or is school

[bluedolphin2]

My dd goes to a 45 year intake school and is about to start reception. We have just been told that nursery and reception is to be combined. There will be two teachers in total and lots of teaching assistants . I am a little concerned by this. Or do people think this will work.

There's a school near me that does this.
Apparently it works well and reception children meet their targets as they would in a solely reception class.

However, I do know of several parents who chose a different school because of it, as they felt their dc's would be held back, and wouldn't feel part of the school as they were still with younger children for much of the time.

Your best bet could be to talk to your dd's teachers about this. Take a list of concerns, and see how they deal with it. Hopefully they'll put your mind at rest

It's fairly common to combine classes, though IME it seems more usual for the combined class to be Reception and Y1.

I don't think you need to worry about it - you could always have a chat with teachers and find out exactly how they work it.

My niece is in a combined age class (she's about to go into Yr 3) and will be in one next year too. She's a bright spark and is doing very well indeed - no being held back.

I would ask why the school is doing this, what they think the advantages are etc. Presumably they could have left the nursery and reception classes separate, with a teacher and teaching assistants in each class, so it doesn't on the face of it seem a funding thing. They should have a clear strategy for why they think this will produce better outcomes, and I would imagine they have researched similar structures in other local schools. I am a Deputy Head (though Secondary school) and believe me, a lot of planning and talking goes into such things. It will also have been discussed with the Governing Body. I would ask more questions, and maybe see if they will have an open meeting to inform parents. I wouldn't go with any preconceptions -it may be a really great idea for the school or it may not be, but there will certainly have been a lot of planning behind the scenes.

They always used to have 2 reception classes with a teacher and an an assistant in each with children free to move between 2. I am not sure that there was always a teacher in nursery but certainly they had one this year. 40 children in a group was daunting enought. I am not sure how 80 will work.It is also the no consultation thing that concerns me too. We just found out by letter this week. Although presumably the Parent Governors knew about it. Also not aware of any meeting to discuss it.

It makes sense to me - the curriculum they'll be using is for Early Years Foundation Stage which covers nursery and reception, so having the same classroom is no big deal when they do the self same curriculum.

Yes I can see it makes sense as it is same cirriculum but its the numbers which scare me. My dd really struggled when she started in the group of 40 children. She used to always complain that she never got the opportunity to do things she wanted too. Obviously not assertive enough. I am sure there will be lots of other children in this situation. Especially the ones who are only just3.

I'm sure they'll split the whole group most of the time; they'll probably have groups of 20 or 30 at most, I rekon like a conventional classroom, but just have no walls between the nursery and reception classes.

My DS is in Reception and his school is exactly as your DC's school will be.

There are 2 teachers and 5 assistants. At 9 they all go in to the same room, but sit in their different groups (Reception, older nursery and younger nursery) then they all mingle. I know the reception do a lot more group work away from nursery, but when DS was in nursery he still did a lot of work in smaller groups too.

DS has Autism and is behind on some of his work so I cant say whether or not there has been some effect to his schooling (although he has been ahead of his years in numberwork). Although I know of other children in his class (reception) who are really good readers.

Thank you. That is reassurring.

My son has just been in a combined Reception / nursery class. In his case though the nursery session is only 2.5 hours in the morning - I think they've been playing in the morning and doing the more serious stuff like reading once nursery have gone home!

Not sure about the numbers in your case bluedolphin - they can't have only 2 teachers for 80 children.

I think its must be nearer 60 as some children with go to nursery in afternoon. However, in Jan it will reach 80 and they will recruit another teacher.