merging Y5 &Y6 - private school

[abitpearshaped]

Hi
DD1 is in a small private girls school. She has just started Y6. It has come to light after a few girls being a bit put out about it, that almost all the lessons are being taught with Y5, apart from Maths,English and French. This has not been done before in the school, and we have had no notification or explanation. I'm going to discuss with the head, but what possible benefits could there be to the Y6 girls of this arrangement? Is it something to be concerned about?

We are having the same experience. Schools under enormous financial pressure, especially girls' schools will have to merge classes and cut teacher numbers or close.

I have DSs but they are at what was a small private girls school that went mixed. They merge quite a few year group classes for various lessons.

To some extent it can be a positive if, as in our DSs school, say the top Yr 5 maths pupils are taught with Yr 6 and say the weaker Yr 6 English student learns with Yr 5.

In our case this happens but also perhaps more worrying Yr 3 is so small it often merges with Yr 2 for most lessons.

Having said all that my entire primary school life was spent in classes with 2 year groups in and 32 kids in a class and ust one teacher. It is not necessarily a detriment providing it is managed properly.

My daughters private primary did this with most yrs ie 1&2 5&6 with no notice or discussion. It was due to class sizes being so small about 5-7 in each. In the end the school closed as it wasn't viable any longer. Luckly my daughter had already left for secondary then.

What I am trying to say is it due to class sizes and are they struggling to afford to pay staff? Best to ask the Head the reasons behind the decision.

The Y5 class is very small, 6 pupils I think. Y6 has 10 pupils. They do market themselves on small class sizes though, which is one of the reasons we chose it. I'm sure the head will tell me it is a good thing, and not a financial decision, but I'm struggling to see why, apart from maybe P.E and music, it will be of benefit to the Y6's. I can only see that Y5's will benefit from the arrangement.

Sounds very siilar to our situation.

Our main concern was that DS1 was going to be pushed along fast enough for his abilities. In Yr5 he did share Maths and English with Yr6 and was in the top set for both. Now he is actually in Yr6 we want to be sure he is getting material to work through that is appropriate for his ability and he is not being held back. You need to speak to the Head as we did and kepe a careful eye on exactly what maths topics/homework is being given out.

TBH the other subjects (even English) are less important as they are more topic based and each child is more or less self calibrating as to what level they actually write/draw/research at.

Thanks, I am trying not to get too worked up about this. It is hard not to though. I feel that if I had known, I could have looked at other options. As we weren't told in advance, it is too late to move schools once a terms notice has been given, etc. DD will be looking to do exams for secondary school soon, so Y6 is pretty important for her. The secondary schools have their entrance exams in Jan, but the earliest we could go now without paying a terms fees in lieu would be Easter. I feel a bit misled, really.

Yes we have very similar concerns too.

DS1 has to do entry exams in Jan/Feb and TBH we were worried that the school really was not to get through the material he needed to do in order to be successful in the exams he will face.

My only advice is do not hold back in being in the face of the Head. Be very strong on finding out exactly what material the class will be covering in the key subject areas and if you feel it is not going to be enough tell the Head and explain why you are worried. We have done this and it seems our Head has responded but it did take 4 meetings troughout Yr 5 and we have been doing some Home Ed to cover algebra which they said they would not cover at all.

Our major problem is that we think the school will shut at the end of this year. It will not affect DS1 but DS2 will be affected and we are in the process of getting DS2 into a new school for next year.

Personally, in your situation, I would not move DD but just make sure you keep a very close eye and make sure you know what she wil be expected to know in the exams she will be doing. For once in my life I felt I had to be a pushy parent and that I had held back far too long.

Not that I want to unduly worry you but my immediate concern would actually be is this being done for financial reasons? If I were you I would be asking the school if they are financially secure for the complete academic year. It's not unheard of for private schools to run out of money and simply close overnight.

This is my problem . I am not a naturally assertive parent, and whatever the head tells me, I am worried that I will not be able to confront her properly, and just go " Oh, OK then" and just allow myself to be fobbed off. Think the home ed idea to help keep up to the required level is a good one. It is a shame that is is necessary, though.

Whilst the information will be "old", you can search on the charity commission website for your school accounts which may shed light on its financial situation.

When looking at schools, one of the questions I had was the number of pupils required for the school to break even. If the head does not know this figure then they are either lying or are incompetent.

It's quite common in both sectors to take two years groups and basically set them, or to have the two teachers deliver their own specialisms.

If you look at National Curriculum documents, there are schemes of work that are designed to be delivered over two years to mixed-aged classes.

In my school, we combine Year 5 and 6 for English and Maths and provide two sets (so still two teachers). I teach 5 and 6 together for Science as I like to have a slightly bigger class since we do so much groupwork. I simply have an A year and a B year, so that there is no repetition. The rest is taken care of by old-fashioned differentiation.

The minimum class size to support a single teacher is 7 students, although not all classes could be this number as overheads would not be covered. The odd small year group is not that much of a problem.

Mixing two years is a very valid way of working. When my older kids were in a state primary, this is how they worked Years 3 and 4. When I was doing my teaching practice, a rural school could draw on about 45 students per year, so had 3 3/4 and 3 5/6 classes.

Personally if I were paying fees I would not find this acceptable. If it would a better way to do things all schools would do it. Surely one of the reasons that people choose to educate privately is the single age year group. That said given she is in year 6 and I presume leaving at the end of the year it seems pointless moving her. However as other posters have suggested I would be speaking to the head and the teachers to ensure that she is covering what she needs and ensuring she is adequately prepared for the 11+.

On a last note, I think it is very very poor that a private school is doing these things without consulting parents, it seems very underhand to me.

At the end of the day a private school is a business and that is that. They do what makes commercial sense and if that means changing how they operate and not consulting then that is what they do.

I dont know many businesses that do consult with customers in any meaningful way really. I do routinely check the accounts of our DSs school on the Charity Commisison website as Ladymuck rightly points out.

I think every parent with a child at a private school should in the current economic climate.