What do you call the mixed age high school forms?

[KatyMac]

DD is in one - they have 4 out of each year group & the same teacher across their whole time at school

But it must have a name

Vertical Tutoring, my DD's form group and her option subjects are all mixed aged.

I think it's a good thing btw & would like to see more of it

I think it sounds good. Sadly I don't know of any schools near us which do it.

I working with the advantages being in PHSE (I think those are the initials )

Vertical tutoring.

Yes, it is vertical tutoring. One of my old schools tried it for a while.

A tutor-set. I had this set up when I was at school many moons ago. It worked brilliantly. I had the same tutor throughout the five years and there were 4 children from each year group in the set. It meant the whole house worked well together with children from all year groups having contact via friends and siblings in other tutor-sets. Also the older children in the form helped the younger ones and the younger ones proved a distraction when you were about to have a teenage strop.

My school was very forward thinking, we had a working farm on the site, built a full size hovercraft in DT and parachuting was a PE option in Year 11! Oh the memories!

magenta- her option subjects are mixed age! what are the results like

DD2's school has vertical tutor groups; they also introduced verticle option groups this year, I understand that most of the students will still be taught with kids in the same year but there is more flexibility if someone has unusual options that don't fit. I think DD2 would be mortified next year to be taught in her GCSE group with year 10 and 11 students. Wait and see what happens I suppose.

DD's school has vertical tutor groups. I think the idea behind it is to try and prevent bullying.

It is treated as a new thing, but I went to a school in the 1970s that had vertical tutor groups. We didn't mix much with the other years, but I met my best friend in tutor group and we still keep in touch 42 years later.

I wish dd's school did this.

Dh's school have just announced thus for next year.

I'd love to see more mixed age teaching in schools, would be really interested to hear how it turns out.

At DD's school there isn't any mixed age teaching. "Form" time is only 20 minutes and it is an informal setting where the pupils can talk to each other. In my tutor group we used to play cards.

As I understand it, VT doesn't involve teaching as such. In fact, it counsels against it. Tutor time is for less formal stuff, it seems.

Ds2's school has regular year-group forms. But the auditioned chamber choir are in a form of their own (in order to fit in daily singing practice), which ends up as a vertical form. They are nearly all delightful, high-achieving, hard-working and well- mannered children and he loves it. He aspires to be like the yr11 boys, who are fantastic role models for him.

In September there's a possibility chamber choir form will disband, and he is dreading having to go back to a regular form.

I've heard vertical tutoring and I've also heard 'Family grouping' (although my 3 nieces aren't in the same form at their school where they do this ).
I've only come across it for form times though, not subject teaching.

Also at my school all students in yr9, yr10 and yr11 do two option subjects, for 5 hrs a week each. The courses last a year. Each option is open to all yr groups, so we have mixed age teaching (stage not age) for two days a week. For core subjects (3 days a week) they're in age-group classes.

Seems to work ok.

I wouldn't like to be responsible for timetables at your school roisin

roisin - do you teach at my daughter's school? How do year 9 cope with year 10 or 11 in the class? DD says she would find them intimidating.

My experience as written earlier in this thread was a vertical grouped tutor set. We were taught in year groups in class. We never had mixed aged classes but the first 20 minutes of the day was tutor time with the daily bullitin etc being read.