Hooray! 'Despair' at large mixed year classes turned to relief. Thankyou, OFSTED!

[miljee]

A month or so ago I posted as I was very unhappy about the fact DS1, a Year 3 in a Y3/4 mixed class of 28 (AND in the minority!) was going 'up' into a Y3/4 mix, again in the minority, of 32 kids (whilst the year 5s were going into pure Y5 classes of 25 apiece)! Unfair! BUT the school's ofsted has just been published and they've had a rush on places, so, halleluja, still mixed but with a healthier ratio of 3s to 4s AND 26 kids apiece! Pity I had to find this out from a yr 2 mum in the infant playground, but there you are.

NOW I just await better news on DS2, yr 1 who's going into a yr 1/2 mix with 10 (currently) reception agers, AND 2 part time teachers. Oh, and 28 kids. Groan.

Hi Miljee, glad you are a bit happier with this. If it still doesn't pan out remember those village schools with the small numbers! (Balls aka Springadora)

Message deleted

It can work out with mixed age classes, it all depends on the intake. My eldest dd will be in a mixed 3/4/5 class in september, (she will be yr 4) but I think she`ll be fine. However, my youngest dd will be in a 2/3 class (she will be yr2) with very few other girls, so I have some concerns there, but will see how it goes. There will be only about 20 in the class though so she should do well academically,

giddy - just that in the small village schools the class sizes are smaller and village schools are often easier to get into.

Message deleted

What are people's actual objections to mixed year classes? I have never found it to be a big problem although the staffing plays a huge part.

When I was in the infants, EVERY class has a mixture of YRs - Y2. Was this unusual? I wonder if any school still does this?

giddy - I'm sure that there are many arguments pro and con small village schools. One against would be the small peer group from which to choose friends. BUT having recently moved miine from a large town school I am delighted by the way the kids mix vertically, taking care of the little ones, all playing together in big groups and being generally reflective of a large family. The children love it. It feels like we didn't know what we were missing until we got it.

Balls, we moved and sent our dd to a two class village school when she was 9. What you say about not knowing what you've been missing is so true! Dd had never really enjoyed school until she went there and she absolutely blossomed.

Dd2 has also had part of her schooling there and I think that although she subsequently went to a school 10 times the size, the confidence she gained at our village school enabled her to adapt to the change with ease.

I know the argument about going on to a bigger school is often a concern, but if it's well-managed it shouldn't be an issue. Our school has strong ties with the other village feeder schools and the secondary school itself so the children are able to take it in their stride. Another benefit is that when a child from a small school goes up, they will know former primary pupils who are now at the top of the tree - the kudos of having eg a prefect greet you by name when you're a newbie cannot be bought!!

My 7yo and 5yo dds have been in two larger city schools and now a small village school, because we've moved twice recently. I had reservations about the little village school with mixed-age classes, it wouldn't have been my first choice apart from the fact it was round the corner from our new house. But the dds are thriving, it seems they almost make more effort to make sure each child is working at their own level, so the more able children go up classes for some lessons. And the vertical mixing has been great to see, now the dds are friends with almost every child in the village, it seems.

I went to a 2 class village school when I was little and loved it. I moved there when I was 7 and it was a much better school than my previous larger primary.

I don't know if my brother who was 3yeard older than me was too impressed at been in the same class as me though.

It did wonders for my confidence and each child seemed to be set work independently. As I was maybe a bit brighter than the other 3 in my year I was set harder work than them, which maybe wouldn't have happened in a class with 30 kids the same age. Sorry if that sounds a bit boastful, don't mean it to. Just want to sing the praises of small village schools.