Prep school year 3 or 4

[mimirose10]

If your child is in year 3 or 4 at a prep school, how much time ti they have with their class teacher? I'm having reservations as the school my DD at is nearly all class teacher for reception - Y2 and then after that in y3 and 4 they only see their teacher about 50% of the time. If seems so much of a jump. They also don't have a TA anymore.

The class teacher won’t have the specialisms. This is part of the natural development and what a prep school buys you, for example a qualified science teacher and a dedicated maths teacher, it then also makes the transition to senior school less of a leap. When DD was at prep school from Y3 they had science lessons in a lab, language lessons and a qualified maths teacher and moved between classes - it was hugely beneficial to her confidence and learning.

It sounds like you are worried about it but I would be more concerned if they stayed with the same teacher all the time. It may seem cute and cuddly to have the same teacher but as they grow up it can be cloying.

Not a prep school, but international one. Had specialist teachers for: art, music, Arabic, French, computing, RE and PE. If the balance of specialisms were right across the year group, they might also move to another class teacher for science, humanities and PHSE.

Sorry, should have said it worked brilliantly, and has set him up exceedingly well for (state, English) secondary.

Sounds normal for a prep school - for us a big pet of what we’re paying for is the specialised subject teaching, so we’re happy with that. I’ve never heard of the year 3s struggling to adapt to the change tbh.

My DS is August born and I really worried about him going into Y3 because of the amount of self-organisation he would need to do with the move into a lot of specialist teaching, needing to know when to go to the changing rooms and which kit to put on independently etc.

It was hard for him for the first couple of weeks. He cried every day after school for two weeks I think and was exhausted. However, he very quickly got into the swing of it and by the end of the first half term he much, much preferred it to the pre-prep set-up.

The walk between lessons and the fresh teacher every hour or so suited him much better. He really benefitted from specialist teaching because he's great at STEM subjects but not so keen on English. He had the chance to shine in the lessons that suited him and English because 'just one subject' instead of the main focus which it can become in a primary classroom (I'm a primary teacher). The other subjects can't be 'squeezed' because there's English and maths to get finished.

So roughly how much time with specialists then? Seems at the prep school very little with class teacher and the other teachers aren't necessarily specialists, just other primary teachers who prefer those subjects

From year 3 dc were in sets for Maths and Spelling so moved around for some core lessons plus specialist teachers for art, games, French, music etc. Maybe 50% own class teacher. There were TAs but not in each class, one for each year group and possibly a shared gap year student.

But they are specialists if they yave taken a subject to a much higher level.
I'm not a teacher, but I would be MUCH happier talking about science (my degree subjects - and primary teachers will have a specialism within their training degree) than French - which I dropped at 14.

In our case, pretty much all with specialists from Year 3. Personal development would be with some random allocation and the physics/ chemistry teachers are interchangeable (separate biologists). Games taught by teachers who teach other things too, as not enough games only staff, but PE always with PE staff. In Y3/4 there was some crossover between English/ humanities but not from Y5 onwards. Maths/ science/ art/ DT/ ICT/ music/ drama/ MFL/ RE/ classics & Latin/ Swimming always taught by a specialist.

They have a lot of staff. That's why it costs 20 grand a year.

I am also a primary teacher. I don't have a specialism. I did a PGCE in primary teaching!

I’m a year 3 teacher in a prep school. I spend about 60% of my time with my class and the rest of the time they are with ‘specialists’. I don’t think it is great TBH- I would rather spend more time with my own class. I think they are too young to be taught by so many different teachers. Inevitably there is a lack of consistency on things like behaviour because different teachers run their classrooms different ways. I’d also check very carefully that the specialists are genuinely specialists. They probably are for MFL, Games and Music but possibly not for other subjects. To fill my timetable I teach different year groups when I’m not with my class and I’m not a specialist in another subject.

Yes that sounds like what my DD will get and what I will be required to teach. Coming from pre prep it seems so wrong but I'm the outsider on thhe

Presumably you can become a 'specialist' by primarily teaching one subject/ set of subjects and focusing your CPD on that? That is what I mean by specialist- focussed on the teaching and learning in that subject.

I trained to teach secondary science. I'm now a primary teacher of autistic children. I consider myself a specialist in that because it is all I do and I've engaged in a vast amount of CPD.

Specialist teachers- Music, Science, PE and Games, Computers, French.
Class teacher does English, Maths and Topic which is humanities plus art. Also RE and PHSCE.

My daughter’s prep has specialist teachers for art, music, French, PE and science (which is taught in a lab) and they are all specialists. It’s pretty normal. Music, MFL and PE are taught by specialists from reception and that’s true at the local state primary too.

The pack of TA may be because they are switching to half class teaching of core subjects to accommodate time tabling of music etc. Just ask the school if you are unsure.

@Fayrazzled

I’m a year 3 teacher in a prep school. I spend about 60% of my time with my class and the rest of the time they are with ‘specialists’. I don’t think it is great TBH- I would rather spend more time with my own class. I think they are too young to be taught by so many different teachers. Inevitably there is a lack of consistency on things like behaviour because different teachers run their classrooms different ways. I’d also check very carefully that the specialists are genuinely specialists. They probably are for MFL, Games and Music but possibly not for other subjects. To fill my timetable I teach different year groups when I’m not with my class and I’m not a specialist in another subject.

This is exactly what we thought about our childs prep school after they had completed their time there. We felt that because there were so many teachers involved from year 3 onwards there was a lack of accountability from the staff and consistency . I also agree about some prep schools claims regarding " specialist teachers ". When we looked into the staffs degrees and past experience etc they didn't actually hold anything specialist to justify why they'd be teaching some subjects. I'm not saying this is the same for every school. I think its more beneficial for children to be taught by one teacher who can monitor their progress at a younger age. During key stage 2 we noticed that the teaching assistants seemed to drop off the radar aswell....

It does seem to vary quite a bit between schools. The ones which are/used to be boys' schools seem to be more
into separate teachers. Mine were at different preps and DS definitely had more
teachers than DD had. As to which is better...... I think it depends how much tie child likes the form teacher. With a "nice" (clearly very subjective......) teacher, having more lessons with that teacher worked well but with one who went down less well, variety could be good.

I don't have a current year 3 but the class teacher did approximately 75-80% of teaching and then there were specialists for music, foreign languages, and physical education. There was also one class a week in the library taken by the librarian and chapel taken by the head or the chaplain.

In year 4 for maths they also streamed across multiple classes so the child may have been taught by another year 4 teacher.

At this school though in year 7 and 8 all classes were taught by specialists and pupils only saw their form teacher for one subject + morning roll call / form time.

I would say just ask the school for more information. And of course look at their results - does their method seem to work?

Y3 has class teacher for all core subjects - maths, English humanities. Specialist for DT, art, sports, IT, french. We prefer this and the children prefer it too. The arT teacher is a specialist not someone trying to copy something they saw on YouTube.. sports is a specialist coach who also coaches county teams.
I'm not sure I understand the OP's concern?

Sorry also specialist for music and drama..

DS1 is yr 6 and spends 15 mins per day with tutor and otherwise random teachers. Our children are progressing well so it's not a concern and scores are consistent across the board. It could be more of a concern if your child has issues or is struggling. But I think it's good preparation for senior school, it gives them a variety of teachers and it gives them better teaching. We came from the state primary where the poor teacher had to deliver just about everything: art, maths, PE, drama, music and you had the same teacher for 2 and in some cases 3 years...

Sounds very standard for a prep school. I teach at the senior school and my DCs are at our prep - yr 3 and yr 6. Both loved the extra independence that moving up to prep brought them and have thrived.

The teachers are specialists to some degree or other - in areas such as music and drama this will probably be to degree level or with a specialism in their PGCE. For the others, focusing on that one subject has allowed it to become their specialism. Most teachers in our setting have an academic degree and PGCE rather than a primary teaching degree so this would also give some specialism.

I agree with others that it is good preparation for senior school. Also, having that much time with one class teacher is great if you get one whom your child really helps with but I remember having a really awful teacher at primary (quite vindictive as well as not great at the job) and I was stuck with him pretty much all the time for 2 years.

Variety is a very good thing in my opinion.

My ds is year 7 now (and we have moved him to a different school), but reflecting back on year 3/4/5/6 in prep school I’m not sure it worked well for him or us having so many different teachers.
It was the lack of consistency and poor communication that we struggled with. It would have been easier to keep track of his progress and address any issues if we weren’t trying to deal with so many different teachers.
We have now moved him out of the three tier boarding school system (pre prep, prep and senior). And he’s in a smaller independent day school which goes from 11 - 18.

What we experienced too for KS2. We only got to speak to their main tutor for parents evening . This proved to be pointless as they took them for one subject a week. They had no overall idea of what was going on. Far too many different staff involved, it was a total mess.

KS 1 worked far better for us and child where the form tutor delivered the bulk of the lessons then only sport , Music and French were taught by other staff.

dd2 is in year 3 prep. I think it depends entirely on your school. DD2 does move about for lessons but she loves it. If I've ever had to talk to any of her subject teachers I email and they contact me pretty sharpish, they are on the ball.

I moved dd2 from a independent school where it was one teacher all day and tbh he was pants. He was never in and they had a mix of teachers 'covering' ( given iPads !) . I think he really struggled with the ability range with in the class.

During lock down ( in new prep) dd2 was allowed to go in to school as we are critical workers and she was put in a bubble in a class room where they were sat all day and she hated it.

The only issue for me is the homework. DD2 is unorganised in nature so if she is given homework from one subject at the beginning of the day its likely forgotten about after other home work is given in other subjects - hence why I have the subject teachers on speed dial