Can anyone explain how primary teachers decide who sits where?

[peachgreen]

DD (5) has just gone back to school (we're in NI). Her whole class has moved up together. She has a wee group of friends – there's four of them – who she was very close with last school year and saw quite a bit in the summer. From observing them at parties, she's probably the quietest in the group and possibly the one that gets a bit "left out" occasionally but nothing that has caused me any concern.

Last year they all sat at separate tables in the classroom and played together at playtime. This year, though, her new teacher has sat her three friends at one table, all together, and her away from them all. She's very upset although I have of course done everything to downplay it and reassured her that she can play with them at playtime, that she'll soon make friends at her new table etc etc. But I'm curious as to what could be the thinking behind the teacher's decision? It seems like most of the children have been sat with one or two of their particular friends, so I don't think it's random.

I really don't want to be That Mum so I have no intentions of saying anything to her class teacher, and in general I very much trust teachers to know what they're doing so I'm sure there's a good reason! But I am puzzled! Any teachers with any insight?

Hi Op. I’m a primary teacher. Sometimes it can be really difficult to keep up with friendship groups, or previous issues between certain pupils. It can be helpful for parents to give teachers a heads up, sometimes. I’ve always had really good relationships with all the parents, and they will
often tell me very helpful info about friendships, that I would otherwise not know about.

But, it can be a minefield trying to find a good seating plan. If I can be brutally honest, my seating plans usually start with spreading out the troublemakers, and then everyone else fills the gaps.

Yes I definitely will, and I'll also make it very clear that I'm not looking for anything to change, just to a) understand the reasoning and b) make sure she has the full context.

Thanks so much especially to the teachers who have commented, and made it clear you wouldn't mind being asked. I promise I'm not going to be a dick about it!

At my daughter’s school they sit on mixed ability tables for most lessons and just go off into smaller ability based groups for maths and English. They do move one or more around sometimes if they see clashes or a potential better match. It doesn’t tend to be based as much on friendship groups and my daughter plays with kids she doesn’t sit with.

Just out of interest, why would a child be sat at the back of the class, furthest away from you?

Because someone has to? 😁

Not every single position in the classroom is over-thought.

(I know, I'm not the poster you're quoting, but threads like this do tend to make other parents read too much into everything!)

If they're really tall!

Ha! Well my child is at the back of the class and she’s one of the smallest!

One colleague sits children in test result order, lowest at the front right and in rows going back until the highest score sits at the back left, another has mixed ability square tables, another has an inner and outer horseshoe rows, there are so many different combinations and it is pretty much simply down to teacher preference- and size/shape of classroom!

Depends on the teacher, the school, if they go by ability, if there are pastoral needs, use of mentors and good examples, needs of the child, interaction with other children, medical needs and if interventions mean they need to leave the class, distractions, bullying, eye sight, confidence and concentration and anything else thrown into the mix.

I have been "that parent" over a seating plan. The teacher had inadvertently sat DD next to a child who was bullying her, but due to her SEN wasn't able to explain to the teacher. Turned out the teacher had noticed DD was even more quiet than usual but was still trying to work out exactly why. She moved that day.

Poor teacher was constantly having to change the seating plan... there was a couple of children who had to sit somewhere but caused issues for whoever that sat next to. It had simply been DDs turn but it was more of a problem for her than others.

Personality, who will work well together, academic ability do I want them mixed or similar, dynamics of the classroom

I’m shocked that there is a seating plan for 5 year olds. Dd2 has just started P3 and this is the first time there’s been a seating plan.

I think it's find go tell her you kid was so upset.
It's not a big deal op.

She reliably pays attention in class, can see the board clearly, can hear perfectly well and gets on with her work without getting into squabbles or sillyness, then.

She's a sound prospect for the back row compared to others. It's not that she'll be ignored but that the teacher knows it's a secure position.

I was at the front because I couldn't see, had the attention span of a gnat, would plow through the work at lightspeed and ask for more or stare out of the window watching birds and trees and the sky, but the other more able kids were less likely to get up to mischief at the back if they'd finished their work or start drawing cartoons in their books whilst listening. They were reliable, I was a PITA.

It's not being 'that parent' to raise something which is affecting your child's well being! The teacher will want to know. Not necessarily to change it but so that s/he knows how the child is feeling. 99% of teachers do the best we can to act in the interests of all children but there a lot of them and we might miss something important. Parents are only focused on their own child so they're better placed to see a problem we might have missed. I would never discourage a parent from speaking up - even if they're totally wrong. Better than them be right and stay silent out of fear of embarrassment. I'd never want the parents of any child I teach to feel disempowered in their own child's education or well being.

At this stage of the year, seating could be as random as alphabetical, boy-girl or 'close your eyes and stab with a pencil' because we don't necessarily know the children at all. I let my classes choose until they give me a reason not to but I don't have tables and they soon start moving around anyway. Plus I only teach from age 7 so don't know about very little ones. And I only have them for an hour a week, not all day every day.

It’s very early in the year and maybe everyone will move round a bit as the month goes on once the teacher finds what does/doesn’t work.
My youngest gd never moved last year. (Much to her annoyance) but everyone moved round her. The eldest was constantly over the years put beside annoying boys, has recently started and all girls school and has already commented on how calm it is.
I used to group by ability but move them round the table for variety, do mixed groups for things other than maths/English (centuries ago).
I would give it a couple of weeks and see how things develop . As someone says they are there to work, not socialise, and she will see her friends during play, break, lunch etc and you may find the groups are more flexible than it appears. Some teachers and school (particularly in NI) will gets their backs up if they think you are interfering. You certainly can’t seat everyone to parental preference . They’d be constantly swirling round.

so sorry about your loss 💐and definitely make sure they know when speaking to them at the meeting, I think that’s the perfect opportunity to mention everything and who knows by then movement may have already taken place.

They separated my daughter and her only friend one year put them in a completely different class they were both inconsolable so me and her mother requested a meeting to find out why and her reply was 'to help them explore further than each other and make other friends' they obviously had other friends, but the security they had in each other was something else. They put them back together and they're still best friends to this day 10 years on 😫😩

Grouping by ability. It meant DS was the only boy on a table of girls, and desperately wanted to move down a table to his friends. Or at least another boy. Eventually they made the table bigger and somebody moved up.

A number of reasons - and I’ll preface by saying this isn’t from some teacher handbook, it’s from experience and preference. My reasons will differ from other teachers’ reasons and so don’t go reading anything into it about your own children. My child was at the back for the whole of one academic year and I can take a guess why.

• someone has to, when all the ‘front seats’ have been taken
• they are very capable and trustworthy and don’t need as much micromanaging as others
• they are too reliant on the teacher so create a bit of distance to encourage self reliance
• they do something gross or annoying that you don’t want to see every minute while you’re at the front
• they will need more support and it’s best for it to be discrete - if they’re at the back they’re not in the line of sight of all the class
• depends on classroom layout but might need to be near toilet/exit
• I’d walk around the whole room when the kids are working, and back of the class is easiest for me to access sometimes. It’s can be a great spot for the teacher at the back of the room if the class are all facing forward as they aren’t sure where you are so less inclined to stop working. I spent probably as much time at the back of the room as the front.
• some sight issues or SEN make distance from board preferable. Reading from the board, then copying into books, for example, can be tricky the nearer you are, moving your neck up and down. I found it could help a bit with dyspraxia to minimise heads moving up and down between board and book.