Year 1 class allocation and complaint, teachers, governors, what are our chances please?

[hollybungalow]

our daughter goes to the village school and is in reception, it’s a great school and we haven’t had many reasons to complain. Until now.

We found out they were mixing the classes the day they chose to do it last week. This isn’t standard practice for them.

Our hold was placed in a class with no close friends and unfortunately a child from another class who has bullied her in an out of school setting. As they are separated currently we didn’t raise with the school as we didn’t know they were going to mix classes.
Our child feels things deeply and there has been a significant change in behaviour. She is convinced she is on her own and without friends because ‘no one chose her’ and it’s heartbreaking for us all.

Other than this i asked the teacher about how they allocated places and she shared who our child had chosen and honestly i was surprised who she had picked, one girl she knows but the other she has never mentioned.
The same day we got her school report and it wasn’t hers, it was for another child in her class with the same first name. Then the choices made sense and to me it’s clear there has been a mix up.

i raised with the head teacher and shared the out of school bullying and the view (backed up by the other parent) that we believed there had been a mix up. He is firm there are no circumstances what so ever (including physical bullying) that would cause him to change a child’s class. His view is that whatever happens ‘we work it out’

I didn’t agree and have raised a complaint with the governors and trustees.
Can anyone give me a view of how likely you think we are to succeed with our complaint and get our child moved class? ( there are 3 in the year and we would take any other than this one).
because of the timing, the only option we have for september is to put her in the class with the bully, keep her off and be fined or move schools. So keen to know how likely we are to succeed or if we chalk it up and get her in another school.

thanks x

how do i do this please? the only option i am given is the governors?

Suggest you may move her - if they have plenty of spaces in the year group then the school will be worried about income and whether they may drop to a two form entry (head would be affected).

They don't tend to change it. But as said up thread, the head has no right to make a unilateral blanket policy like this. Our dd head said he would never except a child out of cohort. By the time that complaint hit the governors he was forced to revoke it as it had not been run past the governing body.

The senco refused to move my dd from her bullies class. She later reaped the benefit of sticking to her guns of trying to force them to make up. Because the police was called in. I didn't have to ask the year after.

No, you've followed the correct process. I just think you should manage your expectations about the outcome. The governors/trust can look at whether the head acted reasonably, but they're unlikely to decide your DD should be moved to a different class.

You also asked about the data breach with school report - you can separately follow the complaints procedure (surely govs aren't step 1 though). But that won't help get your DDs class changed as it's not relevant.

This happened to my daughter but without the bully party. They were a group of 4 girls who played together a lot and my daughter was put in the other class and the 3 others kept together. I was gutted for her.

There is a lot if mixing between the classes and she has got closer to others in the new class. Many others who were in obvious friendships were kept together. I spoke to the school but they wouldn't budge on it. I still feel for my daughter as I do feel she feels left out of her original friendship group.

The groups she was friends with were all very similar, birthdays all in same month, no SEN, no issues in school doing well. School had no real reason for their choice. I personally think its quite cruel to start separating children when friendships havd formed. I went to a very small primary with one class per year so its all a bit alien to me.

I think it’s worth remembering that so far they are only reception age. The ‘bully’ might change as time goes on. Mine is about to move into year 3, and my god different kids seem to go through stages of being little sh*ts and then come out the other end. There are some kids who I thought were awful at age 5 who are very lovely now.

It doesn’t help your situation, but maybe provides a bit of comfort. You’ll need 0 tolerance with the school if the child ends up causing your daughter any problems this year though.

The concept of the class shuffle wouldn't bother me but the potential mixup would. It's one thing to make difficult decisions and balance classes but it's another if they can't keep kids straight or admit that they made a mistake. I would be concerned about that. Our school made a serious mistake about something, but admitting it to us straightaway made a large difference.

You mention your child being in the class with the bully for the next 6 years, but won't they get mixed up again? What is the school policy on mixing classes, is it routine, annual etc.? I'm sorry you're dealing with this though and can imagine it is worrying. Our school leadership is very firm once decisions like this get made though, so in our case I wouldn't expect any change as a result of your complaint. And as a governor, we would rarely if ever see complaints of this nature. Our chair may see them, but would have a chat with the head or relevant member of staff and, mainly, it would be seen as an operational issue we trusted the judgement of staff on, given we are not in school day to day.

Are you certain that the classes won’t be mixed up again next year ? At the school our children went to they mixed them up every year

Governors will come before Trustees and CEO. This is not something that will be taken to them!

How many children in each class?

Unless I'm misunderstanding, I think your bigger complaint should be that you've come to the end of the school year and they don't appear to know who your child is!

OP, I just want to give you my experience from years ago when DS started primary.

We sent him to our local primary school nursery as he was a very sensitive child so we thought an early introduction to the school by joining their nursery class would make for an easier Reception year.

Our school’s policy was that all the children who did the morning nursery session moved up into 1 reception class together and all those in the afternoon session go into another reception class together. All good, exactly what we were looking for.

Well, they mixed up my DS who did the morning session with another child of the same name who did the afternoon session and allocated them the wrong Reception classes. The school accepted they had cocked up but they still wouldn’t put him in the Reception class with all his nursery buddies.

I was very upset. DS was very upset. For all of a couple of days. Then he made great friends and life moved on.

Dont throw the baby out with the bath water.

thanks all. The class teacher said they wouldn’t mix again but do stream today n some subjects in years 5/6.
I have shared the incorrect school report and received no response.

there are 24-26 in each class. 3 classes per year.
Ive followed the complaints policy they have and it says because my complaint is about a decision made by the head it goes to a clerking professional who over sees the investigation for the CEO and chair. However, one spanner in the works is that because it’s the end of term and they can ah e 10 school days to come back you by this time it’s mid september. And at that time the current head teacher will be the CEO as he has been promoted. So i realise my chances of success are low for my child, but maybe i can change it for others x

thank you! it’s just such a hard situation with the loss of friends and a bully on top!
One of the two i could manage but both together and our daughter is disappearing!
we have tears at bedtime, school refusal and things she would usually love like her dance class she is losing interest in 😢

yup and it’s not the first time. I have raised but no response

I'd say if you are fighting to have your child removed from a bully, one child out of about 25,then you are letting the bully win! You ought to be encouraging your own kid to mix with the other 24,focus on that.
There can be nasty kids in every class believe me. But you seem to be letting a nasty minority dictate your wants and needs.
There is nothing that stops a bully in their tracks more, than someone who they used to pick on just walking away and finding better friends. That is the sort of thjng the school is good at managing.

By insisting on a change, you give the school the message that you don't trust them with this issue, and that is where you do indeed risk being THAT parent, sorry.

just wanted to give you a huge hug 🤗

I would be quickly losing confidence in this school. A teacher who can't tell his/her pupils apart after a year, a data breach that the school hasn't even responded to, and a headteacher who refuses to correct an obvious administrative error and doubles down instead...

So let say you start a new job in a team of 25. One member of that team grabs some poisonous caterpillars and munches them into your skin. Would you suggest that you ignore this, crack on with your day and try and have lunch with other 24 people who all watched you be assaulted but no one said anything??? Oh and then 2 days later have be rushed to A&E with a swollen leg? but hey we should just all get on?

I doubt they will change it.
However one year they put DS and his friend in different classes. The friend had about 3-5 other friends and was with none.
They did move one of the kids. Perhaps as there was also sen. However to me it does feel in our school the teacher/ta kids are kept with friends right throughout whereas other kids are deemed to clingy and close.

I think unfortunately its a case of making sure you update re bullies egen if saying you want no action.

So you got to see another kids whole report?!

Personally dont agree with teachers being able to sort classes like this. I would be ok with a switch every year thats random. But ultimately its not in kids interests because teachers are able to avoid too many sen kids at once (seems good..) but that means they dont need to push for diagnosis/sen schools/senco appts.
i also am not sure rigid seating plans make sense as likewise if teachers are having to keep kids apart..
They egen have at secondary. It probably just shows how f*d state education is.

My kid has asd and while im glad they could move her seat - it hasnt fixed the problem of bullying kids..
And dc recently saying re a boy who is a bully was also blatently cheating on a test — they teachers are conveniently never looking!

What is your complaint exactly?

The governors will only overturn an operational decision if it’s a breach of policy etc. NOT because you don’t like something, however genuine the reason.

(Chair of Governors)

Nope. They don’t as they are not capable of even that as all choices have been made for them, to avoid them making the wrong ones. So they get paralysed, so you would die in a chair at home while they are still paralysed with a decision and having a meltdown over it. Seriously. I’ve seen these generations hit the workforce, their parents have done them such a disservice.

it’s rated outstanding, a 5 minute walk from my house and the only school in the village. We moved here partly because of it! I’m just devastated it’s turned out to be a nightmare 🙁

As someone who’s child was bullied badly in reception and we had to move schools - I’d say start the year in the new class and see how it goes. Friendships are very fluid at that age and the bully might well leave her alone.

The important thing is you concentrate on preparing her for next year, what to do if someone’s unkind to her and what makes a good friend. Moving schools is the last resort when you’ve lost all faith that the school gives any shits about the kids being safe and happy!