I am confused at why there are going to such vast age differences in dd's new class.

[Lovemyshoes]

I've just found out the dd2 is moving to a class in september with children ALOT younger than her.

She is going to be sharing classes with one of my friends sons who is 5 at the end of august whilst dd2 is going to be 7 in march. Is it me, or is this a VAST difference.

Schools way of thinking is that the older children will help the younger ones what they have already learned.

Surely that means the younger ones will benefit whilst dd2 will not because she will be helping the younger ones.

My DSs go to a small village school with only three classes so other than reception the ages are mixed (yrs 1 & 2 together and 3,4 & 5 together) due to small number of children. I am happy with this as it means that the school can continue to survive and, for my DSs, it has caused no problems - the teachers are experienced in teaching the different ages/abilities together. But I certainly would not be happy to be told that the older ones should help the younger ones - that is the teacher's job IMO and I would speak to the head and find out if this is actually their philosophy. I can see that sometimes a child might learn something from another child who explained it differently to the teacher but to have that as a reason for mixed age classes doesn't seem acceptable to me - is it a small school ?

No, it is quite a large school. It looks like dd2 is staying in year one and the foundation ones are moving up.

I am not a happy person at the minute.

Lots of schools have a joint ks1 class.

It shouldn't make any difference to your dd as the work she will be given will be in line with her progress and targets. Did the school actually say about the 'helping' to you or was it said as a sweetener for the parents of the younger children?

is she the only older child?

My children's school has 3 classes Reception Y1 & Y2 /Y3 &Y4/ Y5 & Y6 and my friend teaches in a school that only has 1 class with children from 5 up to 13.

So it is a mixed Year 1 and 2 class ? Not that uncommon as it enables class sizes to remain at 30. You need to establish if there is also a TA to enable each "year" group to focus on the appropriate work level with the teacher. Maybe it is an opportunity for her to consolidate her learning where she is weak ? Have they based it purley on age ie the second half of the year 2 b'days.

My son is starting in sept and he is oct born so will he go into Reception/Year 1? I dont get it, i want him to start just at reception as im worried that if he is with year 1 pupils in his first year it might put pressure on him?

It is quite usual for a school to have one or more mixed classes like this. When they were introduced in our school we all asked the same questions as you and had the same concerns (older ones not pushed enough, younger ones pushed too much) In practical usage though it didn't seem to phase any of the children, the teachers were really good and made sure everyone worked at their own level. In fact it gave the children in the middle (the older ones of reception and the younger ones of year 1) also benefited from being able to work at a slightly differnt level than would normally have been available IYSWIM.

Our school was quite interesting because we had one year 1 class, one year 2 class and one mixed year 1/2 class so we really got to see how it worked out. Overall none of the parets were unhappy at all, even the most outspoken haters!

A common set-up. DS's village primary, taking in only 15 children per year, combines Reception and half of Yr1, half of Yr1 and Yr2, Yr3 and Yr4, and Yr5 and Yr6. It is a good school, and this arrangement seems to cause no problems performance-wise. A plus is that this set-up encourages children across different year groups to socialise and get to know each other; socialising becomes less intensely peer-focused. Mixing with children of differing ages is educational and mirrors real life better than single peer groups - the older ones can learn responsibility, and the younger ones gain mentors.

I would say that, if you are happy that your DD's school is generally a 'good' school, this set-up should be fine.

thank you for your reassuring messages, so if he starts R/Yr1 will he still have a lot of the play-based learning that happens in normal reception classes or will it be a bit more serious?

It will be just as usual reception but there will be older children there doing a bit more studying. If I were you I would see if the school are going to hold an evening when they show you how it is going to work in practice.