Combined Nursery and Reception Class

[elodiemum]

DD has been at day Nursery since Jan (she was 3 in Dec), but is due to start school nursery this Sept. All was fine until I discovered the school have changed things a bit and now recption and nursery are being combined.
There are 32 recpetion kids and 24 nursery kis starting in Sept. There will be 16 reception kids in each class (2 classes) and 6 nursery kids in each class (6 in the morning and 6 in afternoon).
I'm just not sure about this as I have worked out that eventually my 2 children who have a 2 year age gap will end up in the same class.
There will be soem kids who have just turned 3 with kids that are coming up to 6 - a massive difference I think.
It's all playbased learning - which I am more than happy with. but I wrry that during reception year my eldest will be sharing a classroom with her younger sister.
I can see that it can kind of work, but my instinct is that seperate nursery classes and seperate reception classes will work better. The diufference in ability levels must be hugh towards the end of term when you have almost 6 year old with the Easter nursery intake.

I am inclined to leave dd at her day nursery, but I worry that declining my place will give us a poor reputation at the school and I also worry that the quality of teaching in her day nursery is lower than at the school - but they do have a qualified Teacher at the Day nursery - which is great.
What shall I choose?
Please help.
DD wants the school nursery - but mainly cause it has a sandpit outside!!
Thanks.
Donna

Aren't children 5 during their reception year?

the curriculum is identical until the 31st August after the children 5th Birthday

Mind you you not might be in England

I know the curriculum is the same as in EYFS, but surely the way it is delivered is different for an advanced child who is 5 coimng uoto 6 than it is for a child who has just turned 3, which is what this class will have in it. For example in April the new nursery kids start - these will be kids who are maybe just 3 years and 1 month..
The sept reception age kids will be just 4 months away from thier 6th Birthdys.
Add to that the fact that children abilities vary greatly anyway and you have a hugh difference in development. Not just academically, but emotional development and play skills will vary hugely.
Can this be a good thing?
They are doing it to meet the givernemnt advice that all nursery's need a QTS and at prsent the women running this nursery as a foundation degee in eary years rather than QTS - so that is the reason. No one said "hey I think this is good for the kids"
I wish I had never applied now as I wnat to keep dd where she is, but I am worried that withdrawing her will give me bad press if I ddecide tro use this school once she reaches rreception age.
I am too tired to type well - sorry

My DS is at a school with a mixed nursery and reception class, although the children don't start nursery until the term after they are 4 so there isn't such a wide age range.

At the moment the oldest ones will be 6 in September and the youngest ones would have been 4 in March.

The way they organise it is that each term there is a new intake, who go mornings only. After they have done two terms of mornings, they go full time.

In the mornings, the nursery children have some time on their own with a separate teacher but they have time with all the class as well.

I have found it works very well; both older and younger children seem to benefit from having the other ones there as well. I know of one brother and sister combination (not twins) and there are no problems with them both being in the same class.

I don't think declining the place will give you a poor reputation by the way.

I understand your concerns, but I think that if the class is skillfully organized, the wide age range isn't necessarily a problem. DS1 went to a summer scheme last year, which started the day after his 3rd birthday, with children up to the age of 7. The teachers were able to cater for all the children by separating into groups for some activities and having a wide range of toys and crafts available. Also the children used the resources, such as lego, in very different ways. The older children enjoyed helping the little ones (for example reading to them and helping them with crafts), and DS1 came on by leaps and bounds.

Perhaps you could volunteer as a helper to observe how the class is organized before enrolling DC2?

Maybe I could do that. ]
Thanks for the replies.
I guess my main concern is weather I should send dd to this school or not. If I am choosing a different school then I shouldn't move her. I feel by accepting his place I am ending the option of choosing a school and dd will just end up in the catchment school without me having even viewed the other options.
Is this good, I believe the local school if it is OK should be the school of choice for many reasons, but some of the other schools near us are so good. I don't wnat dd to miss out.

I teach in a Foundation Stage Unit which is what you are describing. We have 30 reception and 26 (x2 sessions) nursery children. Our nursery children start when they are 3 and our reception children start the September after their fourth birthday. We find it works very well and the older children are very caring towards the younger ones (which helps both age groups to develop the good social skills and attitudes needed to succeed in school). There are also advantages when children start school (reception) because they are not moving into a totally new environment with new staff but just continuing where they are safe and familiar. Work and expectations are based on stages and ability so benefit more able and those who struggle a little.

My dd went to a nursery/reception class and she came on in leaps and bounds.

It is all mainly play based and the reception children did not spend all their time with the younger ones as they would sometimes go with the other teacher to do other things.

My dd could read when she started nursery and was also given the choice of sitting with the reception children and doing some of their "work" which she really enjoyed. It introduces the nursery children to a school setting and therefore makes their first day at big school easier for them.

My ds attends a foundation stage unit, which is two classrooms joined together with one big outdoor space to share. They start in F2 (nursery) and stay until they have finished their reception year (F1). I think this is fairly common organisation now.

It works really well in our school, the children are separated into smaller groups for age/ability appropriate work and come together at other times.

With plenty of good staff, there really shouldn't be a problem. Many schools, like ours which had a recent outstanding ofsted, are orgnanised with mixed year groups.

hello! my daughter has been at nursery class at our local school in the mornings since sep 09. because there will be 30+ in her reception class the class will be split by half joining y1 and the other half with nursery. all of a's friends will be moving to y1 and she will not, she will be with the afternoon group of children and the new starters. the school decided to look at dates of birth to determin who went where. my daughter is the oldest in her school year and will be 5 in oct some children are 6 months younger than a and are moving up to y1. the head teacher is no help at all. i am confused and concerned. has anyone had experiences similar to me. please help thanx D

We have a foundation stage unit (combined nursery and reception) 30 reception and 26 nursery children. The reception aged children have a home base with a reception class teacher and NN and the nursery children have a separate home base with their own staff. The children are taught in their home base for short periods through the day and slightly longer periods when they mix together freely. We have some families with 3 children attending the unit at the moment (2 children in nursery and 1 in reception )quite normal for us most years.
We find this way of working has lots of advantages for both age groups with no major disadvantages.

mrz - our school is like yours, and I think most schools now have foundation units.

I would be much happier with a mixed foundation stage than a mixed reception/year 1 class as it's a different curriculum.

Ive had two DCs go through a foundation unit and one who had seperate nursery and reception class. I just wanted to reassure you that a foundation unit by far outweighs seperate classes.

Teaching is not affected

Younger children cope fine with the older children

Children are more able to develop at their own rate

The stress of beginning "big school" all but vannishes

Our foundation unit holds 50 children. 30 reception children who we call Foundation 2. 20 nursery children for each morning and afternoon session. We call them Foundation 1.

We have seperate teachers for each year and 3 support staff. It is a large unit with many different areas and children have opertunities for free play and structured class time.

Believe me, by Christmas you will wonder what you were worried about.

I must add, DS1 is starting secondary school in September, he was in the very first foundation class at our school. It has been teaching like this for 7 years now, so we were one of the first schools to take this new approach. The foundation unit did just what it says on the box. Gives children solid foundations to build on.

How can foundation stage school be no problem, but reception class be a huge problem for summer born children?

Either the age thing is an issue or it isn't.

Genuinely confused, not being arsey!

Personally I wouldn't select a school that has mixed year groups based purely on birthdays. I.e. yrs 2-3 in same room.

However, if the school had mixed year groups because it was based on ability, i.e. top class of year 2 and 3, and lower class of yr 2 and 3 this would be no issue.

rainbowfizz I can only say how things work in our foundation unit, so this is my experience.

Dcs started foundation 1. at age 3 DS2 was a summer baby so was only just 3. The unit is designed to have different areas such as maths, language, creative, etc. The children dont notice these things, to them they are just were they play shop or do jigsaws or look at books or play with sand. They are encouraged to play in different areas throughout the day.

Depending on the age and ability of the child, the staff will encourage learning through play. Such as if children are playing shop, how many apples do you have? if I give you 3 more, how many now? If you give 2 away, how many?

Formal lessons can be given in small groups of ability while others are playing. Foundation stage consentrates on building confidence and social skills as much as reading and writing. It allows children to get used to sitting down and doing tasks over a period of time rather than thrown into a classroom setting.

My experience has shown that some children excel at the academic side of school and others at the social side. Age is not the biggest factor into settling into school. Foundation stage allows children to develop all these skills so that they cope better when they reach the key stages.

teamcullen that sounds fantastic in that setting.

I'm sure that would be a benefit for the majority of children.

My only concern would be that this is a formulae that can either be done spectacularly well (as in your experience) or spectacularly badly.