2 Tier or 3 Tier, whats best in your opinion..

[anewyear]

So were you a Primary then on to Secondary/Grammar/something else?
or did you go the 3 tier route Lower, Middle then High.
Do your children do something different to you, how do you find the diffrent systems?

I was two-tier and so was DP, kids will be 3 tier. I am a bit anxious about this later on. So far it's been really good - mine are 8 and 5 and 3 school years apart (currently foundation and Y3) and it's lovely that they'll have had 2 years together in the same lower school (they get on really well). And I think DS1 will be ready for middle school in a year and a bit but might have found the transition this year a bit traumatic. And by year 2, DS2 will be okay without his brother. This might not be such a benefit for kids who aren't as close as mine but broadly I think the continuity of being in one school for 5 years is helpful at the young end of the scale.

But I'm not sure about later. If they don't go to the school at which they'll be doing GCSEs until Y9, that doesn't give them much time to work out what they like, or for the teachers to get to know them before they have to make choices about exam subjects.

An additional complication for us is that we're on the border of a two-tier and a three-tier system, and in the catchment areas for both High schools and Secondary schools, so we could hop to the two-tier system at Y7. The Secondary schools are much nearer (and on my way to work / cycle-able) whereas the High School is about 10 miles away and would mean getting a school bus. I had a horrible time being bullied on school buses and always swore my kids wouldn't go on one if I could avoid it.

So yeah, not sure what my conclusion is!

I did two tier and was very apprehensive having children who would be in the three tier system-all a bit alien TBH.

So they did first School Years R-4, Then Middle School years 5-7 followed by High School in Year 8.
It has been brilliant. DS1 now in Year 10 and DS2 in Year 7 about to leave Middle school. They both thoroughly enjoyed it.

Why do you ask OP?

I think it depends on where you are. I moved from 2 tier, to 3 back to 2 but it was all done before I was 11. My brother went to a middles chool for one yer.

When we were in the 3 tier system we were quite rural so it made a difference to traveling time, we could walk to the first school and every one seemed to. Middle school was a school bus ride but not that far away and then there was only one high school.

The downside would be that there wasn't another high school you could really get to if there were problems.

I was trained as a middle school teacher (so 3 tier) but have always worked in either primary or first schools.

I prefer the 3 tier system which is why we moved to be in a 3 tier area. Middle schools act as a buffer between being a little child and a young adult. They also offer specialist teaching that a primary school can't offer most of the time.

When children start secondary school there is a massive difference in maturity levels bayern the youngest and the oldest . I always feel that teenage years are like dog years. Each 1 is worth 7. Having 3 levels of school helps to reduce that gap.

Like Sparklingbrook, DH and I did the 2 tier but the DCs are all in the 3 tier system, I wasn't convinced but actually l much prefer it.

I did 2 tier (and I think DH did too, but in NZ!) and it is 2 tier here.

However, I think the Middle School system - changing in Y5 and Y9 sounds great - it must help a lot to bridge the change from child to young adult. It only seems to be in rural/semi-rural areas though?

We have a 3 tier system, but works slightly differently?
dc are at primary until end of year 6, as "usual" then do middle-high from year 7 to end of year 9, then upper school for year 10, 11 and sixth form. My dd1 has just gone into year 10, so moved to the "upper" school and dd2 is in year 8.
I really love the system. We get that "buffer effect" where the smaller age range in the "middle" school means it's not so overwhelming for the year 7s. It also avoids the notorious "year 9 slump" (I'm a secondary teacher in 2 tier area!) as the year 9s are the oldest pupils in the school and get a lot of privileges etc.
The only thing I was worried about was that changing school in year 10 would be a bit too close to GCSEs. However, I think it's actually a positive thing - in a changing schools, growing up, time to get serious kind of way!

We have middle school for year 5-7 and then high school starts in year 8, I think that gives enough time for the high school getting to know people before they have to choose GCSEs.