Mixed year group classes

[Orangeinmybluelightcup]

School have just said that in Sept the infants classes will be mixed year groups. So for ds going into reception there will be one full reception class and a second class of mixed reception&Yr 1 class. My Dd going into Yr2 could be in a Yr2 only class or a class that's mixed yr2&1. I don't know what I think about this, is it good, bad or indifferent?!

It’s necessary due to there not being enough money for single year group classes at that school - maybe falling roll numbers (lots of schools have this this year, think incoming reception must have been a low birth year).

There are positives and negative. For an able child, being with older children allows them to be easily stretched. For a child struggling, being with younger children may help them get support more easily in class. If they are just 4, being in a class with 6 year olds can be tricky though. Classes with change usually each year, so children have slightly different friends if they are friends with those in the year above/below - this can be positive or negative.

I wouldn’t panic and change schools or anything. Most likely it will be fine. I went to a school like this and it was all I knew. My siblings and I all did fine.

Cheers modge!

Is say overall bad.. my primary had mixed year group classes (one infant class, one for junior). I like to think I'm reasonably intelligent (ended up with postgraduate degree from good uni etc) but my basic skills from primary (times tables, spelling..) are atrocious. Obviously this is only one sample (from 1980s rural Wales 😂) but I'd say definitely keep an eye on it. Good luck!

Sounds very similar to our school. My son is going into yr 2, and there will be a year 2 and a year 1/2. It's due to pupil numbers but I fear those who are in the year 1/2 class will fall behind those in the straight year 2 class. I'm not sure when we find out who is in which class yet.

My kids have done both- mixed year and single year. There are pluses and minuses to both.

My primary school had mixed classes and I never thought anything of it until very recently when it dawned on me as the school DD is about to go to does this.

My worry for DD (just turned 4) is that although she is academically quite bright (already reading reasonably well and doing simple sums because she’s interested in these things) I think she’s socially fairly immature so if they put her with the year 1s on account of her abilities I cannot see how she’d cope socially but if they keep her with the reception only group then she’ll not be being stretched academically.

I’m just going to trust the school to make a good judgment on this!

@INeedNewShoes that's interesting my ds is the same age and I have similar concerns, he's reading simple sentences and doing number bonds, a bit behind on fine motor, but in a group he's quite reluctant to get involved and I'm worried he'd get lost. I'm also concerned as reception is play based, if he's in with yr1s how will they manage that?

I went to a school like that for one year. I would say it's overall a negative, as you can imagine the teacher's time and attention is split for all lessons and so they didn't move through the curriculum as quickly as I'd seen at previous schools. I noticed that when we moved to secondary school the other children really struggled academically compared to children from schools with single year groups because of this.
I also agree with the comments about social maturity.
I wouldn't do it if there's an alternative.

DD's small, village primary school had mixed year group classes. It was, and still is outstanding in every way. The school offers a rounded curriculum with loads of extra curricular activities, has an award winning orchestra who have played in the Albert Hall, and aways performs well in SATS.

When she was there it was done by date of birth, so class 1 was all of reception plus the younger year ones, class 2 was older year ones and all of year twos, class 3 was all of year threes and younger year fours, class 4 was older year fours and younger year fives and class 5 was older year fives and all year 6.

This changed to academic ability after DD left, and apparently it ruffled a few feathers.

The only negative thing was that children's friendships where there was a more than 6 month age difference, and which are often fickle at that age, got split up at every year change. It did cause a few issues at the time.

In DC's school, all classrooms have 2 years per room because numbers are fairly small. They've both developed friendships with children in the class above / below them as a result of this, which has been lovely. My view is the more friendships they develop, the more positive their school experience will be overall.