HELP..mixed yr1/yr2 class lone teacher with no assistant..ADVISE NEEDED PLEASE!

[whatsleep]

my daughter is just going into year 2, she is a july baby so one of the youngest. due to high intake at the school they have created a mixed class of 12 year ones and 12 year twos. I didnt have any problem with this before but i have now realised that the teacher does not have a teaching assistant and will have all the children on her own. I am worried that my daughter will be going over work she did last year and may not be up to the same standard as the other year twos who she will join up again with in year three. she is already one of the lower achievers and i am worried that as the teacher will have to meet two different year groups objectives the childrens individual needs will be difficult to meet?? there is already a note in the reading book to say you child will read with an adult once a week but this may be group reading...so she may not even get assessed in her reading by a teacher for weeks??? should i look for another school??! please help!!

Please don't fret. My DS was in mixed classes all through primary, and there is no reason for it to be a problem. The teacher will differentiate work for the different ages and abilities in the class.

Depends entirely upon the quality of the teacher IME.

It's early days yet so I would be inclined to give it a few weeks.

mixed age group classes can work really well. And if the teacher has said she will do reading with them once a week that is fine too, children are assessed during group reading sessions along similar lines to if they are heard individually, and group reading is an excellent opportunity to develop listening and comprehension skills.

Give the teacher a chance, it's not her failt its a mixed age group and she had no assistant.

I wouldn't rush to do anything yet but make an appointment to discuss your concerns with the teacher. Most know what they are doing.

Don't worry, she is stil in a class of only 24 children

My dd has always been n a mixed class, and is doing really well at school

A teacher friend of mine said that even in a class of the same year group you will still have 3/4 groups with different abilities, so this is no different

Teachers are skilled at differentiating work. They would have to differentiate the same spectrum for a Yr1 or Yr2 class anyway.

As for the workload - the objectives will be KS2 (end of yr2) objectives - so essentially year1 and Yr2 will beworking towards the same overall objectives anyway - it will come down to differentiatioon.

As for topic work - quite a lot of schools have a whole KS (ie Yrs1 & 2) doing the same topics but differentiated area's of it anyway.

So for example - They may have to study Florence nightingale and Queen victoria by the end of Yr2.

So in 2009 both Yr 1 and Yr2 study Florence and in 2010 both Yr1 and Y2 study Queen vic. and in 2011 they both study Florence

So in any 2 year cycle all topics are covered but it is structured so that it won't be repeated.

end of year 2 will be KS1 objectives, KS2 is junior level (year 3-6)

My DC's school has a 45 intake each year and operates a split year system. Last year DS was in a 1/2 split, being a Y1, he was with the 15 youngest Y2's and the eldest 15 Y1's. He did really well, the work should be tailored to the child's individual needs within the curriculum anyway.

This year he's one of 8 Y2's in a Y2/3 split class with 24 Y3's in.

I wouldn't worry overly about there being no teaching assistant, 24 is a small class size compared to some, and they may well get parents or volunteers in to help out with reading etc. It depends really on how good the teacher is IMO.

wow!! thanks for all your speedy replies. I did speak to the teacher briefly tonight. she is a lovley teacher and I dont have any problems with her and agree it is not her fault she has no assistant. i just feel that there should be one so that the children can be split when needed? youmightknowme...i had not thought of it that way, that makes me feel less worried. think i will go and speak to the teacher again in a few weeks anyway just to put my mind at rest!

The spread of abilities in a mixed age class may well be no wider than in a single age class. I teach yr 5/6. The spread of abilities in the class in maths was from 2B to 6B, but if I looked just at my yr 5's the spread was exactly the same! teachers of mixed age classes are usually very good at teaching to the ability level of the child not their age, my "top" groups have a mix of 5's and 6's as they are working at the same level of difficulty. We don't repeat topics, as a school we have a 6 year rolling programme ( as we have whole school topics) the children access these at their own level. yes, it would be easier with a TA but unfortunately TA's are something of a luxury these days! However as there are only 24 children in the class you are doing much better than most, many parents pay private school fees to have small class sizes

My son was in a mixed year 1 / year 2 class, they are now mixed year 2/ year 3. The teacher has been really good at differentiating the work based on the childrens level. Teaching is often station based, where they are grouped according to ability and knowledge, and they often work individually. My son has been allowed to speed ahead in maths (he is strong in maths) and when he had finnished and grasped the math introduced in the entire curriculum of year 2 (when he was in year 1) they gave him sheet based exercises to do to reinforce what he had learnt rather than letting him race further afield at high speed. I think that is fine. They also took into consideration his language needs, as he could neither read nor write norwegian when he came here, and let him do that with year 1 rather than having English lessons.

I think in a mixed age group class the teacher are even more aware of all the different childrens needs, and tailor the teaching accordingly, so dont worry.

Sorry KS2 was a typo!

My DCs school always has mixed classes apart from reception. I was about it at first but it has worked well for them. When they are the younger year they try really hard to keep up with the older ones. When they are the older year their confidence soars as they feel really mature and clever. I am a bit of a fan of it now.

My children were in mixed classes right throughout primary with no TAs in the school reception Y1 &2 were in one class Y3 &4 another and Y5 &6 without any problems

Yes, we managed perfectly well in the olden days.

thanks so much for all your help. spoke to head teacher and head of ks1 today, I feel really positive about the whole thing now....infact i have a feeling one of you is Mrs W???!!! if so thankyou xxx