Opinions on this class mix please

[molk]

Ds's class arrangements for next year have just been announced and i am struggling to see how it is going to work. Basically, they are mixing the youngest 5 of his year (he will be year 3), with 25 year 2s to make a mixed year 2/3 class.
I am worried about there being such a small number of year 3s, and about teaching across the key stages. What do you think?

Sounds very odd - I would have thought they would be better off taking the 5 oldest/maturest/most able and mixing them into y4, if they have too many y3s.

I think you're worrying about nothing.

In a Y2/Y3 class the majority of kids will be at Levels 1 - 3. Regardless of what school year they're in. And the teacher will set work for them at the level they are working at.

Might be really good for him, as he should be one of the more 'able' kids which should boost his confidence.....

Of course it might not work. But then nothing is guaranteed. He could equally be in a straight Y3 class and have a terrible year.

This happens in my dcs' school from Yr 3 onwards. The mix changes slightly each year. The teachers generally seem to manage just fine. I would ask them if you are worried how they plan to ensure that your ds is doing Yr 3 work and to differentiate between the Yr 2 and 3 children. I wouldn't worry until I had at least discussed that with them.

Thing is - there isn't actually any such thing as 'Y3 work'.

There's L1 targets, L2 targets and L3 targets.

So if your child can use full stops and capital letters, they then need to learn speech marks, question marks and exclamation marks - whatever year they are in.

See what you mean Indigo. In our school children effectively do 1 year twice with the same teacher so I was thinking about what they do to ensure that the children do not repeat work.

The only possible issue I would have with a mixed year 2/year 3 class is that schools seem to have fewer afternoon breaks for KS2 children and it might be a bit dispiriting for the five year 3s to see the rest of their class go out to play.

But as long as it is planned for well, which I would assume it would be, children would all be able to access the work at the right level for them.

at my dc's school most of the classes are mixed with all sorts of ratios. next year there is one class with 4 year 5's in it and the rest are year 6's. i wouldn't worry, kids are very adaptable.

DD1 has been in a mixed Y2/Y3 class this year which I was worried about, but it had worked out well. The only thing I would make sure about is whether those 5 Y3s are going to have full access to anything the rest of the juniors have access to - things like after school clubs and music lessons are quite easy, but things like junior shows, trips and library access can be more tricky.

Thanks for all your helpful replies. That all makes sense and i am feeling more positive now.