split year group issues

[sloppyjoe]

Do you think it makes any difference to the learning of a child whether they are in a y6/5 class, or a y5/4/3 class???
Our school splits by age, not ability, and I think it does make a difference to a what a child aspires to. Isn't it better that the Y5 children working with Y6's have something to aim towards, rather than being with Y4 and 3 kids????
Or am I being too pushy??

DD1 had a split like this in yr 1 she wwas in the yr1/ YR class and the other (older) part of the year was in the Yr1/Yr2 class.

Whilst it did improve her confidence I feel that she DEFINITELY lost out academically. It has taken until now (1 and a half terms) for her to adapt to the year 2 work. she left year 1 writing sentences where most of her cohort were writing much longer paragraphs largely because the work was not well enough diferentiated for the class, and the emphasis was learning through play (EFYS).

If any of my children were offered the split class again I would seriously consider moving schools to avoid it.

The school DS is (hopefully) starting in September has some split classes. Basically they take 75 children per year so 60 go into 2 single year classes and the remaining 15 into a split class of year 1/2, 3/4 or 5/6. Afaik the parents get some say as to when their child goes into a split class, and they try to work it so most children only spend one of their school years in a split class.

If I get any choice in the matter, would you say it would be best to be in a split class earlier or later? And would it be better for him to be in the older or younger half of the class?

It makes me cross because out of the 7 years spent at primary school, ds will have spent only 2 years working with older year groups (reception class and Y4), whereas other children from his year group will spend 6 (Y6 being the only exception).
I wish I'd understood this when I checked out the school prior to reception entry.
Surely this isn't offering the same kind of school experience to each child.

Working it out now, I realise that years 1,2,3,and 5 are split years. Not what I said in a previous post. Sorry.