Infant School becoming full primary

[notscarletbutgold]

DS1's infant school is due to become a full primary from 2013 (because of a lack of junior places in the area for his year), which is when he will be going into Y3. We will have a choice between keeping him there, meaning he will be in the oldest class in the school right through to Y6, or sending him to a nearby established junior school. DS's current school is by no means perfect but he likes it, I like it, and he's doing fairly well there. The nearby junior school doesn't have a great reputation, but I've heard both good and bad things about it - (Must confess have not been to look round myself yet though.)
My main concern with keeping him where he is, is that the school has no track record for Y3 - Y6, that DS's year will be a kind of guinea pig year, and that whilst being at the top of the school for 4 years might be good for his confidence etc in one way, he will miss out on mixing with older as well as younger children, and that starting at the bottom in Y7 will be even more of a shock to the system than it normally would!
Does anyone have any experience of this? Would be brilliant to hear other people's thoughts. FWIW the head at his current school is great and I'm sure will have thought this through...
Anyway, hoping to hear wise words from wise MNers! Thanks.

my boys primary school changed so my ds1 stayed at the primary through to yr 6 and then his yr group were the first yr 7 at high school, it was fine, my ds2 is now in yr 5, i have another in yr2 and one starting reception in sept!

my ds1 is now in yr 8 at hight school and doing great tbh i wasnt bothered as the primary and high school system is the one i had as a child so i knew it and it was fine for me, plus i think changing school once, as oposed to twice with the middle school system ie infants to middle and middle to high, as oposed to primary to high,is better.

the primary then high school is the system tthat is more widely used throught out the uk i think its only in some aread that htey still do the middle school system. i know where i live (norfolk) they changed all the schools from the 3 school system to primary and high a few yrs ago and its been fine :)

Hi 5madthings thanks for your reply. Do you mean your DS's school changed so that he was at the top up until Y6? (sorry if I'm being dim...) I'm quite happy with him staying at one school until he goes to secondary, it's more the fact that he won't have any Y4,5 or 6 ahead of him and that his class will be at the top for all that time. Probably overthinking things so good to hear it all worked well for you!

Happened to my dds infant school, only my eldest one wasn't the first year to be all the way through she was the 2nd year.

My reasoning for keeping her there was that she was happy, but if at a later date she hadn't been I would have moved her to the other school without hesitation.

I was gutted about the changes as I very much wanted her to go the other Junior school (also now primary)

Overall the new primary is doing well, area of weakness IMHO is sports.

You don't live in Surrey do you?

there was one yr group ahead of my ds1 but only the one. so a bit different and i guess that could be a concern but it does seem to work fine.
are the school having any meetings about it they normally do?

Hi thanks for replies. No meetings as yet as far as I know, I might buttonhole the head at some point and suggest one! Don't have to apply till Feb so plenty of mulling time yet... The other school (which was just junior but since 2010 has been full primary) is slightly nearer but certainly no better than DSs current school so in some ways there seems little point moving him, it's just that him always being in the top year thing.

Random, no not Surrey but Sussex, sounds similar scenario though. The faith junior school next door to DSs school is also becoming full primary so that's potentially another option tho we are not religious. Obviously a bit of a baby boom round here 6 years ago!

Surrey's policy is to convert all to primary schools, thankfully this is a better option than reverting to the first middle and high school system that the implemented to save money during the last baby boom.

There is just a complete lack of spaces already here at infant and junior level, children being shipped by taxi's to the nearest available space ie not a local one!!!

My DS1 is now in Year 6, and has been the top year in his school since Year 2, when it was decided to change the school from an infant to a primary. Our experience has been entirely positive - and one very big plus was that because some parents did remove their children he has been in a class of 23 for the junior years instead of 30. It was very well planned, and the children have received additional resposibilities etc gradually, and the expectations in each year have been subtly different. One nice benefit I've seen is that the children have really developed at their own pace; there is no pressure to behave like the older ones.

Results are excellent too, obviously we don't have the SATs results back yet, but just under half the class passed the eleven plus (we are in Kent where around 25% of children go to grammar school). This is despite the school being very mixed socially, and having a high level of SEN since it has an excellent reputation for handling these.