Primary School - mixing two form classes up for next academic year! Why?

[gazzalw]

We've just had a letter saying that DD's year group is being mixed around to create different pupil mix to their current classes. What would the rationale, educationally, for doing this?

Friendship dynamics, academic balance, provision for SN, just for variety to avoid gangs and cliques and to broaden all their friendship possibilities.

Thanks! There was quite a lot of negative reaction to the news in the playground after school although not sure why. Although DD seems to have been separated from many of her friends but not the love-hate friendship that causes her a lot of anxiety!

To split trouble makers up?

My dc school sometimes mixes the classes. Often it's just to mix the different abilities up, so all the bright sparks aren't in the same class.

Controversial but my primary school used to do this a lot. They once joined two classes together into one super 70 pupil strong class! I have no idea why but it made for interesting learning. i can remember being a bit sad sometimes though.....

People don't like change, generally, so these things do tend to get a negative reaction.
There are lots of reasons though - usually to end up with two fairly even classes, but sometimes to separate people that just don't work well together.
Thing being, the times when they get to choose who they spend time with / play with, they still can ... dinner times and playtimes they can still play with "old friends".

My dd is in a 2 form entry school which is mixed every year! Used to it now so it's fairly stress free.

ours have just been mixed at the end of year 4 - the reason given is that most of them will go to the same (very big) comprehensive, and the mix-up means they will know more people when they get there

Classes were mixed every year when I was at school I thought this was the norm.

At my kids school they usually mix them alternate years.

Preventing cabals of the (socially) "top" girls & boys, too, and cut down on culture of who always gets picked on out of habit.

To rebalance the groups socially, behaviourally, academically ... ime the playground angst is more often about parents fretting about losing their established in-class friendships than the children.

Well it did seem to be the parents who were most vociferous about it and I'm sure by the time the shake-up happens at the beginning of the new academic year...the children will be looking forward to it!

Certainly DD's class seemed to have the very full-on, bubbly girls and the naughtiest boys in the year group so it might work to her advantage - and she will be reunited with some of her Nursery buddies!

My middle dc's class/year group got mixed up twice during her time between Reception and Yr6. It caused a lot of moaning from the parents, but, tbh, hers is the most relaxed year group about being in different groups, etc when they moved up to secondary. They also set for maths and English, then mix with others for things like sports teams, choir, breakfast club, etc., and the year was divided into 4 'houses' for sports competitions and the chance to win points for their house for behaviour or effort, and this got awarded each week. They also used to have a school policy of moving the children around within the class once a fortnight, so you sat with most of the class at some point during the year.
IME, it's showed them they can belong to all sorts of 'sets' or 'groups' or 'classes' or 'forms' for all sorts of different things, and it's fine - you still see the ones you've got strong friendships with out of school or at the 'free times' during the day (play time, dinner time), but you get used to working with different groups at different times. Makes secondary transition so much easier than it is for those folks who have been used to being with the same 29 other dc all day, every day for the previous 7 or 8 years.

Am I the only parent on MN who actively LIKES the school doing this?!

My DC's primary used to do this every year, and I thought it was BRILLIANT. They learnt how to make new friends and work with a variety of other people with different personalities. They still got to play with their 'old' friends at break and lunch. It can split friendships that are too dependant, or split those who spend all of class time chatting, and can split SEN DC or behaviourally 'difficult' DC's up to lower the burden on just one teacher. Best of all, on Secondary transition, they knew everyone in their YEAR, so if they were in a form with no-one from their Y6 class, they would know someone who had been in their Y5/4 class.

Now, though, as of last year, they have stopped this, and now only mix them at the end of YR and the end of Y2. Which means that by Secondary transition, my DS2 may be put in a form class with someone he hasn't shared a class with for 4-6 years.

IMO, this is an EXCELLENT policy. Just wish this school had stuck with it!

Well having slept on it I think it is a good, robust policy although it would have been nice as a parent to have been given a complete list of the revised classes. DD only seems to know about five children who are definitely still in her class (according to her most of the girls seem to be going to the other class!) and to manager her anxiety (some of her really good friends are being moved) it would have been useful to 'big up' the children she will have in her class!

I do have to say that we were totally gobsmacked at the negative comments of a lot of parents - but as you've so rightly pointed out I think it's adults who manage change less well than children!

I was just mulling...

DS1's best yr academically was when he was one of the oldest & most able y5s mixed with yr4s, some of them very clever y4 girls, admittedly.

DD spent y4 mixed with y5 girls who initially, systematically & nastily picked on the y4 girls (especially uppity ones like Dd who had the temerity to be in the same ability groups); by end of yr DD had befriended all of them & has stayed on good terms. So not saying there weren't issues, but she worked thru them for the better.

DS2 will be one of the very youngest in mixed y4-y5 group. He is quite immature. I am worried that he won't get on with the teachers, so the social mix seems secondary concern: will be interesting to see how DS handles it. Will he be the obvious annoying git that the y5 girls loathe, or will he laugh them off by bonding with the older boys?

There was massive consternation in our playground when the school did it for the first time 2 or 3 years ago, but only for some year groups. 'Outsiders' could easily see why the decision as made; some classes in the same year had developed very different characteristics that needed rebalancing. And once again, many of the detractors were of the school of parenting that regards their offspring as fragile and vulnerable rather than the reality that most DC 'get on with it' far better than their parents would believe possible!

Anyway, the end result has been greater harmony and greater fairness