Mixed classes

[timeforanewname]

My dc's school has had to mix classes this year for years 1 & 2. I have one in each year so I can see the benefit for my youngest DS as he has just turned 5 but has the opportunity to work at a higher level.

But my eldest DS is already so much higher than the ret of the year 2's that I worry how it will actually work. I know the school have to do it and it's not their fault but how an 1 teacher teach a class of 30 half of which have just turned 5 and the rest nearly 7?

Does anyone have any experience of mixed classes?

Many years ago, my primary school had mixed year classes. We are talking when you had 36 in a class without a TA to support the teacher. My primary was known as one of the best schools in the area with outstanding standards.

Move on to 2001 when my daughter was in a mixed year 3/4 class. The school had a class of 28 year 3s, 30 year 4s & the mixed class of 10 most academically able year 3s with 14 academically weakest year 4s. I raised concerns before my daughter moved into this class & was assured she would be fine. My issues were about her emotional well being & how a June born yr3 would cope with classmates 2 years her senior. Academically the class was supposed to be well matched. I felt semi reassured & didnt want to hold DD back academically so agreed to let her go into the mixed class. By term 2, DD was terribly unhappy & begged to be moved to the yr3 class. I spoke with the class teacher who was in agreement that this was a good idea. We spoke with the HT who was reluctant to move DD, but after she 'proved to him' how much she wanted to be in the alternative class, he allowed her to swap for the summer term. I recall the yr3 teacher telling me that she was worried DD would feel held back & my reply being that I didn't care as long as she was happy! One thing I was not aware of was DD's dyslexia. This could be why her work was drifting & why her self confidence was dropping & maybe if this was diagnosed & helped, DD might have coped better with the mixed class? Also the teacher was not the greatest!

Find out how you child's school is arranging the classes? After my son left his Infant school they had to mix the classes. They moved the children around for literacy & numeracy & so academically they were well matched. The teachers were also fantastic & I do believe to teach such a diverse range of ages & academic levels, you need to be an excellent teacher.

Now I've scared you (sorry), I'll await someone's happier tale.

My children have had mixed classes practically all the way through primary. It's not seemed to be a problem really. Some of the teachers have been better than others and sometimes the interactions between the children hasn't been ideal, but I think that would be just as true in non mixed classes.

dd found one year a bit easy so the teacher had her help with the younger children which made dd very happy and seemed to reinforce her learning. Certainly it didn't hold her back as the next year she got the academic achievement award for her year. I don't think ds had any particular (mixed year) related problems either. Certainly their primary school seems to do as well as any other in the area.

Nothing wrong with going in to speak to the teacher about how she will manage the differentiation though.

Oh and the mixing was not on an academic or age basis.

Thank you for your replies. I suppose only time will tell. I think it's only because I have one of each and I can see the difference in their behaviour as there is 22 month age differance .

Our school has mixed classes all the way through - this year they are R/Y1, Y1/2, Y3/4 and Y5/6 - a good teacher will be able to differentiate the work appropriately - and would have to for differing ability anyway. My youngest (of three) is in year one at the moment and I'm very happy with the mixed age classes. My older boys are now 18 and 14 so well past primary age but they thrived and have gone on to do very well at secondary school.

It really depends IME if the school as a whole, and that particular teacher especially, have previous up-to-date experience in dealing with mixed classes.

If the school always has mixed classes, then generally I would expect no issues with differentiation.

However, when my DD moved to the current primary, they were in the first year of moving from a 1-FE to a 2-FE due to house building. So they had a 2-FE YR, and 1.5-FE Y1 & Y2. So for the first time in the school's 17 years, they ran a mixed Y1/Y2 class. DD was the 35th DC in this class. She was in Y2, but has SN's, hence being put in the mixed class with the Y1's. The problem with that being, all bar 3 of the 15 Y2's in the class had SN's, and the teachers (job share) were WAAAY out of their depth, with little help from the SLT as they had never dealt with a mixed class before. One of the teachers actually left teaching at the end of that school year, and she was only in her early 30's.

It depends entirely if it something that THAT school is used to doing.

If my DC's moved and went to a small village school that has always had mixed classes, I'd more than likely have nonissue with it. If they went to a school that was doing it for the first time in years, I'd be a lot more wary.