Mixed year classes. How does it work?

[rrbrigi]

Hi,
I have couple of question about primary education here in England. My son just started Reception year this September.

This school has mixed year groups. For reception they have 2 classes. One is for the younger children (where my son goes) and another one for older children. The older children class is a mixed R/Year 1 class where is the older Reception children are together with the younger Year 1 children. They have mixed classes for Year1/2, Year 2/3, Year 3/4, Year 4/5 and Year 5/6 and a normal class for Year 6.

So as far as I understand next year my son will go to a class where the older Reception children will be together with the younger Year 1 children. This school mixes the classes only by birth day and not by ability. So I do not understand how they can manage it. E.g.: my son does the Reception year this year, learns about numbers, sounds etc? But what about next year? He is going to repeat Reception? I understand that he will be in Year 1 but he will be together with Reception children who truly need to learn the sound, numbers, etc? My son is very good at learning and I do not think he should repeat Reception year again and as far as I see we will have the same problem every year until he finish primary school, because he always will be in a mixed class.

Please could you tell me how it works or if I am wrong? Also, please could you tell me if you have the same teacher in primary school for 7 years or if the teacher changes every year or how?

Thanks for your answers.

He should be taught to year group, so next year he will be following the y1 curriculum, and his classmates who have just started will be following the yr r curriculum. And the same all the way up (though why the school choose to do this is beyond me - if it's every year group then they must have big enough classes for single year teaching. Is the PAN 45? I guess t's a local anomaly. I can't see any particular rationale, though. But, whichever class he is in, he will be taught according to his year, not just lumped in and taught as a job lot as a group.

The school will decide which teachers are taking which classes some time on the summer term once any resignations/ recruiting are taken into account. On occasion your child may end up with the same teacher (if they are moving classes for some reason) but generally they have a different one every year.

I have three, and only one child has repeated a teacher, because the teacher went from a split year class to a single year class. Teachers generally prefer a specific year or key stage, so you wouldn't get a teacher moving all the way up from yr r to 6 in a primary.

so you wouldn't get a teacher moving all the way up from yr r to 6 in a primary.
Oh yes you do! I have taught every year group from Reception to year 6, to such an extent that some children I have taught for 5 out of the 7 years they have been in Primary! I have been in 5/6 for several years now, but you never know where you will be sent!

You didn't do it consecutively to keep the same class, though, did you? I assume the op is wondering if this teacher will stay with her child for 7 years. Sure, you can move all over the school, but generally speaking, you don't stay with the same children for 7 years.

Maybe you did? I'm sure it spurred a lot of discussion with parents if that were the case.

Do you have 7 year groups? Or is it a small school with mixed year group classes and only actually four classes on the school?

When I started I taught R/1/2, so some children had me for the first 3 years, I then moved to a 2/3 class as numbers grew. After one year there, I moved to 5/6 but tend to have the yr 4's in the summer term.
So one year group in particular I had in Reception and Year 1, they had a different teacher in year 2, back to me for year 3, a different teacher for year 4 and back to me for years 5 and 6!
I'm sure there were a few groans but generally they were happy to see me again!

Ya gotta admit it's unusual though. My three have been in eight primary schools all told and only one has ever had the same teacher twice.

Definitely unusual but rather more common in schools with mixed age classes! ( My friend teaches in a 2 class school, she is often told of the teacher who normally taught R/1/2 but moved to the 3/4/5/6 class and taught some children for the WHOLE seven years! ( There are also some all age class schools around too!)

Yes, I can see that for the smaller schools, but the op's school has 7 classes in primary... it just seems kinda odd that they choose to split all of the classes instead of just having one class group per year... I was wondering whether it's an odd PAN, or why they have chosen to do it that way? What do you reckon?

Our school has four classes for the 7 years so mixed year groups are normal - and vary depending on year group size. This year they are YR/1, Y1/2, Y3/4 and Y5/6. The work is differentiated depending on year group as well as ability. I volunteer in the school in the first two classes so I see it in action regularly. When I was in the Y1/2 class yesterday the children were writing their news. The Y1 children were expected to write 2-3 sentences, the Y2 children were expected to write significantly more. In the YR/1 class the children listened to a story about a child going to bed then the Y1 children were asked to write 2-3 sentences about what they like about going to bed and the reception children talked about their beds and then practiced writing an S. So although they were in different classes the Y1 children all had similar expectations put on them.