Combined y1/y2 class

[AllPurposeNortherner]

DD1 is 6 and is about to start school after being HE for a term. She is definitely ahead of average, in some areas by quite a lot. She will be going into a mixed y1 and y2 class. There is another class in the school that is totally y1.

What should I expect? Do they operate as one class?

DDs school has mixed Y1/Y2 classes. Most of the time the classes operate as one class, with work differentiated by ability rather than age. There are ability groups for phonics, numeracy and literacy which are right across all three classes, so the children will go and work with other teachers depending on their ability. Sometimes the Y1 children come together as a year group for certain activities. It seems to work well and I've been happy with DDs experiences in mixed classes.

My dcs have had mixed classes too, it works well as they are differentiated on ability and work in smaller groups so my bright reception age child is working with the y1s most of the time whereas some of the less able y1s are working with reception children.

i think unless the teacher is really brilliant they work well for the brightest younger ones and the weakest older ones but less well for the two extreme ends of the scale. The weaker year ones can find the pace/expectations a bit much and the stronger year twos aren't stretched as much as they might be in a solely year 2 class.

DDs primary has split and combined years, generally they are taught on ability tables across everyone.

When DD was the youngest in Y2/Y1 this meant she was probably in the lower half as she simply hadn't done as much numeracy or literacy as the older ones.

As you get further up the school the brightest of the lower year get nearer the top group.

So by her Y6/Y5 only her top table of 4 had no Y5s and the bottom group had some Y6 (Teacher did say maths differentiation in that Y6 was very wide).

The only problem is if very very bright DC are at the top of the year above.

It's great being a Y3 doing hard Y4 stuff, but you get bored the following year when you are Y4 and are joined by new Y3s.

DD was ok as her cohort had 4 bright ones, but stunningly bright DC left for a bigger school rather than stand out in Y4 so far ahead of her class.

DD is in a school with a PAN of 45 so there are mixed and non-mixed classes throughout the school, apart from Reception where there are two smaller classes. She's currently in Y1 in a mixed Y1/2 class and there is also a separate Y1 class and a separate Y2 class. For her it's been really beneficial, particularly from the social side of things. She has made far more friends this year than she ever did in her non-mixed reception class. On the downside, most of her friends are in Y2 so she will miss them next year when they move into either Y3 or Y3/4. In general, the mixed classes in school lead to a good community feel to the school and a lot of mixing between the years - as someone who's done home education you may like this. I love that DD at 6 has friends in literally every year from Reception up to Y6.

There have been times when there has been a specifically Y1 or Y2 activity and then the children are separated out. But mostly they all operate as KS1 and are in their own classes for most of the day but have the opportunity to mix with others in their own year group at other times. For instance, there might be a trip all together as a whole KS1 group to a museum or the park, or there might be a Y1 activity that no Y2s attend. Or vice versa. So far, apart from DD finding it hard in transition at the start of this year, there haven't been any downsides for us.

It's worked well for us this year as DD is at the top of her Y1 cohort and generally is in groups with Y2 kids. I wonder what will happen next year though (all classes are mixed).

I agree with the wider friendship thing, DD has made big strides in her social confidence this year, she will actually speak in front of the while class now - though I guess that may be down to the teacher.

Its working excellently for my YR2 dd who is at the top end of the spectrum in a yr1 / y2 class. She is getting differentiated work and has progressed this year dispite being at the top in reading, writing and maths. It allows her to work with less able pupils as well and explain to them things which consolidates her knowledge (you can't explain something if you don't know it well). Not had any worries about it at all, been very pleased with it.

wo DS3 is in a mixed Y1/Y2 class and is in Y1. The year groups vary by size year on year so the classes aren't always split the same. This year there are 8 in Y2, 22 in Y1 and 10 in reception. The classes are YR/Y1 and Y1/Y2 - the work is differentiated by ability. It works well for my bright Y1 who works mainly with Y2 but I have confidence that next year (when it's likely to be an all Y2 class as the new intake is small) thathis needs will continue to be met.