Boy heavy Reception...

[FadedSapphire]

My ds [whose nursery friends are are mainly girls] is starting a Reception class of 30 which contains just 3 girls. He will cope I'm sure but just wonder if anyone else, either teacher or parent, has experience of this. It is two form entry and the other class has a similar ratio of boys to girls. What a strange year- something in the water round our way 2008-2009!!
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gosh- that is unusual for it to be so heavily one way or the other. My daughter's year is a bit girl heavy but not to that extent (think there are 35 girls out of 60) Not sure for my other daughter starting this year but so far from her settling in session I have counted at least 8 girls out of 30 in her class and there were others that I THINK were girls names on the list, will have a better look this week.

My DS2 is in Y1 now and is in a class of about 18 boys and 12 girls (at the last count could even be more now with people leaving and new children starting). This has worked out really well for him. There is a big choice of different boys for him to play with and I am guessing that the teacher has to be more boy savvy which can only be a good thing.

DS1 on the other hand higher up the school is in a class with many more girls and I think this has made it harder for friendships and just choice of boys to play with, especially if they fall out with each other. When they get past a certain age, it does seem that mostly boys hang out with boys and girls, girls or together but still in their groups.

If I could choose I would prefer a boy heavy to girl heavy class for my sons in primary. Very hard if you are one of only 3 girls in a class though!

I was shocked Periwinkle and wonder if will be stressful for the teachers or whether they just take such things in their stride. Wonder how the girls will cope and hope there are some quieter boys like my ds in his class.
I know there are some puppy dog type boys in there... but hey that's normal I guess. Its the en masse boys that is rather startling...

I agree gegs that it may make teachers 'boy savvy' which is a good thing. My older boy rather outshone by the girls in his early years in a more 'balanced' class.

It's boy heavy round here too this year. No experience of reception, but in y3 a boy heavy class tended to be more noisy in the classroom, and I had to deal with more hitting, etc in the playground. However, a girl heavy class would have far more bitchiness and was generally more... dull... worthy... erm, lacking spark...

Obviously, I'm not saying all boys hit or that all girls are bitchy and lack spark, but it was a definite trend with classes skewed towards one gender or another.

My DDS go to a small village primary which is nearly all farming families and a lot of interbreeding related children
.For some reason year after year is boy heavy .Maybe they drown the baby girls ;-).Seriously though makes me think there must be some envinonmental factors at work favouring the conception of boys.e
I think in Ops case they should have put all the girls together in one class.

Or maybe even had 4 parallel R/Y1 classes to get a better mix

DS2 is starting reception this September too and its 12 boys to 3 girls. The exact same ratio when DS1 started too. It has worked really well. Teacher really likes it as well. They just all seem to get on really well boys and the 3 girls just all play together.

I only had glance at the lists but think small number of girls have been 'shared'. My ds I think would prefer to have a few girls in his class than not.

This boy heavy trend is odd. I can imagine it being a noisier class than a more 'balanced' one...

It's round here too - DD2 just finishing her reception year with 11 girls out of 30, and the other class the same. You just get these unusual rations at times I suppose? I think made it harder for the teacher, but also because the ages are bunched in early and late rather than spread. As far as I can tell DD2s experience was just a good as DD1 did 4 years ago with a much better balanced 2-Form reception intake...

Galena, really hope you're not a teacher, bitchy, dull, worthy, lacking in spark. poor girls

I would be unhappy if either of my daughters was in a class with so few girls (unless it was a tiny class of say only 12 children anyway) but what can you do about it I suppose, it is just the way it is.

Yes Periwinkle, I do wonder what the girls' parents think...

devilinside - I thought that too. I could play that game and knock out a few generalisations too: I'd say girls are, in the main, much more sparky than boys. They're also chatty, eager, bright, interested and quick to learn.
However that would be a bit daft. Some girls are like that, some boys are like that.

interesting that the consensus seems to be lots of girls = good and lots of boys = bad. DS1 is in a girl heavy class, there are 6 boys out of 27 and DS2 starting nursery this year is in a similar girl heavy class. There is the definite sense that this is a good thing and that lots of boys = unmanageable.

It's quite sad really that the education system seems to favour girls in this way. Most on MN would have you believe that there are no differences at all between boys and girls, so I feel very sorry that the old rhyme about slugs and snails is still alive and well.

There is often an achievement gap between boys and girls at primary with the girls tending to 'shine'. I hope teaching in the class full of boys will adapt to the boys rather than letting them flounder as a 'difficult year'.

DS's Reception class will be mostly girls. Not to that ratio though.

It has been commented on amongst the parents but only as a curiosity, not as a good or bad thing, fortunately.

that's how I feel Faded. I really feel sad for my DS's that boys are viewed so negatively

DD receptions class/year is very boy heavy this where as ds has done nothing but complain that there are too many girls in nursery this year. So I assume that next year reception will be girl heavy.

I have tried to explain that he won't mind that his class will have lots of girls in, in 10 years time but he doesn't understand.

In fact DD2 did a graph on the school computer yesterday show all children in her reception class 20 boys and 6 grils (as she put).

My ds's class is also boy-heavy but that's because there are two classes in each year and the more challenging kids are all put together in one class and given to the more experienced teachers, and most of the more challenging kids seem to be boys.

I would prefer a girl heavy class for my ds. The class he is moving into has more girls than boys.

I really feel sad for my DS's that boys are viewed so negatively

Did you miss the bit where a girl class was described as bitchy, dull and lacking spark...?

When DS started (one class intake, staggered start) it was 17 boys and 3 girls. One parent asked the teacher how she would manage with all those boys
Teacher said it wasnt the boys that were the problem but the girls. Having just 3 girls, it would be likely that one would end up being left out and there could easily be friendship struggles. The next intake bought it up to 10 girls and 20 boys and as they went through school it evened up a little more.