Mixed Year1/2 class - any experiences?

[ilovedaddypig]

I've just found out our school is mixing certain age groups and my DS will be going into a class above what he should be. I'm not sure what the split is/ how many Yr 1 children there will be, or how they have decided who is going into whih class, but it looks like he will be moving without his closest friends. I'm a bit worried to be honest.
He is a bright little boy, and loves school, but I am worried this will change things for him. He can be shy and to be honest I would prefer him to move with the friendship groups he has already formed (it's a one-class entry school).
I'm not even sure how teachers make mixed age ranges work. He is, I guess, at the top end ability wise of his current class, but surely he will miss out on Yr 1 level work? How do they manage it going forward? Ie will he always move upwth this class now? Or will he end up doing two years in one class? All we've had is a letter, so I don't feel it has been very well communicated. I am planning to speak to his teacher in the morning.

It's not the class above where he would be - they will teach appropriately for his age and ability. You need to clarify how it will work in future with the school as it depends on numbers and the individual school set up. My DD has been in a Y1/2 class this year and has absolutely flown with it (she is Y1). Equally, I understand from other parents that some of the Y2s in the class have found it a good confidence boost to be the older and more capable children. DD also moved without her closest friends but she made new ones very fast. She will go into a straight Y2 class next year while some of the current Y1s in the straight Y1 class will go into the Y1/2 class.

Like your boy, DD was at the top end of her class but she has ended this year again top end of the mixed class and tackled some much more challenging stuff (Y2 work) than she might otherwise have had the opportunity to do. Plus she now has close good friends over a spread of two year groups which I think is very positive for her. She's also shy and her confidence has come on leaps and bounds.

My dgs is in a mixed yr1/yr2 class but his whole school has mixed year classes so they always spend two years in a class.It works very well and they are in groups within the class.Some of the groups are mixed yr1/yr2.It seems to work extremely well.It is a very relaxed, happy school.

DD goes to a small village school that already operates mixed year classes. She is an end of August born and the youngest by far in her year group.

I was told at the end of reception that she was being streamed into the Yr2/3 class with a couple of her current class - the HT informed us that she thought it was in the best interests of DD to be placed in the Yr2/3 class. I didn't have concerns academically - the school have vast experience of mixed year classes and DD was already doing extension work with the Yr1 group when she was in reception (it was a mixed Reception and Yr1 class). Work wise, she has covered the Yr1 curriculum, but is still working in extension groups with Yr2 and some Yr3 children, and academically she is thriving.

However, I was concerned about a very small just turned 5yr old doing PE and sports with bigger 7-8yr olds. I needn't have worried though - she has come on leaps and bounds physically and, whilst she is still the teeny dot of the class, she is confident and has enjoyed doing sports with the 'big kids'.

I would suggest you speak with the class teacher and I'm sure they'll be able to reassure you.

DS2 is currently a year 1 in a yr1/2 class (all our classes are composite as school is so small).
It works really well. The work is geared to the 2 levels. e.g when they were learning to tell the time, the yr1 pupils were learning o'clock and half past, but the yr2s were extended to questions to quarter past/to. More able year1s also do the yr2 extension work.

Thanks for the reassurance. I think I read the letter and panicked! Have discussed it with Dh since he's come home and he is much more relaxed about it - thinks DS will benefit from being challenged/ stimulated, and has also pointed out DS already plays sport with some of the boys in the year above him and knows many of them. Maybe I just need to chill out.... I still have lots of questions about how the school manages going forward - it's only one-class entry, so at the end of next year I assume the choices will be to move into Yr3 or stay in Yr2 and be reunited with his old reception class. I will speak to his reception teacher tomorrow hopefully, but do you think it would be worth asking to speak to his next teacher as well? Or will I come across as one of Those Mums...

No, you should absolutely ask how it works - nobody will think you are odd! With us it's a one and a half form entry, so two small Reception classes going on to Y1 or Y1/2 and from there to Y1/2 or Y2. There are similarly mixed classes up the school so after Y2, DD could either go to Y3 or Y3/4 depending on how the teachers see her progress/maturity. In our school, we get the opportunity to meet the next year's teacher before the end of term so it might be the same for you and you will be able to ask questions if you need to? Given that your boy isn't struggling with academic work and is at the top end of his class (plus he also already knows some of the next years Y2s from sport), I would be confident in your shoes that he will be fine.

I have to say that in our school, the mixed classes contribute greatly to a feeling that you don't need to be in the same class as another child to have them as a friend. DD who is tiny, skinny, weedy and shy has friends from Reception up to Y6 which I think is brilliant and a great confidence booster for a shy child. And I suspect that it will be lovely for her when she goes up to secondary to see children that she counts as friends who are there already. I hope it will work the other way round, too, and she will be able to give smaller children the gift of friendship from a 'big kid' that she's had from others. I think it's very different from my primary schools where nobody ever even talked to someone in another class unless they were a sibling and I think it's also very positive.

Thanks Harum. You're right - I already have noticed (even without mixed classes being the norm) children at the school do mix really nicely. It's a fairly small village school. We are forever running across kids in the local park who DS will describe as friends even though they are in different year groups. As you say, very different to my own (ages ago) experience!
I suppose if he/ we would like him to maintain his friendships from YR, the onus will be on me to help this happen. So far I only know a couple of other YR children moving into the same class, both girls, so I would also like to know who else he will be with.

Our school has all mixed classes (4 classes for 7 years) currently there is a mixed R/1 class and mixed 1/2 class 3/4 and 5/6 and it works well. The children are all taught as the year they are not the year they're mixed with. It works well and it's just normal for our kids to be mixed up. Next year the numbers work slightly differently and there will be a R/1 class year 2 will be a class on it's own, and the top two classes will be 3/4 and 5/6 - this is due to Y2 being bigger than R and 1 added together.