Mixed Age Classes

[pebblemum]

Has anyone had any experience of these.

Ds1 found out today that he will be in a mixed year4/5 class when he returns in September. Im not too happy about this as he has almost completed year 4 and i do not want him wasting time next year relearning everything again. According to his school report he is doing really well and is in one of the top groups for his year so it isnt as if he needs to redo the work.

Maybe im over-reacting but it doesnt seem right to combine two years together when they both have their own curriculum schedules to stick to. I cant see how they will manage to combine both schedules and still be able to ensure the children receive the high standard of education they deserve.

Very generally and briefly - the research shows that the children do fine academically, better socially because they either look out for the younger ones or look up to the older ones but the teachers have a hard job planning and teaching the 2 years.

Where I live one of the schools - the highest achieving one! - has mixed age classes throughout the school apart from Reception.

Thanks Gem, im glad they dont seem to miss out academically but what has annoyed me about ds's school is they are only mixing one class of year4/5. The rest of ds's year are in a class just for them, surely the ones in there will have a greater chance of learning everything they need to and reach the standard expected of them than those who share their class with younger children and who will obviously have to redo work they have already done the previous year.

The teachers is ds's school seem to find it hard to organise their work as it is (he only had homework once a month compared to weekly at other schools) so i dread to think how they will cope.

My dd1 has just finished P1 (Scotland) in a mixed age class - of all 7 primary school years! She has done amazingly well, far beyond what we thought she woudl achieve, and has learned a second language as well as she is in Gaelic immersion education.
I dont think that the teacher would make children do work again which they have done before, she/he will probably teache them in two groups (at minimum) with their own schedules of work and make sure they all cover everything at their own level.
It was good for my dd1 as the older girls in her class were doing a project on the World Wars, something you would never normally do at p1 level, but she was able to join in with that work and cover the topic at her own level. It has brought her on socially in leaps and bounds and the older ones really do look out for the younger ones.
I think it is great and am very glad that when she starts at her new school in August she will be going in to a p2/3 composite class.

Also I dont know about in England but in Scotland if the class has mixed ages then the legal max class size is smaller which is usually a huge benfit.
At dd's old school, next yr there will be 4 classes - one of p1-7 Gaelic, one of p1-3, one of p4-5 and one of p6-7. There are a lot of one of two teach er schools in our area as it is very remote and rural and the results these kids get are amazing.

whatever the research shows my experience is ver different.
academically - achieve what is necessary which falls far short of capability
socially - immature through hanging around with younger kids 50% of time
awful awful awful
nothing good to say about them despite research

our local school has mixed age classes and agree that it is of benefit socially and seems to have no academic negative side effects. This could be because of the quality of teaching though. Discuss your concerns with the class teacher and ask them directly how they manage to teach different topics simultaneously. I am sure they will be able to put your mind at rest.

teaching is allegedly good at ours but i still despair.
moved my daughter because of them and she has literally blossomed since moving.
I fail to see how having two other girls of your age in your class can be of benefit...
she has younger and older siblings at home..
Feel they are simply an attempt to make calss sizes look smaller...
Show me a teacher who loves teaching to 24 months of chronological age and the HUGE range of ability that encompasses and i may change my mind. Not met one yet despite the heads protestations and research

rant over

My dd is in a mixed class, reception/year 1. She has done brilliantly in the last year. As she is one of the youngest in her year she has found it hard making friends in her own year group, but she now has quite a few friends now of a similar age. She def hasn't been repeating any work. She is at a very good school, and the teacher has no problems organising her work. Different children work at different levels in any case. The diff year groups do have different trips, parents evening etc. so they are kept quite seperate in some ways. The only thing I am worried about is that she will now be going up to year 2 and is going to get seperated from the friends she is closest too.

well, our primary school has mixed classes (they have three classes in total but split them into groups of four for science, numeracy and literacy) and it's been great. My children have really benefitted from it. In small schools they tend to play with other age groups anyway, so I've not found socialisation a problem at all.
My dd1 is doing very well academically (got all 3s in her KS1 SATs) and seems absolutely fine socially.

I'm a parent governor and can say that, as far as I know, the teachers at our school are absolutely fine with it and don't 'hate' it at all.

I have taught a mixed age class (yr 4 and 5) and ds has spent a year in a mixed age class (yr 3 and 4).

I can honestly say that as a teacher if the choice is either a class size larger than 30 or a smaller but mixed age class of less than 30 I'd far prefer to teach (and have ds taught in) the mixed age class.

Curriculum-wise it is not a problem as long as the children are grouped into years for literacy and numeracy. Other subjects really can be taught in a way that can be accessed by either age. If you are going to write a story about being a Roman slave you can do this at the age of 7, 17 or 77. Of course the result will be a very different story.

If the children are grouped according to age (e.g. with the oldest in Yr 3 being with the youngest in Yr 4) they actually end up in a class with children closer in age to them than if they are in a sraight year group class.

IM limited E I have to agreee with notanotter, those at the top of the class don't have their needs met the range of ablities is too great but not big enough to gain the benifits harrisey describes at her DC's last school.

my dd1 has reallly been pushed by being the youngst in a mixed age class - in fact she is well into the next years work in numeracy as well as having completed the whole year in literacy despite it all being in a foreign language for her.
As a teacher (secondary) I see a huge difference with the children coming in from the one or two teacher schools. In fact, you can pick them out within about 15 mins of them being in your class. They are so mature, inquisitive, self motivated, keen, inclusive. I have not taught since ds (4) was a baby, but I am convinced of the benefits of multi age schooling. I am more interested in my dd being socially aware with the children around her than her reading or counting at some arbitrary agreed level (not such a big deal in Scotland as we dont have KS;s and therefor e not the pressure to perform.)

my dd has spent the last year in a mixed year 1/2 class. dd is a very able year 2 (just got mainly level 3s in her SATs) im certainly not complaining.

I am also hearing some very negative things about mixed age classes. Our school is doing it to get class sizes up, they don't have the funding (or classroom space) to continue with small classes. There will be 5 classes in Reception to Yr2, with two of them mixed ages. Some parents are unhappy, but I have the impression that the 2 of the school's best teachers have the mixed groups.
Apparently a local village school with excellent reputation had teachers (and children) leaving they were so unhappy about having to teach (or try to learn in) mixed age classes.

Meant to add ds loved his mixed age class and had his best year ever academically and socially. He was disappointed that he doesn't get to be in one again next year.

Large class sizes, now that's a different story..