anyone with experience of bulge classes? ds will be in a reception year of 90!

[Kveta]

I am not massively concerned about this, as I trust the school to handle it appropriately, but they are more used to 60 pupil intake, so this year will be a bit different.

Just wondering if anyone has any experiences, positive, negative, or neutral on the matter, and if there is anything I should look out for?

Yes, ds was in a bulge class. It was fine, he knows no different.

The only mild issue we has was some congestion at school pick up on the first term.

There will be an impact in later years as more siblings will take places but once you're in, you're in!

You might want to be reassured about what will happen when the cohort hits KS2 and the infant class size prejudice no longer applies.

Our school took an extra 20 pupils as overflow a few years ago. Think there were about 80 pupils. Taught in 3 smallish classes, with lea funding for an extra teacher. The concern was that when they hit year 3, would the lea still fund the extra teacher, particularly as the cohort dropped to about 76. 2 classes of 38 would have been too big, but was quite hard to persuade lea to continue funding the additional teacher for KS2.

Other than that (none of which affected parents or pupils because all sorted in end) I don't think there were any issues at all with it.

Dd2 was in a bulge class. They all took it in their stride...

It did feel a little more impersonal. Her older sister was in a 2-form intake.

Also, pick-up was a nightmare. I had a buggy it was annoying....

But overall, its been a balanced experience...

I have heard rumours that the 2011/2012 year will be a big intake year too, so may end up with dd in a bulge class too!

Anyway, it's good to hear that others haven't had overwhelmingly negative experiences. Our school has a 15 minute drop off window too, which makes life a little easier, pkus it opens before any other local schools by about 15 minutes. Not sure how manic pick up will be though. As he is only at nursery so far, so I do morning pick up!

Our school is 3 form all the way through so nearly 700 kids but as catchment distance is very small most people walk. Lots use breakfast club from 7.30am and we also have a 15 min drop off window so it's fine

Schools in our borough are mainly 3 form with at least one 4 form!

It will be fine. If the demand for places continues to increase, you may well find that the school is a 3-form entry in a few years time anyway.

As Geraldthegiraffe says, schools in my area are 3 form plus, including one in the process of expanding to 6-form entry.

It's fine. Lots of opportunities for different friendship groups etc. teachers can share planning etc so more expertise to call on collectively.

The main thing to remember is that your child will still just be in a class of 30.

Our primary is a 3 form entry

The children don't know any different and as their class is a class of 30 they still get the same experience of school

The teachers plan together so all 3 classes get the same lessons and from yr 2 they set for maths and guided reading across the year group so it's much easier to teach the children at the appropriate level as there are more of them

Most of the schools around here are 3 form entry, with several 4-form and I can think of at least two 5-form entry!

It will be fine.

DD's year took a bulge class to take it to 3 form intake.

Issues in reception:
3rd class had limited access to the reception outdoor space as their classroom didn't open directly onto it. As a result the kids in the bulge class were less well integrated to the year group. They're now in year 2 and this has resolved as the classes have been mixed.
Nativity performances were mucked around a bit as all 90 kids couldn't do the same performance and have the parents fit in the hall.
Playground space is limited and gets very busy (school in outer London and no playing field). School have staggered infant & junior playtimes to manage this.

Since reception:
One of the classes remains in the "extra" classroom which is an ex-small group space/school library which have been knocked together. It does feel more cramped than the other infant classrooms.
From September they'll be in y3 and one of the classes will be based in the portacabin across the playground from the rest of the school.

That's been about it, really.

The children don't know any different.
The only real difference I noticed when our infants went up to 3 classes was the fact that previous years each class had 6 swimming lessons a year, and now each class has 4 as they don't get any more slots in the sports centre.
Also they had 3 classes of 27, when the previous intake had had 30 per class and a few "overflow" children who didn't really have a named class by the end of the year - they went straight to adding an extra Y1 class as they moved up and took the extra YR class the same year.
Now, 3 years on from the bulge/expansion they are finally building the extra classrooms/resources to support and house them properly

DD was in a bulge class last year (she is currently in yr1). The intake went up from 60 to 90 kids. It also coincided with the reception class set up changing to having reception in one large room rather than separate classrooms. So 90 kids in one large room!

The only problem at the beginning of the year was dropping them off. The parents were only allowed into the classroom on their child's first day to avoid congestion and a few different things were tried to minimise overcrowding in the reception playground at drop off which was sorted pretty quickly.

DD had no problems at all and the classroom never seemed too noisy.