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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Does class gender balance matter?

28 replies

StandoutMop · 05/09/2015 19:41

Youngest dd has just started reception. The year group, and so each individual class, is two-thirds boys. So in dd class there are 20 boys and 10 girls.

Anyone experienced this as a parent or teacher? The school don't change classes around, so this is it for 7 years (plus, no more girls to add to class anyway). Should I be worried about this impacting on dd's experience at school?

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TeenAndTween · 05/09/2015 19:50

As there are 20 girls in the year group I would think it would be OK.

My DD's year is single form entry with a slightly bigger imbalance, and I think that has impacted. Children of the smaller group arrive, but sometimes feel there aren't enough 'similar' and then move on to one of the other primaries.

I would be asking the school whether they have plans to encourage the girls to mix across the year group to help wider choice of friends.

MrsHathaway · 05/09/2015 20:00

DS's class has a similar imbalance with nearly two girls to each boy. It has mattered not a bit.

It probably helps that there are lots of sensitive boys and boisterous girls in the class so it doesn't split into obvious gender groups when playing. Is DD a particularly girly girl (sorry for the term but YKWIM)?

nooka · 05/09/2015 20:25

I think it can be an issue purely on the friendship front, as like it or not most girls seek friendship from other girls and that's a small pool. It probably won't be an issue for a while yet, but it might be later on when some of those girls may well have fallen out with each other.

mrz · 05/09/2015 20:43

My class this year has three times as many girls as boys ... I really wish it was the other way around ????

Original poster

StandoutMop · 05/09/2015 21:22

Thanks all for your thoughts.

MrsHathaway yes, girlie girl is probably how I'd describe her. She has little to no interest in friendship with boys.

nooka I think that is what is niggling at me, that 10 girls (which might be 9, or 8 by then) in Y4 upwards could be really hard work friendship wise.

Nothing I can do about it, although she does have some friends in other classes so will try to encourage those too. TeenandTween good idea to ask school to support interclass friendships too.

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Chrysanthemum5 · 05/09/2015 21:27

In ds's year there is a similar imbalance. Obviously he's a boy so it's not been an issue for us, but the mums of girls have said it's a problem. So if you are fall out with one girl then maybe another 2 won't play with you and suddenly there's only a few girls you can play with.

On the flip side because there are fewer girls there is less competition for places in the girls sports teams etc

UrbaneFox · 05/09/2015 21:30

my dd is at secondary school now but there were 26 in her class and 16 of them were boys. Then one of the girls left! In the most recent years I think there have been three gangs of three. My dd's friendship group sometimes hung out as four though. I can think of one girl who might have floundered a bit. Not belonging as firmly to a group as the other girls did but that could be said whether there'd been nine girls or, 11 girls.

UrbaneFox · 05/09/2015 21:31

This was when she was in primary school I mean.

Celerysoup3 · 05/09/2015 21:33

10 girls is fine and your DD would easily have enough friends. 15 would be fine too. 2/3 girls would be a nightmare! The problem hits in juniors and bitchness levels rise hugely. Thankfully the boys calm things down

Tokelau · 05/09/2015 21:53

Both my DDs have finished primary school now, but had opposite experiences.

DD1 was in a class with about 18 girls and 10 boys. It didn't work very well. The boys were generally well behaved and DD got on well with them. There were a few girls who were very over confident, and there was a lot of bullying amongst the girls. My DD was bullied there, and was quite unhappy.

DD2 was in a class of 8 girls and 14 boys. There were a couple of boys who were a bit difficult. The girls generally got on well. There was one girl who was nasty sometimes. It was as if she wanted to be a queen bee, but only one other girl would back her up, so the others were able to stand up to her. DD was very happy in that class.

Pobspits · 05/09/2015 22:04

Dd's p1 class only has 6 girls. I'm not sure tbh but she quite often chooses boys for friends anyways...

snowpo · 05/09/2015 22:53

My DD has 24 boys and 6 girls, she is just going into year 1. It has been fine so far and all the girls seem to get on well at the moment, could change as they get older. They have 'calming' type exercises in class to try and stop things getting too boisterous!

Original poster

StandoutMop · 05/09/2015 23:16

Good to hear it has been fine for lots of people. I think class dynamics must be as much due to personalities as gender, so hopefully we'll have a happy mix and 7 positive years.

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puddymuddles · 05/09/2015 23:23

Interesting. My DD starting reception in just over a week and there are 8 girls and 22 boys. She actually prefers playing with boys so we will see what she makes of it.

puddymuddles · 05/09/2015 23:23

It is a one form entry school I might add.

fastdaytears · 05/09/2015 23:27

My primary school class was 24 boys and 12 girls (these were the bad old days for class sizes) and there probably was a bit more scope for friendship drama with a slightly smaller group of girls but nothing really dramatic and everyone seems to have lived to tell the tale. That was one form entry so no opportunity to rebalance.

BackforGood · 05/09/2015 23:33

10 girls (or 20 across the year) is loads.

tbh, even if it weren't, I'm not sure what anyone could do about it - they can't conjure up an even balance of numbers if that's not what they've got.

Have to agree with Mrz though, IME as a teacher, I'd FAR rather have a class heavily loaded with boys, than girls

TheTroubleWithAngels · 06/09/2015 00:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Lookingforwardtoholiday · 06/09/2015 09:26

One if mine was in a class of 20 girls and 10 boys throughout primary. It worked perfectly for the boys, they were all quite different but were a nice bunch and right through to the end everyone was included in everything e.g all the boys always invited everyone to parties, they all had play dates, nobody got left out of anything and there was genuinely never a cross word in 7 years. It was a very stable class and nobody left or came which meant the balance was never upset. The girls on the other hand, utter nightmare from year 4 onwards.

redskybynight · 06/09/2015 10:42

I think that number of girls in the class and across the year is fine. Our local infants had 25 boys and 5 girls in each class in one year group - only 10 girls across the year. I gather from parents of girls in the year that they did find that very tough - but only from a social point of view, not from a learning point of view.

StarOnTheTree · 06/09/2015 10:54

DD3 (8) is in a class with the same split, about 20 boys and 10 girls. Only one class in each year so we have 3 more years with this class if she stays at this school

Lots of issues. Girls are generally split between the more and less mature girls (based on age and personality). There are lots of issues with the more mature group of girls that will never go away. The boys are also an issue in that many of them are constantly physically aggressive, always pushing, thumping, hitting and jumping on other kids. About 10 kids in the class are like that, about 9 boys and 1 girl.

DD2 (15) had a similar split in her class through primary and we didn't have any issues at all.

Barbeasty · 06/09/2015 10:56

This is really interesting. DD is in a 1 form entry school, class of 23 with 6 boys and 18 girls (has been up to 7 boys and 19 girls at different points)

So far their reception teacher found it to be a really good class and their year 1 teacher has told them (after 2 days) that they're her best ever class, mainly due to work ethic.

I hadn't thought about when they get older, buy we have a few all girls secondaries around here so I guess having a girl-heavy primary class could help clarify how DD felt before applying!

There's a class a few years above which is the opposite split and they've had lots of problems with the boys as they get older. The class is a bit bigger (30) and they have some really boisterous boys in there. And some rather boisterous girls too!

KenDoddsDadsDog · 06/09/2015 12:22

I form entry in DDs year with 6 girls at the start of the year which has risen to 9. There are 18 boys. No issues at all with the balance, in fact I think it has let them make some lovely mixed friendships. The girls play football , the boys make loom bands during their weekly golden time !

LL0015 · 06/09/2015 19:46

45 entry for us so class changes across two year groups every other year.
DD year is 15 girls to 30 boys but heavier in the younger part of the year for girls so DD has it better than the Sep-Jan birthdays. They mix with the year above summer borns every other year, and that year group is similarly heavy on boys. So DD has friendship problems every other year. But at least she can play with those in her year who become summer born with year below.

Boy heavy is boisterous, loud, disruptive, poor discipline really shows with weaker teachers. But it's worse every other year as well with the summer born boys who are a difficult group.

All in all, we cope because of alternate year dynamics. One better for girl friends but worse for boisterous boys and one worse for friends but far better behaved and a better cohort of boys.

So it depends on your particular boys!

Witchend · 07/09/2015 09:30

Dd1 was in a class with very similar gender bias.

It was lovely. the girls all tended to invite the whole lot to parties, so she had a lot. They were a very calm and contented form, supported each other and were generally very friendly with all.

Dd2 was in a class the other way and it was much harder. Lots of girls trying to dominate, lots of boisterous boys and a really hard class.

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