Mixed Year Groups

[user1466518624]

My ds started Reception at a small village school this week where they mix Nursery and Reception, no problem. However when we got to Thursday the TA was blocking the Reception classroom saying no you are in with Year1/2 on Thursday and Friday. I questioned this and was told it happens 2 days a week and I asked about access to outdoor play and toys and the teacher was very cagey and wanted me out. My little one loves routine so this really threw him and just said he didn't play outside apart from breaktimes. Is this standard? To be honest I am not sure if I would have choosen the school if I had been told this, my ds has speech delay and we chose it for what we were led to believe was small and routine . Looking at the bigger picture we are also concerned that Reception children would be distracting for the older ones and not easy for the teacher having to spread herself across 3 year gruops in differebnt key stages. Apologies for typos.

My neice and nephew go to a tiny school, there are 6 children in each year group. They are taught in groups of 3 or 4 year groups together (18-24 children)

My children go to a much bigger primary - 50 intake per year group so it works out nicely with 25 per class, single year groups.

I thought mixed year group classes are par for the course in tiny schools.

Four, Monday Tuesday and Wednesday it is Nursery and Reception with one teacher and on Thursday and Friday they join the Year 1/2 class with the Year 1/2 teacher.

Strange that you were not told of this in advance

I think you can overcome the routine issue - the routine will become mon,, tues, weds one thing, Thursday, Friday the next, your child will soon adapt to that

However, I think you do need to ensure that your child has access to the Early Years provision on Thursday/fri which is focused on learning through play - ask for a meeting with the teacher to have a chat about this and hopefully she will reassure you (she may just not have wanted to go into it at the beginning of a busy day)
If you are still concerned, I would talk to the head teacher

My boys are at a very small village school with mixed classes (1/2, 3/4 and 5/6) and it seems to work well but reception is kept separate as they follow a different curriculum and have a separate outdoor area which they can access freely etc - this seems to be a good way of doing things

Also presumably the school is small enough that there are no more than 30 kids with one teacher on thur/fri when reception, 1 and 2 are mixed? If they go over 30 with one teacher it's breaching infant class size regulations....