Pros and Cons of mixing up classes

[Muddlingalongalone]

Dd1's school have just announced that for yr2 they are going to mix the two classes up.
I hadn't realised til class photo came in that they'd ended up with a 19/10 split girl/boy despite being pretty even when reception started so I guess this is part of the reason. Just wondered what the pros and cons were of doing this??

Pros:

• rebalance the genders
• rebalance ability
• split up troublesome personalities
• children get to know others better, more choice of friends

Cons:

• people being split from some of their friends
• parents whinging

As above. Our school doesn't routinely but has twice in 8 years including this year with my current year group.
Parents kicking off is a big down side but then we have had some very happy parents too.
Another big con to factor in is the actual time this takes. A few members of staff actually needing to redo the classes and then the office staff to sort all the new classes out on all their admin lists etc isn't cheap.
In our case it was a combination of behaviour and very different abilities that needed re balancing.

I think the pros well outweigh the cons tbh.

My ds's school does it every year. Totally agree with Great.

DD's school do this every year too. Every year we have worries when we see how the classes have been shuffled and then every year DD makes new friends. It's been amazingly positive in building her confidence and a wide circle of friends and teaching her to be adaptable.

Thank you for your replies.
I hadn't really thought about it - more about which teacher she'd get tbh. It sounds very positive.
I do worry about dd socially so hopefully this way she'll end up with her friend from the other class.

What form intake do you have if you do it every year. Dd is 2 form entry so I'm not sure I can see the need to rebalance gender/ability every year with that many or am I being naive?

Teachers - Am I correct to think that please see your teacher with any concerns doesn't equate to please can my pfb be with x,y,z & not with k & h?
I'm guessing it's probably already done already tbh since transition day is a week on Tuesday and message now is just to appease whining about lack of communication!

Ds's school is 3 form, so mixing every year seems to work well.
Teacher ask each children to write down names of the children they want to be in the same class, and try to allocate at least one close friends together.
I was worried every year, but it always seems to go well, so I am not worried this year.

Our school does this as we have composite classes. It's so that the same children are not in the composite class for several years running. It does have pros and cons. Ds has, twice, ended up in a class with no one he's friendly with.

We found out the classes for next year this week and they have had their three transition days. Instead of one large class, which this years lot have had, they have been divided into two small classes (there are a lot of "tricky" children in this year). But, it means there are only 5 boys in the class, 3 of whom are tricky so I can foresee friendship issues. All his friends are in the other class. I'm not happy but experience has taught me to sit tight and deal with problems if they arrive.

One of my children goes to a two form school where they never mix. She hardly knows the kids in ge other class and after six years her friendships are going stale.

Another goes to a two form entry school where they mix every year. She has friends across the year, no cliques, huge sense ofnyear geoup identity. It's amazing. But it's also true that some parents are a right pain in the butt about it, lobbying for heir kids to be with friends and often it's more about which mum's they are friends with.

Teachers - Am I correct to think that please see your teacher with any concerns doesn't equate to please can my pfb be with x,y,z & not with k & h?

Absolutely correct! But if there is a real, genuine problem then do talk it over with them.
My school does this every year. It does take a lot of work. It's like a huge jigsaw puzzle without the box- x and y need to be separated, but y needs to b kept with z, a can't be with either c or b etc. We do try to take into account the views of children and to a certain extent parents. And despite what some parents believe, we don't separate children from their friends with no reason!

Both my DDs are going through the same system and seem fine with it.

What form intake do you have if you do it every year. Dd is 2 form entry so I'm not sure I can see the need to rebalance gender/ability every year with that many or am I being naive?

It's amazing how quickly children and their needs can change. Even daft things like two girls from the one class leaving and their places being taken by two boys can make a big (and that could be either positive or negative!) difference to the ratios and to the class vibe.

The process in our school is

1. Balance up the leaving Y6s with the incoming Rs.
2. Count up number of classrooms, teachers and children.
3. Add, subtract and divide to end up with a rough list of class numbers (e.g. 65 Y6s split into Y6A (32) and Y6B (33).
4. Then classification can start. It will generally need revised a good few times before it's settled.

It honestly takes ages, especially if there are any composite classes. It's an exact science!

And if you think this is bad.... teacher allocations are worse

3 form school For one of my DC they didnt mix and all the parents wished they had. For DC1 - Badly imbalanced classes. One is massively boy heavy ( only 6 girls ). One is full of very quiet children and one is full of the noisy / lively / hard to control children. Classes hardly seem to mix at all any more - they did in reception but not since.
For DC2 they did mix and my DC2 has been mixed twice now. DC2 sees it as a massive plus as they get to meet new children and make new friends and also keep old friends in playground etc.
Some schools near us do it every year - I really wish ours did.
By Yr6 it would be a huge advantage. Wider friendships, less cliquey, more confident children.
And yes - its only the parents that object !!!!!

Ds' school does it every year.

mrskcastle sounds quite a fun job to me (although maybe not after a day of teaching snotty 6 year olds)
Teachers shouldn't be too hard at our school (new head last Jan) - start with a list of those who haven't resigned...

I'm looking forward to seeing the results now. They've had a lot of free-flow in reception and most of year 1 between the classes so I'm sure she'll be happy wherever she ends up.

My DCs primary is single form, I don't think being in a class with the same 30 or so other children for 7 years is great TBH, there have been some spectacular friendship issues and they are all desperate to get away from certain classmates by year 6. On the other hand they do all know each other inside out and there are a lot of very solid friendships too, but mixing up would be beneficial I think.

My DS's prep mix every year. It's two or three forms per year group of 12-16 kids per class so not as many options.

He's only in Y2 and I can already see that it causes carnage amongst the parents. Since the class lists went out last week there has been talk of nothing else and lots of PARENTS jostling to choose/ affirm new mummy friends for themselves in their child's new class. Parents kicking off because the children of their clique have not been kept together. I feel like saying to them 'It's ok, you can still play together at playtime...' Kids don't seem bothered.

My kids have been mixed every year, I think it's a very positive move. It means they get to know everyone in the year, they quickly make new friends, the classes can be rebalanced. I'm very used to it but have a child in Y1 with mostly other new parents and it does cause a lot of consternation amongst the parents who are new to it.
It's fine, it's a good thing.

I think it's not only good for children, but also good for parents too, to meet new people. If they never mixed classes in my ds's school, I've never met my best mum friend.

I think this is fairly standard across two-form entry schools. My DC are in a one-form entry school and I consider it one of the disadvantages that it limits friendship possibilities and the children get a bit fed up with each other by the later years.

We are 3 form and do this every year. We have a very mobile cohort due to having a lot of forces children through our school so the Year group can be completely different in July compared to September depending on deployments etc

My DC are in a one-form entry school and I consider it one of the disadvantages that it limits friendship possibilities and the children get a bit fed up with each other by the later years.

Yes, same for my two. It was lovely in the Infants but they needed a change/mix up by mid Juniors.

They mix at my DD school every year. It's a 2 form entry and they seem to have lots of mixing between the classes. DD is Y1 at the moment so I don't know if the joint activities continue to older years but they all seem to socialise nicely on the playground and have friends in other classes and years.

Our school does this every year. I didn't like it at first (was worried about splitting my children from their friends) but it's been fine - given them a much wider friendship base, even ds2 who finds making friends difficult. It also helped us to cool a rather negative friendship (boys were "best" friends but fought constantly). Now 2 years later they're back in the same class and are old enough to be good friends.

We have similar to that Barbarian. Dc gets along with other dc. Said they are best friends but negstive stuff goes on especially in the playground. So i checked the other day and teacher agreed yes they will probably be split up next year. So im both happy and sad. Unfortunately it wont help the issues at playtime but they msy make additional friends that calm them both down. I do dread dc being split from other friends though as they already have struggled with not wanting to go to school. And the friendships encouraged them to go in.