Composite classes for P1 help and advice please

[carlypen]

My son starts P1 in August at a great village school where he has been in pre school for 2 years. The problem is there will be a composite class for some of the P1 and my worry is that as he is a july birthday he will be one of the older ones in the P1/P2 composite. education wise i don't have a problem with composites but i am worried about the social side of things as most of the boys and all his friends will be in the straight P1 class. Obviously the school are used to worried parents but say they haven't done the class lists yet - can i do anything and am i worrying unnecessarily???? Would love to hear anyones views on this thanks

My daughter is in P4 and has been in composite classes every year so far except P3. I assume since you are talking about P1 not Year 1 you are in Scotland, so I am puzzled that your son with a July birthday will be one of the older ones in the P1/P2 composite ?

At dd's school I went to a meeting about composite classes before she started there. Basically the head teacher said that they sort all the pupils into birth date order and then split them into classes. They are allowed some leeway in this to ensure that there is a reasonable ratio of boys to girls, special needs, trouble makers etc. in each class. One advantage of a composite class is the the maximum class size is lower.

I wouldn't worry about too much about your son not being with his friends - he will see them at break and get to know new children in his class. If it is anything like dd's school the classes change from year to year and he may well be with his friends the following year.

Thanks for that feel a bit reassured now - and apologies for confusion - i meant as he is one of the oldest in the nursery class he will be likely in the composite class when starting P1... it is all a bit new to me...

He will make new firends as well. You may find that they shuffle the classes around slightly: my ds (September birthday) went into the composite P1/P2 class when he started P1, but they reveiwed at the Setpember weekend and he chanfed to the P1 class.

Also, you'll find that when the split for reading/numbers/projects/golden time they may mix the classes back up again. Ds is in in P2 and he does his numbers (which he is really good at) with the P2/P3 teacher.

At DD's school in the past they had a composites for quite a few classes. DD was in year 3 but class was mainly year 2. She was bored went to see headteacher and he lied to me said it was because she was one of the youngest in the year (she wasn't) but class teacher eventually said it was the weaker ones that were in the mixed group (she wasn't she just lacked confidence and being in this group made it worse with her friend especially when she had to go to lots of things with the infants). Had to do a lot of home edding that year and couldn't trust that headteacher again and glad when he retired

So if in a composite class make sure that DC is doing what he/she is meant to be at that stage in education and kick up a fuss if need be

Ds1 was in a composite for p1 but didn't affect his socialising with the straight p1 classes at break time.