Schools with 3 classes..

[dazedandconfused12]

Our primary school may be moving from 4 to 3 classes due to demographics and falling numbers on roll. The suggestion has come as a shock. Does anyone have experience of 3 class schools and typically which years are in which class? Are there any advantages compared to a 4 class model?

My dsis sent her children to a school that went the other way, so 3 classes to 4 as the numbers rose and she was very happy with it.

I'd guess the class split will depend on numbers. How many pupils are there and how are they split now?

It was a while ago for my dsis but I think there might have been around 60 or so pupils.

If it was my child and they were in year 5 or 6 I probably wouldn't not them but I might if they were in year 2 and the numbers were going to get even lower

Thanks. My children are reception and yr4 so we have some way to go...

The honest answer is that it will depend on where the pupils are in terms of age. I would assume that the school has got more pupils at the top end of the school and that it is at the bottom end where the issue is. So I could speculate that there will be a year 5 and 6 class, a class of probably years 3 and 4 and then maybe a foundation class of reception, year 1 and year 2 but there could well be some year 2 in the middle class.
The problem is that unless this is a very rural school then it is a school which is likely to be struggling financially and if the decline continues then the governors may be forced to accept that there is only one answer long term and that is to close the school. If you see other pupils starting to leave then it does tend to become a self-filling philosophy as parents vote with their feet.

They could federate with another school so they become the junior or the infant section. C of E won't federate with state schools (stupidly in my view) but it can help keep two schools open. There is only one Head and does help.

Can you combine reception with yr1 and yr2? I thought reception is part of foundation so it has to be a separate class?
Does reception have to be teacher led?

Reception and year 1 and 2 can combined. There is a local school that is just two classes, reception and KS1 in one class and KS2 in the other class.

I've taught in a 2 class and 3 class school.

In the 2 class school, Rec Yr 1 and 2 were one class and KS2 the other.

In the 3 class school, Rec, 1 and 2 were one class, Year 3/4 then Year 5/6.

They both worked very well.

Our school used to be a 3 class school, but is now a 2 class school. One class covers reception and y1, the other has years 2-4. It works ok, but next year I think the school will keep y2 in the lower class, which I think wouk d be better.

In the lower class they all cover a brief topic, then the y1 kids have some work to do at tables, with the teacher, while the reception kids do free play and get taken 1 at a time to work with the HLTA.

In the big class the kids are arranged by ability on tables (different tables for each subject) and the years are mixed.