mixing up nursery classes?

[1dilemma]

I think I'm having a wobble about my school choices!! Went to open afternoon and found it really disappointing nay pointless, but was rather disappointed to find that they don't mix up the nursery classes going on to reception. ie 2 nursery classes AM/PM and 2 reception classes, all AM children stay together as do the PMs and the few new joiners are just stuck in with a group of pre-made friends. Any one any encouraging words? (I know school is for learning disappointment and how much you can be hated by peers but was hoping we could save that life lesson for week 2. I did think it was usual to mix the nursery classes up precisely for that reason.

Ours didn't remix - dd and one other boy joined an established group. Made very little odds socially tbh.

Ask the school what their reason is?

Our school has 40 AM and 40 PM nursery children. These are re-mixed into 3 reception classes, with a handful of new children in each class.

We have just found out which reception classes our dc will go into. To everyones surprise they have kept large groups of friends together. For instance, my dd and 9 other girls from her pm nursery group are all together in Ladybird class. My friends dd who is in the am nursery group has been placed in Butterfly class with around 9 of her close am nursery pals.

The teacher explained that they are keeping those children who get on well and work well together in the same class so as to create a happy class in which all children will work well together.
I don't think any newcomers will struggle as at the age of 4 and 5 firm friendships are not yet established.

Thanks guys guess 4 yr olds are nicer than 10 yr olds!!

hippi I would find it v. difficcult to ask school. The head always makes me feel like I want to be really naughty and has the I'm always right attitude (I suppose it is nec. for her to have)

Is it possible to ask the office staff? The ladies in the office at our school are very approachable and usually know more than the head does

And if you start your sentence with 'sorry to trouble you, just out of interest could you tell me please' .... then they could not be annoyed with you for asking!

Ahh hippi you sound like you allready have one at school and know how to get things done! I'm terrified about the whole thing.

Our school mixes at the end of nursery to aim to get 2 balanced classes. They then mix again once at the end of yr2: this second mix is not popular with some people, but I think it's a good idea: It encourages the children to be part of the whole school, rather than just their class.

Our school has 26 am nursery adn 26 pm nursery but takes in 70 for reception (not all nursery get into reception as some out of zone get into nursery but then not into reception). Going into reception they are mixed up but they do keep friends together if they work well together.

Ds1 didn't go to the school nursery so went into a reception class that already had established friendships from teh year before - he was fine and soon made friends himself. It didn't matter tbh.

Our school also mixes at the end of Y2. That is the most unpopular mix. Unlike after nursery (where most friendships are fleeting)by the end of Y2 children have firm friendships, and some can be unsettled by being mixed up again.
But it does mean that as they then move through years 3 - 6 they know so many more children than just those in their class

1dilemma, my eldest is now in Y3 so I have been doing this school malarky a few years. Get the office staff on side - they are the allies you need to have!

Thanks hippi, looks like I'll always have to be on time with money in nicely labelled envolopes and reply promptly to everything etc etc.