The "Divvy" Class

[Lifesteeth]

When my son (8) first started school he was in a normal reception class, then from there he went into a mixed year 1/2 class (based on ability, higher of year 1 and lowest of year 2). From here he went into a straight year 2 class whilst the lower end of year 2 went into the split class with the years 1's.

Anyway last year the "expectations" were raised a little and alot of children that had previously always been in the "higher" classes found themselves in the lower class whilst only the very brightest got to go into the split year 3/4 class with the lower end of year 4.

My son was one of these children, as were most of his friends so they have spent the past year in a straight year 3 class with the lower end of year 3.

As a result this year has been a nightmare, he's being bullied constantly by "troubled" children, they're bringing home spellings that they did in year 1 (such as "here" and "where"...last year they were bringing home words like "september" and "exercise" to learn!). The homework is just ridiculous, a few weeks ago he brought home a number line to complete, it was so easy that I got my 6 year old to do it to make a point. Whenever we go into the school to complain about the work being far too easy the teachers tell us that other parents have been in saying its all too hard and that their children can't keep up!

Anyway alot of parents, myself included are very unhappy with the situation, one woman was so annoyed about it that she took her son out of the school completely. Another is leaving after september.

Now, the point of this rant...in the open night on monday I made it clear to the teacher that I did not want my son put in this class again and should he be in this class after september I too would be moving him out of the school, she agreed with me that my sons school life had took a huge nosedive this term. Most of the other parents went in and said the same thing.

Anyway yesterday I was talking to the parent who took her son out of the school earlier in the year and she said "yeah, I took him out because I was sick of him being in the divvy's class"

This made me think I'm being a little harsh in saying that I would take my son out of the school but I still don't think it's right that children are being held back like this and would certainly fight a decision to keep him in this class again.

Am I being unfair? would you ever fight a decision regarding school classes? We supposedly find out tonight who's class they're in after september so I've been on edge all day about it.

Well it sounds like the situation at my school with the year classes. We have a split Y1/2 then a straigt Y2 (lowest ability are in the Y1/2), then Y3 (maybe with a few Y4s). It is a reasonable way to split large year groups - i.e. there may be 35 Y2s, but you are only allowed 30 in a class so they need to be split somehow. Calling it the divvys class is ignorant and naive.

There is a problem with the work though. It seems like the teacher is concentrating on the low ability while the medium . high ability are not challenged. I would talk to the teacher / head about it.

Unfortunately 'troubled' children are part of the school system of inclusion. I have taught classes with lovely children, but the 'troubled' children are so demanding that it si hard to concentrate on the others. Sad but true.

Do you think that having all the low ablity children makes things worst. Would it be better to split the children by age rather than ablity. Young children can be very perceptive and it can damage their self esteem if they are in the "divvys' class".

Its all very well saying that troubled children are part of the system of inclusion. However if these children were happier and more humanly treated then prehaps they would be less disruptive. Children could still be grouped for numeracy and literacy.

Alhtough I did not send my son there. I did look at a small school with mixed year classes that did group children across the school for numeracy and literacy. Although they were tactful enough to make sure the children that were grouped together had an age gap of less than two years.

reallytired - I have always treated all my pupils with respect. yet the 'troubled' children will still be disruptive. they can love their school and teacher, but a bad day at home may mean they come in in such a way that they will disrupt the rest of the class. I am not sure how you go about changing their home life so they are happier and less disruptive, so we just have to deal with them in class in a way that allows the others to learn, yet gives respect and value to the child. unfortunately the back end of this is that other children DO miss out on their education.

I decided in the end I didn't want mix ablity classes. The small schools I looked at split the children on age rather than ablity.

In my son's class there children are all winter born reception children and there is still a huge variation in ablity.

ratfly - i am sure that you do treat your children with respect. Do you think its nice for a child to be in the lower class? Even if it educationally makes sense?

Our school has mixed classes because the intake is too small for two full classes (usually around about 45). They did use the one y1, one yr2 and one mixed, which I think was on age, but dh thinks was on ability, and dd was in the mixed one (she was yr1, but a Sept baby and bright). It seemed to work well for her, but she had a particularly effective teacher and a smal class. ds's year last year had the same split, and the parents of the yr2 children in the mixed class complained that they got behind. This year we have a new headteacher who has decided to mix all the classes, on what they are saying is a random basis. So now everyone is unhappy! There are too many school round us and not enough children, so two schools (including ours) have gone single form entry. I think they should have done it a few years ago, because it really doesn't work well. My poor dd is going into yr2 with only 6 children she knows, none of whom are her friends, and has not had any continuity of class mates. I'm not so worried about her education, but I do worry about her self esteem. Also I do wonder how the teachers will manage the range of abilities accross two full years.