Mixed year groups - good or bad?

[Drizzlehair]

Just wondering on views from people who have experience of this.

DD's school have 2 classes of 22 in reception, then in yr1 those 44/45 children get mixed in with similar from yr 2 to give 3 mixed classes of 30, 15 children from each year.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's a good school so I have no real concerns, just wondering what people who have experience of this think.

DD, yr R, is autumn born and doing well so I imagine it'll work out well for her as she'll have much older children to stretch to but also younger ones to encourage her nurturing side. However DS is summer born so he'll always be one of the youngest, and this might be more pronounced when he has two years of people older than him in the class. But I guess when he's year 2 he'll experience being more middle of the range.

I haven't thought about it much so no real fixed opinions here, just interested to hear from others

TIA

I teach in a multi composite. I have 4 year groups in my class.

Like everything, there are positives and negatives.

One of the best things about it is that children can learn at their pace much more easily. I know this can be acomplished in straight classes too but my reading groups, for example, are all mixed and based on where the children are without anyone batting an eyelid.

I find the negatives mostly affect me rather than the pupils. I have a lot more paperwork and planning to do!

I was in a mixed class primary and loved it, I was a fairly high achiever and so in year 5 tended to gravitate to the year 6s and was pushed to work at their level.

Only downside was I felt fairly lonely when I was then in year 6 and all my friends moved on to secondary school.

For us we had two different experience, the first year my son was in year 3, he was put in a spilt 3/4class , it was spilt with 22 year 4's and 8 year 3's. . The rest of the year 3's were put in another class with 8 year 2's. He had a horrible time , he wasnt with any of his friends, they had different lunch times. There was name calling and exclusion, he lost all his confidence.
The next year when he was in year 4 he was put in an evenly spilt year 3/4 class which he loved and thrived in. He was back with a lot of his friends and could have lunch with his friends in the other class.

Generally, it is done because it is seen as the best option, given the numbers of children in the school. It isn't idea, but it will have been chosen as it is the best option available.

If it's roughly 50:50 then it's absolutely fine. I taught mixed age and loved it. Good planning across a long cycle of topics is key. It's hard on the teacher, but the pupils will be fine.

Mixed experience. We have a similar set up, 45 intake, 2YR classes then 90 kids in 3 classes of 30 Y1, Y1/2,Y2. The whole 3 classes do the same topics on a 2year cycle. It was fab for my Autumn born DS who was always with the older age group. Not so good for summer born DS2, he is bright and was put in the mixed class but socially out of his depth with children almost 2yrs older and has been much better this year as one of the older ones in a mixed class (he has stayed 2yrs in the same class but now in the older age group)

Apologies for late reply

Thanks for all your replies. Interesting to hear its considered better for kids but more hassle for teachers! I think it's used to increase capacity in a fairly small school, they were probably one form entry in the past

My DS school does something similar with 3 mixed yr1/2 classes. They then mix them all round again into ability groupings for English and Maths so he has different classes for those subjects. It works really well for him as he is good at Maths but not at English/reading so he's in with Yr2s for maths but in a small group of Yr1s for extra help for phonics. There is so many different groups that he doesn't realise he's in the "special" group getting extra help for English. Also, he knows most people in yr1/2 and cliques don't seem to develop. I think it really depends on how the school manage the mixed year groups but our experience has been overwhelmingly positive.

Thats exactly what they do at my son's school. I wonder if...From what I can tell from my son they break out into so many different groups for different pieces of work it doesn't really matter.

No school can go from 30 in a year group to 45 in a year group without planning and actually having the space to expand (unless they had very many unfilled places of course!) They may have expanded because there was a need but at least splitting the classes 50:50 means all are treated equally. Where a few summer borns are hived off to be with younger children regardless of ability is something I would not have agreed to, as a mum of bright summer borns! I do think summer borns can flourish with older children given the right curriculum and confidence!

My kids have both been in them. In the youngest’s school there are only 6 classes so they have to have mixed year classes as there are 7 year groups. My SIL is a head teacher in a school with all composite classes and as she told me the kids work in groups anyway so it doesn’t really make much difference how the class is split. The advantage here in Scotland anyway is the classes have to be smaller if mixed year groups. My youngest was previously in his old school in a straight class of 32 and now in a composite class of 25.

I think if she is really advanced, mixing with older year group is a good thing. Just that you need to make sure she will be met with her needs in later years, like not staying with her year group, she should be sent to the class with yr3-yr6 whatever to meet her needs. In rec/ks1, this wasn't a problem at our school, regardless of number of children, he was sent to yr2 when he was in rec. It became more of a problem when he went to ks2 and the timetable didn't work out well, it's either he missed literacy to go to maths, etc, etc.. But if the school is small, it maybe easier to accommodate this in later years, so she wouldn't miss something vital but still able to attend the older class. But the ultimate question is, what do the school do, when she already finished yr6 work when she is still in yr3/yr4, or whatever. Need to plan it and speak with school to make sure it works for your dc.

My dogs school has only 4 classes each with fewer than 30 pupils.
Nursery/Year1
Year2/3
Year3/4
Year5/6
It is an Ofsted Outstanding school, has a lovely atmosphere and does well both academically and in Sports. However most important is that it’s is a wonderful, caring environment. The pupils seem to genuinely get along, all the teachers know all the students. The only problem I foresee is when they go to the equally ‘Outstanding’ but huge Comprehensive after Year6.