Mixed year groups, any experiences?

[Zarara]

Hi I’m starting to think about schools for my ds. Our catchment school has mixed year groups ie reception and yr1 taught together etc. Does anyone have any experience with this arrangement. Does it tend to work or does it depend on on the child. It feels like a lot of work for a teacher to teach two different year groups at the same time. DS is a September baby so will be the oldest in his year. Strangely if he was a bit younger then I think it would be better as he would never be that old compared to the youngest. The other schools have single year groups but would mean a bit of a drive so trying to weigh up options.

It feels like a lot of work for a teacher to teach two different year groups at the same time.

It’s a real pain in the neck, yes!

The primary school mine went to was mixed year groups. No complaints- they made very good progress and are both now doing very well in secondary and sixth form.

I had the same concerns as you but my mil was a teacher and reassured me. It was a small school and there were many advantages in that in my opinion

It was like this in Dd first school. I wasn't a fan at all. The class sizes were really small so they had to really.

Much better to not mix IMO

Our school only has a KS1 class and a KS2 class, so much more mixed than just 2 year groups. I have no idea how the teachers manage to teach them all the stuff they need to know for their correct year group (and I completely respect them for managing it), but they all seem to end up doing really well by the end of Y6!!

Ok so it seems that it’s not ideal but not a deal breaker. The convenience is what is winning me over (end of our road) but I’m guessing I won’t know how well the set up suits ds until he starts.

Even a complete Y1 or Y2 will have a huge range of abilities. A mixed class really isn't too different.

Ours has mixed. Keeps our numbers down, so our class sizes are less than 22 per class. I think it works well, it's been well for mine.

It works well at our school.

The children are given input, then set about on tasks for their ability. Even single year classes have such a range of ability that the teacher would have to set work to cater for the higher/middle/lower ability ranges.

It means children play with other year groups not just their own.

And it means the DC get the same teacher for 2 years, giving them consistency and no need to settle with a new teacher each sept.

It hasn't held my 2 DC back at all.