primary mixed ability classes

[michelleharc]

Does anyone have exerience of mixed ability/age classes at primary level. We are looking to move to a new village in order to get into the catchment area for a good secondary school but the primary is very small (40 children) and they are taught in two classes with only three full time teachers. I'm unsure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Will bright children tend to progress to the level of the older children in the group or will the whole group get held back because of the young ones? Any views.

No direct experience, but IMO 3 teachers for 40 children sounds like a pretty good ratio. DD will have 1 teacher plus a teaching assistant for 30 pupils when she starts reception and that is the norm round here.

40 childen divided by three FT teachers seems like a pretty good ratio, even if different age/abilities.

Presumably the teachers have a fair bit of experience woring int his situationn.

What are the SAT and OFSTED results like? Are the children performing as they should be for example?

yes my initial thoughts were the same when I just thought about the ratios but I'm now wondering how the teachers manage to teach seven year olds in the same class as ten year olds. Presumably they just sit on different tables and do different things. I might ring the school and ask. They'll think I'm nuts given that my sons are only two and ten weeks but I don't want to move and then find the schooling doesn't suit us.

They don't appear in the league tables because the school is so small and so some years they might only have a couple of children taking the tests. They get a "good" rating though.

3 teachers to 40 kids- wow!

I was in amixed class at primary, personally it was great- allowed me to rpgress well in the areas I could 9eg english) whilst allowing me to receive extra help in those I wasn't (maths!). Kids gravitated mroe naturally to their natural level and didnt feel so much they were bottom or top.

Peachey did you end up then working with the older children for english? Confused over how this works in practice.

IME even in a straight class there is mixed ability and the teachers adapt their teaching to the group they are dealing with. Not all the class are taught to the same level and this is even more evident with inclusion.

My 2 children attend a very small primary (41 kids) split into 2 classes - P1-P4 in one class and P5-P7 in the other. It works fine! The children will have a lesson introduction together, then split into their different age groups for activities. I think it is fantastic. (ds - 7.5 who has to be in the same class as his 5 year old sister is sometimes not so sure!)
Ask to see how the school operates - that's what we did as my dh had no understanding of composites. In our school teh ages all mix brilliantly together, and teh "family" feeling of teh school is what really makes it for me.

Should have added - you may find they drop a teacher. In Scotland, you need 43 children to qualify for a 3rd teacher. That would be one thing to watch - how is teh school roll likely to change. Obviously you don't want it to drop too low and lose the viability of the school - but also you don't want it to get too large. Check if tehre are any new housing developments near by - our school went from a roll of 5 about 9 years ago to what it is now due to new housing being built.

That's really helpful. Am feeling reassured. Now have to persuade my husband that he wants to move!

Yes, I was with the oldest children for English / reading, eventually i went on too far but the Head taught me after that LOL (if I sound like a brainbox really I'm not, I never progressed beyond SN maths until last year LOL).

Laso, the school inour old village worked this system (similar number of pupils) and it seemed to really benefit the community as kids tended to mix generally, rather than with their own age range, iyswim.

I would hate to teach in it! But that's just me.

Our school introduced mixed age groups in classes when infant class sizes were reduced to 30 max (and school has to feed junior classes of 35). My DS missed that, and was in the same class all the way through school. My DD has been in a mixed yr1/yr2 class in both yr 1 and yr 2 IYSWIM. I didn't notice much difference in the teaching - my son's class had very mixed ability anyway, so teachers are used to dealing with that and tend to teach in "similar ability" groups. My DS stayed with the same children all the way through school, my DD's class didn't stabilise until juniors. Didn't seem to affect her at all - infact I think it was good for her social skills. However, that depends on the child I guess.