Mixing up Classes

[palacegirl77]

Our primary said yesterday that they will be mixing up the three y2 classes in September. I understand they do this as a way of moving troublesome friendships etc into other classes.

In a normal time, I wouldnt have an issue with it BUT my daughter was out of her class in Y1 from March 20 - September 20. She was also out of this class from Jan - March 21. The class have finally settled back down and now are facing having that turned upside down again. Is there any reason this would have to be done going into year 3? Could a school not do this in Y4? If anyone could come up with some positives on this for me Id really appreciate it. None of the parents are happy but school is saying kids are resilient. My point would be that just because they are resilient doesnt mean they should have to be (and also why not make the troublesome ones resilient and overcome their behaviour?).

Thoughts?

Schools mix classes for a variety of reasons, not just because of troublesome friendships. Some schools mix classes at the end of every year so there's no reason why your school couldn't choose to mix them at the end of Y3 instead. However, as you've stated, the class - like every class in England - has had a disrupted year and that will have been unsettling for some pupils. Some children will have been able to access remote learning and will have made progress, some children won't have been able to access remote learning and will have made limited progress, some children will have been in school under the keyworker provision. It's likely that the school has looked at the pattern of need across Y2 and decided that mixing the classes will be beneficial at this point because it'll give them an opportunity to get everyone up to speed, to offer different models of pastoral support, target interventions, use staff expertise more effectively etc etc. If the school delays this for a year, there may well be children who will fall further behind socially and academically.

In my experience, this sort of thing is generally more painful for the parents than for the children. If you don't understand why the school is choosing to do this now, arrange to talk to one of the senior staff about it and ask for reassurance.

Thanks for that, yes I did speak to the head and she just told me that they do it every year and that kids are resilient. I pointed out that this was a little different as the class hadnt had 3 full years together but she wasn't interested. I just love some positives of it so I can help prepare my daughter (who is autistic).

My DC's were mixed every single year at school. I would say it was entirely positive and definitely helped with things like friendships as the DC's friendship groups changed every year (they kept some old friendships and made new ones!).

If they've had 3 years together (even if less than 3 years in the classroom) it sounds like a good idea to shake things up.

Going into Year 3 is quite a big change for other things to (e.g. DC are expected to be more independent and are given more personal responsibility), so I'd suggest explaining all the changes to your DC together. Presumably she'd have a new teacher regardless?

DS's first school mixed up the classes every year. I thought it was great as it gave the children more chances to make different friends but also let them balance out different needs/abilities as things changed with time.

I’ve just emailed DD’s school to check if they are being mixed at the end this year, DD is currently in y2.
They mixed after reception but not after y1 because the children had missed such time due to first lockdown.
I have asked that, if they do mix, the DD and her best friend are split up. I don’t know if I’ve done the right thing or if I’m being cruel. DD and her BF are very close and BF is a delightful girl, I’ve got no worries at all about their actual friendship, I just think DD needs to develop some other friendships as she relies so much on her friend.

I really wish our school mixed the classes at the end of KS1. We've been left with very unbalanced classes as children move away/ come in.

I had mixed classes every year, and it was never a question or an issue - it just happened. We didn't even know until the next September which class we'd be in, or with which teacher - that was the excitement of first day. It meant that the whole year group knew each other, children played with friends in other classes at playtime if they wanted to, and/or made new friends in each class. We did still sometimes mix up within the year group for different topics in maths or spelling or whatever sometimes, so you got to see the other children at times. I suppose there might have been problems if a whole friendship group was kept together apart from one child or best friends were split up or something, but I don't remember anyone ever questioning it - it was just assumed that it would happen, and you were lucky or unlucky for that year. But parents were generally much less involved in those days and there was much less a feeling of being "a class" together somehow.

i think it did help resilience and meant difficult combinations could be split up. But having the expectation of it happening every year and it not being something that you questioned probably helped a lot too.

Thanks for this, thats good to hear there are positives - there are 3 classes so 90 kids, the only down side is there are only 9 girls in my daughters class so potentially she will only be with 2 other girls from her current class. But school have at least asked for input as to who we would like her to be with, plus she has already made friends with 2 girls from one of the other classes so hopefully they might get put together too fingers crossed.

One thing to bear in mind is that for children who are at an infant school rather than primary, they will be mixing classes as well as changing schools regardless of COVID so this will be extremely common. In our junior school, they re-mix for Year 5 so re-mix every 2 years. Last year they didn’t do this due to lockdown but this year they are again.

The benefits they cite are ‘ allowing the children to develop further their social skills and extend their circle of friends’. They also mentioned that key worker children mixed well in lockdown as another positive.

Last year they were locked down during summer term so there was no opportunity to assess the best mixing options but this year they will have been back a term to be able to do this.

If your daughter is concerned though and it would help her to be with one specific person from her current class, i would ask them to consider that

In American state schools, classes are remixed at the end of each year of primary school. Classes can be rebalanced, and it means a better distribution of genders, skill levels and so on. Children become friends with others in their year level, which is good preparation for secondary school.
I know three first cousins who were and are still hellions at 50. Since there were three sections in each grade, each teacher had to take one. If one teacher had all three, maintaining order would have been very challenging.

I'm another pro mixing. My kids have done both as school policy changed part way through. DC1 never mixed but most in their year wished they had. 3 form entry. DC2 changed several times. Massive benefits. Still see 'old' mates at playtimes

We mix every year and it's definitely the right thing to do. That's with very small class sizes too.

My school do this each.

For every problem it solves it creates a new one.

Ours tend to jiggle about every year unless they've got a really solid group of kids who go well together. I really think they shouldn't have this September as that, coupled with really strict class bubbles, meant some kids were completely stripped away from their friends and absolutely devastated, in a normal year it wouldn't matter much as they'd mix at breaks and lunchtimes but this was completely blocked this year - DD1's year group is a really really tricky group of personalities and it took them ages to try to sort the classes out - and I really think they fucked it up and ended up with some combinations from hell this year.

DD2's... they've not been mixed up for years as they're "really good together" - yeah it's bloody nice for the teachers but for DD2 who has never clicked socially because there is a nasty clique of mums who still micromanage friendships to buggery - it's bloody horrid.