I cant wrap my head around this set up...

[Confused095]

Hello, I'm hoping somebody can help me understand the set up of our local primary school...
DC1 will be starting school properly September 2022, but we've managed to get him into a nursery class for this September.

So this school he has a place at this September are set I'm years 0, 1, 2, 3, Etc etc...

Unfortunately, after speaking to schools admissions, it is unlikely he will be able to continue in this school when we reapply for September 2022.

But the school that we have a high chance of getting a place has a different set out.
Instead of yr 0, 1, 2, 3... etc. Its yr 0, yr1 & 2, yr 2 & 3, yr 3 & 4.
So basically the classes are combined?
I just dont understand how there can be potentially a 2 yr gap between children in the class?
Or is it that they will have say an August child and a September child in the same class?

I'm sorry if what I've wrote is confusing, I just can't understand the idea of blended school years and how it works.

If anybody can help me understand it I would appreciate it.

My primary school was like that - it was a small village school and there were 6 people in my whole year group. I went on to a large secondary school with no problems.

Was it the best education I could have received? No. Did it seem normal and perfectly adequate at the time? Yes.

It's not just small schools that do this. A local school has 3 classes in each pair of year groups as they are 1.5 form entry. We are even bigger in my school and some year groups have splits as they are uneven.

I would watch out for schools that has some mixed and some straight in the same year groups ie a 1 a 1/2 and a 2 as they don't in my experience mesh up very well and the split class gets pulled in two directions but all being split can work well for most children.

Very common in primary, and really unavoidable when eg the PAN is 40 but classes are 30 children in each.
I know a number of larger ( for our area) primaries that also arrange classes this way throuh choice eg 3 x R, then 4 x Y1/2, 4 x Y3/4, 4 x Y5/6.

My children went to schools with split year groups. It worked well. They had a 2 year rolling curriculum, so topics weren't repeated. They did their 'big' residential every two years, so some children went in year 5 and others in year 6, depending on when it took place. The children got to know each other well because they were taught together every 2 years (if year 1 & year 2 were together in year a, then in year b year 1 became year 2 so stayed in the same class, joined by year R. That meant that when the original year 2s became year 4, they were taught with the original year 1s again, and so on).

My children's school is like this. I can't say I've found it to be a problem.

It works better than you might think. The school my dc attend has 2x reception classes then 1.5 classes going forward. So y1 & y1/2, y3 & y3/4 & so on. My 2nd has been in a split class every other year & will be the y6 side of the y5/6 class this year. It works really well & means they have friendships in more than 1 year group. The work in class is still differentiated as needed & as with pp a 2 year rolling curriculum is in place so topics aren't repeated.

I've just moved my kids TO a school with years grouped like that - if the curriculum's been well mapped out and they have a good two-year cycle of topics for things like History etc, and the year groupings are stable year on year - it's not really an issue (in our school they even have a rotation going of school residential destinations so things aren't repeated while a child is in the class) and in my kids' case I think the smaller pond to be a bigger fish in and be "known" to all the staff is much more of what DD2 (some SEN) needs than the larger 2 form entry junior hell hole of bullying we've just moved her out of.

DD1 again - delights in being with the slightly older kids, and is very likely to rise to the challenge of the year group above her in the same class.

Plus in our case it was a move from a class size of 30 where lots of children just drifted by pretty much ignored unless academic superstars and in your face about it, or causing trouble... or a class size of 22!

The layout of our school has a foldable divider (like bifold doors but across the middle of the room) - so sometimes they open it up and have year 3-year 6 working together with two teachers as well!

As someone who used to teach mixed age groups - it's actually fairly straightforward... things like History, Geography you cycle through all the topics over 2 years so the kids aren't getting Egyptianned to death etc. Maths you cover the same topic - so something like addition strategies - and then differentiate the tasks and questioning and some of the input to the different year groups. Once it's all well mapped out - it becomes straightforward and actually I've had a bigger spread of ability across a single year group class than some mixed group ones.

Very common in small schools, so you have two or even more year groups in one class. You’ll have eg Y1/2 together, so the children will be born between September 1st to August 31 2 years after.

Which bit don’t you understand?

When DS1 started school I was the other way round. I had been to a tiny village school with 2 mixed classes - infants and juniors and could not get my head around the fact that his school had more kids in each year (3 class intake) than my whole school had had.
It was fine and he actually did really well. DS2 is in a different school , 2 class intake for his year but 1.5 class intake for other years and lots of parents & kids actually prefer the blended classes.

Mine are in a teeny-tiny school dwarved by all of those above. 😂 the three R’s are age/ability driven and there are lots of group projects with similar ages.

They’re partly responsible for their own learning and there’s almost a “Montessori” vibe about it.

Kids very happy and roam as a group rather than “we won’t hang out with Bill because he’s a year younger”.

Eldest is autistic and very, very happy. For a while he was in a primary school with a 2-form entry and an architectural masterpiece of insanity (open plan primary school).

They get a huge amount of individual attention and both have scored top 10 across the county for maths assessed 5-18!

There are two schools in my area with two classes for the whole of primary. One class is Yr R,1,2 & the other is 3,4,5,6! Blows my mind slightly. It wouldn’t be my choice. But as an ex teacher, normal mixed year groups of yr1/2 or 3/4 etc are totally fine & very common.

I've taught in schools like this and, to be honest, it doesn't really make much of a difference. It's only really in Maths that the increased age range becomes more evident due to having specifically different curriculums so it is slightly harder in that subject but not really in any of the others and it can actually help in English as the older children share what they produce.

As a parent, it could mean your child has the same teacher for two years running which, in a lot of cases, is a real benefit.

Yes my old primary school was like this! And that was mid 90s so it's not new.

We had a P2/3/4 and a P5/7 in the same school year at one point. Just because of the ratio of children enrolled that year.

If that's how they always do it then they'll know exactly what they're doing. The 2 years will be separated, and taught appropriately to the curriculum. It won't change the standards of education.

A local school near me has just gone down to one class for the whole school due to reduced numbers, so both KS1 and KS2 together, previously had them separated

Thank you all so much for your responses! I'm just reading through them all now.
I think I get it now we live in the middle of the city centre and a village. There's about 6 schools to chose from but the majority are not great or on the edge of our catchment area so less likely to get a place.
I do like the sound of the village school as it has more of a community feel and is a lot safer in regards to traffic.
Also have to think about DC2 as he will definitely benefit from smaller classes when he goes.

Its nice hearing different views too so thank you for all your comments. Gives me something to think about.

With mixed age classes, your dc will not necessarily be in smaller classes. There can be up to (for example) 15 year 1s and 15 year 2s in a class, making a total of 30 children. This is the same as a bigger school with single age classes.

In my local authority, due to the low level of funding per child, classes break even at approximately 27 or 28 children in a class.

Anything less than that and the school is likely to be running a deficit budget.

@Littlefish you can even have a class size bigger than 30 even in KS1 if it is mixed year group

The infant class size rule is still in place in KS1 when it's a mixed age class, so a class can only go over 30 in very particular circumstances involving an 'excepted child'. But you're right, class numbers can go over 30 in KS2

I went to a school like this

Basically in one class room you had 1 table of year 1s & 1 table of year 2s. In maths where it's building in previous knowledge You did work sheets based on your level. With TA & teacher going round. It was good if child was high ability because it meant that they could do harder work more easily

For things like history you'd learn as a class so one year you did Egypt and the Romans the next Tudor and Victorians say then the next year when the older class left and newer class entered you'd do the other.

It's called a composite class, very common in smaller schools, kids will be fine in this set up.
My DD is in a P1-P3 composite class and doing really well.
Teachers are great and know how to teach in this set up

It works really well, I was in a blended class 45 years ago and loved it. It's really common.

My dc's school is like this, it goes reception, 1, 1&2, 2, 3, 3&4, etc so every year the children either get placed in a mixed class or a year group class.

All the class sizes are at 30+ but it's a lack of classrooms that means it's organised in this way. Problem is with it that they put the older ones who are struggling (academically/behaviour wise) in the mixed class with the younger kids who are more able and it doesn't really work. The school always deny that it is how it's organised but everybody knows that it's the case. I'd definitely try and find out how the mixed classes are sorted out.

Does it work like this? Not really, my children have always got on much better in the years when they are just with their own age group.

We had it in a 45 a year intake school. Absolutely fine. One year they are the oldest and help youngers, the other year, the other way around. Work is differentiated.

I would say that arrangements where the whole year group gets the same experience (so all Y2s are in mixed classes with Y1 or all in single year classes) work ok.

Arrangements where different parts of the same year group get different experiences (eg some are in mixed classes, some in single year OR they are mixed with different year groups e.g. some Y1s are in a R/Y1 class and others are in a Y1/Y2 class) are significantly more problematic.

Other than that, the small size if a school can be excellent - often good for younger children - or less good - can be stifling or lack a friendship group - especially for older children and outliers.

Our school has a pan of 60 but loses loads to the local prep in year 3 so mixes Years 3 and 4 and Years 4 and 5.

So classes are:
2x Reception (up to 30 in each but often only 20)
1 or 2x Year 1
1 or 2x Year 2
Or 2x Year 1/2 class
1x Year 3/4
1x Year 4/5
1x Year 5
1 or 2x Year 6.

it works well in years where there's less children. Not got to that point yet for mine as DDs about to start Year 2 and there's 2 classes per year apart from in Year 5 where there's only 1 class so currently it's (2x Reception, 2x Year 1, 2x Year 2, 2x Year 3, 1x year 3/4, 1x Year 4, 1 x Year 5 and 2x Year 6)