Are there any advantages to mixed Year R/1 classes?

[Cornishmumofone]

Are there advantages for Year 1 pupils in mixed Year R/Year 1 classes? I've read a lot about the advantages for Year R pupils, but what about the older ones?

School is 45 entry. We were told there would not be mixed year groups (new school with 30 in current Year 1 and 45 in Year R). DD is October-born and was looking forward to going into Year 1, but we've now been told there will be 1x Year 2 class, 1x Year 1 class, 1x Year R class and a mixed Year R/1 class. We've been told that the children in the class were chosen for being calm, kind, polite and good role models... but I worry that this will not be beneficial for DD and she is being penalised for being 'nice'. (At nursery, she had multiple key worker changes because she was more adaptable than most other children).

DD is one of the stronger readers in the class (we're invited into school weekly to listen to our children read, so I've seen which book bands other children are on). She is good at cooperating and playing with others. She's also very tall for her age, so is likely to tower above children who may be nearly 2 years younger than her.

Will there be any advantages to the Y1 pupils in this situation?

I was up a year at school (and in top sets in a selective school), so can't imagine being educated in such a wide group at such a young age.

Our school has mixed age classes all the way through, and it allows all the children to work at the level they are at, whether that's high achieving and thus with the older kids, or needing more support and thus with the younger kids. It works brilliantly and no one is held back, the opposite is true. Also, being with children both older and younger than you teaches you how to get on with other people - as in the rest of life - and where appropriate to care for and support those who need your help. I was initially sceptical about mixed classes, but am now a total convert.

She'll be able to embed her skills by explaining things to others.
She'll be a leader, rather than a follower.
She'll get little age appropriate responsibilities.
She'll read to the younger ones.
It's great for self esteem.

They may well teach specific skills by ability- so gather the high achievers into a group for maths, regardless of which class they are in. A school I taught in effectively streamed in elements of maths and English throughout primary. The Spelling/phonics scheme was taught by level in small groups across the years, for example.

I don’t have any experience of mixed year classes, but I would be feeling much like you are, if my DC had been ‘chosen’ to be put in the class mixed with the year below despite being one of the older children in her year and ahead with her reading.

As it was, my DD found Y1 a bit frustrating even in her single form entry school. She was an autumn-born girl who was very ready to progress academically where some of the others needed a bit more time at that stage. I’m not saying she was a genius, and it all normalised later, but at that age there can be quite a difference. In Y1 my DD spent a great deal of time helping others once she had finished her work, she was paired up with a weak speller for spelling practice, which meant that the other child couldn’t test DD at all, etc. She might have benefited a little from helping others, but it was not great from a friendship point of view, and her own learning took a back seat.

On other threads about mixed age classes, the most common approach seemed to be to keep the younger children behind, and at least this would be a ‘fair’ policy. I would be watching very carefully to make sure that your DD is being challenged and not being overused as a childminder to the detriment of her own learning. That may be somewhat selfish, but your DD is your priority.

My dc went to a tiny school so this was the norm. Benefit for the child is that they have a classroom full of learning toys! Also, the school has to provide differentiated work for YR and Y1 so no worries there. Didn't hold my dc back at all.

I would have been a bit worried if my dc had been chosen for a mixed class and others not, it does feel a bit like being left behind, so I know where you're coming from OP

Thanks for all of the replies. It still feels like the benefits are more for the Year R pupils (or Year 1 pupils in need of extra support).

The Year R and mixed class share a garden and EYFS is free flow so the children can wander in and out at will. The Year 1 and Year 2 pupils will have classrooms on the other side of the building with a separate play area for use at break times. It feels like DD is going to get a completely different Y1 experience.

I'd be looking for another school. I think the only advantages will be for the year R children, especially with the set up you've just described.

My DS is in a mixed Yr and Y1 class. He’s reception and I’m really pleased he’ll still be in an early years environment as he’s bright and academically able but still needs that sort of classroom environment.
the work is differentiated and different groups have input at different times and it seems to work really well. They also get to know a wider range of children within the school

I agree with @LetItGoToRuin There is research to show that the effect on the older children in this kind of set up is either net neutral or negative. For the younger children it is beneficial. One of mine was the quiet, well behaved older girl. Basically became an unpaid teaching assistant for the year (further up school). Teachers who say it benefits the brighter ones and helps to consolidate their learning are talking bollocks. It doesn’t. It makes for bright kids who become bored easily and who recognize their own learning is not being extended. It’s lazy and unfair and a bad way to teach as every child is entitled to be stretched, not just the weaker children.
I couldn’t disagree with @picklemewalnuts more!

It would bother me a lot (and I specifically chose a school with no prospect of split year classes because of this - I know a school near me has a 45 pupil intake and it was the first one crossed off my list).

As you say, the difference between how the children will be treated depending on if they were were in the Y1 or YR/1 class is huge, even if the school is aiming to teach the same content.

The ones in with Y1 will be moving towards to a more formal classroom and will no doubt have comparative quiet times and would not be missing the fun things going on in the other half of the class.

The ones in with reception will invariably have more general disruption due to the EYFS style of reception and might feel like they are missing some of the fun!

I do think split classes can work with an intake of 15 when it’s planned like that, but I’d be very cross at the way this has been done when there’s a class getting the “normal” experience and your daughter has been “chosen” to stay back. I’d definitely be on the schools back for them to give more information on how this will work and not disadvantage your daughter.

I’d also feel sorry for the reception kids here - one class will be fully EYFS and one not. Whilst I get the advantage developmentally from being with older kids, I’d have chosen the single YR class and another year of relative fun (although obviously in the younger years there is a huge amount of teaching in small groups anyway).

Personally I wouldn't be happy. I would have expected those children who need a little bit of extra help / consolidation would be in the mixed YR / 1 class. I would have concerns that if this was my child they are going to be left behind.

They need to be at the same level by Y2, so it's not necessarily helpful to keep the less mature children back. They'll be less able to engage with a formal curriculum while in a less formal setting.

The more mature children, who are eager to learn, will be able to progress regardless of the lower ability children around them.

Those who are less able might well benefit from being the group that needs extra support in the next class up.

I think I'd ask what plans they have in place to differentiate, and how they'll ensure your DD has as many opportunities to learn as the next class up.

I wouldn't be happy with this and would be looking for another school. This was one of the reasons we moved our DC after reception.

If mixed classes are so great why don't all schools do it? I can't see how this will benefit your DD at all. There's a lot of difference between a just turned 4 year old and nearly 6 year old!

I'm in Scotland.DCs went to a small village school where most of the classes were composite.For example there was a P3/4 class and a P4/5.The older children in the P4 year group would be in the P4/5 class and the rest would be in P3/4 along with the older children in the P 3 cohort.This set up never put my DC at a disadvantage.

I wouldn’t be happy either. There may well be benefit to children who need longer in reception but the difference in learning style is quite different. It would be quite an adjustment for year 2 if they had to go straight from free flow to more formal learning. Y1 has been structured in my daughter’s school as a transition point. I’d also say I’m finding her needs for reading aren’t being met already within y1. She’s doing phonics books that are far too easy for her as the whole class seem to be doing the same. It would be painful if she had been with reception.

I was in a composite class myself in primary and remember hating it and finding the transition to the next class really hard.

Thing is, lots of schools need to do it. The key is to find ways to make it work.

I don't like them as there is already a spread of abilities anyway but schools don't usually have composite classes unless they need to.

I am teaching in a 1/2 class this year and the year one children in my class absolutely are having a completely different experience from the ones in the EYFS/1 classroom.

In fact we did transition yesterday and they couldn't understand why they weren't playing half the day.

DS's was in mixed year classes for a few years in primary. Children in both the lower and higher year were usually the brighter children or those able to work independently while the other year group was given instruction. It was certainly not the children struggling in the higher year group who were chosen as they would require more attention, not less, and it would not be helpful to be struggling and be in a class with much younger children who could easily do what you couldn't! Both year groups were able to be extended.

My son's school do this there's reception class then a reception/y1 , y1-2, a year 2, two y 3-4 classes a y 4-5 and two y 5-6. I have a son who was in reception the went to reception/y1 and next year he'll go into the year 2 class, (skipping the year 1-2) and I have a son who has always been in classes with older children. I've found its worked really well my youngest was struggling with his writing and he's had support with that and because he's with younger children he feels more confident being one of the more able in his class. They also sometimes keep children in the lower age class if they think they're not emotionally ready. It's a good way of splitting up kids that don't get along well as well.

I don't think you can ever guarantee a school won't end up with mixed year classes. It all depends on numbers and funding. The 3 form entry school near us ended up with some mixed year classes for a few years due to pupil numbers in certain years