Year 3

[NorB16]

Hi. My son is very upset that he and his best friends will be in different class in year 3 coming September.
They are allowed to list 5 names who they want to be with in year 3 and the school will try to give at least 1 from the list. Unfortunately none from his list set to be together.
My question is how do they pick each child and based on what criteria to go to new classroom? Does Year 2 SATs result play large role for allocating these children?
I totally agree that mixing with other child and making new friends are great idea. But what's the point asking them to list the names, gave them hope but not let them have it ? I really don't understand. Can someone please explain?

Many schools don't do this at all, and the ones that do will have their own criteria, probably taking into account balance of girls/ boys; balance of abilities and maybe ages; twins/family members being separated, and maybe separating certain children.
It seems unfair to have offered and then taken away the opportunity to be with at least one friend. Can you speak to the teacher to find out what's happened ? It's not unreasonable for you to ask.

Depending on the cohort, it can be such a difficult process! You have to consider boy/girl split, birthdays (not having all the summer borns together), ability, SEN, friendships, twins, EAL, getting rid of bad combinations without creating worse ones, maybe houses (if your school has them). All of these things vary in importance, and sometimes you're able to consider all of them, but sometimes if it's a very difficult cohort, all you can really consider is behaviour - that's the issue my school has had with one year group this year. We've stopped asking for lists of friends, as teachers tend to know who they get on well with.

So yeah, you could ask what happened, but considering they only said they "will try to give at least one name from the list", be prepared to accept that it's done and your child might not be able to be moved (if the school is full or nearly full, moving one child would also mean moving one in return to keep the classes even). It might not be ideal, but they will still see old friends on the playground, and will make new friends too.