Mixed year group year 5/6

[markusdam]

My daughters school have decided that to save money that are going to split year 5 between years 4 and 6.

does anyone have advice as to what impact this will have on the year 6 class in regards to SATS and other year 6 stuff.

Sorry to hear this op. I only have knowledge relating to dd being year 4 in a split class year 3/4. I personally felt my daughter didn’t progress as well that year. E.g. The teacher needed to teach maths across both years and of course there was varied ability within each year… so a huge scope to cover all abilities. What happened eventually is that they split the class and the LSA taught half of them for maths and some other topics. We moved schools after that year.
year 6 is so important. I would be asking how they propose to manage maths particularly across two year groups combined in one class.

Hopefully none. Lots of rural schools have mixed year groups as do others.
Teachers do know what they are doing. Some Y5 pupils may be more able than some in Y6.
Budget wise lots of schools are having to make difficult decisions.
I wouldn’t worry.

Totally normal in our school. DS is going into a 3/4 class in Sept. DD has been in a 5/6 class for 2 years, first as a Y5 then as a Y6.

The Y6s will probably get most of the focus until after SATs.

My children are always in a split year group (one child is greater depth, one is a mix of ‘at expected’ and sometimes a little lower - to show it’s a range of abilities in talking about) and it’s been great for them both.

My ds was in a mixed class all through primary. It was no problem at all. The teachers were good at adapting to the different levels needed.

For years 5/6, the class was still 32 children but to be honest, there was so much focus on SATs and getting the less able dcs through, that my DS was bored silly for most of year 6.

The presence of year 5 dcs wasn't the problem. It was the endless repetition.

Our school has always done mixed year groups and I really dislike it, in our school there are two classes for each year group. So, in year 6 there is a year 6 only class and a mixed year5/6 class. There is a real stigma for the kids in the mixed class, as everyone at our school knows the lower ability kids go in the mixed class. My son is in year 6 in September and he will be in the mixed class, he was really upset yesterday when he found out. My older daughter was in the year 6 only class and according to her all the kids in the mixed class ended up in the lowest sets at high school. Our school tends to give up on the lower ability kids, I asked for help at parents night a few months ago and was told my sons teacher that he was nt like to catch up to his peers so there was no point in doing extra work with him. I hate the school but he is happy there with his friends so I can’t move him.

Depends how well it's done. Both my kids have been in a mixed 5/6 class (together this year - poor teacher) and it's been beneficial for them. The eldest finally realised how bloody good she was at Maths (she was convinced she wasn't) when, in year 5 she realised she was holding her own against the Y6 kids in the subject. The younger one who is autistic has seen all the later-end of Y6 events happen as preparation for when she goes through them herself next year - plus no teacher change for next year as well (depends on your school obviously that one).

They split the class up at times and one year group will be in the library with usually the Head teaching them if required - varied which one it was at different points in the year so it hasn't just been the year 5s being pushed aside - I would have been very cross if that had been the case.

This is a very small school though with mixed classes throughout the school - we have R, Y1/2, Y3/4, Y5/6 so the planning, ways of working and organising things, and expectations for it to happen that way are in place throughout the school.