Miffed about class allocation

[kingandjack]

Hi all

DC2 is starting reception in September (currently at the same school nursery) and just been diagnosed with ASD - which the school is aware about.

My DCs school seem to allocate younger siblings in the same class that their older siblings attended.

However, DC2 has been allocated a different class to her (NT) sibling.

There are many kids in DC1s class that have siblings joining reception in September and ALL have been allocated to their older siblings class.

I was going to leave it and not question the school but it’s been really bothering me.
Is my child being discriminated as a SEN child? Why hasn’t she been allocated the same class as DC1?

What’s worse is that DC1s reception teachers is the EYFS/Phase leader so it’s unlikely that DC2 has been put in the other class because she’ll be “better supported” in the other class.

Should I speak up about this or not?

TIA

It’s concerning that your first conclusion is “discrimination” and not that your child’s best interests have been taken into consideration tbh. Do ask, but don’t go in with this attitude.

You're not privy to other children's needs, what capacity there is in each class etc. Why does it matter whether younger dc follows older dc? It sounds as though you have a preference for a particular teacher and are just miffed you haven't got them.

@kingandjack The phase leader might well be out of class, which might mean multiple teachers. They might have decided the other class will have more consistency.

You don't know the reputation of the other teacher. You're going to be 'that' parent before she even starts.

They'll have their reasons. There are many factors to consider, and which teacher their sibling had is really not relevant. Maybe the EYFS leader is having the child whose behaviour is very unpredictable, and they've deliberately put those with ASD in the other class. Maybe the other teacher or their TA is experienced with ASD. The EYFS lead will have more non-teaching time, so there would be more of the week with a different teacher.

Is my child being discriminated as a SEN child?
No

Why hasn’t she been allocated the same class as DC1?
for reasons that are none of your business and that the school should under no circumstances tell you about. Contrary to what you seem to think, the school is not spending time trying to annoy you or to spite your child. If you are already in the mind that the school is against you before your kid has even started, good luck to them.
Discussing other children is not something they can do with you.

The main difference is that the school sees big picture and tries to act in the best interest of everyone and balance all the needs, request and the teaching staff. You only see your own child, it's your job.

I don't understand your real issue:

1. you want your DC2 to have the same teacher as DC1 had (this seems pointless, I would not care about this)
2. you think the teacher DC2 is allocated to is incompetent (this seems unlikely)

I do not believe your school has a formal policy of allocating children to classes based on who was their older siblings' previous teachers.

It seems like an odd rule and likely to lead to upset parents like yourself when it's needed to allocate siblings to a different class. There could be many reasons why they decided the other class was best, such as best meeting the needs of the child, balancing abilities and personalities, etc.

I wouldn't like the rule in general. It would mean lots of the other parents would be those you already knew from your older child. If parents know each other or are friends through the older siblings, then there is no need for the younger siblings to be in the same class as you can meet outside school anyway. If there had been previous issues, then the families would be best split up.

Why do you want your child in that class so much?

I remember my uncle telling me that when he started school, the teacher told him she had taught his sister, his aunty, his uncle, and she would be, therefore, be keeping an eye on him! A couple of generations ago, but just because the teachers would never say that now doesn't mean they won't be thinking it. I'd prefer a fresh start.

How does this work, do teachers never leave or get moved to different classes?

If this is the policy (which I agree with other posters; it's a weird policy) there will be a reason why, which is likely to accommodate your child's needs better. If there are 2 SEN children for example it makes sense for one to be in each class.

Being an early years leader isn't necessarily in your child's best interest btw. When my DD was going in to reception she was put in a class with a 'normal' teacher, my friends little boy was put with the early years leader. My DD had the best relationship with her teacher, she was just so so lovely. DD is just finishing Y2 now and this teacher even comes to her dance shows on a weekend, the last one was a couple of weeks ago. I cried on DD last day of reception as I was gutted she wasn't going to be in her class anymore. Where's my friend only got the bare minimum off the early years leader, as she also had other things to do as well as teaching. In fact I think a lot of her teaching ended up being done by the TA. I know who I'd rather have!

You're being ridiculous.

Kids are placed in classrooms based on their needs and the resources that staff think will benefit each child based on the information they have as well as staff to pupil ratios.

You're massively overthinking this

1. You don't get to choose the teacher you prefer. You can't say I want that one because she is a phase leader.
2. The teacher your older child had is just that it has nothing to do with who your child will be with.
3. This is not discrimination.

I cannot believe this is the policy. Are you sure it's not just that you know of a few people this has coincidentally happened to?

This would be absolutely batshit. Why on earth would they go and check all of the siblings past teachers and put the younger siblings with them? Do new teachers get classes full of oldest / only children? What about teachers moving year groups? Children moving schools?

I am so baffled by this that I almost want you to ask so I can either hear their reasoning for the policy in the first place or hear their reaction at finding out that parents think this is how they decide classes

How do you know that they always put siblings with the same class teachers?

I cannot imagine this is true given the teacher turnover that often happens, with teachers leaving, taking on other roles or being put into different year groups.

What I can’t grasp is, according to your theory, if somebody taught a child this year and their sibling is three years younger, than it means they will teach their sibling in three years time???

It makes no sense and I wonder how many siblings you have known go through the school that always have the same teachers for you to come to this conclusion.

This!

You're making an issue out of nothing. It seems to me that you've bizarrely decided that the title 'Early Years Lead' means they are the 'better' teacher and are therefore miffed and (wrongly) calling discrimination because your youngest hasn't been given the teacher you perceive to be the 'better' one. They're likely just the most experienced or simply the one on the team who wanted that responsibility (not all teachers want a leadership role). I'm sure the other teacher is perfectly adequate and will be just as good with your youngest as the other one was with your eldest.

Instead of looking for discrimination where it's not there, reframe it and look at it this way:- If the traditional at this school is to (bizarrely) place younger children with a teacher their sibling had, the fact they've decided not to place her with the teacher her sibling had, rather than automatically assigning her the same teacher because of a silly tradition, suggests to me that they ARE considering her needs.

I'd say it's likely that either the teacher or TA in the class she has been allocated are very experienced at dealing with autism, or they needed to even up the SEN needs in each class to enable the children to be better supported, or they felt your child would be better in a class where the teacher will be around more often (the lead will have a release day each week, where the class are covered by someone else, and may be absent for other courses and meetings which crop up throughout the year).

Don't be that parent who complains for no reason or writes another teacher off just because they were hoping for the other one. Embrace this new beginning for your child. She doesn't need to have the same teacher her sibling had in order to have a great experience in Reception.

This happens in my child's school, I don't know why people are so shocked.

Low turnover of staff who tend to stay in post, the school tries to put younger siblings with the same teacher the older one had in Reception. Very rare to not get the older siblings teacher.

It's nice! Parents like the existing relationship they have with the teacher and the school gets happy parents.

Obviously it can't happen if that particular teacher leaves or changes year group.

There could be any number of reasons for them putting DC2 in a different class. It might be that the teacher has specialist ASD experience, or there is another child in there that needs support too and the TA can help both children together, or that they are spreading the children with SEN across both classes to make them easier to manage, or that the TA in the other class has more experience of ASD etc. etc.

It could be the class your DC2 will be in is smaller in numbers.
It could be they are trying to share the SEND children across both classes so 1 teacher hasn't got the majority.
It could be they think it will work better for your DC2.

Whatever the reason it isn't to piss you off or make your DC2 not flourish at school.
If you really want to know - ask them.

You are seeing this from your point of view (understandably) but they need if think just as much about a child without any needs and what suits them. Your child will need extra support so they’re not discriminating against him but finding the best way to give it. You sound like you want everything - your child in his siblings old class, the most experienced teacher etc and it’s not just about your son.

I'm not sure why you're surprised so many are shocked at this ridiculous policy. It's not about pleasing parents it's about making sure the children's best interests are at the centre of the decision.

I'm really surprised you think it's a good policy. There's so many factors that go into allocating classes, the fact a childs sibling was once in that class should be at the very bottom of the list.

I don’t think it’s shock that schools do this where possible, more so that it’s being treated as if it’s policy.
I am sure this happens in many schools where there is scope to do so, however, i am assuming it would only happen if it was the best fit for the children.
For example, what would happen if you had two children that did not get on in nursery and the parents had requested for them to be split up?
Or the teachers thought it was in the best interest to split certain children up?
In the school I work out, the reception teacher would of course be keen to work with the children of parents they have already built a relationship with (provided it was a positive relationship) however, lots of other factors come into play making this not always the most viable option.

Are the children allocated geographically (for friendship fostering or other practical reasons or just as an arbitrary method) or alphabetically by surname, rather than deliberately to the class their older siblings were in? Those methods seem more likely, and obviously if the distribution randomly means that 1 class has 4 children with 1:1 TAs, and three sets of ID twins, there will be some rejigging (to avoid overcrowding one class with five adults while the other has just one, and to split up twins to avoid them being treated as one unit usually).

Following into the same class as an older sibling will be the coincidental biproduct of a different allocation priority not a deliberate policy in itself.