Mixed year groups

[Parkrunmum10]

our school mix year groups and it's turned out to be utterly disastrous for their learning
not sure if it's our teacher being inexperienced in a composite class or if it's intrinsically a poor way to do it

examples
theme this term was the ocean
the year 1 class
Write a paragraph about a ocean after researching in their table groups and made a boat each out of cardboard
the mixed year 1 / reception class
coloured in a picture of a boat

previous term the place we live was the theme
year 1
created a model village with various exhibits and presented it to the whole of infants

year 1/reception class
went to see the model village
spoke about what type of house they lived in

is this just due to a rubbish teacher in the mixed class who just isn't imaginative or due to the class having reception kids?!

they also have a day a week that we were told was outdoor school so letter sent home saying activities would be woodwork, forest school, outdoor play, outdoor craft / science depending on the week. But her class only get to do outdoor school every other week because they split them year 1 and reception whereas the year 1 class do it together and weekly. they've done no woodwork, I've only seen them in forest school once so it also seems they're just having outside play

surely that's a pretty drastic difference between the experience of kids in each class?

Also it's become an issue with the birthday parties etc as most are only inviting just their current class not their year group (not blaming parents for that it's expensive) but due to the dates of birthdays she basically likely won't get invited now to any until July as everyone in the year 1 portion her class is a July or August baby where her peers in year 1 have a nice even spread from September to June the reception kids in her year group haven't invited the year 1 kids from that class either so it's not that we ended up with new parties to go to

I am so frustrated and I just don't know if I need to move schools or insist on her being in the other class at this point because her educational experience is just so reduced

We are really limited to school options in our area unless you can pay private which we can't and we had no idea this school mixed classes as they just don't advertise it so we're also then concerned about disruption

have we just had a bad experience and it'll get better with next years teacher or should we insist she isn't placed in the composite class again?

We did complain but the head is vile and rude and made it clear nothing would change and that she is doing year 1 work (I genuinely don't think they are but also can't prove it per say) but after the second discussion she offered to move her to the year 1 class but that was after a term so we weren't sure if that would be more disruptive

ive genuinely considered home schooling at this point but we both need to work
and I've even contemplated moving house again but we only moved her a year ago

If the head offered to move her to the other class I would have just taken that offer there and then. I’m not sure why you didn’t given everything you’ve said. I can’t imagine it would be disruptive for her at all at the same school still and with kids she presumably knows. My kids are in a mixed class and it works well but I wouldn’t be happy with the situation you describe.

At that point in the term we'd had about 6 weeks of her hating school and then about 2 of her saying she was happy
so regrettably we went with the flow as she was happy her main friends in that class etc
but looking back now at the difference in provision between the classes (we didn't know it was THAT different at that point) in hindsight we should have asked to swap
it turns out her class teacher will be changing in April anyway as the main teacher is back from maternity leave (we weren't informed there was a chance for a teacher swap mid year at all either!)
so I'm going to raise it once more with the head and point out the differences in work the classes do and ask for her to be moved but iur daughter has some issues settling into a new setting so we do have to be careful as it could easily derail a full half term moving her

Composite classes are very difficult to teach and reception and year 1 have different frameworks so I think its one of the worst combinations.

It's not that it can't be done but you need a teacher that knows how to do it..

You really should have moved her when given the opportunity to do so.

I've taught mixed Reception/Year 1 before and it's quite hard. I had the oldest Reception children in the year and a mixture of ages of Year 1 children. You have to be quite creative to find ways of making sure all the different needs are met, especially making sure the Reception children have a more play-based curriculum while the Year 1s are starting to write a lot more etc.
I think it sounds like the teacher isn't that great to be honest, perhaps inexperienced with a mixed class. For the examples you've given, even if the teacher only had Reception children colouring in a boat is unimaginative. The Year 1 children in the mixed class could have done what the children in the other Year 1 class did and done some writing while the Reception children made boats and tested them to see if they floated. Or both groups could have made boats but Year 1 had to write a couple of sentences about what they did and drew a diagram of their experiment or whatever, while Reception drew the boat they made. Same for the model village thing - no reason why the mixed class couldn't have done that.

It might get better when the other teacher comes back. Or you could speak to the head again and say that you've reconsidered and would like her to be moved to the other class.

Do you know what the arrangements are for next year yet? Will the composite class be kept together and become Y1/Y2 or will they be mixed again? I would definitely ask about that because that might sway your decision one way or another.

Defiinitely sounds quite rubbish

Is your dc one of the younger y1 so summer born and that why they are in the composite?
I wouldnt like them missing the forest school so they can go every other week.
However we have a 60 intake and that has its own issues (like them doing all plays and shows together so no kids get good/ok part, and you cant see them over the like 240 parents who come to watch.
Plus we mix classes every other year and that means the shyer kids end up with fewer friends each time while the popular ones get even more.

If you have say 30 kids and half are each y1 or reception so 15. Then there may only be 7 say girls in your dc class in her year.

Also in terms of overall the experiences of kkds in england will vary so much in y1. The experience of my eldest vs youngest was very different. The eldest had 1-2 school trips, youngest got 0. In y3 eldest had 7 swim lessons. Youngest in y3 got 0 and probably will not get any throughout primary. Theyve only had 1 school trip and now y4.

The school is in wales
She is an august child so hence being in the mixed class
there is a year 1/2 class
(5-6 year 1s in with 20 year 2s)
a full year 1 class which I think has 25
and her class which is 12-13 year 1s and and 12-13 reception (the September and October born)
They mix classes year on year for example in the year above with the same intake they had year 1 and a mixed reception/ year 1 class so not sure why our year group are now over 3 classes
the teacher isn't great they watch a LOT of tv but I think someone other than us has now complained about that and the lack of fun stuff and this week they've watched 0 tv not once all week and last week they didn't I don't think either - we have had so many issues we've given up complaining

Hindsight is a wonderful thing
at the time of offering she was happy for the first time all term and we didn't know at that point the difference between the class would be that significant
also all her core friends that she plays and has play dates with were in this class
as for next year we've asked but they refuse to tell us
they tell the kids and have a transition day and then the parents get a letter later that day with the class details and room number
you get no say on what class
it's mostly done on age but with some shuffling of there are issues like kids behavior or something
this week the whole infant school have done some great stuff for the theme all together and she has enjoyed it a lot
I know a couple of parents have complained about the amount of tv they watch and the lack of vision in the kids work and I think there have been some improvement
im just looking forward to her leaving and the normal teacher returning from maternity now tbf

I think you should move schools OP. For the teachers sake at least.
You aren’t in class so you won’t have a full picture of what happens. It’s Year 1! You need to relax and hand over the running of the school to the teachers.

I'd love to move schools
unfortunately we only have 3 options
one of private and unfortunately I can't afford that
the other is an even smaller primary with mixed classes and a poorer reputation so moving there isn't likely to resolve any issues we have
and the third is a lovely primary with a great head - but some major funding issues and it's not walkable at all either so it's out of the question unless we invest in a second car due to my commute my partner needs to do most drop offs
for now we will monitor
I have given the benefit of the doubt often here and other than 2 times total I've not actually complained to the school at all - just sucked it up and done some interesting fun learning at home
as for trusting the teacher - I did
at first until it became more and more obvious she was out of her depth
and our reception teacher was outstanding so I'm hoping the next teacher will be
as for the provision I know at least another 4-5 parents who have made complaints about the level of work the year 1 kids in her class do being way below their expectations and also I know there has been a complaint (we have a friend who works at the school) about the amount of tv her class watch daily
yes I wish now id accepted the offer to move class but alas I didn't have a lovely crystal ball at the time and the difference between the classes wasn't so stark / obvious
clearly other parents agree and none of them have pulled the kids out because as I said there are limited options in our area
maybe I'll get a promotion at work and can move to the private school but speaking to the head there (we know her as my partner worked there for a time) she has concerns that our daughter wouldn't pass the entrance exams now anyway as she's so far behind expectations for England due to wales having lower expectations at this age combined with the poor / reduced provision in the mixed class

Several village schools here mix reception year one and two, two and three, three and four, four and five and five and six. Some give a lot of thought to which children are up taught up versus down. One school doesn't and has complaints every year. The head doesn't seem to get hold of the issues and the teacher's doing the youngest are inexperienced. Sounds similar where your child is so I'd look at moving classes asap.

Oh and we noticed they've stopped watching tv daily in the last 2 weeks
turned out 3 other year 1 parents complained about the amount of pacifying was happening with tv during transition (ie before lunch and before pick up home time) and asked why they can't just be asked to sit on the mat or have a story so it's pretty obvious the teacher is out of her depth with this class
I appreciate I can't have the school in my image and I do need to give some control away but equally schools relying on 30 min of literally mindless tv a day is unacceptable lazy teaching and it's not beneficial for the children and as a parent I'm allowed to have some say in how the teaching is given and have expectations about what they do being age and skill appropriate

most of the year 1 kids in this class are bored, unchallenged and don't enjoy school that's cause for serious concern 🤷‍♀️also how can they be ready for year 2 sitting at desks and having no in class play if they've not used this transition year to their advantage by building up that stamina for school work and focus

Speak to the head again and ask if your DD can move to the year 1 class.

Are you 100% sure this is what both classes are doing? How do you know for definite and how do you know what the year 1 class are doing?

Composite classes are very common here (NZ), particularly in the infant years. From what I can recall, my DD was in mixed classes every year in primary. I am sure it suits some children better than others but it is unusual that anyone would find it “disastrous”. Sounds like you have a problem with the teacher/school, not with the fact that your DD is in a composite class.

I’ve certainly never heard of any time being spent watching TV in school!

So hang on - does she get too much fun stuff, or not enough? I'd be thrilled that she'd had a school trip tbh.

I've taught a mixed YR, Y1, Y2 class before, which was perfectly manageable, but I had an excellent TA in the room, and I only had 24 kids total. The Y1 kids shouldn't be doing the exact same work as the YR kids all day, but there can be a fair amount of overlap. FWIW writing a whole paragraph is unusual in year 1 unless self-lead, and/or heavily scaffolded.

Because we've physically seen them come out of school with things and we saw pictures from last term when our class visited their classes exhibit etc
think it's too late in the year now to move to be honest for anything constructive
We will be sending a complaint in and ask she not be placed in a mixed class again next year

You'd be shocked by how much tv is watched in uk schools
composite classes aren't super common where I'm from but we live in wales now and they're very common which is something we've not thought about / worried about before experiencing it
I don't think it suits her at all on a personal level but yes it's the teachers approach that's lacking she just isn't managing very well and I don't think it's a particularly great system / approach (if it was it'd be the preferred approach everywhere which it isn't)

She doesn't do enough of the structured fun stuff the other class do
so they've done xyz and our version in this class is watered down or more passive / dumbed down to suit reception

its also very much a foundation setting more than the other class and I know some people like that and for some kids it's better but she is one of those children who needs structure (she HATED preschool because it was free play and then LOVED reception because it was more orderly) if anything this class is more chaotic than her actual reception class last year (due to obvious things like splitting teacher time between two groups and such)

i honestly don't think any kids should watch tv at school - it's completely ridiculous to me they are at school from 9-3 and have 1.5 hours of breaks and free play

if they aren't in active learning sorry but they can have a book read to them or shock horror just play or sit quietly and wait for 5min

passive tv viewing is just lazy in my opinion maybe as a treat occasionally or watching an educational program that supports the theme or topic I can begrudgingly agree to but they watched hey Duggie today and last week it was Timmy time

I'm not judging parents for watching a bit of tv at home or whatever we do too - it's just part of life now

but we all know too much screen time is bad so I just don't agree with the amount they have at school particularly that is is none educational / even age appropriate