Siblings in mixed age class

[Pud90]

Hi

i was wondering if there is anyone who has experience of non twin siblings in mixed age primary classes? Either parents or teachers.

I have two girls who are 20 months apart, but because of the months that their birthdays fall they will only be 1 school year apart. In case anybody suggests I should have thought of this- this wasn’t planned. One was an ivf miracle after years of trying, the youngest was a happy natural miracle. These things can’t be planned.

We live in an area where there are a lot of semi-rural village primary schools. A lot of these have mixed classes and so they would end up being in the same class for half of their primary school life. I am a twin and was in the same class as my sister for all of my primary schooling- this didn’t bother me and I actually loved it but I am conscious that we were the same age and therefore more similar academically than my girls will be.

We want to move to upsize but also for a more village/ rural life and this issue is making it difficult to find anywhere . Am I overthinking this or from experience would you advise against it?
any thoughts appreciated!

My two have been in the same class in primary school most of their time there. Very normal in the area I’m in and is a relatively small school. There’s 2 years per class except one class which is on their own. Both love it and never had problems academically as they have different school work etc.

It can be very positive. If is normal in many rural primary schools. I wouldn't assume that it will be a problem.

I have twins who were in mixed aged class along with 4 sets of none twin siblings (third of the class). There was only one set of siblings that had an issue with being together but I feel that was more to do with younger sibling having ADHD and in child's eyes was 'always being naughty and embarrassing me'. So out of 5 sets of siblings only one had an issue. I think when it's normal practice in a school teachers are very used to dealing with any issues that may arise.

it can be very positive- I think the key is to keep them from competing with each other. I have twins (2 girls) in a small school (class size 10-12) , and in early years it was easy. Moving into ks2 they very much want more separation which we achieve by keeping them separate in class (different tables, not looking at each other), different extracurriculars (different instruments, different sports, different clubs). Although twins, mine are very different capability wise - one has a learning disorder that affects literacy and the other is hyperlexic but autistic so we regularly deal with big differences in ability despite the lack of age gap. We try to make sure we celebrate them equally, but recognise individual achievements.