Mixed Classes - Thoughts?

[OceanofNight]

Hi! We're trying to choose a primary school but naturally, my favourite is different to my husbands - fun!

Anyway, one of the schools has mixed classes/years. My gut feeling is that this isn't the best set up but I'm interested in getting some real life responses!

For a little more context, our daughter struggles with social situations outside of the home. She goes mute around others and can barely bring herself to whisper. So the option with mixed classes could be a good choice as there's only 15 kids per class typically so her voice won't 'get lost' in the mix of a 30+ kids potentially!

Can anyone share their thoughts on mixed classes? Have you had generally positive experiences?

Thanks in advance!

I had a really positive experience with mixed class groups. Because of the different ages, there seemed to be more room for adapting work to the child’s need. My third was not in a mixed class and I found that very rigid in comparison. All things considered, the mixed class worked better.

If it’s a much smaller class, it might suit your DD. If it were a class of 30, I’d be much more worried about it.

Our small village school has to do this and it works well. The kids seem to manage it no problem.

That's what we're thinking too!

So is this a very small school - 15 per class in a mix of years – so an intake of about 7-8 per year? have I read that right?

That might give me pause unless this were a school in a very rural area (and therefore very unlikely to close). How many in the school in total? I agree btw that small classes of 15 can be very supportive and probably a better learning environment than a class of 30.

My DC were in mixed classes some years bc the school had a PAN of 80 which meant in some years (if it was full) there were two classes of 30 and one mixed 20/10. It was fine tbh, the teacher was able to differentiate and they mixed the youngest from one year with the oldest from the year below (this was infants so the age was relevant; an August-born yr 2 child may actually be at a similar level to a Sept-born yr 1, tho that is a bit of a simplistic way of looking at it).

What you are looking at tho sounds a bit different. As I say, I might be more concerned about the size of the school overall rather than classes being mixed (which is totally usual for small schools of fewer than, say, 100 pupils).

The advantages of smaller schools are that everyone knows everyone and there is often a great community feel; also obvs the improved learning opportunities of fewer DC for the teacher to work with; negatives can include not many teachers so not much range of specialism; a head who has to teach; not much opportunity for things like choir, orchestra, sports teams because of the small numbers in each age group; limited pool of friends of your age and sex (a year group of 8 might be just 3 boys and the other two might be football-mad instead of of keen on LEGO (not that those are mutually exclusive but YGWIM)).

ETA: I meant to say, please flag your DD's selective mutism to the school; does she have any speech therapy or other intervention?

That's interesting and also reassuring - thank you!

It comes down to how good the teacher is.

In your case, I'd be asking to meet the Senco and see how good the arrangements are for support.

My DS is in a mixed class - the youngest of Year 2 (which he’s in) and the oldest of Year 1. It’s good in that it’s created a really tight group of them in Year 2 as they are a smaller group who spend most of their time together but it doesn’t work on a lot of levels - the Year 1s are generally more noisy and disruptive and there’s a lack of differentiation in the teaching which is not working well for my DS who is pretty strong academically.

My DC are at a tiny rural primary (less than 50 in the whole school) consequently they have mixed classes. It works well for us. They have one teacher & 2 TAs per class; are able to differentiate the learning to the students in class more, with more support & attention. They can do whole school trips, the children make friends across the school not just in their year group; the school community is close & supportive.
There are downsides - like less clubs, no ITsuite, hall etc. But the positives make up for negatives.

Have you visited the schools? What is the set up? How many years are mixed? What is the pupil:adult ratio?

I am in Scotland, where this is really common.

The mixed class in itself is good, IMO. There is a lot of differentiation in classes anyway e.g. my DC was very quick to pick up maths concepts, and was doing maths in a group on his own before they split the class, but now he is doing it in a group with some of the older year.

I've also seen kids who were the youngest and struggling really thrive when they split the classes in a way to make them the among the oldest.

However, what I hate is the uncertainty every year. My DC's school has an intake which the council deems to allow 6 classes, rather than 7. So every year, when the p7s leave, and a new p1 class start, depending on the relative sizes, the whole school needs re-jigged to fit. My DC has been in a class with just his year, then his year and a small group from the year above, and now only a handful from his year in with the class above. Every time, he gets split from friends, and it is unsettling.

@APurpleSquirrel that sounds great! excellent staff to student ratio :)

I would say the more important factor is how good the school senco and sen approach is. My child was (/is) similar, and has benefited hugely from excellent sen provision I did not foresee needing to access which in turn shapes the school’s whole pastoral approach, which means she has thrived despite it being a busy school of 2 forms of 30 in each year.

I’m not averse to mixed classes, she went to Montessori nursery which is mixed ages, but that’s not the clincher imo.