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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

If you're not happy with the Y1 class your child has been allocated what can you do?

33 replies

imaginaryfriend · 02/07/2008 23:23

Just anticipating / curious. Dd's in Reception and we get the Y1 class lists next week. What kind of rights / reasons would there be for requesting a change?

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weblette · 02/07/2008 23:26

Pretty much none IME. Have never known of anyone who queried and had any joy. If you have compelling reasons for dd not to be in a certain class, speak to the teacher in advance.

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MadBadandDangeroustoKnow · 02/07/2008 23:28

I doubt you have any rights as such - allocating children to classes is a routine bit of school management. If you're unhappy with the result, try speaking first to the class teacher but I think you'd have to identify a compelling reason for wanting a change, especially if it would mean taking a child out of another class to make space for your child.

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christywhisty · 02/07/2008 23:29

MY dc's got to a one form entry primary, they have the same children in their class for 7 years, no choice about it, other than change school.

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MadBadandDangeroustoKnow · 02/07/2008 23:31

cross-post with weblette.

As I understand it, one reason why schools may shuffle the classes between YR and Y1 is to mix up the friendship groups, so saying 'A wants to be in the same class as her friend B' (for example) isn't likely to cut much ice.

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imaginaryfriend · 02/07/2008 23:32

I'm leaving it to chance to be honest. I did hear of a girl last year who was allowed to change class due to a bullying issue.

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imaginaryfriend · 02/07/2008 23:34

Dd's school has a September and a January intake and I know they shuffle the classes and re-split them according to age, ability, nationality, sex, etc. And I know it doesn't matter if they're with their friends or not as they'll still get to see them at playtime. I was just curious to find out what constitutes a reasonable request to change classes.

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bluenosesaint · 02/07/2008 23:38

None at my children's school. And thats the way i would prefer it. Can you imagine the logistical nightmare if all parents went in wanting to change their dc's classes??! ...

I'm happy to leave it to the experts

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weblette · 02/07/2008 23:38

We actually have three intakes a year so there's a lot of mixing to do! It does sometimes defy logic but usually works out in the end

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cat64 · 03/07/2008 00:05

This reply has been deleted

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AbbeyA · 03/07/2008 07:29

I agree with cat64-once the list is published it is very difficult to change because in order to change your DC another DC will have to swap and that could cause huge problems especially if the parents of the DC swap had been happy with the first choice. If they problem needs to be discussed before the list then the school is most probably be aware of it anyway.

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Joanie · 03/07/2008 13:02

I am feeling really bad at the moment. I told my son's teacher that he is friends with a new boy who will be joining the school for Yr 1 and it would be nice as he was in the same class as I don't think the other boy knows anyone. Sure enough they have been put in the same class, but it now means that DS is away from his 2 best friends and a lot of the other boys from his reception class. It also means he is not now getting the same Yr1 teacher that his sister did, who I like and could see him really hitting it off with.

The only reason I feel bad about it it that I think if I hadn't opened my big mouth then DS would have been in the other class - so its all my fault! I spent most of yesterday agonising over this and have got it all out of proportion - I dont know why, DS is friendly with several in the new class and I'm sure will be fine.

I wanted new boy to be put into DS' class not the other way round - which I think is what happened. I know people cant really swop around at will as it would be chaos, but I think I should say something to the teacher (don't know what) just to get it off my chest. I feel ridiculously upset about this - mainly I think cos I know it was my fault. Maybe talking to mn will get it off my chest!

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Oliveoil · 03/07/2008 13:06

I think dd1 will have the same class right through from Reception to Y2

when we put dd2's name down on the class list thing on Monday, you could mention any special friendships but these were not a guarantee of being in the same class

hopefully dd2 will get the same Reception teacher as dd1 as they usually put siblings with the same teacher for familiarity and she is fab fab fab so I hope so

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annh · 03/07/2008 16:05

Joanie, don't feel bad. You saying that you would like your son in the same class as his new friend will have had NO bearing whatsoever on the composition of the classes, which will have been decided on a mixture of sexes, ability, ages, friendships, mix of SN kids etc. At our school, deluded parents who don't know better yet try to sidle up to the teacher to say how well their dc gets on with someone, how well they work together etc. Sometimes dc do end up in the same class but it is for all of the above reasons and not because they were bending the teacher's ear about it!

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Blandmum · 03/07/2008 16:13

If you have a reasonable reason for a child not to go into a particular class, you should contact the school. Children are routinely moved if there are bullying issues.

If it is 'because I would rather Miss A to Miss B' don't think you would have much of a chance

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RustyDaviesBear · 03/07/2008 16:15

I work in a junior school & a couple of years ago we had mum of Child A coming up with all sorts of reasons why A needed to stay with her best friend, while at the same time B's mum was pleading with the teacher to separate them next year...

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Joanie · 03/07/2008 21:46

Actually Annh it DID have some influence as the teachers said 'yes, that's helpful (cos new boy doesnt know anyone), we could do that, it would help balance the classes' SO they do accommodate to some extent, and I cant complain really - its what I asked for!Am getting more of a grip on it now, I think its ME who just wanted him to be with a teacher I knew. Ce la vie.

BTW, is it just me or does everybody always look unhappy when they look at the new class lists. Surely someone must be happy??

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MrsSnape · 03/07/2008 22:51

Rusty, that sounds like us when DS was in reception another boys mum was on at the teachers constantly to keep her son with mine and at the same time I was on their backs with reasons as to why they should be seperated, it was a nightmare...thankfully the teachers seemed to agree with me as they were seperated.

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mysteryfairy · 04/07/2008 16:14

Have just got a news letter home from my DD's school and quote:
"As always, there will be some mixed-age classes and age will be the only criteria (sic) for allocating classes, as published in our prospectus. We also take great care to ensure that children are within a group of a reasonable size and that we have a balance of gender etc. This process is very complicated and we would ask parents to accept that this is the school's role. We will NOT make any changes to class arrangements based upon parental opinion as this is honestly unmanageable. Therefore, I request that parents do not tackle staff about this issue and this is most unhelpful."
I am very apprehensive about where DD is going to be placed next year and my apprehension is based on academic progress not friendship groups. In previous years we've been reminded that we "chose" the school - in my case this is blatantly not true as I wanted and appealed for DD to go to another school.

I'm not sure what the answer will be if DD ends up being the oldest in a mixed year 2/1 class which is my fear - last year she was the oldest in the young reception class and this year she is one of the youngest in a Y1 class. In the group she is currently in all the other children have autumn birthdays. She was really intimidated at the start of the year because she said they were all much cleverer than her when in reality they had just been challenged more by the curriculum in their Y1/R class the previous year. She has really flown academically this year and I will be very if she is put in a position where she can't work with her children at her own level next year. Even more if the school will not even discuss it with me, although my approach would be how are you going to meet DD's needs in her new class rather than demanding that she be moved.

Saddest thing is that I have at the back of my mind that I will move her to the pre-prep of the group of schools where DS1 is if the local school cannot meet her needs. I really do not want to send a six year old sixteen miles on a bus trip that takes an hour each way and it will seriously cramp 13 year old DS's style to have her in tow, but I'm not prepared to compromise with her education having been here before with DS1 and seen the damage and misery an unchallenging school year (or several in DS1's case) can do.

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4under5 · 05/07/2008 23:37

THis has happened to our son. I asked the teacher ifhecould remain with a certain child. I was told itwas policy to leep friends who are thriving together and they'd only be split if problem. My teacher then recommended they stay toegther but head teacher changed it to accommodate someone else. He now has NONE of his friends, but everyone else, even those that needed to be moved for proper reasons still have a friend with them. My son has been punished for NOT haaving a problem with someone and for being so good at school yet those that constantly cause problems have still got at least one friend. We have approached head who was crap, so have now written a letter but from what you ladoes have been saying it doesn't sound good. Am completely heart broken to see my little son so sad at not having any of his friends.

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4under5 · 05/07/2008 23:37

THis has happened to our son. I asked the teacher ifhecould remain with a certain child. I was told itwas policy to leep friends who are thriving together and they'd only be split if problem. My teacher then recommended they stay toegther but head teacher changed it to accommodate someone else. He now has NONE of his friends, but everyone else, even those that needed to be moved for proper reasons still have a friend with them. My son has been punished for NOT haaving a problem with someone and for being so good at school yet those that constantly cause problems have still got at least one friend. We have approached head who was crap, so have now written a letter but from what you ladoes have been saying it doesn't sound good. Am completely heart broken to see my little son so sad at not having any of his friends.

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imaginaryfriend · 06/07/2008 21:06

That sounds very sad 4under5. My dd is a very shy, reserved child at school and I'm praying when we get the new class lists next week she has a few familiar faces in her new class. It will be very hard for her to start from scratch with a new bunch as it's taken her all year to even make a few casual friends.

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RusselBrussel · 06/07/2008 21:51

Are classes routinely re-organised??
At the dc's school they have 3 classes per yeargroup. Whatever class a child goes into at the start of reception, that is the class they will stay with until the end of Y2.
Then those moving onto the local adjoining junior school all get mixed about to form 3 new Y3 classes. And again, whatever class they end up in for Y3 is the class they will stay with until the end of Y6.

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imaginaryfriend · 06/07/2008 21:56

RB it happens in dd's school because Reception has 2 intakes, the older children start in September and the younger in January. They blend the two classes together when they go into Y1 so there's a mix of ages.

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RusselBrussel · 06/07/2008 22:08

Ah okay, that makes sense. In fact, our infant school used to do that up until a few years ago. Now they just create 3 equally mixed reception classes, all children start in September, and the younger ones only stay half a day until Christmas.

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imaginaryfriend · 07/07/2008 11:11

I think that would be easier to be honest. It's hard for the kids to have their class mixed up and hard for the younger kids to suddenly be mixed with the older ones.

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