Why do some mums go all weird when new classes are announced?

[DrNortherner]

It so bloody competetive sometimes and it annoys me.

It's a very rare parent who genuinely puts the wellbeing of the other children in a school on the same footing as that of their own. That's why parents should not have much say in how classes are run or how schools are run. Those who disagree violently with this should probably consider home education.

What I used to find most irritating when I taught weren't the parents with a genuine concern about mixed classes. It was the parents who spoke and acted as if the entire teaching body had decided deliberately to sabotage their child's education by changing some arrangement. I am in no way suggesting that parents should not query any decision by their school, of course they should. But some people really seem to have no understanding of the fact that teachers generally have the best interests of the education of all the children at the forefront of their minds.

My dcs school regularly mix up the classes. DD will have 2 classes mixed up and is being split from one of her 'best' friends - we knew this had to happen as they are so silly and disruptive together. However altho she is unhappy I am OK with it as everyone else in her class is one of her friends and many are her close friends.

Ds' year is being split from 2 into 3 classes and both he and I are ecstatic as he is with his two best friends and has the same teacher as dd this year and she is perfect for him. He is a very different child from dd tho as he makes one or 2 really good frineds whereas she has lots of friends with no one really best friend (except one from YR who is no longer at the same school). He had previously said he did not want to be in Mrs X class (a different teacher) as she is 'too bossy' so I mentioned it to his current teacher just so she knew but made it clear that I left the decision up to her as I know she knows the children really well and if she felt he would be right with her then he would be.

However I have a lot of sympathy with parents who worry as there is no way I would have felt like this at their previous school - which is the reason they moved schools last year!