those with children in yr1(esp smaller schools) now, could you please tell me makeup of class this year and what reception was like?

[Piffle]

reason being
Dd yr1 was in womb like divine reception of 16 other classmates. 12 reception kids and 5 younger of the previous reception yr (ie: young yr 1s)
This year due to immense intake to reception all that class have to go up to the next class
Which now consists of the 12 reception graduates(dd included) the 5 younger yr1s and the 10 previous olderyr1s who were put up after reception.
So class has 12yr1s 15yr2s
so big shock for dd who has some minor SN (visually poor and gross motor some fine motor delays) but is also G+t identified.
She is in shell shock kind of
Coping with work fine but finding the lack of one on one so hard as she struggles.
I am hoping this will pass the teachers (there are 2 fullyime teachers in the class) reassure me they think dd is fine but I am worried.
Please can anyone reassure me about mixed classes?

our school had this last year (large reception so pure reception class and combined yr1/y2 class - though is was only 21 children), this year they have gone back to mixed rec/yr1 and yr1/yr2.
ds1 has just started in the yr1/yr2 class (12 yr1's and 14 yr2's).
There are going to be pluses and minuses to mixed classes, tbh I would just see how it goes - presumably you knew before she started that there would be mixed classes.
2 full time teachers (not a teacher and a TA?) in a class of 27 is pretty good.

Will there be 2 full time teachers all year Piffle? We have this arrangement at he moment because we want to keep the teacher to take over the new reception class which will open in January. It is great at willsettle children beautifully.
With regards to mixed age classes, any single age class will have the full ability range in it, the same as any mixed age class will so the planning to provide for all the children's needs will be no different from a single age class. I find the difference is in maturity of the children which is where the skill and experience of the teacher and TA comes in.
Have a chat with your Inclusion Manager if you are at all worried as it sounds like your DD has some diverse and specific needs.

actually we thought and were told that the reception class of 17 would remain together for 2008-2009 while the next class up would move up together
But this changed for some reason.
So contrary to what we were led to believe
Thing is dd was told no statement of SEN was needed as provision of teaching was so good (1 teacher 1 TA fulltime 1 trained parent helper one part time teacher) in reception (and this was presumed to continue)
Guess will hold fire and see

Lots of parents are taking yr1-2 kids out to nearby private school as disappointed with provision (grammar school area)
Dunno really not reactive by nature but worry about dd a lot

Piffle, I've taught mixed aged classes and found that they worked really well. As long as they teachers are ensuring that there are lots of opportunities for the children to work in practical, multi sensory, play focussed ways, then it should all be fine. The problems occur when the class is too focussed on the Y2s.

I'm impressed that there are 2 teachers with 27 children. Are you sure that the school can fund this all year? I only mention this because schools need around 28 children in a class to allow them to break even with 1 teacher. With two teachers, you shouldn't have any concerns at all as the ratio is actually better than when your dd was in Yr1.

Sorry - meant that the ratio is better now than when she was in Reception.

DS is in a mixed nursery/reception class. There are about 30 children, but two very large rooms, and two teachers and two TAs. So it all works very well. DS (mildish SN) doesn't get one to one, but does get some small group time with a TA.

in our school I don't think it is much of a problem as the school itself is not very big, so dc know all children in the class above them quite well.
Some subjects are taught according to ability, regardless of which year they are in.

I think it will be ok but don't want dd swallowed whole while they adjust. It is a small school with only 4 classrooms and about 85 pupils.
The two teachers are very permanent but rather than one focus on yr1 and one on yr2 they alternate
One day dd gets supported and encouraged
The next she gets told to get on with it.
Plus she said the other day
Mummy I did a lazy 5 and a lazy 8 today.
That made my blood boil as dd finds writing SO challenging due to very severe visual difficulties and fine motor issues.
The lack of continuity is what bothers me most.

In my dd1s junior school they had a different set up/combination of their own class/year then mixed, then mixed differently then back to just them - it was very confusing for me but all the children seemend fine. They are all taught in ability groups anyway.

My dd3 is in shell shock now that she is just in year 1 she is disgusted at the change in how much free play they get to do. In some schools there is a big difference between reception and yr 1 - perhaps that is the issue?

I think in dds case the reception was so so special. A class teacher so good you could not wish for more. Even now all kids in the school hug her everyday and many yr1 kids are in tears missing the class.
That said the new teachers seem lovely and quite upset that the new yr1s mostly hate the new class!
Dd has actually said she likes the new class but her demeanour suggests otherwise iyswim

Would it really be ability grouped?

Piffle - good practice at this stage in the year would be for the children to be grouped by ability for some things, rather than Y1s together with one teacher and yr2s together with the other. Separating them within a mixed age class, by age, is complete nonsense. The joy of mixed age classes is that you can stretch more able y1s, support less able yr2s, whilst providing all of them with interactive, multi-sensory learning opportunities. Of course, the challenge in mixed age classes is always going to be supporting the more able older children, or less able younger children but with two teachers, a TA and only 27 children, there is absolutely no excuse for children in that class not to receive fantastic support! I wish I had that ratio of children to adults in the class I'm currently teaching .

I can say quite honestly that when I have taught mixed age classes, I did not know which children were in which year group. I simply taught each child at their level, and ensured they made progress.