reception class sizes...

[mamatilly]

thinking of applying for a small village school, total 80 pupils, 13 in reception

it has a combined reception/year one class 26 pupils with one teacher and one TA - is this normal?

we feel really drawn to a small school, but would it be better to go for a larger primary wiht a dedicated reception teacher?

in a combined class are reception children marginalised somehow,having to conform more to year one syllabus and will teacher focus more on year ones???

advice please
x

we have that sort of set up in our school - also about 80 kids. It has worked very well. The reception children don't miss out - they get very play based approach.

Have you been to the school, and talked to the teachers ? Ask them how this works.
In our school the teachers say they like the mixed age classes - and feel the children benefit from the bigger age range.

What is the split for the other classes ? Presumably the mixed year groups must continue through the school ?

a standard yr r class will have 30 children, 1 teacher and 1 TA

mixed yr r/ yr 1 classes would be a bit trickier (slightly diff curriculum for early years), but in a small school the system will have been working for years so there shouldn't be any problem.

even in a yr r class you will have children who can read and write on starting, and children who don't recognise their own name, so i wouldn't worry about differentiation at all.

have you visited? i would just ask the head how it is managed - i'm sure they will put your mind at rest.

thanks for your comments, yes have visited but hadnt really started thinking about practicalities etc...

am planning another visit in next couple of weeks - any other things to look out for? should reception class have quite a different timetable / curriculum from Yr1?

x

just ask them for an explanation of how they manage the two year groups - with practical examples. And also ask how they cope in the other years - presumably they must have year 2 in a class on their own ? And probably mixed year 3/4 and year 5/6 classes.

In a small school like this yea group sizes will change form year to year - and you may find they swap round the classes to match. Eg in my school when ds1 started - all R, y1 and y2 were in on class. Then for 2 years they has yr 2 on their own in a separate class. Now they have yrs 1 and two together because they had a big reception intake and decided they would work better as a class on their own. Next year we have a small reception intake and they are toying with the idea of mixing them differently.

This is the sort of year to year planning that small schools deal with all the time - so they should be used to it.

Go see it, and go on your gut reaction, but definitely go and see other schools too so you can compare. One disadvantage of a small school is that there will be less of a pool for your lo to choose friends from.

The main problem I think with small schools like ours (60 pupils) is that there are very uneven intakes and so class groupings have to change a lot.
My DS2 was in a large yr group (14) but the 2 following yr groups were very small.So his year group have been put in a class with children 2 years younger THREE TIMES .ie in yr 2 he was in a mixed R/Yr1/2 class.When he was in Yr 4 it was a mixed yr 2/3/4 class and now he is in yr 6 it is a yr 4/5/6.
That is just the way the numbers work out to get roughly even class sizes

A mixed class like that is inevitable in a smaller school.

It has good and less good points IMO.
Good: more able children in lower year are pulled upwards/given chance to do yr 1 work. Also good for older children to have more respobsibility in class etc. But bad: if yr child is younger and struggling then I think it can casue issues.

A good teacehr should deal well with all of this. There is the issue of a small pool for friends tho - I know people who have had problems with this in a smaller school.

Also smaller schools can have problems with fewer facilities (playing fields etc) and maybe a head who has to teach.

OTOH they can be wonderuflly warm, community places where everybody is a friend to everyone else.