Does this work? Two reception classes in one classroom

[Iloveautumn]

Visited the school ds will start at next September and discovered that they have two reception classes which both share one large L-shaped room.

Does anyone else have experience of this - does it work?! Are there any problems I should be aware of?

Ds is my first child to go to school so my only experience is my own many years ago where each class had their own room. Am hoping others have experience of this.

dd1 has this plus they share with the nursery, there are rooms dividers but much of the time everyone is wandering into everyone's space. It wasn't meant to be like that but the school had to take on an extra class because it was oversubscribed

I've heard things can get a bit chaotic (never go in in the day as I mnet work) but what has been successful is a large friendship pool, dd1 is not restricted to her own class and that's good as she is quite choosy about friends . So it's been a surprisingly positive thing imo

I witnessed something similar to this years ago when I was looking at the local primary/first school for DS(now aged 16). They had three reception classes, each with at least 30 children in which were all open plan and linked by archways. Therefore almost 100 children in a very small area. Chaotic doesn't describe it!
I ended up putting DS in a private school as really didn't like the thought of those many children in such a small space.

Has worked surprisingly well for dcs.

most of my dc's school is open plan. in key stage 1, there are 3 classes within one huge room, and in key stage 2, there are 4 classes all together, each class has their own area with cabinets between. year 5 and 6 have their own classrooms, and there is also a separate area for reception. i go in and help out sometimes, so have seen this in action, and it works surprisingly well, not as distracting as you would think, and it also promotes all the different year groups mixing well.

Hi
DC1's school has this for P1 (which I think is Reception in England?). They are such a popular school they had to take loads of extra children. So DC1 is in a double class, with 20 in each class. So, a total of 40 in a slightly larger than average room, and two good teachers plus a teaching assistant. I was very worried about it, but it has worked really well. DC1 has made loads of friends in the other class, and the teachers team teach sometimes so he benefits from the other teachers skills. Also the two teachers really love it as the child / adult ratio is good. Overall it's been very positive, but ask me again later!

Ok great - thanks for all the positive experiences.
I guess I was just taken aback because it seems a bit strange to me. But I can see that there could be lots of positives, especially with regard to the larger social group.

There are two teachers and two teaching assistants and lots of different zones.

Also, I suppose, reception is still lots about learning through play I guess.

Has anyone had any negative experiences with this?

Sorry, another good experience to add here.

I had the same reservations as you. DS started Reception this year and they had just built a new area for reception and nursery.

Both reception classes of 30 children are in one large room with a dividing door that is mostly left open. DS often tells me about the classes wandering onto each others areas. Also, they will use the other class as a 'time out' area as then they are away from their actual class.

There are 2 teachers and 2 or more TA's and it works very well. DS is coming along better than I would have thought, and he loves it there.