Help! My DD school is introducing Mixed Reception Year 1 composite class

[Twix29]

Can anyone please help?? My DD is currently in Reception at an Independent school. They have just informed us that due to a large amount of applicants for Reception next yr they will be integrating the new reception intake with her Year One class as they already have a full reception class for next year and her class is small. They are not going to have any other vertical grouped classes apart from hers. We are very worried that this will have a detrimental effect on her education as the school has never run vertical classes before and the Year One teacher has no experience of running a mixed class. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Has it worked or do the more able children get left behind? The class size will be about 16 Year One and 6 Reception. Are there any other Independent Primary schools that have implemented mixed age classes?

Thanks

My 2 dcs attend a very small village school so hav ebeen in mixed age classes since P1.
It can work very well as good teachers will teach in ability groups anyway - so for instance in my dd's P1 - P4 class (ages 5 - nearly 9) for maths, reading and writing they are grouped according to ability - not age. They also do a lot of work in mixed age groups with older children helping younger ones. The teacher though is VERY experienced. (class size of 16. 1 teacher, part time TA)

Yes but haggisaggis, your children are taught in ability groupings - which would be great. This does not always happen.

Twix, I really feel for you. You said there will be one teacher and one TA - do you know how (if) the children will be grouped? I suppose if it's only for one year it may not be so bad, and your DD is quite young, so she's unlikely to be turned off learning. Is she fairly self-motivated or does she just do what's asked of her (though maybe she's a bit young for you to know!)?

We haven't been told how they'll be grouped, we'll ask the question at the next meeting. I think she's self motivated, she's doing very well at the moment and loves learning. I can see how this works in small village schools and as haggisaggis states her teacher is VERY experienced this is not the case in our school.

Just to share my experience:

our village state primary has mixed classes. In order to get the classes the right size this year they split year 1 so some children moved up to class 2, others stayed in class 1 with the reception children. Choosing who moved up was not done by academic ability but by who would benefit most from the more relaxed atmosphere of reception and being in a guiding role with younger ones.

The parental reaction to this is not what you might think: parents whose children stayed in class 1 all seem to be thrilled about it and all the ones I have talked to said it has been the making of them. Dd is reception and her best friend is in year 1 and has apparently blossomed this year - a year ago she was so shy the school got her tested for autism.

I think mixed age classes have positives as well as negatives - IIWY I would be talking to the school about how they're going to manage differentiation. Also at dd's school the year groups are taught together for some things, they're not always with their class. And definitely ask about staffing and resources.

Twix, I asked that question about motivation because my DD was pretty self-motivated so was not happy to do work she'd already covered, and would tell us. (She continued in her primary school despite the mixed system and has gone on to selective secondary.)

On the other hand, DS (who we've moved) does not seem to mind if he is doing work he's already done many times - and the organisation of certain things in the school have deteriorated since DD was there (e.g. she was put into ability groups for maths at DS's age, but he was not, as they no longer do this).

I suppose what I am saying is, it may be okay for your DD, if she will tell you/teacher if she is bored, and because the situation will only be for one year.

She may well tell me if she's bored but it's not for one year, it's for her year all the way through primary school. Great that your DD moved onto selective secondary ... that's what we're hoping for too.

Sethstarkaddersmum - thanks for that, I will be asking the questions & am very pleased to hear you DD is doing well

My DD will also be in the same class two years running - it is how the school is organised, so everyone is in the same class at twice. I'm comfortable that she'll be fine. After all, the teacher will know what she has covered already and where she should be.

Lets cut to the chase here. If you are in a state school and this happens, you can't do anything about it, regardless of how you feel. Experience also tells me that you cannot dictate where you child is put so if they are a very bright summer born and the groupings are done on age, tough they will stay with the younger ones. When you are paying for education you expect the school to do everything in the best possible way. Mixed year groups are not the best possible way because if they were the government would introduce them as standard. They are used, as another poster has said, because the isn't enough money for an extra teacher.

Annner - I can see how it could work in your school as it's set up that way. This is the 1st yr it's being done in my school & for only one of the classes. Everything i've read on teachers forums show it's very difficult to plan for and that they learn from previous experience - there is none of that at ours so they're starting from scratch.

Iloverainbows - I have to say I agree with you. If it did work so well why are none of the other private schools doing it???

Agree completely with what iloverainbows says! I would be furious if DS's school started doing this, as that's why we moved him. Good luck with your questioning of the school and I hope you get the answers you need!

Lets hope they change their mind!

It works well in state because the teacher, TAs and schools work creatively, in most cases, with what they've got, not with what was hand selected for them, usually by some sort of 'academic sieve' be it actual tests or a couple of days of 'informal interviews' and being watched very closely, whilst at play, by experienced private teachers. Also, private school pupils are 'selected' by having parents wealthy enough to pay for them to be there, thus constituting 7% of the school population.

You pays your money, etc. Obviously this proposed arrangement is not to your liking. You feel this move will jeopardise your DD's chances of getting into a 'selective secondary', therefore you need to consider moving her to a school that can guarantee she will never find herself in a class with children who may be between a day and a year older or younger than herself, depending on her age.

Problem solved.

"It works well in state" - well, not always. What flawed reasoning from ampere about why! And what does the second paragraph mean?

Actually mixed age class can and do work very well and certainly in the state sector a class of 22 mixed age children wouldn't be an issue. However if I were a parent paying school fees I would be less impressed that the school seems to be putting profit first. I'm assuming they are proposing there will also be a reception class of a similar size?
Twix you say there won't be other vertically grouped classes but this one will be there until the end of school unless they create a large class at some point down the line for these children.

Why, oh why, do people have to make blanket statements like "it works well in state" and "Mixed age class can and do work very well" - THEY DO NOT ALWAYS WORK WELL!

englishpatient Sun 16-May-10 11:34:26
Why, oh why, do people have to make blanket statements like "it works well in state" and "Mixed age class can and do work very well" - THEY DO NOT ALWAYS WORK WELL!

which is why I said CAN

and I'm afraid people make statements like that because in truth they do work well in the majority of cases for most children.
Both my children were educated in mixed age classes as was I without any negative effect and I've taught a number of mixed age classes and for some children it is actually a positive influence.

I've had two very different experiences of this.

One mixed class was agreed by all to be something of a disaster. The older children hated it because they felt they were being treated like babies. The younger ones hated it because they felt intimidated by the older ones. There were also several clashes of personality within the class and it was often more about crowd control than teaching.

The other mixed class was great. It catered well for the entire range of abilities and the classroom had a very friendly atmosphere. I'd be more than happy for my child to be in a mixed class again if it was like this one.

DS's school has nursery, reception then mixed years 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6. I'm not aware of any problems arising from them doing it that way, they just do work of varying difficulty depending on the child, but of course that's just one school.

Sorry have been away for a couple of days so only just got to check my messages. I can see that Mixed classes in some cases work well & others not. I would have been far happier to have been proved wrong in thinking it can't be the best thing for my DD when I'm paying for the school.... but there are so many conflicting reports and everyone I have spoken to have said they'd never pay for a school that chose that route.

The only conclusion is that the school are just trying to get as much money as possible by taking in more children than they have the capacity for(they are not in financial difficulty either!)

Tidey - a lot of the reports I have read show that it is best to start grouping from year one as reception & yr1 mix is not ideal so your school has the right idea.

Ampere - I am totally confused by your message & can't tell whether I should take offence.

mrz - the school are planning to keep the two classes together throught as there is no way they can accomodate a large class. The other reception class is full. I agree it's not the right thing for a private school to do.

englishpatient - thanks

This happened in our (private) school for the first time last year and we were told it was a one off. Unfortunately that hasn't turned out to be the case - the kindy/Y1 classes aren't mixed this year but there is a Y1/Y2 class which DD is in.

I feel we have been fobbed off by being told the composite is a "higher ability" class. This is possibly true, but if asked I would not have chosen to put DD there. The teacher is excellent and it seems to work on a learning level, though I feel that there is a lot of pressure in that class that there isn't in the straight Y1 class. Socially it's not great - the kids all seem to be in small friendship groups who cling together a bit desperately, unlike the very mixed friendships of last year and the other "straight" classes.

Both my older boys have been in mixed classes in a UK school which I was very happy with - I guess there are so many variables that the best you can say is that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I don't blame you for being a bit narked if you feel it's mainly a financial decision though.

sunnydelight, was your DD in mixed reception/yr1 class last year or is it only Yr1/Yr2? I'd love to hear more as yours is the only private school i've heard it happening to ... to be honest I thought there weren't any apart from ours. Is it a small school? Did you have many kids leave? We have a number going for interviews at other schools at the moment. Do you think the teacher can effectively teach two year groups or do the kids only get half of their time, also do you think that the older kids get bored covering the younger ones work?

I have so many questions not sure what else to ask but would really appreciate more info.

Thanks