mixed classes R/yr 1 and concerns over my sons progress

[halia]

Hi all,

DS is going into yr 1 next year, I've attended his parents evenings and had a couple of talks with his teacher over the year. Several times I have asked about his reading and general progress, he hasn't learnt to read at all and i've been growing concerned that he isn't being sufficiently challanged in his current class. But it is nearly end of term so I thought it would settle down next year with a more structured approach in Yr 1.

Last week I got a slip of paper saying "to infomr you your son will be in MissX class next yr" now MissX is his current class teacher so I thought maybe she was moving up with them, THEN I read his newsletter which had a small sidebar with the classes and teachers for next year. Only then did I realise that actually DS is staying in class 1 which will be mixed R and Yr 1, and some of his friends are going up to class 2 which will be mixed yr 1 and yr 2.

I am VERY unhappy about this, been up to school and been told:
we have too many to mix all of yr 1 and yr 2 and only a small reception intake (9) - well then why not leave DS class as one group (there are 18 of them) and mix yr 2 and 3 (which make up 28)
There isn't a problem mixing foundation stage with KS1 (erm yes there is- at least in my book)
Its been done by ability not age - well then why is this the first time I've heard that my son is in the bottom half of the class despite numerous enquiries about how he was doing

I then discussed his progress, now over the past 6 weeks we got tired of waiting for the school to teach him to read so we started doing more work on it at home - and guess what he'd 'suddenly' made progress at school in the past half term

My big worries are that he will just drift through another year - they havn't managed to teach him to read yet why will another year with the same teacher be different.
How is she going to deal with a mixed class of 20 or so pupils ranging from a 6 yr old (one of DS friends turns 6 on 10th sept) to a kid who has just turned 4?

Whats the measure of ability? she said independant working, well Ds CAn work independantly on some things, not on reading and writing work cos he can't do that yet..... I'm not saying he is ultra bright or anything but they have had a full year with 18 pupils and a f/t TA and if they are now saying that over half of the pupils 'couldn't cope' with the work in Yr 1 in september that to me says they havn't prepared the pupils adequetly.

What are my options here? has anyone had experience of mixed R / yr1 classes good ro bad?

Honestly though, in the nicest possible way - you can't do anything about the mixed classes (apart from move schools). So best to see how it pans out, and concentrate on talking to the school about how they are supporting your DS in his continuing learning.

You seem to have gone from saying that your DS will be in a mixed year class (which implies lessons will be differentiated to cater for children working to EYFS and KS1 goals) to being kept back in Reception where he will not be offered KS1 work (because he "can't cope").

There is a difference between a child working in a mixed class, and one who is repeating a year. Is the school suggesting that your child is repeating Reception and will therefore (eventually) join KS2 with his new group of classmates instead of the cohort with whom he started school?

If he is not repeating the year, then over the next two years he will be offered the full range of KS1 curriculm in order to prepare for moving into the Juniors in year 3. In order to fit that in the school will need to be doing KS1 work with him while he is in the Yr1/R mixed class.

You should be getting your DSs end of year report very soon, which should show how the school are assessing his progress across a range of skills. It sounds as though you will want to discuss this with the teacher as you seem to feel that there is a gap between your perception of your son's abilities and the school's approach to teaching him.

I would be unhappy with repeating the same topics. That's just lazy - of all the topics there could be, there's no need to revisit the same ones each year.