Experiences of a P2/1 please?

[RoomToGrow]

Hi, my son came home from school on Friday with the letter to tell us that next year he will be in a P2/1.

I'm not sure of the exact split of the class but he thought there were around ten P2s. I understand that the class won't go above 25 so I'm presuming that the majority will be new P1s.

The good thing is that the teacher he has been allocated to has a great reputation among the parents and my son is also so excited to be in her class. I'm just a bit curious about how it will all work, and if the P2s will be expected to just get on with things in that first term when the teacher is trying to settle the new P1s? My son can read and write quite well. I think he is around the middle of his current class.

I'd ask the school but I didn't want to look as though I'm complaining, I'm just being nosy! Thank you.

I've not personally experienced it at that primary level, but teachers are very used to teaching mixed abilities in one class. It sounds like he has been given a good experienced teacher too.

Having said that, there is no issue with asking questions as to how it will be managed. Has the school offered a meeting about it? Our primary used to hold a meeting every year to explain to parents how composite classes worked and it allowed parents to ask questions and hear about any concerns other parents had that they might not have thought about.

If you don't have a meeting, you could just ask an open, positive question "DS is really looking forward to joining X teachers class, I was just wondering how composite classes work?"

My DDs hated it when they were older year group. They felt that they were treated younger. As a parent I always quite reassured by lower numbers and the class (as in your DS's case) being given an experienced teacher. Differentiation in the early years is vast in any classroom as some start school writing, counting etc whilst others cam scarcely sit at a desk.

Transition classes are always targeted intensely particularly in the first term and SLA support even staff from cluster nursery can be present to assist and ease them in.

I would have expected the letter home to give details of the parents meeting that was being held to share how the mixed abilities will be taught. I would be asking for one If they've not set it up

Differentiation in the early years is vast in any classroom as some start school writing, counting etc whilst others cam scarcely sit at a desk

Absolutely this. Just think of the different abilities within a "straight" class. teachers will have three or four groups for reading/maths. The whole class will come together for topic work, PE, art etc. A composite class is no different.

My eldest was in two composite classes, one as a P4 in a P4/5 class and again as a P7 in a P6/7. Not detrimental in the slightest.

Teacher here, as far as my local authority goes, the splitting is done by age and not ability

Both my DC have been in composite classes and I expect DD will be in one next year. Usually composite classes are given more experienced teachers and are much smaller than other classes so there are benefits.

My daughter was in the older year of a composite class from p2 to p6, the split was based on age.
They were always given an experienced teacher with smaller classes, so she had a much better primary experience than her sister two years ahead who was in a single stage class.

My son has been in a 2/1 this year, he's a P2. He's loved his class!

The teacher seems to have differentiated work just fine, and there's two streams of homework so I can see they're working to their own development stage.

He's really enjoyed helping some of the P1s settle in as well, which I think has been good for his confidence.

I think it’s worth politely asking the question of the school. Composite classes can work well, but p1 and p7 tend to be the ones that work less well (in my experience). Although I’d be more worried as a parent of a new p1 in that class, than in your shoes. The plus side though is that you say it’s a good, experienced teacher; that should go a long way to mitigating your concerns.

I don't think it has been done by age, but the birthday parties are beginning to merge into one by this stage!

My son was waving madly at the teacher in the playground so I bit the bullet and asked her. She was very reassuring about differentiating everything and so many parents have been so complimentary about her. I wasn't particularly bothered about it, just nosy about the workings of it

Thank you everyone.

My children go to a very small village school (42chiidren in total) my middley is just finishing p2. He’s currently in a 1/2/3/4 composite. I was a little concerned about this as he’d been in a p1/2 composite in p1, but a big p7 class left and the new p1 group was very small which meant dropping the school to 2classes. At the very start of his p2 year I’d say yes there was a little period of settling of p1. But only a few weeks and the teacher was supported by an experienced classroom assistant. The teacher set tasks for p2-4 and they had the classroom assistant for support. As the months went by they fell into a really smooth routine and my wee boy has been happy and settled. The huge plus point was that by December she contacted me to say that he required more challenge and moved him in January into the p3 group for numeracy and literacy, at other times he does his other learning with his p2 pals ( they all sit with their own year group) he has had an amazing year and is receiving an award for being a successful learner next week at the end of term assembly. Don’t worry about composite it can be great. He’s also loved being given the opportunity to help the p1,s making him feel very grown up. I’m sure your little one will be just fine. But definitely speak to the school you’re entitled to ask questions about your child’s education. 🍀

That's very helpful, thank you.

Not sure what a P2/1 is as we would always call it P1/2 if that's the same thing. In our school we would have more able pupils in the P1/2 so that they are able to work quite independently while the teacher works with the P1s.

P2/1 is when it's a class of majority P2s. P1/2 would be majority P1s.

Aah that explains it - in our authority it's always the younger class first regardless of the split. Thanks.

I’ve been a parent helper in my kids school in a P2/1 class, I was there one morning a week to help with language and maths.

The school had had one P1 class, one P2 and one composite P2/1 so the Children swapped around classes in their groups.

So for language work, one group would go to work next door with the P1 / P2 teacher and sometimes another would come in. Or seemingly random children would join the group .

It all seemed very complicated to me , I have no idea how the teacher kept track but the children were all just fine with it. She’d say “ Right Biffs, collect your jotters and reading books and go next door to Mrs MacDonald”.

And all these children the size of tuppence and barely out of nappies would trot off next door, good as gold.

Then she’d say “ Now Mrs 46 is going to work with the Chips “ and another group would bring their books to my table and tell me what to do . They all knew which worksheets to bring and where they were in their reading book. It was a mystery to me how all these 5 year olds were so organised and yet my own P5 and P7 can’t find their own school ties in the morning without help .

It ran like a well oiled machine , I was amazed. The children seemed very happy and confident with what was going on.

The same thing happened after playtime for Maths.

The main things that struck me was the huge gap between the most able children in the class and those that were struggling. Some were reading pretty fluently by the end of P2 and others were still sounding out letters.

I have no idea how infant teachers are supposed to cope with this range of ability without help. The class I was with had another parent one day a week AND a student teacher for about a term at a time AND a part time teaching assistant ( more at the beginning of the year when the p1s are being trained ). So most mornings there were two adults there for about 20 children.

My own children had never been in a composite class but having seem how it worked, I wouldn’t worry about it at all. I think it benefitted the children as they could work at their own level across two school years .

I also saw how the more able children got a lot out of helping the others as it reinforced their learning.