Composite classes and deferred P1s

[Nogg]

Can anyone reassure or talk me down from
my stress and annoyance at the school system here.

My DS has been put in a composite class P1/2.
As far as I can see this is due to ability my DS is quite young for age and abilities.
Im not too happy tbh. He is in a birthday groups he could have started school this new academic year.

I feel like the whole system here in Scotland ( compared to England) is very disorganised atm.
Children allowed to start just as they are turning 6 and some only 4. They don’t seem
to learn much in P1.

Also I feel guilty if I kept my DS back he would be an older P1 may have done better and now I’m feeling he is being channeled into late developer.

My other child could read and write in the English system by now phonics and homework.

I feel like he will be discriminated against and disadvantaged in a composite class having to stay in the P1 area with kids playing.

Im really paranoid about labelling children too early and teacher impressions holding people back.

From personal experience I was slightly labelled in primary school even though I ended up excelling academically. My primary experience still affects me on some levels. I think my son and me are similar ; slightly odd socially but able.

Is there anything you can do about composite classes? I feel like he has been give the shorter straw and also they need to get a grip of the age groups and deferrals.

DD1 started school in a composite class. With an intake of 41 that year, the school had no choice but to have composites. No primary class ever has every child working at the same level in maths and English so every class is a form of composite even if it is a single stage class.
The school has always kept working groups together when forming classes rather than doing it by age. DS sis's DC was a P2 in a P1/2 composite last year. The school had put the younger P2s in the composite and the LO had a terrible year because they have an advanced reading age and was separated from the others with a similar reading age.

I don't think that composite classes did either of my DDs any harm or held them back. They had a wider range of friends and benefited from being in a smaller class.

This is a year old thread bumped by someone with an agenda...

However, it would be interesting to hear back from @Nogg about how her son got on this last year in his composite class and whether he;s going into a straight P3 in August.

Lots of experience behind me on this one. Every class is a composite class. Every class consists of children of up to 18 months age difference, as well as very widely differing academic needs and abilities. That's before you even start to consider socio-emotional differences, physical abilities, children on the ND spectrum, etc etc. You really have to trust the professionals to do the job they've been trained to do. And here's an incentive for you - composite classes in Scotland have a lower pupil-teacher ration than regular classes.