Year 7 class groups allocation

[Alexxxy]

Can someone please advise me as to how High Schools allocate Year 7 classes/groups as a child in question so far is allocated a different class from her 3 friends from year 6? Being a child she is only concerned that she will miss her friends butt they will in the same school just different class/group.

I’m not sure but my daughter was separated from her three other friends from year 6, they were also the only four going from their primary school and wasn’t a problem because when the put them in skill sets they might be the same as friends and have lessons together anyway.

Normally the secondary school have a allocation person and they visit the primary or at least talk to them and go on their recommendations, they often ask if theirs any child they get on with or don't. None of my 4 children have ever been in tutor with their best friends, the classes themselves are normally mixed up. At my kids school their were 4 houses mine have always been in blue but the children all mix in lessons but it could be a blue and yellow class or blue and red would never be blue, green and red children in class. Ability doesn't matter till year 9 but still stay in whatever colour their in. In year 10 (GCSE) they still stay in blue but could be all four colours for a subject

Just reread that, it made more sense when I wrote it. Sorry
Ask the school if your worried and I'm sure their put you at ease.

It’s something that may vary between schools.

The children my year 7 DS has lessons with are, for the most part, different to the children that are in his tutor group.

We visit primary schools and get intel from them about which children would do better separated. Parents also often make requests at interview. Setting will also play a part. How the child is on induction day also can lead to some switches, as can how they handle the move to secondary during the first half term.

DD3's school asked the children for names of children they got on with. There were 2 classes in DD3's primary and 11 classes in year 7, so it was inevitable that not all the kids would be together.

The students are split into 3 groups in year 7, and those groups will all be streamed together. So if you were in S, all your classes would be with children from S. Sets for maths, science, and PE. All other classes have exactly the same children.

At lunch and breaks, they find their friends. It seems they tend to split into friendship groups that are relatively large, but further friendship circles exist within the group.

There were 7 kids from DS2's school who went to his secondary (more in DS1 year) and 10 forms.
I warned him he could be in a class with noone he knew.
He was in a form group with one child he knew, but in actual classes with none of them.

It's a great way to meet new people.

I wouldn't worry. The primary school friendships drift apart alarmingly quickly anyway. DD had the same best friends throughout primary and was put into a different y7 class to them. Within about a fortnight they all had new separate friends to each other!

We could give three (or might have been four, I forget) names of children they'd like in their form. I only put two for DD but she got both of them

It varies school to school, but my experience of different approaches is that whatever a school does there's always going to be parents annoyed/upset/worried it.

The best approach I've seen parents take is to be calm and say "I understand you're disappointed. You'd have liked to have been with... But your class will have lots of other potential friends and you'll still see each other at break/lunch and out of school '.

For the feeder schools both positive and negatives were taken into account. For the parents they were able to make both however the children were told to focus on the positives mainly to stop children being mean with I put you on my no list etc. One of the feeder schools had a 90 year group intake as opposed to the others which were just 30 each.

Although they may make friends quickly it is nice to have a familiar face in the class.

As a year 7 form tutor, the latter part of year 7 was always a nightmare with the girls. A and B were best friends at primary, B made a new best friend, A was in floods of tears. Rinse and repeat.
Much easier if they're not with their friends; they can make new friends and still be friends with the old ones (often that's who they walk to/from school with, regardless of which class they're in), and much less upset.

I think DC's school made a point of not putting friends together. I have no basis for this, other than that DD went up to secondary school with around 100 others from her primary and yet the only 2 girls from her primary school in the same class as hers were ones she'd scarcely ever spoken to.

I think it's positive not to be a in class with friends tbh. You can still see friends at breaks etc but you're forced to get to know other in your class. And it's likely that at least some classes will be out of the core class grouping even if your DC's school timetables most together in Year 7.

There are three going from DD's primary school and they've been put together. They are friendly rather than 'besties' though if that makes a difference?

At her school they will be streamed for maths, science, computer science and languages. The maths SATS results will inform the streaming for all four subjects so they will effectively have those subjects with their maths set.

They will be with their form for subjects such as art, PE, drama, music etc.

They are completely mixed up for English and DT.

I think schools tend to separate best friends, from what I notice. They also split up if many kids are coming from one school. This way everyone is in a similar position of meeting new people. Otherwise, groups form and harder for the kids coming alone have a harder time making friends. My dd is the only one coming from her school and we know some schools that have 7 or 8 girls going. They split up those girls into different groups.

It depends totally on the school.

The one mine went to relied on the junior school to give the names of a couple they might like to be with. Pity our juniors seemed to take it as a challenge to do the least suitable pairings, but it wasn't the fault of the secondary. They also try and have a couple of forms that they put the children who are needing a little extra support in (like anxiety/not knowing anyone else etc, not anything more extreme), and make those classes slightly smaller.
Another says it's totally random and for the most part I think it is. However I have noticed over the years that if any parent has contacted the school and asked for their child not to be in the same form as another, then they inevitably are. Sound ridiculous, but it's happened far to often to be a fluke and they're about a 10 form entry.
Another school I know puts them in birthday order and then goes down the list. At least they say that anyway!

Some schools have halves of the year, which don't really mix, so if there are children who are difficult together then they'll put them in separate halves which means they never have anything together.

At our high they are in forms but only 1/4 of lessons are with that form. Rest are mixed up or sets. Do it really isn't a big deal

It will vary, school to school.
My dc (2 different schools) were both put in different forms from other dc moving up from their Primary schools.
I think it makes a lot of sense - it means you don't get individuals trying to break into ready made friendship groups, etc. Everyone is in the same boat and 'new' to all the other people in their form.

Obviously they can still see their old friends at break and lunch, and often they will be walking or traveling in from the same direction so get to "commute" or walk to and from school together.

The Primary and secondary schools will have spoken too, and any special circumstances the secondary schools need to be aware of - be that SEND, behavioural, pastoral or whatever, and then the secondaries try to find the best balance they can.

DS's new school seem to have deliberately separated the kids from his primary as none of them are in the same form (there were only 4 anyway), but I suspect it's a bit different as it's a grammar school so a)has a wider catchment with tiny numbers from each school and b)doesn't do sets until GCSE.

The secondary school dd3 attended outright aimed to break up primary school cliques. Its a 8 class intake so obviously some would end up together and some would end up in sets together. However, for their form they aimed to ensure that noone was with their BFF
This ensures they are forced to mix with others and looking at dd3 and her then bf they flourished. Bfs big sister struggled but her primary bf flourished.

The school is very open that this is what they do so it comes as no surprise. They still se their friends from. Primary regularly.

I'm pretty sure DDs school split up friendship groups.

But... by the time they had their PE group (single sex), their STEM group (set by ability), their arts group, their humanities group and their form group... they saw a massive range of people every day anyway. Plus then mixing with the other half of the year and yr8 for extra curricular activities... massive range of friends.

My DS started secondary school knowing no one else so I think it would have been tricky for him if friendship groups were kept together.

The school got them to sit exams. The top 30 were placed in class 1, the next 30 were placed in class 2, and so on . . . .

Think yourself lucky you have the same school as friends! My child is getting sent to a school miles away not knowing anyone 😢

Is this usually the case?

My dd will be going with her current bf to a secondary next year together with a third girl who she also likes. Are you saying they will all fall out?

best friend.