I’m having a bit of a wobble!
Kieran is finishing his first year at school (gah!). He has done a year in Reception and has thrived!! He is the youngest in his class, as he doesn’t turn 5yrs until July but is meeting all expected targets and is above the National Average in reading etc.
All good and set for joining Year 1 in September, however…..
Next year, instead of separate classes, there will be three (mixed) Reception/Yr1 classes. I really don’t like this idea, but this is the first time I have done the whole school thing so I am hoping parents more experienced in moving through the school years and teachers will be able to provide me with better insight / advice.
I’m concerned that the bigger mix of age ranges i.e. some will have just turned 4yrs, as Kieran has when he started Reception, some will turn 6yrs in September – that’s a fairly big gap! Will steps be taken to even the ages out?
Has anyone had a child in Yr1 mixed and found that they have been more easily distracted? Yes Reception (And Yr1 I’m told) is largely play and game based learning but certainly the work Kieran is doing now is much more academic than in this first term, and I would expect it to be more so next year. The class sizes for the 3 classes will be larger and there are less teaching assistants this year (budgets!) so I’m not sure how easy it will be to structure learning when there will be such a mix?
School trips (less important obviously) – Receptions children do certain trips, Year1 do others… how on earth does THAT work?
I’m quite concerned about the whole thing and know there is nothing that can be done to reverse the decision as by the looks it has been make and finalised, and has a lot I imagine to do with budgets, but “real life” experiences (or reassurance) would help me here, knowing what to look out for and what we can do from home to help would be great.
Sigh – never easy this raising children stuff!
I can understand your concerns but please do not worry too much. Firstly, you are aware of some of the potential areas where there may be difficulties so do keep talking to Kieran’s teacher. Lots of planning will be going on to accomodate all the children. There may be times when the different age groups are taught separately. It is more likely though that much of the work will be based around ability to complete a task despite age. Is this a new venture for the school? If not have a chat with parents who have gone through it. If it is new then as I said do keep talking to the teachers. They will want to know how it is working for the children! Do feel free to DM me & we can chat some more (@theheadsoffice)
Thank Julia, I’m usually quite laid back when it comes to these things but this is very new (to me) but I believe the school have done it before, although not for a few years. 2 of the (current) Reception classrooms have been knocked through at the prompting of Ofsted so it’s quite open plan which worried me when it first occurred but has been fine. It is an excellent school and I have every faith in the staff, I do worry that with the only plan, the mix of ages and having less TA’s it could be overly distracting for Kieran (he is like myself, does well academically but thrives on structure!).
As you say, the way forward is to keep in communication with his new teacher when we find out who it is, and I have you ready on Twitter to jump on for further wobbles 🙂
Thanks x
I haven’t experienced it myself, but have lots of Friends whose kids are in mixed year classes and it works really well. You say he’s thriving, trust that he’ll continue to.
Please tell me this the next time I get all stressed about Rachel and school 😉 parenting is all worry.
Thanks! And yes, I will remind you next time I see you with your worry head on :p
Hi, try not to worry, this is fairly standard practise in a lot of schools, including the one I work in.
Next year when your son is a Year 1 he will most likely be taught separately from the reception children in group work with the other Year 1 children in that class. Teachers with mixed year groups (and my school has every class as a mixed year class, we’re only a small school) will plan lessons based on children’s ability rather than age.
It might be useful for you to make an appointment to discuss this with the teacher and ask the questions you would like answers to. Any decent teacher will understand your concerns, you only want the best for your son and they should be happy to accommodate you.
Good luck, I hope it goes well.
Thanks for commenting.
It seems mixed classes are clearly more common than I’d realised. Some great replies from teachers and parents today which is lovely – I think I’ve gotten over my wobble 🙂
my daughter was in an R/1 class at her first school. she seemed to enjoy it, as has been said before they structure it for ability.
My daughter’s whole infants school often do trips together as there are less than 60 in total! next year there will be mixed classes in every year except my son’s reception class..
This happened with Miss E when she was in year 1 and she was fine. She is also an August birthday. Even though they were in the same class, they were split into phonics and numbers groups according to ability across the whole of Keystage 1 and all it meant was that E widened her circle of friends to be honest.
Miss M is in Year 1 now and there are a range of abilities in her class, but again they go to different groups for sounds and number so that their needs are met. M is working with children her own age but also children who are in year 2 and 3 as well.
Keep an eye on your little one and don’t be afraid to ask questions, but I truly think he’ll progress just as well and still be the happy little boy you know. And if he’s not, then you can act. 😀
I actually wish this is what my boys had, both are bright little buttons, but Mini like K is one of the youngest. At least mixed age classes allows for different abilities, my boys just get bored
Hiya
I don’t have time to read all the other responses so if I’m repeating I’m sorry, I jsut really wanted to comment. I think due to your son’s age that is why he is going into the mixed class, I assume there will be a straight year one too? Also the school will have a rolling programme for things like science, topic and trips so that work won’t be repeated. In year one at my school, the children are still assessed against early years goals and move on to the curriculum as and when they are ready so your son will grouped according to ability in his class. Year one and reception are quite similar so he will still access a lot of the child led play. Please don’t worry, a lot of year one children benefit from continual access like this. Hope that helps!
XxX
Hello,
No- there won’t be a straight Year 1 as they’ve made the decision to mix all the Yr1’s and Receptions this year to have 3 x mixed classes, so if I’ve got the idea right, each class with be a mix of abilities, as always and ages from just turned four to six.
I’ve had some lovely emails, DM’s and responses and feel much better about the idea now. Apparently it has worked well in precious years here so I can’t see why it wouldn’t now. A wobble on my part I think.
Thanks for replying 🙂