what's going wrong with my daughter

74jax

smily wrote: »

class 1=reception + year 1
class 2=year 1+ year 2
class 3=year 3+ year 4
class 4=year 4+ year 5
class 5=year 5+ year 6

This is how my daughter's schools have been right up until High School.

We were 3 tier and recently moved to 2 tier. She has always been in classes with 2 year groups.

Each class was taught the same thing but at different levels, so the class was split in the class if you see what I mean.

Pupils excelled this way as the ones who understood explained it to the ones who didn't and this made it 'stick' in their minds.

It may be different though in your case, but most definately the whole class was not taught as 'one' but the basic lesson in different levels.

Jinx

I can understand where the OP is coming from....as a similar thing happened at my daughters school. However, when I queried that my daughter would definitely be going up a year they wouldnt guarantee it!!! (top of class but one of youngest, very near cut off date) The Head just kept saying it would depend on class numbers..... Anyway the upshot was I told the Head my daughter had better be going up a year with her classmates or I would be back (not in arnie accent lol). She was moved up. There was a full class and a composite class and she was in the p4 part of the p3/4 class.

chocdonuty

My daughter goes to a similar sort of school, there simply isn't enough pupils to make it up to 2 classes a year so they go like this:
Reception - 3 classes
Y1 and Y2 - 3 classes
Y3 and Y4 - 3 classes

All it means is that your daughter will be in a class of 7-9 yr olds, yes occasionally they may do the same work - but at different levels, most classes have children at such different abilities, it can work out better this way.
Personally I think this works well for my daughter as she is at the other end of the scale and has an august birthday and will be nearer in age and quite possibly ability to the younger children.

bestpud

DD's school do this with reception/year one and again with years 3/4.

First time dd moved up as she was one of a few strong characters in the class and they kept down the ones they felt weren't getting a word in edgeways! Of course, some of the decision was academic but it was very much about maturity and personality as well.

This time, she is staying down and dd and I are very happy with that.

She is struggling with some things and will benefit greatly from staying where she is for another year.

It is slightly different as the teacher she has had this year is perfect for dd and it's great she loves learning even though she is clearly struggling with some things and finds school very tiring because of that.

One thing though: didn't the school discuss it with you? At dd's school they arrange a meeting with every parent to discuss their plans and see how the parent feels about it. They won't change their mind easily but it does at least give parents a chance to discuss their child and the reasons for the decision.

It's not a bad thing and it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with your dd, for goodness sake!

It just means they feel she will benefit from staying another year in that class - they still do year four work - it's only the way they work that is a bit different.

Why not make an appointment and discuss it with the teacher and/or HT? Your dd will pick up on your reservations and I don't think that is helpful tbh.

squashy

Another school here that does what we call "vertical streaming". We have mixed 1/2 classes which a child will be in for two years, taught at year one then year two. The same for 3/4 and 5/6. They operate a 2 year curriculum plan so they might do a Space topic one half term but then it wouldn't be repeated until 2 years on, so therefore not revisiting old ground for chidren still in the same class. Also, in any given class they have to differentiate the work, so they will just continue to do this for the group of children they have.

Ultimately, the alternative would be very small classes of 15 or 20, all with a full time teacher, but as school budget is delegated per pupil the reality is schools could not afford to do this. However it's not just a compromise, it can and does work extremely successfully and enables ALL of the children to gain new skills by working closely with a wider range of peers.

Don't make any hasty decisions until you have seen it in action!

dobs

My son had to stay in yr 1 for 2 yrs but it's done by age not ability. He was one of the youngest. He was set work for his level not the younger ones, he's not been held back at all, his sats were great. Last september he was back with his original class, plus half of the yr 4's in the afternoons. This sept coming he will be with his class ams and his class will be with yr 3 in the afternoon. My 5 yr old is moving into yr 1 in sept and there will be the whole of yr2 in there as well but they make sure the older ones do age appropriate work, so more challenging that the yr 1's. Hope that makes sense?!

LondonDiva

We had this through my primary school till I went to secondary - there was no choice for parents as it was quite a small school - two classes per year (Y1 and Y2 - 2 classes; Y3 and Y4 - 2 classes) brighter and with what I now look back now as a more able and 'average' class per year.

It worked really well (I suppose I would say that:D) and meant that friendships went across the school not along rigid year lines and we worked to ability - isn't that the best thing, especially when your child is clearly finding work difficult?

The alternative is to leave the child back a year, which would happen in most other countries, as they are concerned about the child grasping all they need this year before moving on. Here, the school are grouping like with like and if the OP thinsk her child has been affected by changes to teachers, it's something that can be supported at home with extra work / reading etc.

mrbrightside842

Mixed classess don't necessarily mean a child is being held back. Our school has mixed classes as there was a big intake of students in one year. Parents saw it as being 'put up' or 'held back'. For example, the reception/year 1 mixed class; the parents of the reception children who WEREN'T in the mixed class, were offended that their children hadn't been 'moved up' a year and mixed with the year 1s. Whereas the parents of the year 1 children in the mixed class saw their children as being 'held back' a year. In reality, the class is given seperate tasks and both groups of children work towards the curriculum for their age group. It didn't mean that the year 1's were repeating the whole year, they were doing the same as the non-mixed year 1 classes.

rachelet

LondonDiva wrote: »

We had this through my primary school till I went to secondary - there was no choice for parents as it was quite a small school - two classes per year (Y1 and Y2 - 2 classes; Y3 and Y4 - 2 classes) brighter and with what I now look back now as a more able and 'average' class per year.

It worked really well (I suppose I would say that:D) and meant that friendships went across the school not along rigid year lines and we worked to ability - isn't that the best thing, especially when your child is clearly finding work difficult?

The alternative is to leave the child back a year, which would happen in most other countries, as they are concerned about the child grasping all they need this year before moving on. Here, the school are grouping like with like and if the OP thinsk her child has been affected by changes to teachers, it's something that can be supported at home with extra work / reading etc.

I totally agree with your point about friendships between across the school rather than just in rigid year groups. I am in France and my two daughters go to a small village school. The nursery and primary school are together on the same site, so the age range is from 2 to 11. They only actually have 2 classes but this seems to work really well and the top four years are in one class together and the bottom five years are in a class together. As the kids are in classrooms together, the kids tend to know everyone in the school and they all play together. It is really lovely to see the older children playing and helping the younger ones.
There is no issue with the kids being taught different stuff. The teachers plan the lessons and the kids get taught the same subjects but at levels required for their year. It also means that as DD1 is the youngest year in her class, she has learnt some stuff that she wasn't going to be doing until next year. For example she is learning English as a foreign language in her year, but the older children are learning Spanish. So she has now learnt some Spanish as well, which she wouldn't have done if she had been in class with only her year group.

mrcow

From what I've read of your posts, this is what I'm getting:

1. Your daughter may or may not be struggling with her work
2. She's been messed about a bit in your eyes with replacement teachers etc
3. You're worried that she's not progressing to her potential capabilities
4. You're worried that this is going to continue and perhaps even worsen next year
5. Her peer group is beginning to isolate her at playtime etc (or so you think)
6. You don't feel supported.
7. You're wondering if an alternative school could offer better support to you both.

If I was you, I'd certainly be looking into it. Your daughter won't be being held back necessarily by being in a year 3/4 class, but personally, if I wasn't happy with progress to date, I'd certainly not be sitting by waiting it out for 2 years to see if I was right or not!

What other schools are available to you? Give them a call (before the end of term) and ask if they have places or a waiting list. Ask if you can go in and see them. Keep an open mind.