Split classes in Primary School

lil_me

My sons school has split classes all the way through as it's only a small school.

If you ask I am sure you will find the work will be tailored for both, or it should be anyway.

Savvy_Sue

Our eldest had this and it worked OK for him. But I'd say it depends on the school, the teacher, and the child.

*Louise*

I was in split classes all through primary, but it didn't make any difference - each class had their own subject level and attained their respective aims.

In fact, in my last year of Primary, I ended up in the same class as my little sis, who was 2 years younger!!:rotfl:

This was because there was only 8 of us in P7, and 5 kids in P6...so they took the oldest ones from P5 and grouped us all together.

I never once had the same work to do as my little sis though.

wolfehouse

my dd was in split class from Y1-3.
She was the youngest at home and the youngest in class and i think it did have an impact on her social life but not academically.
that makes me a little less of an enthusiast than most posters but i guess it depends on the social abilities and maturation level of your child.
(in my dds case with hindsight what i should have done is tried to hold her back a year...)

so split classes are ok for the vast majority, i would say.

Dumyat

my kids were in split classes throughout their primary education. the split classes were smaller than the normal classes. kids are taught in different ability groups within the classroom anyway. you will probably find the other pupils are closer in age and ability than in a normal class.

rio

At my LO's school they have mixed reception/year 1, and mixed year3/4 the other children are taught in their respective year classes. They also have a house system so that children of all ages get together to work on certain things, i.e if they have a special topic day or sports. They say this helps to integrate everyone all together so that they socialise better. They also say that it enables a more able child to look at more exacting work that older children in the class are doing. So we find that our LO sits with different people to do different things, the only downside is that because he is one of the youngest he rarely shines in PE with the larger more able children, but next year he will stay in the same class and hopefully grow a bit more and become more adept at games.

doogle_chick

The intake at my son's school is 45 each year so each class is split ie Yr 1, Yr1/2, Y2 etc all through the school.

I am also a parent governor and have spent a fair bit of time in school and in class. I've seen the way the work in each class is differentiated to suit each ability level and the massive amount of work that the teachers put in to make sure that each child is being stretched but also being able to work at their own level.

I would say definitely don't worry. In our school, the different abilities go right across the age ranges and certainly my experience is that it hasn't affected my son in the slightest. He's now in Year 4!
HTH

muddled_midget

I went to a rural primary school that only had 4 classrooms for reception to year 6 so split year classes had to happen. Although I am an August baby so was one of the youngest in my year group anyway I was moved up, but honestly think the primary school was one of the best I could have gone to. The teachers were fantastic, but class sizes were much smaller than is currently the norm, about 24, so that may also have an impact on the amount of time the teacher can spend with the different abilities. I was also never put back a year which I'm not sure I would ahve liked, I just reached the top class a year early and stayed there until the rest of my year caught up! Discuss your concerns with the school, but especially as she is academically above average anyway, you'll probably find she'll just work hard enough to keep up with those who are academically bright in the year above (it's what I did anyway) and end up with a fantastic education

wendykearney

From my experience it depends very much on the calibre of the teacher. The first year my son went into a split class he did well as when he was able to do the harder work in the year above it was easy for him to do so instead of having to stay at his officail level. However, when he then became oneof the older students the teacher was unwilling to set him and some others harder work to keep them motivated (we were unaware of the situation at the time as his reports etc were excellent and we had no way of telling the real truth) because o the New headteacher virtually immediatly going on long term sick, this teacher wasn't really monitered. It was only when we moved and DS went to a new school we found out how far behind he really was. Thankfully after 6months of cramming by wonderful teachers and a son who eventually realised it wasn't his fault, he hopefully has done well in his sats. His school reports from his old school were obtained by his new school and they said they were fiction!!!

Understandably i was very upset, so in your position i'd be very aware of potential problems and ask lots of questions. I was lucky as my son is bright but his friend was not so lucky. His aprents were told he wasin the bottom stream because he was thick(yes, the word they used!) He hadn't been the year bfore with another teacher! They moved their son the same time as His new school have made a formal complaint. He isn't thick but has Dyslexia. His parents had thought this but the Teacher said he wasn't and of course they trusted the Proffessional!
I do think a lot of these problems were caused by the lack of a head teacher and the fact that the Depty Head was left to run the School and teach full time. She could do what she wanted without anyone bothering her or trying to make her do her job.

My son in his new school is also in a mixed age group but his Teachers arewell up to the task and are happy to push children to their full potential instead of complainiong that they didn't have the time push/help alone who wasn't average. And yes the last comment was made to me by my sons Teacher when i asked why my son's maths was so easy that in a whole filled maths book he hadn't got one sum wrong...
BTW this school wan't a struggling school etc, it had a great rep and a excellent Y6 Teacher who tried his best to get the kids back on track but how could he make up for 32 years bad teaching in the 6months before key stage 2 sats?
wendy

funky-footprints

we almost had a split class for my son going into year 1 last september.

They were unsure how to split, the normal is september to February going up to year 2 and March to August staying down in reception (with no year 1 class) , however academically that wasnt going to necessarily work as some of the older children would of benefit from repeating a year in reception for being a little slower, but vice versa some of the younger children are the brightest in the class and they should of had the chance to go up. The mothers of both played holy hoo haa !!! mothers of older children who were going to stay down were not hapy thier child was singled out etc etc !!

there are only 12 in my sons class, 7 boys and 6 girls. the boys are very close and the girls are very close, but you cant keep the boys in one group and the girls in another, you need a healthy mix.

My son being one of the older ones, and one of the brighter children has a best friend who is an August baby, he would of stayed down, however he is extremely bright. I wasnt happy that my son was going to split from his best mate. I know it is only class time and they would of still had play time, but i didnt like the change.

They ended up moving all of year 1 up and sharing with year 2 (only 11 in year 2) so they have a shared class room now, but at least they are all together.