Class being split

DonnaP

Hi

I am very worried about a letter I have received from my 4 year old twin DD's school today.

They are in a small school with 100 pupils and are in a reception class of 17 children. Years 1 and 2 are combined, as are years 3/4 and 5/6.

Year 1 is a bigger class and they can't combine recption with year 1 next year as the class will be too big.

The letter I received today informs me that they will be keeping the youngest 6 children back (one has real behavioural problems) in reception, and as mine aren't yet 5, they will be in the group that has to stay in reception.

There are loads of questions I need to ask the head and me and another mother (also with twin girls) are going to see her tomorrow.

I don't have as much of a problem with the idea of moving a few up, but keeping a few back, implies they aren't as bright and it could affect their development, both academically and socially.

The school have told me my DD's are bright - one is working 1 level above her ability and the other working at 2 levels higher. Why then haven't they decided to leave the 6 'less bright' children in reception.

Has anyone got any experience of this. I am so worried.

Donna

bestpud

DD's school did this last year - her school sounds almost identical in size to your dds.

They sent a letter out saying they needed to split the class but then they arranged an appt for every parent, so we were told individually which class they felt was best for our child and the letter stated our views would be taken into consideration if we had strong reasons for disagreeing.

DD was one of the ones to go up and four stayed in reception. The four that stayed were not the youngest - nor necessarily the less bright - they were the quieter children, whom it was felt would benefit from an extra year with a bit of extra support because they tended to still ask a lot from the teacher, and there is a full time TA in the reception class.

It caused a lot of questions though and the talk of 'moving up' and 'staying down' didn't help, but the school handled it very well and sent a letter to parents asking us all to name the classes by teacher rather than number. They then changed the name of each class so that they are no longer 1,2,3 etc and have non-hierarchical names instead.

Socially, it caused no problems at all and no child was made to feel stupid, or whatever, as far as I am aware. They did swap classes every now and then though and they all did swimming/PE/whatever together. Plus they all line up in year groups, not classes, so they all feel part of the same year group.

Academically however, two of the parents were concerned their children found it difficult to concentrate with the younger ones playing. They have now all 'moved up' as three children left, and they have coped fine.

One parent was told her ds would be staying in reception and she refused to allow it. While the school argued it would be better for him, he did go up in the end and has done very well.

Overall though, the children all seem happy and it has helped the quieter ones find their feet a bit. The class has several dominant characters (dd is one of them!) and so they were being a bit overshadowed before.

I would say to have a chat with the teacher and head teacher and see what they say. They may have very good reasons, and not necessarily academic ones.

Hth

Paparika

happend to me at that age, i was one of the youngest, birthday in December...

I wouldn't be worried about it, it happens all time, it's not implying your children are thick, just they are young.

See it that they benefit for an extra year

tanith

If it were just left to the children they accept the situation as perfectly normal and would thrive with the extra year.. it will only affect them if you bring their attention to the fact that you are upset and worried about the situation... they are younger and if some children have to be held back then the easiest and sensible solution is to pick the youngest regardless of the fact that the children are 'bright' whatever that means at 4yrs. I really wouldn't worry so much , at this age its good to reinforce learning and they really won't come to any harm academically or socially they are still just babies and have many many years of serious schooling ahead of them...

Lorne

This is a really normal situation, in my experience it happens really frequently and the division of classes is done by age not by intellectual ability with no harm happening to the children. I've been involved in lots of split classes, I really wouldn't worry, your girls will do great.