Hi All
Tonight I am going to an information evening at the local primary school about plans to merge the 1st and 2nd class next year. There is a shortfall in numbers for the 1st year starting in August and so instead of two classes per year the school have been told that they will need to merge one. So one class just 1st year, one class just 2nd year and one mixed 1st and 2nd.

Has anyone had this at their school? how did it affect the older kids - my daughter is 1st year now and so might end up in the mixed 1st and 2nd from August.

I am not sure how they will select kids, whether this will then happen every year after this, whether this is something we should try and avoid or be worried about, whether they will have an extra teacher at any point - hopefully this will all be clearer later today.

any thoughts??

Caz in Tuggen SZ

Yes this is pretty common in villages.
Every year they will then adapt/merge/unmerge the classes according to the number of kids around.

Not always easy for the teachers to keep up with that system though.

When i was at primary school it was such a small village school that we had 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year juniors ALL in one classroom (there were only 30 kids in the whole school) when it came to teaching, each year group sat together in the class room area and we were taught different things to the other kids in the same room, no idea how they managed it with noise levels thinking back but i think for small rural schools it is quite normal. I can't say whether it affected my education though, i was always average

It was standard practice at my eldest's kindergarten. They are not doing reading and writing at that age in Swiss kindergartens so they're not exactly repeating a year if they get mixed up with those children a year younger.
The older ones do different things in the afternoon.

Same in the kindie Tom - it was 1st and 2nd year primary school that is changing - they have always been separate here

Caz

My son was always in mixed classes in the UK. It worked just fine - the teacher would do whole class topic work on, say, The Fire of London, then have different expectations about the outcome of the work from that: one group would draw a picture and write a sentence, another group might be doing an imaginary journal as if they lived at the time, that sort of thing.

One of my son's school split the year group by age, the other school did it by a mix of social maturity, independence and academic ability. I personally think the latter makes much more sense, but relies on the parents not being precious that Little Johnny is 'kept down' with the Yr One kids.

My son, although fairly bright, was a little 'young' for his age and needed more adult scaffolding for his work than others, and it was the right decision to put him in with the incoming younger ones. He absolutely blossomed being one of the older ones, and when the whole yr group came back together again further up the school there was no discernible difference between the groups' abilities and levels.

__________________
'Chance favours only the prepared mind.'

This was (is) the case at my daughter's primary school (which serves 2 adjoining villages), before she started (she's now 5th class) - i.e. 1st and 2nd class merged.

Unfortunately, since she started and worked her thru', they've now done it for the whole school - 1st & 2nd, 3rd & 4th and 5th & 6th - each double class (of which there are 3 per double year), sharing a teacher and a classroom.

The reasons given are (as stated above) - insufficient children per year and insufficient classrooms.

I find the whole situation a joke but fortunately her education hasn't seemed to have suffered, as she is a bright girl and receives guidance and prompting at home. However, I do wonder if she may have accomplished even more in a "normal" class per year scenario.

As each year is +/-10 kids per class, x3 classes, I would have thought with a bit of creative classroom, teacher and timetable management, normal service could have been resumed - for at least 3rd to 6th classes, but I think it's now just become the norm for the school, and is convenient for the staff not to upset their status quo (although they do seem to be able to teach to an adequate (imo) standard.

I think if it's only for 1st & 2nd classes, in your school, then things shouldn't be too bad.

Snap! Although we were only 13 in total, and 3 of them were my brothers and sister

My son has been in a joint primary class for the last 2 years and he finds it no problem and the educational outcomes (in his case) do not seem to have been affected. I would however say that I was surprised by the way they handle the joint class time (not all his classes are joint - perhaps half). I had rather expected it would be like Kokodan reported and that the teachers would take it as good oppotunity to broaden the horizons and expectations of all the kids whilst letting them enjoy the additional stimulation that a larger class brings (his class is 12 in total). However, they just set the first class up with work, then nip next door (adjoining classes with connecting door) and teach the second class, set them up with some work, then nip back and forwards. So in my opinion something of an opportunity lost.

Sport however is more fun .. they have enough kids for a decent game of football or rounders or whatever. Not sure if the teacher would agree!

When my 2 youngest were at school (29 total just 2 classes) one thing that was a big positive was that the older kids and youngest played together and in the classroom assisted any that were in need of a little bit of help.
This was a very positive thing for their social skills and interaction, never any bullying etc so happy kids= better learning

Sorry - I missed that.

I grew up in a small town and was always in joint classes: 1&2, 3&4, 5&6 etc. As far as I can remember, both groups got different teaching(books) and tasks when it came to real subjects such as maths/language but activities such as sport, handicrafts, music lessons were shared. Did not do me any harm, I made it to University without any problems In my opinion it is just a different approach, with pro's and con's but in the end not better or worse than separate classes. No need to worry.

When I was in second grade, I was in a 1/2 split in Dun Laoghaire and it was great. Mixed age groups allow for compassion, understanding and mutual respect among the children. I wouldn't be concerned about it from a social angle. As a teacher, I can assure you that it's no problem for a teacher to have a mixed age group and keep them all on track and challenged, so no need to be concerned there either! Enjoy!! You will probably notice some differences in your daughter's leadership abilities and level of empathy.

Both my sister and I went to mixed classes, 1-3 and 4-6, and had great experiences.
Education does not suffer and older kids learn to take care of younger ones.
Personally, I felt safer having friends in different age groups, then the older kids are not as scary when you are in 1st grade