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Education

Playground riot over Yr 1 class postings......

32 replies

Gameboy · 05/07/2005 16:57

Not sure I can really believe what I've just witnessed this afternoon.

DS moves from Reception to Y1 in Sept and the existing classes get mixed up into new ones.All the kids were asked which 2 -3 friends they would ideally like to be with.

Today the school posted new class lists in the playground at home time, and it was a bizarre scene:

  • lots of jostling and shoving to see...
  • one Dad taking digital photos of the lists (presumably to show Mum later?)
  • some Mums shouting 'Yes, yes!' and virtually punching the air when their child was:
    with certain friends / a particular teacher
  • some parents saying VERY loudly "Oh no, I told them that on no account did I want x in Y's class, he's such a disruptive influence"
  • people saying "Oh, xxx class is clearly the top performers, look a,b & c are in it (and their child of course)

    And then since I've got home the phone just hasn't stopped ringing with lots of Mums still chewing over the 'results', "Why did they not keep X with Y, where's Z etc etc"

    I really feel for the poor teachers - how can they possibly try to keep everyone happy?
    Is this what it's always like??
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KBear · 05/07/2005 17:00

It was for us last year - mayhem. It all worked out in the end - DD has just completed Yr 1 with her "new" class and all is well but it was WW3 at one point!

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cupcakes · 05/07/2005 17:03

lol! We've just had exactly the same scenario with my ds's reception class. We each got a slip stapled to the report saying which class they would be in and you had to ask other parents what they got. Initially I was disappointed as ds isn't with his best friend but he was quite philosophical so I can't mind really! His teacher mentioned to me today that she had split them up on purpose to encourage them to be more independent of each other!
I think it is hard for the teachers - there's no way they can please everybody. From what I understand the classes have to be made out of half of one reception, half the other class. Then they have to have a good spread of abilities so the teacher can split them into 5 evenly numbered groups for reading etc. I think the friendships are the last of their concerns!
We weren't asked in advance who they wanted to be with - maybe the parents at your school felt they had more of a say because of this input.

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stitch · 05/07/2005 17:06

WHY ON earth were the parents consulted on this in the first place? to me that is what sounds bizarre. a classroom is not a democracy, and neither should it be.

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puddle · 05/07/2005 17:12

gameboy - didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I read your post. Wonderful behaviour in front of your children eh?
Stitch - it's quite common to do it in this way. What happens at my son's school though is that big groups of parents get together to fill in the slips about two friends en masse, in an attempt to keep all their children together. I posted about it a while ago as I was dreading it happening to my son's class (it hasn't in the end) - in retrospect I was being quite wound up by other parents who were lobbying me about their children and asking me who my son would put down as his 2-3 friends.

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Gameboy · 05/07/2005 17:13

Stitch - the parents weren't consulted - the teachers just had a chat with each child during the normal school day to find out who they (the children) considered their best friends. The school ahs a policy of trying to ensure that kids move up with at least one or two of their 'friends'.
The only involvement was if there were specific concerns about any particular friendships - for example one friend I know specifically asked for her DD and 'best friend' to be split up as she thought the other girl was too domineering, and the Mum felt her DD needed to learn to be more independent. Personally I felt this was a bit sad (for her DD)and perhaps unnecessary, and I think it may have 'back-fired' 'cos now that little girl is in a class with mostly children she only half-knows (she spent ALL here time with the otehr girl really).

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Gameboy · 05/07/2005 17:16

Puddle - YES EXACTLY! I forgot to mention the 'lobbying' that's been going on for the last few months ... "Who's your child putting down? Is he putting down x & Y"
AND all the 'tactical' suggestions to poor bewildered children.
I even know of one mother who organised loads of events for her son with a child she wanted him to be with in the hope that both kids would cite each other as friends! (Looks like they didn't !! )

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cupcakes · 05/07/2005 17:18

omg at the lobbying! that's so alpha mom!

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SoupDragon · 05/07/2005 17:19

I actually think it's sad that they split classes up. They don't at DSs school (apart from when moving from nursery to reception).

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Twiglett · 05/07/2005 17:21

LOL

I assume you have no reservations at the class your child will be going into

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puddle · 05/07/2005 17:21

As far as I can see the splitting classes doesn't really work either. Supposedly it's to alance either ability of behaviour in a group but I know at DS's school they were looking again at classes that had been split last year.

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Gameboy · 05/07/2005 20:19

Puddle - they were mixed up for Yr 1 because they started in Reception in classes according to age; all Autumn term kids in one class, Spring in another etc. (Spring & Summer kids only went half days at first)
They now stay in same class for Yrs 1 & 2.

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emily05 · 05/07/2005 20:21

Gameboy - blimey! They all take this stuff very seriously dont they!!! Ds is only in preschool - so I have this all to come then?!

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Gameboy · 05/07/2005 20:22

Twig - no I'm quite happy - he is with a couple of friends and is very good at mixing and making new friends.
And CLEARLY he is in the 'top stream'
(Actually, they're not really streamed - they ahve a mix of abilities across the class, and then group them for certain work based on ability...

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nutcracker · 05/07/2005 20:27

Why do they split the classes up ???
Dd2 moves up from recepetion in september too and she would be distraught if that happened to them and TBH i wouldn't be happy either.

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nutcracker · 05/07/2005 20:28

Sorry, you have already answered my question

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TinyGang · 05/07/2005 20:36

Our school were thinking of doing this and have done it previously apparantly, but they ended up just keeping the classes as they were in the end(let sleeping dogs lie etc). We had no worries with it.

Surely too much consultation with everyone will lead to an impossibly difficult situation to resolve.

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Posey · 05/07/2005 20:54

Our school routinely mix classes at the end of reception as its dual intake (older ones started in Sep and younger ones in Jan) so at the start of y1 they mix the ages a bit. They also used to do it at the beginning of junoirs, but after a lot of pressure, they now don't (it was a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". If the classes were working well, there was no point in mixing them.

Now they assess each year group and decide. Dd's year, now y3, are being mixed as they felt there was a great inequality between the 2. One class had had a lot of children leave and very few girls. One also had a disproportionate number of brighter and/or better behaved kids (apparently).
So today we got the list, and far better this year as it was sent to home with reports via Royal Mail. That meant we parents got a chance to study at our leisure in the privacy of our own homes, either fuming or feeling very smug.

When I was at school (oh so long ago now), we seemed to have our classes mixed every year and there was none of this hysteria. Just a fact of life and I never remember either myself or my mum in floods of tears or whatever because of who or who I wasn't with.

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coppertop · 05/07/2005 21:15

I had no idea this kind of thing went on. Ds1 will be starting Yr1 in September and was given a letter saying which class he will be in. It never even occurred to me to try to find out who he would be with.

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Enid · 05/07/2005 21:19

don't you care about him leaving his mates?

dd1's reception class gets split soon - some go 'up' to the Year One class and some 'stay behind' witht he new reception intake.

I dont mind where dd1 goes but she has a 'gang' of 4 friends and it will be awful if they all go 'up' and she gets left behind.

dreading it.

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Angeliz · 05/07/2005 21:25

My dd has just been given her new class list. (She's going from nursery to reception).
Fortunately she is with her 2 little freinds but at her School it's the opposite. They don't consult parents so i just hoped she'd be with her friends! (and i know one freinds mum had a word with the teacher to keep her dd with mine)

Who'd be a teacher eh???

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FIMAC1 · 05/07/2005 21:39

Christ, no wonder the teachers are having trouble with behavour these days, when the parents are acting like this

I like the fact that the classes are mixed up every year, it gives ds and dd to get to know all the other children in their Year, they still play with them even if they are not in their current class

I am shocked, really shocked - we don't get to hear who is in each class in advance, they just let us know at the end of term which teacher ds/dd is with, which is fine.

There are no class lists (why do they do this?). Maybe they just shouldn't post them - I really don't think these incredibly pushy parents need any encouragement!

Why consult with parents anyway?

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binkie · 05/07/2005 21:48

Ds & dd's school is very upfront about splitting & mixing each year, even to sending out a letter saying "this is our policy, it's not negotiable". None of that choose-one-friend stuff either.

Ds is now going into his third year there - so of course next year will be back with some of the reception children he's missed this year - so, over long term, there's a nice effect of getting to pick up and renew friendships, and generally widen your circle in the school.

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FIMAC1 · 05/07/2005 21:54

Yes - my two's school have one and a half classes for each year so they split them regularly, by age, nothing else. This year ds is in with the eldest Year 1's (he is a summer b/day). The only prob I can see is that the teacher has to teach two different Year groups in the class (which they do, well, imho)

lol at the parent organising events for her ds to gain 'friends'

It looks like the whole system is set up for failure with all the choice options

Just decided I love ds/dd school! In that their are no choices for anyone to make - just gven the name of the next year group teacher

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sobernow · 05/07/2005 22:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

llamaduck · 05/07/2005 22:07

I have to say i seriously hope they dont split the classes up at ds's school for the following reasons:

  1. We have physically moved away from shcool but deliberately kept him at same school not to disrupt the group of friends he has made

  2. I clearly remember my best friend when I was at infant school - very close and they chose to split us up to encourage indepence. Consequently we did become independent of eachother - but i never made such a close friend. (her jack russell was happier tho cos we used to dress it up in her dolls clothes!)

  3. Ds has made a few really good friends and a lovely best friend (i can see them being best mates when they are older)

  4. I think it is unsettling enough at such a young age as in year 1 more is expected and at the moment parents settle kids in each moring and will not be able to do that in year 1
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