Kieran is finishing his first year at school (gah!). He has done a year in Reception and has thrived!! He is the youngest in his class, as he doesn’t turn 5yrs until July but is meeting all expected targets and is above the National Average in reading etc.
All good and set for joining Year 1 in September, however…..
Next year, instead of separate classes, there will be three (mixed) Reception/Yr1 classes. I really don’t like this idea, but this is the first time I have done the whole school thing so I am hoping parents more experienced in moving through the school years and teachers will be able to provide me with better insight / advice.
I’m concerned that the bigger mix of age ranges i.e. some will have just turned 4yrs, as Kieran has when he started Reception, some will turn 6yrs in September – that’s a fairly big gap! Will steps be taken to even the ages out?
Has anyone had a child in Yr1 mixed and found that they have been more easily distracted? Yes Reception (And Yr1 I’m told) is largely play and game based learning but certainly the work Kieran is doing now is much more academic than in this first term, and I would expect it to be more so next year. The class sizes for the 3 classes will be larger and there are less teaching assistants this year (budgets!) so I’m not sure how easy it will be to structure learning when there will be such a mix?
School trips (less important obviously) – Receptions children do certain trips, Year1 do others… how on earth does THAT work?
I’m quite concerned about the whole thing and know there is nothing that can be done to reverse the decision as by the looks it has been make and finalised, and has a lot I imagine to do with budgets, but “real life” experiences (or reassurance) would help me here, knowing what to look out for and what we can do from home to help would be great.
Sigh – never easy this raising children stuff!