When children start school in Reception, we do our best to ensure an even balance between the two classes. We do this by considering the number of girls and boys, the term in which they were born and take into account information and recommendations from their pre-school setting.
Why mix classes at all?
Children mature and develop at different rates, there is inevitably an imbalance across the two classes that becomes more apparent as time goes on.
There is also a social aspect to this, as this gives the children to widen their social circle. They will still see their old class mates at playtimes, lunchtimes and other occasions throughout the year.
The decision was made that we would 're-distribute' the children as they moved into Year 2 and Year 5, i.e. twice over the course of their time at Bridge School.
How do you decide who goes into which class?
In determining their new classes, we take a number of things into consideration:
- Balance between boys and girls
- Any additional educational needs of children in the class
- The attainment profile of the year group, i.e. how many are 'exceeding', 'expected', etc.
- Observations of social interactions between the children
We then arrange a number of activities where children will work across classes whilst the staff observe the learning and social dynamics. This feeds directly into the decision making process.
What mitigations are in place to support this transition?
The children are asked to select a number of friends that they would like to be placed with. This ensures that the children will always have at least one good friend with them in their new class.
Also, when setting the new classes, we aim for a 50:50 split between the two current classes; there will always be at least 40% of children from their current class.
What can parents do to support this transition?
In our experience, parents are more anxious about this process than the children are! This is completely understandable.
When talking about this with your child, focus on the positives. They will get to work with a number of different children, make new friends and widen their social circles - this is so important for developing the children's resilience.
Can I put in a request?
Unfortunately, no. We would not be able to accommodate requests from parents fairly - the exception to this would be where there are siblings in the same year group.
If you have any other questions, or feel that there should be more information about any aspect of this on this page, please do let us know.
