Does mixing classes mean saying goodbye to old friendships?

 

I have become aware of something of a furore at a number of school gates. There seem to be a huge number of parents worried about the decision to mix classes when children go from the infants to juniors. Parents are concerned that their children will "lose" their friends, or that they will feel disrupted because of the changes. And they say that their children are worried too.

One good thing is that this obviously happens a lot (otherwise I wouldn't know about it), so one would be entitled to think that it all works out in the end. Still, that doesn't make it better for the parents who are worried right now.

Some are especially unhappy because they feel they haven't had proper notice of the changes, and that schools are taking them for granted. One mother told me that she had found out because her son had come home and sadly announced that he wouldn't be able to play with his best friend the following year because they would be in separate classes!

Mixing classes is not uncommon in schools - and various reasons are suggested for its occurrence. These include breaking up cliques, mixing up difficult children, who have, by coincidence ended up in the same class, or even to mix abilities. Some teachers claim it can be good for the children as they gain better social skills from mixing with a whole new cohort. John Bangs, head of education at the NUT says that it is also a way to group children together who might be able to "help each other". This is interesting, and possibly answers the father who emailed School Gate to ask if I thought it might be a kind of streaming.

John Bangs is not worried that mixing classes will "scar" the children. He says that the most important thing about primary school teaching is that the children have one teacher who is a "fixed point of stability" for them, and that the children will make new friends. However, I'm not convinced that this will please those unhappy parents - some of whom may be thinking about themselves. "I've made my friends at this school now," one mother of a Year 2 pupil told me. "I don't want to start again either."

Margaret Morrissey is chair of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations. She understands that mixing classes can seem like the "end of the world" for the children. But she doesn't have a problem with it.

"Parents are always worried about the unknown," she says. "But although a friendship group can seem like a wonderful thing, you'd be amazed how quickly children adapt. Sometimes they even find friends who are more suited to them."

Margaret also thinks that splitting classes up can be a diplomatic way of splitting children who are not a particularly good influence on each other. What she is unhappy about it is the way that the parents often find out.

"It would be good if parents were to ask the school the reasons why the classes were being split, and if the school would tell them," she says. "In best practice, the parents would be told in advance, and given an explanation, but that doesn't always happen."

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Comments

[Pete Oddy]

I am very worried by Viv Steadman's inability to understand how children learn. School for under 6's should be mostly structured play, and is usually enhanced by the motivation of playing/working with friends. Learning should be about motivation and enjoyment.
My son, though not yet 4 and fortunately still months away from school, is very good at reading and maths. He learns by motivational play and game situations.

[Marco]

Viv - I completely agree.
Jos - children should learn to be tough from the start in life. treating them as if they're made from soap bubbles isn't going to help them at all, in fact quite the reverse.

[Whimsey]

Pipkin, I definitely agree that splitting trouble makers can help stop them being trouble makers, BUT if that doesn't work, then I see no reasdon why the 'good children' should be sacrificed for the sake of the 'bad children' who continue to disrupt.

I know, with wry humour, that when my son's junior school went up to senior school, we saw the Year 7 class lists, and realised that two boys from junior school who had been separated there, had been put back together again. We mums from that junior school shook our heads and said 'oh dear, they'll find out that was a bad mistake'....!!!

Makes me wonder whether Year 6 teachers from primary schools ought to send the senior school 'warning lists' of who not to put in the same Year 7 classes!!!!! (Perhaps they do??)

[PIPKIN]

My daughter's class got mixed 50/50 with the other class when moving from yr 1 to yr 2. It did cause a flutter among the parents, less so among the children. Of my daughter's closest 4 friends, only one is in her yr 2 class.
The teacher explained that the classes were mixed a) to balance out abilities in the two classes, b) to separate some children, either from teacher observation or parental request, c)specifcally in my daughters case to separate her from her best friend, because they are of similar ability and therefore in the same groups and always choose each other to work with & the teachers felt that they would both learn better separately. The teacher also said that there were children who were considered especially sensitive to being split from their friends and they had been kept together.
All of this seems reasonable to me. I can see how having very dissimilar ability ranges in each class can lead to difficulty forming the ability groups in a class, and therefore lead to less good academic outcomes for some/all children not doing work at an appropriate level.
Equally, separating children who wind each other up or get over-excited in each other's presence seems common sense. I do not think, Whimsey, that you should assume that mixing just spreads out the troublemakers - they may not be troublemakers in a different environment/without their friend to egg them on, and to label them as "bad" children who can never grow up to be "good" seems plain wrong.
Nearly a term in, my daughter still plays a lot with the "old" friends, but she does also play with new friends and they do all play in a big mixed group. The parents still talk with the parents they used to talk with - nothing much has changed.

[Jos Costello]

Viv,

We're talking about 6-year-olds here. I know you work in secondary, but show a little sensitivity!

[Whimsey]

"Surely, the mixture of the classes is done on an educational basis."

Is it, though, all the time? Seems to me sometimes it's done purely to 'spread out' the troublemakers so every damn class is infected, instead of piling them all into one class and giving them the really tough teachers that no one - not even the trouble makers - muck about with (usually the sports teachers...!)

What I REALLY object to, however, is when the 'good children' are put next to the 'bad children' in the hope that the 'bad children' will modify their disruptive behaviour under the angelic influence of the 'good children', but (of course!) all that happens is that the 'good children' get their school work disrupted by the 'bad children'. I fail to see why the 'good children' should be used as damn 'shock absorbers' for the children who should be kicked out of school in the first place!

[Viv Steadman]

I'm a teacher, admittedly @ secondary level. Surely, the mixture of the classes is done on an educational basis. The kids can play with whoever they want at break and lunchtime. Lessons are for learning, not playing together with your mates. The sooner primary school kids realise this, the easier they will find secondary school. Unfortunately, at the moment, too many kids think that I should base my seating plan in my classroom on who their friends are. Luckily, my Headteacher thinks that's a stupid idea and so do I.

These kids should get a grip, and their parents shouldn't be encouraging this hand wringing over moving classes; they should be telling their children that it's a good opportunity to further expand their circle of friends for playtime.

[Jos Costello]

My daughter got mixed at the end of year 1. I wouldn't have objected to it so much, but every single one of her close friends ended up being separated from her, leaving her alone in a class of people she had no bonds with. Fortunately she's good at making new friends as well as keeping in touch with her old ones and it turned out well for her, but what if she'd been a relatively shy child who'd found it hard to make the friendships that she had? I'm in favour of mixing in principle, but it should be done with some sensitivity. Telling the parents that it was going to happen would have been helpful! I know now it's going to happen to my younger daughter at the end of this year and I intend to tell her in advance. She's also a happy child who's good at making friends, but she won't have to go through the shock that my older daughter experienced.

[Arthur Van Der Lae]

I must agree with Paul as some parents used it as an attempt to shake off other parents they had fallen out with (claiming that some kids don't get on).

The kids were happy to mix with new friends and most can't even remember who was or wasn't in the previous class.

[Paul Stoke]

The prospect of mixing classes has brought out all sorts of opinions from the parents on perceptions of the 'other class' that they will be mixing with. The cold war has been recreated in the playground.
The kids on the other hand don't give a tuppence and are continuing to have lots of fun at school.

[jonquil alexia]

if the only thing parents have to worry about is mixing classes, they should count their blessings. at that age, i worried that there weren't enough text books to go around. worried that bullies would pick on my dtr. worried that evangelical children wouldn't scare her too much with tales of the devil coming for her soul becuase she wasn't the right sort. 'mixing classes'--feh--such a non-event!

[Whimsey]

Thing is, it's a bit difficult for a teacher to tell a parent their child is being removed from a class because s/he's a right little B/thug....

Though, ofcourse, that's exactly what the parent in question SHOULD be told. Might save a lot of trouble later on, and make the child a nicer person. But then they are probably Bs and thugs because of their parents...