[lovebeingamum76]

Hi

Just wondered if anyone knows how classes are decided at school? Who goes into composites ect... My daughter is year 1 and all the girls that were in the same level as my daughter are all in diff classes.

TIA

[fancie]

At my DD's primary school (she's now in yr 8) the school "mixed" up the classes each year so that there was a "spread" of academic performance and also of behaviour so that no one teacher got a class of easy to teach children or for that matter a class of children with learning difficulties or challenging behaviour.

When DD was placed in a composite 2/3 class I asked what criteria was used to decide which children were to be placed in this composite class, the reply was children who were able to work independently and had no learning difficulties were selected. That proved to be alsolute bullsh*t.

While the class had a number of children from both years who were able to work independently there were 6 newly arrived refugee children who had no english language at all and 4 children whose behaviour regularly warranted the rest of the class being evacuated from the classroom safety reasons.

It was a very difficult year for DD not only due to the mix of students but also that the teacher was having to teach across 2 different stages - stage 1 (yr 1-2) and stage 2 (3-4) NSW.

[Sassy Dingo]

This is a while ago so the info might not be current, but my mother was a teacher's aide and used to help do the class allocation each year.

Basically the children were divided into groups - easy high performance kids, standard run of the mill kids and kids who needed extra help. Then they evenly split each group among how many classes there were in the year.

[Belinda18]

At my school it is a long and complicated process. First we ask the children who they think they would work well with in a class. They are asked to give the names of 3 boys and 3 girls who they would like to be with, with the understanding that we will do our best to put them with at least one of those people. Then the classroom teachers look at the kids' needs - to try and 'even things out' as far as special needs, and making sure that no one class has a large concentration of brighter kids or lower achieving kids. The current teachers of the classes going together (eg. The grade 1 teachers to make the grade 2 classes) get together and start making lists. Usually the lists begin with any children we feel need to be separated for any reason, such as personality clashes, avoiding family members being together, etc. Some parents also request that their child not be placed with certain others and we have to consider that too.

The first meeting to organise this usually finished with a rough draft of how we think its going to look. Usually takes about 2 hours. Then about a week later we meet again to re-jig things based on what we have thought of since. In recent years we have got the groups together for rotational activities to see if anyone can see any obvious reasons not to have certain children together.

The process generally takes about a month. If there is a composite class to be made when there are other straight grades, the children chosen to go in depend on the make-up of the class. For example a 1/2 class that has mostly grade 1s in would have independent working grade 2s that are not the lowest but working at the average level so they wouldn't be too bored with the grade 1s. If it is mostly grade 2s then the 1s chosen would be the kids who would cope well with some extension. Of course this is not to say its always done this way. It really can get rather complicated - I hope this makes sense as I'm on my iPhone! Oh and this is just how it's done at my school, of course other schools may be completely different!

[againagain]

Basically the children were divided into groups - easy high performance kids, standard run of the mill kids and kids who needed extra help. Then they evenly split each group among how many classes there were in the year.

That was how our school explained it too. They also take into consideration making sure each child has a friend or two (from a list of 5 that the children choose) and being careful of any clashes of behaviour etc.

[mumto3princesses]

At our primary school they try to do an even mix of abilities in each class unless they decide to do a gifted and talented class which they don't do very often. They will have a list of kids they need to be seperated for various reasons. Some need to be seperated as they may have had bullying issues while others like my DD#2 and her best friend need to be apart as they just can't leave each other alone and distract each other too much. There are others that tend to play off each other which need to be apart too.

Our years 3/4 and 5/6 are always composites (3 classes of 3/4 and 3 classes of 5/6) and they do other composites due to numbers. The K/1 or 2/3 composites are usually the more independant workers as they cover different work. The 1/2 composites are treated just the same as a normal year 1 or year 2 class.

Our classes are just temporary at the moment and won't be finalised until next week but my twins have been put in a class with no friends at all. They said there is just them plus 3 other girls from their year who aren't from either of their friend groups. (And 2 have never been in either of their classes before)

[Old Grey Mare]

Don't they put kids into composite classes if they know their parents aren't the type to complain?

[.Jerry.]

I am a primary school principal.

Interesting to read the perspectives here...
Some are correct...

[R2B2]

Don't they put kids into composite classes if they know their parents aren't the type to complain?

the parents at our school that found out today their kids are in composite classes are up in arms over it

[Lucretia Borgia]

Sorry this is a bit of a "I've been living under a rock" question but what exactly are composite classes...? Are they a combined yr 1, yr 2 class ( for example) ...

Why do schools have them? And indeed do all schools have them?

dS1 is in yr 1 local state school (nsw Sydney) ...as far as I know his school doesn't have them, does that sound right?

Why are they undesirable?