Split Classes Primary

DGOBS

Well, I accept the fact that it cannot be reversed and I have to get on with it

I don't accep that it was done in any fair way

The parents were asked opinion on the split before it took place,
We were told possibly a lottery, which we requested to be
Present for. We found out all had been done by a letter in our bag that listed all the 'losers' so to speak and found out about exemptions later

It discriminated to the end that all were not treated equally
My daughter has been taken from all her social group after
a year of making friends, and this will subject her to truma

E.T.

DGOBS wrote: »

Well, I accept the fact that it cannot be reversed and I have to get on with it

I don't accep that it was done in any fair way

The parents were asked opinion on the split before it took place,
We were told possibly a lottery, which we requested to be
Present for. We found out all had been done by a letter in our bag that listed all the 'losers' so to speak and found out about exemptions later

It discriminated to the end that all were not treated equally
My daughter has been taken from all her social group after
a year of making friends, and this will subject her to truma

To be completely blunt - you do not have any choice with regard to your daughter's class in a school. You don't get to choose which class she is in, or which teacher she gets. It's the same for any parent, in any school. It would be complete chaos if parents were to come in and decide which class their kids would be in. Your daughter could have ended up in a different class to her friends even if there was never a split class.

You wanted to be present for a lottery - would it not be discrimination if all parents couldn't attend? This would very likely be the case.

I wouldn't consider keeping the older 14 out of the hat discrimination - they could be a good bit older than the youngest in the class. In my room there's 3 1/2 years in age difference between the youngest and the oldest (2 classes). Having children of roughly the same age is generally (there will always be exceptions) going to make things easier as they would be more likely to be at the same stages of learning and social ability.

Write a letter to the principal and BOM if you want to get things off your chest and express your view. Talking about "considering options with regard to discrimination" is just going to put up a brick wall between you and any other parties involved.

overmantle

DGOBS wrote: »

Well, I accept the fact that it cannot be reversed and I have to get on with it

I don't accep that it was done in any fair way

The parents were asked opinion on the split before it took place,
We were told possibly a lottery, which we requested to be
Present for. We found out all had been done by a letter in our bag that listed all the 'losers' so to speak and found out about exemptions later

It discriminated to the end that all were not treated equally
My daughter has been taken from all her social group after
a year of making friends, and this will subject her to truma

Speaking as a parent whose children started in straight classes and were moved to split classes, much depended on how we, as parents, handled the situation. It just so happened that one of our daughters was one of 4 very close friends and she ended up in a class with none of the other three. Nobody died, nobody was injured. After some initial disappointment (no more) on our part, we realised that it was up to us to be positive and encouraging of our child. We explained that she would see her friends every day in the playground and after school as well. They are all still wonderful friends many years later but she also has many new friends. It could have been traumatic if we decided it was going to be. We could have decided that it was discrimination..... but we didn't.
If anything, our children who were in split classes ended up developing qualities of confidence and independence.
As parents, it is natural for us to want to control everything in our power for, what we see as the good of, our young children. Somethings are outside of our control and all we can do is the very best we can to support our children (and their school) in the most positive way possible. Using emotive terms such as trauma and discrimination doesn't augur very well, from what I can see.
Speaking as somebody who has survived split classes, they were very definitely NOT traumatic and our child was happy because we were happy.
In terms of the lottery, I can just imagine the chaos and hysteria if all parents had been present. At the end of the day, in this era of cutbacks, schools have a very difficult job allocating children to classes and it's an impossible task to give every parent what that parent thinks s/he wants. I'm sure your daughter will do fine but much depends on you and how you handle the situation. Positivity will make all the difference. Negativity will do likewise, with the opposite result.

ShamoBuc

^^^^^^^^^ very well written and accurate post.

DGOBS

OK, I understand and agree with most of the comments above....BUT

The draw without ANYONE representing the parents, just happened to magically
draw equal numbers of girls and boys, and there is so much more i would love to say here about it.

Basically the parents were asked to attend a school meeting, to discuss this issue before it arose, they were giver 2 days notice of a daytime meeting that meant alot could not arrange to attend (planned...or am I getting paranoid)
Then any suggestions put forward by those who did attend were shot down, and
those that weren't were just totally ignored, we were told we would be kept informed every step of they way (non of which happened) to the point a letter arrives in my childs schoolbag, with a list of those drawn for the split class, I rang another of those listed parents and she didn't even know yet!

The school here bares the responsibility for the back lash they now face from parents, as the handled this in an extremely poor manner, I a firmly believe the draw was done in a manner to divide and conquer by leaving 12 parent in the minority

Ayla

Alright, then be upset with the school's administration of this procedure, but you have to let it go for the sake of your child. As other posters have said, your child is picking up on your emotions & it's your responsibility to make the best of what might yet be a very good situation.

Your child can't separate your angst toward the administrators from all the rest of the feelings going on, and she's probably getting all upset b/c she thinks you're not supporting the new set-up. In other words, she can't see the light for all the stormclouds around.

If you want to make a complaint, do it quietly & in writing to the administrators. But for heaven's sake, put on a happy face for your poor child who thinks her world's over!

uriah

DGOBS wrote: »

OK, I understand and agree with most of the comments above....BUT

The draw without ANYONE representing the parents, just happened to magically
draw equal numbers of girls and boys, and there is so much more i would love to say here about it.

Basically the parents were asked to attend a school meeting, to discuss this issue before it arose, they were giver 2 days notice of a daytime meeting that meant alot could not arrange to attend (planned...or am I getting paranoid)
Then any suggestions put forward by those who did attend were shot down, and
those that weren't were just totally ignored, we were told we would be kept informed every step of they way (non of which happened) to the point a letter arrives in my childs schoolbag, with a list of those drawn for the split class, I rang another of those listed parents and she didn't even know yet!

The school here bares the responsibility for the back lash they now face from parents, as the handled this in an extremely poor manner, I a firmly believe the draw was done in a manner to divide and conquer by leaving 12 parent in the minority

We would never consult parents about how classes are arranged.
Firstly, you will never get all parents to agree to anything, so consultation would just cause controversy.
Secondly, it's making a big deal out of nothing.
Thirdly, the teachers know all the children involved, they know the ages and ability of all the children involved, they know the personalities of all the children involved. Any suggestions/proposals coming from any parent will, naturally, have what they perceive to be their child's interest/preference (not always educational) as priority.
The teachers will be able to see the bigger picture.

There is absolutely no way a school can make changes for one parent unless they are prepared to make changes for every parent, and this would be chaotic and completely unworkable.

A school should make the decision, inform the parents fully and get on with educating the children.

killbillvol2

uriah wrote: »

We would never consult parents about how classes are arranged.
Firstly, you will never get all parents to agree to anything, so consultation would just cause controversy.
Secondly, it's making a big deal out of nothing.
Thirdly, the teachers know all the children involved, they know the ages and ability of all the children involved, they know the personalities of all the children involved. Any suggestions/proposals coming from any parent will, naturally, have what they perceive to be their child's interest/preference (not always educational) as priority.
The teachers will be able to see the bigger picture.

There is absolutely no way a school can make changes for one parent unless they are prepared to make changes for every parent, and this would be chaotic and completely unworkable.

A school should make the decision, inform the parents fully and get on with educating the children.

+1

The only mistake the school made in this case was in consulting parents in the first place. The classes had to be rearranged in any case so they should have just gone ahead. Children would move on and adjust quickly. Unfortunately that will be more difficult if their parents are making a big issue of the new arrangements.

DGOBS

Of course I am not letting my child know whats going on behind the scenes, she's heard nothing but support for it from me?!?

Uriah, problem is, the teacher were not consulted (or so we are lead to believe) this was a principle and BOM decision, nothing here was done with
any regard to traits of the children.

My issue again, is children were not treated equally at all!

And as regards to exceptions being made, YES THEY WERE

For instance, one parent of twins whose children were on either side, one normal class one split class claimed they would have 'separation issues'
which normally I would understand, but they were in DIFFERENT classes last year too! but the principle yielded and allowed the parent to choose which moved where!

In my mind, the teachers there are all fantastic, and wish to do the best possible for the children, and I have huge amounts of time for them, and
would always try to give them my full support. They are a young energetic group that embrace new ideas and teaching methods and I always put my faith in them and throw myself into the homework and tasks they hand out

I just wish this whole sorry business had been handled in a thought out and professional manner by the management of the school, NOTHING was done to encourage parents into thinking of the set up in a positive manner at all.
I like suggested earlier am now referring to it as 'multigrade' as another poster pointed out 'split class' is a negative term

So my decision has been this, I have wrote and letter to the principle requesting a meeting, and out lined all the positive steps I could think of
to make the transitions into the new class an easy journey for the children concerned, with suggestions on many matters (lots taken from this post, thanks)

I have even suggested they start a percentile index on this class throughout the next number of years so as to have statistics in the future to show parents in the same situation that the impact (hopefully!) is a positive one on a students education and multigrade is maybe even a better option

Thanks to all for you help and perspective on this matter, as you may have noticed I have been in inner turmoil over the past few days coming to terms with this, if only the school had have the foresight to sit parents down and talk positively about these options, rather than...we're sorry but....