1. Mixed-Age Teaching at Long Sutton Primary
Parent Information Evening
Wednesday 8th November 6.30pm

2. Why Mixed-Age?
Funding
Small Schools: Cohort sizes (PAN 20): organisation may vary year on year
Ensures even class sizes across the school

3. Organisation Mixed-Age / Split Year Groups
Allocating children to classes (split year groups):
Individual needs of each unique child
Developmental / chronological age
Siblings
Personal, Social & Emotional Development
Confidence & Maturity
Ability and Aptitude
Gender balance
Relationships within the class
Overall Aim: To balance the needs of all the children in the school in the best possible way. Each child’s development and progress is of paramount importance and we aim to do what is best for every child within our care, within the context of our school.

4. Side-Effects Positive Negative Forced Flexibility
Children seen as unique individuals
Teacher knowledge of children
Relationships across the school
Social Skills
Role Models
Opportunity to consolidate or extend
Increased independence and responsibility
Perceptions: children and parents
Language: ‘kept back’
Challenge for teachers: organisation & flexibility
Managing the challenge of split year groups: ensuring parity

5. Mrs. Newcombe
Split Year Groups: working towards consistent experiences

6. Research and Best Practice
“Simply no worse and simply no better” than single-age classes. Ofsted ‘Made to Measure’ (May 2012): “No marked difference in learning and progress was noted between mixed age and single age classes.” National Association for Small Schools: “Smaller schools offer ideal conditions for young children’s learning. Personal attention leads to a sense of identity and a belief that effort is worthwhile. Loyal, committed teachers work as a team, with the children staying well on task. Small schools are caring places, close to home, family and local community.” “Although humans are not usually born in litters, we seem to insist that they are educated in them.” (Katz 1995: The Benefits of Mixed Age Grouping) All classrooms, whether single or combined grade, include students at varying developmental stages, with a wide range of skills and abilities (Pardini, 2005). Goodlad & Anderson (1987) remind us that children learn continually and found that on average, a single grade class is comprised of students whose development spans five years. They emphasize that the developmental range in a combined class is not significantly different.

7. Research and Best Practice
“The research supporting mixed-age classrooms indicates that academic achievement is the same as, or better than, the academic achievement of children in same-age classrooms. Mixed-age classrooms do not negatively affect student achievement, and students in these classrooms have significantly more positive attitudes toward school, themselves, and others.” (Stone, 1998; Veenman 1996) “Successful learning is less dependent on organisational strategies than on the quality of instructional practices” (Veenman 1995) “Mixed age grouping has great potential, but only if its implementation is carefully and knowledgeably planned.” (Gaustad, 1995) Sutton Trust Teaching & Learning Toolkit (2012) Top 3 approaches to closing attainment gaps: high quality teacher feedback; meta cognition & self-regulation; peer tutoring (including cross-age peer to peer opportunities).

8. Myth-Busting
Katz (1995) presents a rationale for a multiage configuration:
Single-age groups seem to create enormous normative pressures on the children and the teacher to expect all the children to be at the same place on knowledge and skills. There is a tendency in a homogeneous age group to penalise the children who fail to meet normative expectations. Similarly, there is also a temptation in a group of same-age children to overuse whole class instruction.
There is no evidence to show that a group of children who are all within a 12-month age range can be expected to learn the same things, the same way, the same day, at the same time

9. Learning is a Journey: working towards AREs
A wall, not a line: What is secure? Where are the gaps? What progress has been made?

10. Progression, not Coverage

11. Core Principles
Good Teaching is a craft not a formula; it is complex, not simple
Flexible Lesson Structures: whole class / split inputs / age-specific input / prior knowledge input
Flexible Grouping: year group regrouping across classes / within class regrouping / cut and peel
Task Design is crucial
Skilled Questioning to target year group expectations
Progression not Coverage
Long Term View: AREs are the destination; the journey will look different for each child
High quality feedback is crucial for good progress
Parity of learning opportunities
Assessment for Learning: children’s current strengths & gaps as starting points and rapid support in response to identified gaps
Challenge and scaffolds for all ability levels
Children learn at their own rate
Split Year Group Provision: Context for learning will vary; skill progression will be consistent
Focus on depth of conceptual understanding rather than acceleration through content
Opportunities for working independently, collaboratively with other children (peer to peer) and with adult guidance / scaffolding
Meta Cognition is an essential ingredient of good learning

12. English & Mathematics
Mrs. Cameron & Mrs. Maidment

13. Next Steps
Becoming experts: we have an obligation to the children to be experts in the craft of mixed age teaching
Policy
Best Practice approaches
Parent Information Booklet
Keeping parents informed (e.g. plans for next September)
Gaining the confidence of parents and children through an increasingly expert and consistent approach