1. Whole Key Stage Classes
TEACHING / LEARNING – ACADEMIC ASPECTS:
Appropriate level of teaching / learning
Knowledge of individual children. Get to know children very well: able to
target work efficiently and supportively.
Able to be flexible with groupings, so children really can be taught in
ability groups in all subjects.
Challenge:
children hear higher level objectives from early on, so assimilate them
when they’re ready. Drip dripdrip…
By the time the children are in year 6, they have been hearing year 6
objectives for a couple of years, and have been seeing / hearing year 6
level work modelled. Gives them a sense of where they’re going. In single
age classes it’s really hard to build that understanding of what is expected
in year 6.
Gives year 6 a challenge…. Determined year 4/5 children taking on year 6
objectives …
LEARNING IS NOT JUST ACADEMIC – learning is more than just academic info
and understanding: also about attitudes to learning, and understanding yourself
as a learner
Teaches children to be independent learners, taking responsibility for
their learning.
It gives children a much more realistic understanding of their own
strengths and weaknesses than being in a single age class, where they can
be branded as “clever” or “stupid” and keep that image of themselves all
the way through school. In a full key stage class, children are aware of
individuals developing at different speeds in diff areas, and of some
amazing strengths. They also have a fluid perception of themselves, as
children move in and out of the class over time. Their role shifts.
Asked the children:
Get good at working by yourself – not relying on help.
More opportunities for making friends, and for finding people who you
like working with, and that changes every year.
Learn things quicker.
Have different teachers for different things, but know them all really well.
That makes it interesting.
We are all teachers; helping each other
Asked the parents:
Teachers have very good knowledge of individual children: no coasting,
and no drop-off at the beginning of each year with a new teacher.
Supportive atmosphere – children have role models within the class, and
gradually become role-models themselves.
Challenging for individuals, because they can be put in a group at an
appropriate level, in all subjects.

2. Individual people, not class members.