Village school - interview for R/Y1/Y2 class any help appreciated!

I've got an interview at a local village school and I'm looking for some helpful hints about what I can say in an interview about mixed-age teaching when I've never done any!

I've taught in Y1 for a year and Y2 for 2 years but have no experience in FS - will this be a big problem? How do you manage to teach FS and KS1? It seemed like a great idea to me to be able to really differentiate by ability and not age until I started to think about the able YR children who would surely be bored by the time they were in Y2?

I'm going to be searching for info on the web, but in the meantime I'd be very grateful for any tips anyone has who's done this before.

Many thanks

 

I've got an interview at a local village school and I'm looking for some helpful hints about what I can say in an interview about mixed-age teaching when I've never done any!

I've taught in Y1 for a year and Y2 for 2 years but have no experience in FS - will this be a big problem? How do you manage to teach FS and KS1? It seemed like a great idea to me to be able to really differentiate by ability and not age until I started to think about the able YR children who would surely be bored by the time they were in Y2?

I'm going to be searching for info on the web, but in the meantime I'd be very grateful for any tips anyone has who's done this before.

Many thanks

 

I do this and at times I think it's like trying to teach 19 year olds in the same room as 11 year olds.
It's not all about ability it's about maturity as well. FS need space, time, freedom, comfort etc because they're 4/5 yrs old, year 2s need challenge, motivation, direct teaching etc and the year 1s are somewhere in between.
The way I cope is by
1) using my TA to take groups.
2) knowing what is happening doesn't suit all the children all the time.

 

Thanks for your wise words! Can I ask - do you have some sort of rolling 3 year programme of topics to ensure that you're teaching something different to those who've been with you since FS? I can't quite get my head around it!! Thanks

 

I have a 2 year rolling programme which is topic based. I specify particular activities / learning for R children within this, by the time they are in year 2 they approach the topic in a different way and activities wil be much more challenging.

There are obviously particular challenges of working in a mixed age class, but also benefits. The children do really learn from each other, the older children will support the younger ones. It has really taught me not to treat children as 'Year 1s who need to learn x,y, and z' but individual children each with different needs. Personalised learning' sems to be a buzz word at the moment so mentioning this in relation to a mixed age class may be a good idea.

I agree with the previous post about making good use of any support staff - this is vital in a mixed age class.

I also find that the older children in my class benefit from many of the foundation stage approaches, learning through play / hands on / learning outdoors.

Hope this is of some help. Do be prepared if you get the job to spend A LOT of time tearing you hair out about planning!!!

Good luck in the interview!

 

Thank you so much lizzyr - could I be really cheeky and ask you to show me an example of the sort of planning you have to do?

Thanks!

 

No problem - what do you want to look at long / med / short term?

 

Ooh, yes please!!

Seriously though, anything would really be a help - maybe long term so I can see how everything fits together?

My email is tes_twinkles@yahoo.com

Thanks a million!

 

You have mail

 

Could i have some examles of planning too? I have rec and year 1 next year. lisa_2008@hotmail.co.uk

 

I will be teaching R/Y1/Y2 in September and am worried about planning. Would love a copy too please! Thank you very much
kym_evans@hotmail.com

 

Hi, sorry to be so cheeky, bout could I have a look too, twinkles...did you get the job?

 

ooops! my email is Gingervalleysgirl@hotmail.com. thanks!

 

Yes I did!!!

Unfortunately, my yahoo email didn't work so I never got the plans from lizzyr and I'm still struggling to get my head around the whole YR/Y1/Y2 thing. Got a book on the way from Amazon about teaching mixed age classes so I'll let you know if it's any help!

 

congratulations! Let me know how it's going with you, i'm starting in september and i'm teaching reception, yr1,yr2 and yr3 (although i'm only planning up to yr 2 at the moment because my year 3s are so weak) How's your planning going? I bought some early years plans off ericag, she was selling them on ebay, and i've got to be honest they are well worth it!

 

Wow beca - that's quite a challenge! Good luck! I've only got 2 Y2s so that's going to be fun (hope they get on well!)

I promised myself a holiday from planning (what am I doing here?) so will get down to it in a couple of weeks. I photocopied lots from the previous teacher before she left but haven't even started to look at it yet. I've also downloaded everything I could find in the resources section and I'm sure I'll get round to reading through them!!

 

Could I be cheeky and ask for a look at your planning too?

Ps. well done Twinkles!!

s.veitch@tinyworld.co.uk

 

Hi there
I am trying to plan for a R/1/2 class in a village schoool, glad to see I'm not alone. Wondering why my school appointed a NQT for the job. Finding it difficult to grasp the enormity of the whole thing despite only having 25 children in the class. Would love to know what resources anyone has used and planning formats that may work. I want to be able to share my planning with the 2 TAs (who are new to the class.
How was the book Twinkle - would you recommend it?
What about the planning from Ebay beca_boo?

 

Hi jolly - afraid the book was a bit of a disappointment because it was just lots of lesson planning sheets - fine if you're doing those topics but obviously it doesn't take into account the new frameworks.

I was kind of hoping it might be a bit more general advice and suggestions about teaching a mixed-age class. Maybe someone here could recommend a good book/resources?

Good luck all!

 

HI yeah, I'm glad i'm not alone either!! Ericag was selling foundation stage lesson plans, I bought them because I felt really unprepared/unexperienced and for the sake o £8 I had a lot of stuff which is really good, i've put the long term lesson plans in a file, there's plans on things like the home corner, dough, mark making-things that you'll use every week etc and she emails it to you so you can edit it! i'll try and find a link!...she's not selling anything at the moment, either try and contact her through here o'r email her through ebay, serch for ericaguk and you can see the things she was seling, then ask her if you can purchase some. Hope that helps!