2 And 3 Yr Olds

[Guest]

Hi

I am the manager of a pre-school, committee run. We usually have our 2 and 3 year old sessions operating at different times but because we don't have many 2's on one afternoon the committee have decided to put 3 year olds in with the 2's. Some of these children were 2 in the summer holidays, so they are very young, plus we have children just 3 and older 3's mixed together. I just wondered whether other groups had their children mixed like this and how it works.

[Guest]

My youngest are mixed with the oldest ( they seperate for parts of the session though). I think it works really well, just like a big happy family.

 

Yes, you will have a different group dynamics but children are such sociable, caring, happy people, it will work, so no worries, just have fun.

 

Peggy

[Guest]

Hi Simcity, we take the children in at two & a half, they are mixed with the older children at the start. I'm always amazed at the difference in what a child aged two & a half is generally able to do compared to a child aged three. What a difference six months makes!! We plan for the younger children & adapt the activities to suit all ages.

[Guest cathy m]

As a childminder, I always have mixed age groups, it's great all the children benefit. The social benefits and learning opportunities are enormous

 

cathy

[hali]

we have 2 1/2 to 5 yr olds all mixed in our sessions - works very well.

[Guest MaryEMac]

we have children of 2yrs 9 mths in with our older children. It has always worked very well, with most of the older children helping the younger ones.

Mary

[fairynuff]

We have children from 2 1/ 2 to 5 yrs in one class we find the older ones show care and tolerance for the younger children and the younger ones learn from the older children and pick up the routines more quickly.

[Marion]

We are a FSU so our children are older but we have children from their 3rd birthday mixed with children who are almost 6 and find this works very well and certainly helps with PSE and CCL

[Guest]

Hi

Thanks for all your replies. In my old setting we had children from 2 and a half but i have noticed that there is a big difference between the children that are just two and the 2 and a halfs. We do a circle time and i'm not sure if the just 2's will be able to sit for very long, i wondered about making this into a singing session instead for this session. Should be interesting to see how it works out. We are due an ofsted so i just hope they give us a couple of weeks to sort ourselves out before they come. I also have 3 new staff in september. which only leaves me and my deputy from the old staff. Looks like September is going to be fun!!!!!!

Mustn't complain though numbers are good for september, 24 children per session, most of them new.

[hali]

simcity you will be fine, think positive we keep our mixed singing and story sessions short but the 2 1/2 yr olds follow the older ones and are better behaved to be honest...

[Guest]

Hi

Thanks for all your replies. In my old setting we had children from 2 and a half but i have noticed that there is a big difference between the children that are just two and the 2 and a halfs. We do a circle time and i'm not sure if the just 2's will be able to sit for very long, i wondered about making this into a singing session instead for this session. Should be interesting to see how it works out. We are due an ofsted so i just hope they give us a couple of weeks to sort ourselves out before they come. I also have 3 new staff in september. which only leaves me and my deputy from the old staff. Looks like September is going to be fun!!!!!!

Mustn't complain though numbers are good for september, 24 children per session, most of them new.

 

 

We sometimes split our younger / older children into two groups instead of full groups at these times - depending on the particular children attending each day. This enables us to have small group time with the older ones without having younger ones losing interest, merely because of the length of time older ones can maintain concentration ie: news time, story time etc.

I'm so glad to hear your numbers are good for September. I would think you will be mainly busy on Inductions for staff and children. Do you have seperate written Inductions for the children and staff? I would think this is where you would gain brownie points from any Inspectors.

Have fun

 

Peggy

[hali]

ours are also divided up for group times.

[Rea]

Our children were in a church hall so it wasnt possible to split the age groups. I liked it, now I'm in nurseries I find there is less to watch, the 2 yr olds play like 2 yr olds, there's no-one for them to copy or to follow around, there's less interaction and conversation, games are mostly solitary and they are focused on what they are doing rather than looking at older children and learning from them. I much prefer mixing the age groups.

[Guest]

Do you have seperate written Inductions for the children and staff? I would think this is where you would gain brownie points from any Inspectors.

 

Thanks Peggy - Great idea, at the moment i have staff induction and just an All about me form for the children, plus informal chat with parents, maybe this is something else i could work on over the holidays, thanks for the idea!!!!!!!! I'll give it some thought.