Effective Strategies for Managing Split Grade Classes

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Originally published in TEACH Magazine, July/August 2016 Issue

By Meagan Gillmore

The 2016-2017 school year could get off to a rocky start in Newfoundland and Labrador, before it even begins. In April, the government announced split-grade classes would be introduced in some schools for the first time. This is new for parents—many were never in a split-grade class as students, and their children have never been in them either. They’re concerned their children will suffer academically and socially.

“It’s those kids that are kind of left in the middle that might be struggling, but it might be a silent struggle (that we’re worried about),” says Krista Trask, a member of the school council at Beachy Cove Elementary in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s, NL, one of the schools scheduled to introduce split-grade classes. “We’re just hoping as parents that teachers will still have the time and still have the focus to make sure that those kids don’t get lost in the cracks.”

They’re also concerned about social and emotional needs. “To us, it’s more about having healthy children,” says Trask, noting anxiety is increasing among students. Some students are worried about not being with their friends, or being teased for being in a split-grade class. Students won’t know which children in the affected grades will be in a split-grade class until school starts. Children have questions, but parents don’t have answers.

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Meagan Gillmore is a freelance writer in Toronto, ON.

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Meagan Gillmore
Meagan Gillmore
Meagan Gillmore is a freelance writer in Toronto, ON.

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