3 grades, 2 teachers, 1 room: Magnetic Hill School tests combined classroom

Students in Grades 2, 3, and 4 at Magnetic Hill School are sharing one room and two teachers.

Pamela Fox and Kim Barrieau brought the idea to principal Nick Smith this past spring and expressed a desire to work together in a large, multi-age classroom.

Over the summer, the school in Lutes Mountain outside Moncton knocked down a wall to create a bigger classroom and today, 47 kids, from seven to nine years old, will be learning side by side.

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Smith said schools are one of the few places children are grouped by their age rather than skill level.

"We could have students within a year who are very, very different in terms of skill level," he said.

"We have high flyers, we have some students in the middle, and we have some struggling students. That's the reality of the classroom."

The combined classroom is an idea other New Brunswick schools, including the Shediac Cape School, have also been trying.

A year to plan

Shediac Cape implemented multi-age classrooms last year, but principal Cathy Lloyd said the school spent the year before just planning.

"We just looked at all different educational philosophies and educational systems to see what would work at Shediac Cape," Lloyd said.

Faculty set three goals: student achievement, student engagement and stronger teaching teams.

The school held two parent information sessions before implementing multi-age classrooms.

At Shediac Cape, middle school students grades 6 to 8 are grouped together in English and French immersion. There are currently 64 English students being taught by three teachers, and two teachers are paired with the 42 French immersion students.

Able to work at their level

Elementary-aged students from kindergarten to Grade 4 are put in multi-age groups for English, languages and mathematics.

"If you have students that are reading beyond their grade level or able to work beyond their grade level, we didn't want them to be confined within a certain curriculum," Lloyd said. "We wanted them to be able to work at their level."

Lloyd said the results at Shediac Cape School have been "phenomenal."

She said the planning year was essential to the school's success, but the teachers are the ones who have taken it to the next level.

Skeptic converted

"The reason it's been so successful is because the staff was ready, and willing to think outside the box and do something different."

Magnetic Hill's principal Nick Smith said he was a little skeptical of the multi-aged classroom, which is for students who are not in French immersion. 

After talking with Lloyd and doing some of his own research, Smith said he's excited and optimistic about the the class.

"If we keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results we're not going to move the kids forward," he said.

The children will go to music, art and PE with their grade levels, but in the classroom, teachers Fox and Barrieau will group kids based on their skill levels and individual needs.

Will track progress

"That gives us some opportunities to really work with the kids at the level that they're at," Smith said.

Since the combined classroom is new to the school, data will be collected at the beginning of the year as a baseline from which to measure improvements in each student's learning.

A parent meeting on Aug. 29 left parents curious but excited about the classroom.

If the combined classroom works well Smith said the school might add it to other grade levels.

"I have not seen people more excited about coming back to school in a long time."