Teaching year 6 in a mixed year 5/6 class

Sophie Bartlett shares some practical tips for teaching mixed year group classes in UKS2, with strategies for maths, English and SATs prep in Year 5/6 settings.

A teacher stands in front of a classroom with students seated at desks, using tablets. A screen displays colourful charts behind her.

I’ve taught in mixed year group classes for several years, across two different schools – and, for UKS2, in a variety of formats:

Mixed year 5/6 in the afternoons, with year 5s in the morning (streamed for maths, mixed ability for English, so three different ‘sets’ of children across the day)
Mixed year 5/6 in the afternoons, with year 6s in the morning (streamed for maths, and the same maths group kept for English, so the same children all morning)
Mixed year 5/6 all day (same class for every subject)
Mixed year 5/6 all day, except for maths (taught in separate year groups)

From my experience, teaching maths in a mixed year group is far more challenging than teaching English. One of the main reasons for this is that each year group follows a different maths curriculum, while the English curriculum in Key Stage 2 is divided into phases (Lower KS2 and Upper KS2), which offers more flexibility.

Maths

Much of the curriculum content is shared across UKS2, and where objectives are repeated in year 6, it’s certainly no disadvantage for pupils to revisit them.

	Number and place value
	Year 5 content domain	Year 6 content domain
N1	count forwards or backwards in steps of powers of 10 for any given number up to 1,000,000
N2	read, write, order and compare numbers to at least 1,000,000	read, write, order and compare numbers up to 10,000,000
N3	a) determine the value of each digit in numbers up to 1,000,000 b) read Roman numerals to 1,000 (M) and recognise years written in Roman numerals	determine the value of each digit in numbers up to 10,000,000
N4	round any number up to 1,000,000 to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000	round any whole number to a required degree of accuracy
N5	interpret negative numbers in context, count forwards and backwards with positive and negative whole numbers, including through zero	use negative numbers in context, and calculate intervals across zero
N6	solve number problems and practical problems that include 5N1-5N5	solve number problems and practical problems that include 6N2-6N5

However, there are two areas unique to the year 6 maths curriculum: Algebra (which includes five content domains) and Ratio and Proportion (with four content domains). While it wouldn’t do year 5 pupils any harm to be introduced to these topics, they already have a full curriculum of their own to cover without the added pressure of extra content.

And this is why teaching maths to mixed years has always proved to be extremely tough! Previously, I had tried to combine areas of the curriculum where possible to teach both year groups together, but the wide range of abilities – alongside differing learning objectives – made this incredibly complex to manage. However, it is possible, and definitely gets easier with experience!

In my experience, the most effective approach was to adjust the timetable to allow for separate maths lessons for each year group. For several years in KS2, we scheduled two 45-minute maths sessions per day - one for each year group. At the time, we were fortunate to have a class TA who could work with one half of the class while I taught the other. However, even without additional adult support, this model remained workable if the other group was set an independent task (usually LbQ!). It did require tight behaviour management, but the benefits were significant. Despite the slightly shorter lessons, the smaller group sizes allowed us to cover much more content effectively.

English

I actually really enjoy teaching English in a mixed class, particularly using a mastery approach: teaching to the top and supporting from the bottom. This means we move away from traditional differentiation (e.g. different tasks for different groups) and instead differentiate by outcome. This method helps smooth the transition from year 5 to year 6, as the year 5s become familiar with the expectations early on. They’ve already encountered much of the content once in year 5, so year 6 becomes a time for consolidation, and for stretching the more able where needed.

SATs

Things naturally become a little more focused in UKS2 as SATs approach, but teaching a mixed year 5/6 class actually helped me keep SATs-specific teaching to a minimum, which I see as a real positive. I would aim to keep lessons feeling as normal as possible right up until SATs week. In the final week or so, we’d do some revision as a whole class. I found this beneficial for both year groups: it gave year 6 pupils some structured prep, while year 5s got an early, low-stakes introduction to the format and content of the tests.

Much of the maths content in SATs is drawn from the years 3-5 curriculum, so year 5 pupils can usually access most of the questions anyway (and if they’ve been learning alongside year 6 all year, they may be able to tackle the entire paper). Year 5s are also fully involved in test prep activities - particularly collaborative ones, such as working through a paper in pairs or marking a test I’ve completed with deliberate mistakes.

The benefits of teaching mixed year 5/6 classes

Teaching a mixed year 5/6 class certainly presents its challenges - particularly in maths, where curriculum divergence can make planning complex - but it also brings real benefits. With careful structuring, flexibility, and a bit of creativity, it’s possible to meet the needs of both year groups effectively. In fact, the overlap in the English curriculum and the opportunity for the year 5s to gain early exposure to year 6 content can lead to greater confidence and smoother transitions. Over time, I’ve found that what initially felt like a logistical hurdle has become a valuable opportunity to foster collaboration and high expectations across the whole class.

Using SATs Springboard to teach mixed year group classes

If you’re looking for structured, flexible support to prepare your pupils for SATs - without overwhelming them - our SATs Springboard offers a fantastic way to build skills and confidence, whether you’re teaching a mixed class or a straight year group. You can trial it for free, with no obligation to purchase.