Nursery World - Mixed ages: Big and little

Children have been shown to benefit when allowed to cross over the age groupings in early years settings, writes Jennie Lindon

In recent years it has become the usual practice to organise children into age-related groups. Nursery classes and pre-schools usually have an age band of three to five years. Day nurseries and children's centres tend to have three groups: babies younger than about 18 months, toddlers up to three years, and then the 'pre-school' group aged from three to five years.

This pattern may seem like the obvious way to organise group life. But is it the best way or the only way? If nurseries keep the children in narrow age bands all day, every day, then children lose the opportunities to learn from each other. A different kind of social interaction can develop across the ages.

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