Are new primary classes automatically created at year's end?

[cougs]

Does the primary secretary / ward clerk manually advance all the children to the next class, or does MLS do that automatically?

Secondly, when a new family moves in to the ward, are their children automatically assigned to a class? If so, and there are multiple classes for that age group how does MLS choose which one?

[aebrown]

Does the primary secretary / ward clerk manually advance all the children to the next class, or does MLS do that automatically?

Primary children move automatically to the next class at year's end (and the same for Sunday School).

Secondly, when a new family moves in to the ward, are their children automatically assigned to a class? If so, and there are multiple classes for that age group how does MLS choose which one?

Yes, children in new families are automatically assigned to a class. They will be assigned to each class for which they match the class rules. They may be assigned to more than one class if the rules are the same. But if the rules are different (e.g., one for boys and one for girls), then they will just be assigned to one class. If a person does happen to get assigned to more than one class, they just need to be removed from any incorrect class.

[kisaac]

If so, and there are multiple classes for that age group how does MLS choose which one?

If you have manually divided up classes, In my experience you will need to manually oversee adding new move-ins correctly, and adjust the changeover at the new year. For example, if you now have a split class for one age group, will you recombine this age in the new year, or keep it split? Will the younger age moving up into this age that was split for this year also need to be split, or will they combine?

Often a large (or rowdy) age group moves through your classes, but the following one may not be so large. CTR A may have 14 this year, but only 6 in 2012. So, you end up splitting the large group as they progress through each age group, and then re-combining for the following age. Like a snake swallowing an animal-expanding and contracting. The computer won't do this...in this case, you will need to manually adjust your classes each year. Usually your ward clerk sits with your primary presidency to do it....After January first. You can print the roles as of January 1 2012 anytime before the new year (print them today!) to see how the computer will automatically sort the classes out, then let the primary mull this over and plan on teachers for each age group, decide on splitting and combining, etc. When you print roles, just "post-date" the date in the role printing dialog (not the computers actual date) to Jan 1, 2012. They can then get with the clerk to make any manual adjustments.