I think this would be helpful. As an admin, I sometimes have to send emails to just the 5th years or 3rd years, and just seeing their age doesn't help me distinguish which "grade" they are in. It would be helpful when looking at each classroom roster for each child to have a "label" of what grade they are in. Some children even if they are the appropriate age for a certain grade, may not have "moved up" if they were not socially or academically ready.

I was trying to figure out who all of the new students were so that I could send appropriate emails to our new families. Sorting by age wasn't applicable because some students were older, but still new to the school (i.e. transfer students and new elementary students). This sort options would be extremely helpful for emailing and forms.

If I understand you correctly, this is also the sorting that we are currently using, so:
- sort into 3 groups, by year
- within group, sort alphabetically
- ideally: use different color for each year