Hi Fingerscrossed76
From what you've said it sounds like your DS's school will be placing children into small groups (sets) based on ability level for things like English & Maths.
Now you can view this as labelling and damaging - but I think you need to step back and think about what the school is attempting to do here.
They may have a number of children who are already reading well. These children may be ready to deal with more complicated reading materials and more complex blending of sounds. They may also have a group of children who can sound out straightforward words like c-a-t, b-a-t, etc... and may recognise high frequency words (and, the, this, her, his, she, he, etc...), but are struggling with some of the phonics sounds and still need a lot of support. Finally, there may be a group that really are struggling to even sound out straightforward words like b-a-t or m-u-d.
In maths there may be children who can already add and subtract numbers to 20, those who can add to 20 and those who are only able to count up, maybe with fingers.
So what should the teacher do. If she/he teaches whole class do they pitch lessons to the highest ability? the middle ability? the lowest ability? Whatever they do they leave someone behind.
By dividing the class into ability groups for reading, wirting or maths - what they are doing is making sub-sets of pupils who should ideally have 'differentiated' (work assigned to their ability level) work to do & materials to work with. So the high ability readers may be starting chapter books with fewer illustrations, the middle ability readers may be reading longer Biff & Chip books & the low ability readers may be reading more of a picture book format where the pictures help explain the text and very few words per page.
Sets - or groups - usually are not openly labelled 'Top ability group'/ 'low ability group' - but have names like bumble bees, butterflies, dragons, orange, red, etc... At this age, most children are blithly oblivious about what level they are working at but you have to accept that eventually (by late Year 2/ Year 3 usually - they will twig what group is what regardless of names).
Now most schools have sets but they are fluid. Children will be moved up or down depending on a number of factors: scores on standardised tests (optional or SATs), observation of performancy by teacher/ TA and general performance (paying attention, trying hard, etc...). They may even be moved to separate children that talk to much or struggle to pay attention when working together.
Ideally the number of pupils in a certain ability level should be totally fluid - so in theory you could have 28 pupils at X level and 2 at Y. In reality schools tend to group based on number of chairs around a table (in our school new furniture means groups are now in 5s, previously in 6s). But in fact that has meant that there are two top groups, two middle ability groups and one low ability group.
Is there shame in being in the low ability group? Absolutely not - they simply are the children that are struggling to work at the level of the majority of the class - actually low ability groups tend to get the most direct one to one time with teachers and TAs. High ability groups often are left to themselves with the teacher/ TA setting work, getting them started and maybe checking now and then, but concentrating on working with other groups. This isn't neglect - it often is that a teacher can explain a concept the once and give them a worksheet and they immediately settle down to work and get on with it - therefore, requiring minimal teacher time. Middle ability group can be the one that slides through the cracks - especially if there are a lot of struggling students. However, this all depends on the organisational control/ planning abilities of the teacher, the quality/ amount of TA support and if the teacher is good at what they do all 3 ability groups (high, middle & low) should be working at appropriate levels and making good progress.
No parent likes to learn that their child is not doing so well in Reading or maths. It can be upsetting, but try to see it as a wake-up call. Now you know they're weak in an area, you can put extra effort in on that at home to help in that area.
Also remember that grouping children will just be based on that class, not all pupils. Low ability group at one school or in one from may well be middle or even high ability at another. So try to keep in mind where your child is at in terms of expected performance and if you aren't clear talk to the teacher.
Finally two things:
- I've found these documents from Campaign for Real Education helpful because the explain clearly what should be covered (and presumably learned) in a given year: www.cre.org.uk/primary_contents.html - just select area of curriculum.
- Woodland Junior school Maths Zone is a fantastic resource of games/ support materials to help with primary mathematics: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/. There also are a number of on-line maths tutorials: mathsfactor, maths whizz, mathletics, komodo maths, etc... which may be worth investigating as well - especially as maths is ideally suited for a video game format.
HTH
