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Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Secondary education

Are all subjects set by ability?

15 replies

Mummafungi · 20/07/2018 23:21

Are children starting in September put in sets straight away? Do all subjects have sets? Do they test them in the first few weeks and then put them into sets? As you can see I'm very confused 😂

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ReservoirDogs · 20/07/2018 23:52

Ask the particular school your child is going to what they do as they all do different things.

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Soursprout · 21/07/2018 06:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MarchingFrogs · 21/07/2018 06:46

You could try looking on the website - look for 'curriculum' tab, 'KS3 ' or similar?

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Mummafungi · 21/07/2018 08:09

Thanks, it says they uses the sats results and then they do CATS once they've settled in. DS got 118, 116 and 112 and a higher grade or something. Might help if I knew what that meant. Can't find any info if it's all subjects or just English maths and science that they do sets for.

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TeenTimesTwo · 21/07/2018 08:17

To some extent, don't worry. It will be what it will be.

Our school divides into two mixed ability halves
Then sets for Maths straight away. And then sets for English & Science by the first half term (I think, can't remember). Adjusts sets as needed.
Then sets for humanities and MFL in y8.
Then for PE in y9.
Then 2 streams by ability in y10/y11 and sets within that for core subjects and then option subjects if enough pupils doing any option per block.

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SpoonsAndForks · 21/07/2018 08:31

The school my son is supposed to be going to in September only sets for maths and english - I'm not happy about it as can't see how mixed ability works.

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LIZS · 21/07/2018 08:33

Unlikely. You may find as they get older timetables are based around Maths and English sets but not specifically by Science ability for example, and then by gcse options as often there may be too few children taking subjects like French , DT or History to run more than one or two class groups.

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MongerTruffle · 21/07/2018 08:34

At my school, in year 7, they set for maths.
In year 8, they set for MFL as well.
In year 9, they set for English and sciences as well.
In year 10, they set for everything.

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AreWeDoingThisNow · 21/07/2018 11:21

It totally depends on the school.

My last school (just finished PGCE placement) had no sets for anything except 'nurture sets' in KS4 for some subjects so the pupils that needed a lot of extra help were in a small class together.
Some schools set different subjects based on maths and English SATs from year 7, some with regular reassessment based on how they do in each subject from then on.

Mixed ability has been shown on average to be the method that works the best, but many teachers would question if all pupils benefit equally, and whether that's true for all subjects. Mixed ability is also more work for the teacher!

I have to say I prefer to teach sets (Science).

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RedSkyLastNight · 21/07/2018 12:38

Have others have said, this is entirely school dependent. DC's school only sets for maths, and didn't do that until after October half term in Y7.

SpoonsAndForks research shows that mixed ability works better for all DC apart from those in the top 2-3% of the ability range. Our experience is that it only works better if you have a good teacher - but then if you have a bad teacher, I guess your DC's experience is less good regardless. The nearest school to DC's which has a similar profile of intake, sets in every subject from day 1, and their GCSE results are virtually identical to DC's school.

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MarchingFrogs · 21/07/2018 13:39

DS got 118, 116 and 112 and a higher grade or something. Might help if I knew what that meant.

Does this help at all? (I'm afraid all ours 'moved up' before the change from NC levels)

www.gov.uk/guidance/scaled-scores-at-key-stage-2

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CMOTDibbler · 21/07/2018 19:21

It really does depend on the school - ds's high school have 4 ability bands for teaching forms, and then they are set for maths and english further than that. In y9, the top 10% in science get split off, and then yr10 is differentiated for everything

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Mangosorbetrocks · 22/07/2018 07:47

DS is going to grammar school in September and he won’t be streamed till year 8. He will be steamed for maths, English, science and in languages. All school differ on when they stream them but the majority stream them in the subjects that I’ve just mentioned.

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TeenTimesTwo · 22/07/2018 07:57

Mango To be fair though, your DS at grammar has already been streamed by going to a selective school. You could say that all the children are already top set, or second set at a push.