GSCE's from Year 9...how important is the streaming/set DC is in?

That’s why it’s not liked by Ofsted.

Actually they are right that Ofsted wouldn’t approve, but the school
can still be good.

So if you start GCSEs in year 9, are the students dropping all the other subjects? Seems a shame to me. DS won't be taking music, art or food tech, but I would like him to keep studying them until year 10.
Or are they just starting the syllabus for maths, English etc?

And it needs to be borne in mind that a hopeful 1-5, when faced with an exam paper designed to cover up to 9 will often just nope out within the first ten minutes, because the higher tariff questions that they can't answer can freak them out. My first boyfriend did it and missed the middle questions that we'd literally revised the day before because he'd looked at the ones at the end and panicked, DP has invigilated where they've started looking through the end, put their head on the desk and not moved again and every time I was called to assist with a panic attack, once they were able to speak again, they almost always said 'I looked at the back and knew I couldn't answer anything...'.

My DS is doing the foundation paper for science and is on course to get a 5. It is better to only get a 5 and it be comfortable then risking the higher paper and getting a 3.

He doesn't want to do science going forward, so a 4/5 is still great.

Hoping for 7/8 in maths though.

Sets matter insofar as the tier sat, as has already been pointed out by PP.

In a school with mediocre or worse behaviour, higher sets also generally mean better behaviour in class, and often the school's strongest teachers in terms of subject knowledge and skill are put into the very top sets (often those are also head of departments as they get to choose sets for their team and many do cream off the top layer) while the best behaviour managers tend to be in the bottom sets with more issues.

Don't get hung up on mastery etc. All it means is that you child was overachieving compared to their target grade for Y11, while they are now still making good progress. Mastery doesn't tell you a grade, just progress against target, which comes from their Y6 SATs.

Students often experience a dip in Y8-9 as hormones kick in and other things temporarily become more important than learning. Many grow out of that by the end of Y10.

Setting is important to us, behaviour is generally better in top set, DD needs a quiet group as is autistic. Top set maths are likely the only ones to be offered Further Maths as an additional course and will cover all of the higher tier work, same with science top set will cover the higher tier work, English only matters in terms of behaviour, options self select really.

Top sets are likely to be used as guinea pigs for newer trainee teachers but also likely to be prioritised if teacher absences is high.

Being top of a lower set, slower paced group can work wonders for those who need a confidence boost so set 1 and 2 are fine I wouldn't want to be going lower than that if you have an academically able child.

It also down to the student, for us deep diving the subject at home has always worked to make the topic more interesting. Seeing how applicable the subject is is important, ability won't outdo student apathy and "Why have I got to learn this...."

Setting can be extremely important. As some have pointed out, it can mean a difference in achievable grade. Mine would have been devastated if he could do higher maths, separate sciences etc.

Also, the PP who said about starting in year 9 is talking nonsense. It's very common to set in year 7/8 and start GCSE learning in year 9. Mine did papers in English, the sciences and MFL in year 10, which was great, as those topics are finished with, so he only has to remember half the course in year 11. And let's face it, what are GCSEs if not a test of memory?

If you take an absolute worst class scenario of a failing school, understaffed, skint and with poor leadership, it still makes sense to actually focus on the borderline 4/5s to ensure that they get over the line, whilst the 7-9s are less of a concern; doesn't matter as much how many supply teachers or cover supervisors they have, they'll largely behave, study, attend revision sessions, do their homework and have the basic ability to get a secure passing grade as long as the syllabus is covered.

In the less stark situation of a normal school, targeting limited resources at the upper middle still makes sense both individually and as a cohort because it makes the most difference to each child and the school results (120 with Grades 5-6 is better for the collective than 45 with 5, 10 with 9s and everybody else on 4 and below) - and with that, it's also advantageous to always look for those who can be nudged not just over the line but into the higher groups and papers (for the few subjects that are still tiered) once they are secure in passing and it's clearly a realistic prospect.

So he's unlikely to be ignored or forgotten about - especially if he dumps any Y9 'I'm not going to do this subject next year so I don't care anymore' (normal for Y9), along with him being more likely to be in classes where the others have also chosen the subjects. Pressing for him to be moved up when he isn't ready won't help - but advocating for him when he is ready is fine. But give him and the staff a chance first.

How on earth would a uni know one way or the other?

The mastery and strong things are fairly meaningless on their own though. Worrying that he will drop sets is assuming that everyone else in his set is still achieving mastery, which would be a big assumption.

If you're worried, email his teachers and say you've noticed the drop and are worried about where he sits in the group and whether he is in danger of moving down a group (and if so, what he needs to do to improve). Until then there's no point in worrying.

Plenty of schools start at the beginning of year nine. Supposedly to give them more time.
Officially though GCSE is two years

Our ds moved from set 2 in maths to set 3 so that he could sit the intermediate paper rather than the higher one. That meant the highest grade he could achieve was a B (we’re in Wales).

It did his confidence the world of good and he got a B, if he’d have sat the higher paper I’m doubtful that he would have got a B.

He also opted to take double science rather than triple and got great grades, if he’d have had the extra curriculum to learn for the triple science syllabus I think he would have got more mediocre grades.

what’s best for one child isn’t best for another.

And how the hell will universities know whether you started your GCSE science curriculum in yr 9 or yr 10 then? Enlighten me.

Utter nonsense! Clearly doesn’t bother ofsted at our outstanding school where GCSE’s have been done over three years for years, and I don’t really know how any university would know nor care - you don’t state the amount of years studied on an application 🙄

Yes, of course, but there will definitely be children being restricted, who might have achieved more. Children develop and mature at different rates - later bloomers, for want if a better phrase.

I think it does matter which sets - not so much sets 1 and 2, where I don't think there is much difference in terms of behaviour or learning, and I'm not sure about set 3, but I would expect the lower sets to be detrimental. Mainly because my children have told me so. But they are constantly assessed and can be moved up throughout the year.

For many people 4 or 5 is a big achievement.

What do you mean?

Since schools set in different ways you can't really compare. There can also be little difference between top of one set and bottom of the set above.

@Zanatdy Which universities exactly? My DD started hers in year 9 and went to Oxbridge. The only usual issues with universities are students who take a gap year before studying maths or students who don't taken FM if it's offered for a maths degree. Starting in year 9 is common place.

I can't get my head around going into the exams knowing you can only get a 5 at most.

My daughters school is an outstanding rated with GCSE and A level results in the top 10% for the country and they do theirs over 3 years.

For us this has really helped given them longer to understand the subjects reduced the stress and homework and meant she’s meeting her potential.

I was unsure initially as it means dropping a broader range early but seems to be working out.

Ofsted don’t like it as you’re not supposed to do GCSE over 3yrs, unless they are doing them all early. Neither do some uni’s