Is this the norm in secondary school? Will it likely change come GCSEs?

DDs school was big so it was maths/science/english split.

It’s not weird when you think about it.

The kids who are very sporty can enjoy playing against the other sporty kids while the ones who aren’t sporty play with kids of a similar ability so they get to play the sport without worrying that the sporty ones will judge them for missing a pass or whatever.

PE is set by ability to protect students with additional needs from some super-competitive, (neurotypical?) kids. Sets from Y7 at my school (in PE).

It isn't weird to have separate sets based on ability in PE. Different kids have different abilities. Its better for learning if students are taught with others of similar ability. Also, there's PE theory too, and even more so at GCSE & A Level stage.

It does vary from school to school.

in general the older the students are the more likely the school is to set.

once they take GCSEs then some subjects if there is only one class running (eg Latin or photography or similar) all the children taking it will be in the same class.

maths is usually set fairly early and definitely by GCSEs. Science most schools offer double or triple and within double foundation or higher so that is usually set.

It varies from school to school. It probably says on your school's website. They will not necessarily have sets for all subjects at GCSE - with options subjects there are not always enough students doing each subject to make setting worthwhile.

We don’t set in my school apart from Maths and science. Many do though. It doesn’t stop the kids asking what set it is though!

I suppose it depends on how big the school is. My youngest's school didn't set for anything at first, then for GCSEs they set for maths and science. English was mixed I think, then her option subjects were small classes anyway.

Our school in Ireland is rubbish for this as they have mixed ability classes right up to Leaving Cert (A levels).

There’s some really disruptive kids in that year too. I feel sorry for the teachers trying to control them, let alone teach them anything.

The only classes they stream are the Higher level English, Maths and Irish.

I’ve told DS he’s better off staying in the Higher level class for Irish (a subject he hates) simply to avoid the messers. He can drop to Ordinary level for the actual exam.

At my sons school everything was mixed ability apart from maths and english until year 9 when they were separated by ability.

My DCs secondary don't stream for anything except maths in year 7 and 8. Now she us in year 10 and studying separate sciences more classes are separated by ability including also PE, weirdly.

My youngest has just finished secondary school and oldest finished a few years ago. In years 7 and 8 they were only set for Maths, but for years 9-11, they were set for everything, other than a couple of option subjects that didn’t have that many kids doing the subject.

It should be explained on the school’s website. In year 7 it is not uncommon not to teach by ability group but this often changes by year 9/10. Gcse partly depends on demand for the subject as some may only have one or two classes and how they fits within the timetable for other options.