mixed ability for English - just why?

This brings back memories of GCSE French when I was paired with someone who wasn't very able at all, purely for the reason that I could help him. It was awful, I hated going to the lessons - I got nothing at all back from my partner. I strongly suspect the teacher was inept (long story involving him entering me for the wrong combination of papers meaning the maximum grade I could get was a C when the indivudual mark breakdowns showed I had actually achieved the marks for an A but having only sat 7 out of 8 papers meant I was limited to a C).

There's nothing wrong with the concept of mixed ability but it must be set up so that all children are working at the levels approriate for them. Completely agree that it isn't all about final grades, it is about engaging students. Turning them off a subject at age 11 is just wrong.

(polter - no, to the op, xposted with yours)

I hear your problem,and worry for my son also.
However,I have come to the opinion that no school is perfect,and that if you are happy with, say90%,of what goes on at your school,then you should probably accept it.
I could find fault everyday in my son's school,and if I complained about everything,I would lose all credibility with the teaching staff.
I try to raise one serious issue per term,and think a pragmatic approach will get the best outcomes.
Finally I have to keep reminding myself that the best way to judge a school is by how happy my son seems to be.And I would place his current happiness at 95%,so that will do for me!

Odd - I tend to agree. They were drawing and colouring in factor trees on one occassion (making them look like trees). I have an e-mail written to the school about it, but have so far held fire. Maths teacher is also ds's form teacher so it could create ripples.

Parents' evening with form teacher next week and I am wondering how to bring it up there. Problem is that ds is supposed to be there and I do not want to end up criticising her teaching in front of him.

Colouring in during Maths? I'm not sure many 11yo would learn from that, even if they were a level 3. That's not a mixed ability thing, that's a poor teaching thing.

Nancy - that sounds like ds. He could do simultaneous equations and algebra at 7 and now he is colouring in. That would be OK were it not for the fact that I can see ds totally disengaging from the subject all together as he gets nothing out of it.

It is a sad but true fact that in some cases, very able children who have been identified and stretched very far in Y6 end up doing very basic stuff in y7 and following the y7 curriculum. It's not good but it happens too frequently. There is no real structure in place in a lot, not all but a lot, of secondaries to massively differentiate in y7 especially in the autumn term. I say this as a teacher who has taught in both primary and secondary. I have listened to a maths teacher tell a parent that their child was following the y7 curriculum as that was her year group and that it didn't matter she was working at level 6 in y6.
Not all teachers and not all schools but it's bad practice in some cases and a complete lack of resources in others.

Ds in Yr 7 has a similar problem with maths. They don't set until after Christmas. In the meantime, it has gone from being his favourite subject to being the one he struggles to engage with the most. He has twice had to do colouring in (not for bar charts etc which would be fine). He complains he is learning nothing. I worry that by the time they set them, ds may have given up on maths altogether.

Do they set them (for at least maths and english) further up the school?

It sounds like not necessarily a problem with mixed ability per se, but about it being poorly implemented.

My son's school has mixed ablity classes for English, but they do take out the really low attainers (Ie. less than level 3 and literally can't read) or EAL children who can't speak a word of English to work with the SENCO.

Gifted children can read instructions and can learn through appriopate tasks. My son's English teacher had children in ablity groups just like a mixed ablity primary class. Mixed ablity English class can and do work provided that there is differentiation.

Secondary school English is very different to what was taught in primary. There is more of emphasis on writing. Its unfair to set on SATs results as children get different levels of hothousing help with SATs.

It sounds like a good way of doing things, it is allowing the children a fresh start in terms of showing their abilities and aptitudes. It's more unfair when Y7 are are set based on primary school decisions without giving the later bloomers chance to show their progress.

Your dd with all the benefit of extra lessons with the head teacher should be in a good position to be able to show her current ability when given an open ended task.

To be honest if your DD can't do something with "describing the person next to you" or "whats in your pencil case" then she doesn't have much self-motivation. If she was G and T she should be able to do a lot with such an open task. Those tasks are open and a gifted pupil should be able to get a lot out of them, and its the kind of thing that call allow a student to shine.

My DD is also in year 7, in a mixed ability class (they don't set yet in English). She is learning a lot.

What book is your DD studying? Is she really doing no Grammar? My DD is doing regular Grammar homework - which is a bit dull - because of the new emphasis on SPAG.

However you sound very unhappy with the school, were there no others you could have chosen?