Y7 maths: If you have a top set dc, what are they doing in maths now?

You could also look at the destination universities of children who leave.

This is exactly why the Yr 6 SATs papers are such a nonsense - the pupils are pushed to do stuff that they then repeat in the first two years of secondary school. Those children who struggle in Yr 6 are being labelled as underachieving for no good reason and with the unfortunate effect of loweuing their confidence and putting them off Maths.

Look under Best 8 value added

Irvine. Have ofsted said that the most able are not stretched at your local secondary? Also have you checked the value added for the high ability children at your local school? You are looking for a figure of 1000 or over for value added. (If they haven't changed this since i last looked.) You can also check the percentage of high ability children at the school. www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/

In answer, to the original question in the subject header, DS2 is in year 7 and is doing UKMT Junior individual challenge past papers this week ahead of the exam tomorrow morning.
So, its rare to find, but this is an example of true extension work.

Catmuffin, thank you. We live in rural area with only one secondary. There will be no choice of grammar so unless we can afford private, my ds's future looks grim.

Thanks youmell.
Irvine. I'm not sure but it's probably quite common in a secondary modern in a grammar area to have one or two more able. Some may have moved to the area after the 11+ or had a bad day or something. They probably have extra sessions before school to stretch them or something?
I know of a grammar school with a super selective intake which ofsted claimed wasn't stretching the most able enough, so can affect all state schools. I don't know if all private schools stretch the most able as no experience.

Catmuffin - GCSE next year apparently to allow them to "mature" a bit. 12 in ds's class. Tends to be around that number following this route each year. (School know for it's maths and science.) Not sure about a level. Ds never been formally tutored - just me and him and revision guides / books trying to figure out whatever it is he wants to know.

If the school have huge average/ below average intake and not enough children to make up a set for high ability, what happens then? Do they still make up set for one or two children, or they will be put together with lower level children?

Also, when will they take A level?

They've done higher level / astar GCSE syllabus and are now doing further maths level stuff with the aim of moving on to the a level syllabus next year
Will they take Maths GCSE during year 7? I know a child who took it at the end of Year 6 and got A*, although that was via tutoring from an early age rather than the school.

Our local comp definitely sets from year 7. I do not see how they can teach maths otherwise.

A state grammar school is a state school Jeremy.

jeremycorbyn certainly not true of my daughter's comp but I doubt you'll be convinced no matter how many of us say this!

It's nothing to do with being a comp, most comps set for maths in y7.

Yes, she is being overtaken by students in other schools. Happened to my DC, nothing you can do as the comprehensive system is designed to make everyone equal in the middle/bottom. Only option is private education, free school, grammar, pretend your religious or home school. Do not trust the state with education.

For those of you saying you can't differentiate that spread of ability, will you please tell that to the education secretary that because that's exactly what they expect from year 6 teachers -and they aren't even maths specialists!

Or at least, in reports I've read I've seen this commented on.

I asked him if there were any plans to set in maths and he said they are talking seriously about it for year 8 but nothing is in writing.
Yes it sounds like a good time for pushing for setting. Have ofsted said anything about it? Normally they comment on how the most able pupils are stretched in their reports.

I do not know if you can still get the Letts revision guides and workbooks for KS3, but that is what I used with dd at home. CGP do similar ones, so it depends what style you like. These could be an alternative to getting a tutor. At least then you can see she is following what she should be doing in the curriculum. Dd also did Khan Academy and used to pick through the videos if there was something neither of us understood from the revision guide.
Year 7 can be tiring, everything is new and different, so it is important to keep it fun and something she is enjoying doing if she does the work at home. The one great thing she has on her side is she wants to learn the maths and so that will take her further than many other children, even if they are in top set in a SS.

I am dreading my ds's secondary school would be same as OP's. There are no children at my ds's level at the moment in primary, and everybody goes to the same secondary.

Khan academy does help. It teaches up to quite high levels. It's worth trying, if she likes it or not.

They've done higher level / astar GCSE syllabus and are now doing further maths level stuff with the aim of moving on to the a level syllabus next year. So just finished differentiation and have dropped back onto revising matrices and ds is really looking forward to the trig they're about to do. Whole class doing a maths challenge this week so ds has been looking for some "really tricky" stuff to learn ready for that. Welcome change after primary.

I would be very unhappy without maths being set. When you've children working from levels 3-4 up to level 8 how on earth can a teacher differentiate appropriately? I can it being far less of an issue in other subjects but not in maths. You will have some bored to death and others who never grasp the core concepts

Good luck. I have to say, we picked ds1's secondary specifically because it set in Year 7. He is top set, and the work he is doing is way beyond anything I understand - level 7 stuff mainly, and beyond.

No other schools set at all until year 8, but that ds1 would have been hard going.