Y7 new starter sets based on sats results, help!

Well done fighting for your son's chances. Clearly in his old school they were not prepared to move people between sets, which is bad practice. It sounds as if he's in the right place now.

Not all schools are like that though - at our secondary there is movement every term, despite timetabling issues.

Great result for your child's education. Thanks for the update.

Good news. Glad he is happy now. How long has he been in the top sets in the new school? Hopefully his future test results in school will continue to be good enough to keep him in the top sets. Our school reset at beginning of year 8.

I'm glad that you were proactive OP, and that your son is in the right place now and doing well. So good to hear back when there is a good result!

He may well be very capable. But he didn't actually perform in the SAT test. That is a problem. It happens to many. Children don't perform well on the day. That is one of the main issues that needs to be addressed.

The children in the top set presumably did perform well 'on the day'.

Our secondary takes into account the sat results, but they take more notice of the tests that the children do on computers, the schools own tests, when the children come for the 'visit day'.
and finally there is a lot of movement in the first term between sets, after the autumn term tests have been done. in the first term, by Christmas and then at the sets generally settle down.

I have been very very impressed by the way our school has handled it all.

Sorry I should have read the whole thread. I am glad your son is happy at his new school.

Is he definitely in set 3? Some schools don't set all subjects in year 7 and he may just be in class 3.

Longlost thank you very much for the detailed answer.

Also suits me -- I prefer email. Let's hope the secondary school has it.

Long lost what do you do after those conversations? Make a note? Ignore?

Listen carefully, we have setted on the basis of exam results, not just one exam, but several over the year, so it is as fair as it can be. However, if there are genuine extenuating circumstances, we will give the student another chance to sit an exam. There was one this week, but I actually genuinely can't remember the exact details, there was some reason his exam results might not have been a reflection of his ability and commitment - it must have been a medical reason. He is taking an exam on Monday anyway.

Apart from that, explain the decision to parents, quite often it is a case of reassuring them that taking double science is not going to be a disadvantage to their particular child, and will actually decrease the pressure on them. Many parents want triple science, without really understanding that BB is gong to be so much better than CDD, or similar, in the end, in many circumstances.

Yes, record the conversation, but to be honest, school records these days are sooooooo long and detailed that you can rarely find information if you want it. We've gone, over 25 years from having so little information on students that we were ill informed, to having so much information we can't find out what we need to know.....

I always think it is worth contacting the school if you have questions or concerns,

I do have to say that parents capable of cheerful, polite, breif concise conversations are likely to find staff far more keen to ring them back!

We have one parent we need to ring back, but everyone is putting it off, as it is likely to be a general ramble of 30-40 minutes, and no one is going to pick up the phone unless they have that much time spare!

Emails are very good, if your school has the facility to email teachers. It is easier to reply at a convenient time, where as phone calls might come when you have to be on break duty, or something. Also, there is a clear record in an email conversation about all the relevant points.

So, if you want to know my advice for an effective, engaged parent, then keep in touch with the school, use email if you can, or short, friendly phone conversations.

( and don't ring while drunk or stoned - also quite a common occurrence, and not very productive.....)

Long lost what do you do after those conversations? Make a note? Ignore?

I'm just curious as best approach as an engaged parent.

I'm sorry but there is no need to be a smart arse it's actually quite boring no one is being a smartarse, quite the reverse, just explaining the reality to you. The school will be inundated with hundreds of parents contacting them every year, to explain that their particular child is actually a misunderstood genius, and has been incorrectly set. Parents don't actually realise that performance at home with a cosy parent is no indicator of performance in a class room or exam. We have had 11 parents in, in 3 days in my department, complaining their children have been set too low, in our one subject alone.......there will be many more next week. I don't mind though, it shows parental engagement, and bodes well for their children's prospects that parents take an active interest, inconvenient as it can be at the start of term when we are very busy, and have to repeatedly stop what we are doing to have the same discussion over and over again.

If your elder DS had got a mark which would have equated to a better grade on the maths higher paper, this would have shown on his results. If he had been capable of the higher paper, he only need to have asked for the material, it is readily available, and many kids in foundation classes do higher papers in maths with or without direct teacher input. You only need the teaching material, available in text books, on line, from school, anywhere. It is not like science where you need to do an extra piece of lab based coursework to move from double to triple, etc.He got a C, no indication that he had done particularly well, or was capable of a B. it is most likely he would have got a D in the higher paper, where getting a C is harder. He was correctly setted.

You might have been better waiting a couple of weeks before reacting. If your ds is more capable then the teacher is going to notice this pretty quickly tbh. They will undoubtedly do their own assessment. In your situation I would have written a note or email explaining that he had not done as well as expected in the reading sat and you are concerned he might be in the wrong set, could they keep an eye on this when doing their own assessments.

We'll both my children's schools do cats or Midyis testing in the first week/couple of weeks of term but they don't actually set until year 8.

1. there is no more higher and foundation levels at GCSE. That's gone. In the future, ie five years time, assuming we still have GCSE they will all sit the same papers.

2. w hat on earth do you expect the secondary school to use other than KS2 results to 'set' the children, as they don't know them yet, and TA is now as vague as 'at national standard ', 'below national standard ' or 'above national standard '. That's it. Below could be - capable of 99 on most days all the way down to 'isnt sure we're addressing her when we say her name'. Secondary schools can't use TA any more.

If it helps at all (which I appreciate it probably doesn't) DS1 got 111 in his maths SATS, 108 in Reading and 107 in SPAG but his Y7 don't set at all in Y7.

Don't they usually put them in sets according to their actual result, as opposed to what the teacher says they can achieve?

This is the problem, as some children aren't as confident in the tests.

I don't know whether your DC's are hard done to or not, but school can surely only go off their results.

Most children are moved after CATs, in or around their second term, from my experience. And the secondary school will grade them again. I'm presuming this is what may happen in your DS's case.

That's not the case though Harriet becsuse in the lower sets they won't have time to teach the higher paper work.

children were put in sets according to how they performed in the schools own tests, on visiting day; primary's reports and recommendations; SATs.

Our school moved children in first term of yr7, and the second term. Then they sat summer exams and they have all been re-set for maths, English and science, for year 8.

I think a lot of movement is common at most schools.

Most schools would enter more able students for the Higher paper if they felt the child was able to cope with it, regardless of setting. Much better that he got a "secure" C on the Foundation than a "maybe" C (more likely D) on the Higher.

Your Y7 has plenty of time to move sets if they're capable, and the new GCSEs are the same paper for all: no Higher and Foundation papers anymore. He'll be sitting the same paper as everyone else.