What Set for y7 did your dc go into for what sats result?

Depends on the cohort. Some schools do their own assessments some use SATs, but the sets should be fluid.

I think that if schools feel the need to use sets they should be looking much more at their own tests and evaluation, and make adjustments, or consider not doing so in the first year at secondary school.

Because SATS don't just test ability and aptitude. Results often reflect life experience, and children who have moved to this country with their families in the primary school years, children who have had to move schools because their families are in temporary housing etc, children whose parents' English isn't fluent, may be quite able but not have had time to catch up. The reading tests may refer to things which are totally outside many working class kids' experience. In short, SATs, especially reading and writing, test class and other social divisions.

@redskytonights If you are capable of getting high marks in your KS2 sats then I don't think you need to be spending 'hours and hours' to maintain that level. High expectations from teachers and parents and a reasonable amount of effort from the child should suffice.

High expectations are one thing. Working hard is one thing.
Of course both these things will improve results.

However, in the UK it's not generally considered appropriate to force your child to do hours and hours of work to improve their results to the detriment of all else.

The hothousing approach used by some schools for SATS is not just the same as working harder and being more supported. If secondary school spent half the week teaching maths and the other half teaching English, then probably their maths and English results would improve. But also every other subject would suffer, some children would become disaffected and some would still not get top marks as even with all the working harder in the world individuals have a natural limit.

The children have shown that with hard work they are capable of achieving high marks. If secondary schools, with support from parents and the students themselves, aren't able to maintain those high marks then that is on them.
There is such a focus on natural high ability in this country and a dismissing of hard work and effort. An assumption that children won't be able to maintain those high standards.
In my experience the children who are most successful are those whose teachers and parents have high expectations.

DGS and DGD, twins, got very similar results in SATs, though DGD is better at English and DGS is better at Maths. However, secondary school has put DGD in set 1 and DGS in set 3. ( Different bands so no chance of them being in same set if that is the rationale). It is really upsetting DGS, and he is an anxious lad. School are adamant in saying no room for him to go up, though I think he would be happier in set 2 as the set he is in is noisy and he gets anxious with disruption.

Top set English with result of 115, 2nd set maths with 110. They will review sets at October and then Christmas after the Christmas exams but after that no movement in sets unless performance dramatically increases or decreases.

I dont understand why people say that 'hot housed sats mean bugger all' surely they show that the child is capable of high marks when they/the teachers/parents/tutors put in lots of effort.

It means bugger all because hot housing SATS schools do nothing other than massive focus on English and Maths for several months, which just isn't possible in a standard secondary school where they expect you also to devote your time to studying multiple other subjects.

They mean.bugger all in many instances because they were so focused and forced on teaching to the test.
Our school, like many, did very little but rewards trips and rehearsing the Leavers' show till end of term, from Mid May

I dont understand why people say that 'hot housed sats mean bugger all' surely they show that the child is capable of high marks when they/the teachers/parents/tutors put in lots of effort.
One of my children isn't naturally gifted at maths, in the sense that it doesn't come easily to him but with hard work he is capable of high marks. This was evident in his year 6 sats and in his end of year exams at secondary and he has stayed in the top set.

We set on a combination of SATs, CATs and a separate baseline test but a SAT maths score of 113 would always put you well into the top set of 4. We review sets once per term.

Our secondary chose sets according to SATS from September, with any adjustments planned for October half term unless a child was clearly in the wrong set.
This is because hot-housed SATs mean bugger all.

Normally they all learn the same thing this end of the first half term and then sets get moved.
Get them the CGP ks3 maths book and workbook of you're worried about them getting behind.

Ours was based on CATs and school tests after term. SATs was about 108 I think, went into top set of state grammar.

We don't have sets until year 9 and then only for Maths. DD didn't do SATS due to covid. They did cat testing at the start of year 7. Don't know if they usually do it or just because there were no data results.

I think you are over worrying here. It's very likely that the children will all be taught the same at this point of KS3, regardless of set.
The school should also have processes for making sure that student can move between sets as and when needed. If the school does not do this, then that's what I would be focussing on, not what set your child is currently in.
I'd suggest you take the pressure of your DC by not fixating on their set.

Most schools review setting fairly frequently, and will move children that appear to be in the wrong set. What they use to determine initial setting probably varies, especially the weighting given to different pieces of information (KS2 results, primary teacher handover info, internal testing). They'll be entirely used to parents asking about whether their child is in the right set, so if you're concerned, email in and ask when and how setting is reviewed, and mention the slow working as an issue that may mean she doesn't always show what she's capable of.

I taught in one school where we had to do this. We also had quite a lot of kids coming in from abroad who had next to no English but were very good at maths. Our solution was that they went into the right set for maths, and the E2L teacher supported the bottom English set in the top half.

DS1 got very good SATS results but my kids' secondary school doesn't set in Key stage 3, even for Maths - something that's frowned on by many more middle class parents and is I think a significant reason why this school is undersubscribed and underappreciated in our borough. They do use Maths IT programs to differentiate Maths work at school and home. But they did tests to determine options for Triple or Combined Science in year 9, and two rounds of Mocks in GCSE subjects to confirm entry levels and see where students could work for better grades where needed. So DS1 got his predicted top grades in Maths and Science and I think his teachers did help him to improve on mock grades in all his other subjects (mostly written questions and essays). It must have been hard work for the teachers but DS1 was very happy there and wished he could have stayed for sixth form (there isn't one).

I also don't think predicting GCSE outcomes from SATS tests is particularly helpful, and that teachers will get much more idea in year 7, and possibly later. Streams and sets are popular with parents who think their kids will be in the "top" classes or can still do well with support, but some students are going to lose out by not having a chance to reach potential. One of DS2's primary school friends has autism and needed speech therapy in his early years, and was nearly put in a lower set for Maths at a different secondary school - luckily one of the teachers realised that his Maths ability should mean he is in a higher set.

DS2 was in year 6 at the start of COVID, he probably would have done OK in SATS though I think that the whole system of tests is very problematic, and many of my sons' classmates would have benefited from more time to gain confidence in Maths, reading and writing (and for some who came to live here from non English speaking countries in the middle of the primary years, school being able to help them with that too)

DS2's experience has been less happy but I'm hoping now he's starting in year 10 that it will be better as GCSE options and higher/foundation levels mean there will be less of the problems he complained about lower down.

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If you're worried, just drop them an email asking for the rationale due to her SATs results. They should be able to explain.