“My child is top of their class”

[BluthsFrozenBananas]

I see this on threads quite often, I just saw it on another thread. Or my child is on a higher book band than any other classmate, or is top in maths, and I wonder, how the hell do people know that?

My DD is in y6, at no time since she’s been in primary have I known her “ranking” in the class, or that of any other child. Neither did I have any idea what book band others were on in the days of reading books.

I get if your child is super bright and doing extension work far beyond their years you might assume they were “top” of the class, but even then surely it’s not a given as teachers don’t routinely give out information about other children’s accidemic achievements.

Or am I missing out on something and schools publish super secret league tables of children which only the parents of children at the top get to see?

I couldn't tell you the names of all the class nevermind what stage they are at.

Its because they through other book bags ask and nosey in on parents days

I've only heard that from a parent at a private independent school.

My ds tells me he is on the hardest book in his class and all the kids in the class say he is the cleverest. I have no idea if it is true and as he is very confident kids probably think he is clever because he tells facts with great conviction, again no idea if half his facts are actually true or not. Maybe some people take their kids word for it when they come out with things like my ds does 🤷‍♀️

I've never seen it on here. Or heard it in real life.

1. my eldest is in all the advanced literacy and numeracy programs and I see results.

2. my youngest claims he's the top of his class. But then he also says he'd be a dead tie with Usain bolt...

At primary I knew my child was top of his class in maths via a number of reasons.

• he told me.
• his friends told me.
• he went up to the next class for maths lessons (which he told me and the teachers discussed with me), and he was the only child doing so in his year and from what he told me throughout the school at that time.
• at parents evenings teachers would discuss how they were challenging him, the fact that he offer worked alone on extension work etc.

But it was a small primary with a limited intake (17 in his year, about 13 in most years until that point) and he clearly has very good mathematical abilities.

Since moving to the US we do actually get their grades and quite a bit of info about reading levels etc.

However as far as “top of the class” goes we know that exactly the way we knew in the U.K. - because the teacher told us.

I’ve never looked in a book bag in my life, I’m not in the least bit interested in how anyone else’s kid is doing. But then I’d also never tell anyone in RL that my D.C. was top of their class.

Ive seen it on here a few times- it’s part of the MN Bingo you can play when a breastfeeding v formula feeding thread comes up.

Along with “never gets sick”, it’s a badge of honour to bolster whichever method of feeding the OP has chosen.

In the last school my DC went to there was a year group of 60ish. They were streamed from y1 into three groups. In each group the children were then streamed onto class tables. Children were then moved up and down tables in line with their ability. In case there was any room for doubt after that, then the children's attainment targets were up on the class wall.

It seemed unnecessarily brutal and thankfully it's not a strategy employed by their new school who manages to perform just as well.

My DS is top of his class for a lot of things. I know because he tells me. His reading age is the highest. He gets the highest scores in tests. I never tell anyone this though as it could easily change! If I am asked (e.g. by an 11 plus tutor) I would describe him as "top set" though.

I bet they're also tall and slim and would rather have houmus than cake.

To clarify he has never said he is top of his class, just things like we got our test results today and I got the highest for example.

Good point op. No one mentions their child being the bottom of the class do they.

He would rather have burger and chips.

No idea, it hadn’t actually occurred to me before but you’re right OP!

Billy Bullshitting parents I suspect

Mine are at an independent school and I have no idea of their "position" in their classes.

I should probably add that my kids were not at the top of the class in case my above post looks like an extended brag.

Mines at a private school and nearly got banned from assembly for flossing too hard.

I wonder this. Do teachers actually tell parents this? Surely that's the only way you'd know.

Do teachers actually tell parents this?

Yes, they do. I’m not sure why that’s massively surprising tbh.

I was always “top of the class”. My parents knew because my mum was told by the teacher and they discussed how I was being challenged.

They also discussed how I was fundamentally lazy and would try and get away with the bare minimum.

They know because of the exam results, but it's usually different ones top in different subjects. (Talking about secondary school here). In my DD's class, there's one girl who's often top and known as the class genius, then others who are top in a particular subject.

Never been told by a teacher, but mine aren't top, so they wouldn't ;-)

Whenever I’ve spoken to teachers it’s always just been about DD and how she’s doing measured against her previous performance and the expected achievements of her age, never about how she’s doing compared to others. It wasn’t until 11 plus time a couple of weeks ago I had any inkling which children were the most academically inclined based on who took it and who didn’t.

At my children’s school they are sat on different tables for Maths and English according to ability. So I know if they are in groups 1, 2 or 3.