DC being "top of their class"?

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I read this on MN a lot, posters stating that their DC are very bright and are "top of their class" and it's always confused me. British schools don't have such a system in place, surely? And certainly not one that is publicly shared with parents.

Are there actually primary schools around that routinely rank their pupils in terms of academic performance and then inform them of their position in this?

I'm sure the teachers have a very clear understanding of their pupils' relative strengths (academic and otherwise) but this isn't something that they tell parents about is it? Obviously they report to parents about their own child's progress, but would it not be hugely unprofessional to discuss that in terms of how this relates to their peers?

Primary schools make a huge fuss about kindness and teamwork and effort - you can hardly say these are neglected virtues. They won't get any public recognition for just being good at stuff, and it's hard to get recognition for effort too when you already consistently try your best so no one day stands out.

DS1 is in year 7. They recently had a maths assessment to then place them in ability classes. He came him and told be that he got 86% and that no one else got higher than him. He also said the teacher expected everybody to get about 45% at this stage. From that I can deduce that he is in the top few of his class/year. I don’t think schools do official rankings etc you are 25/30 but most teachers will give parents an impression of being top of the class if they are.
At parents evening he had just got a new teacher for English and she mentioned that when she was looking at the new class list she thought his target grade must be a mistake as it was so high but on meeting him and seeing his work she can now see it wasn’t a mistake!

In primary school it’s very easy to know who is top of the class really. The kids know exactly what group is the top group even when they put random labels on it. They also know exactly who is on what colour reading book etc.

Well there’s 7 in my DD’s class so it’s very easy for her (and me) to gauge where she is in the pecking order 😂

“I would short hand that to top of the class if I ever felt it necessary to be discussing it.”
Really? Why not “in the top group”?
Exactly the same number of letters!

Large academy primary here and lots of parent helpers coming in to listen to reading. Several other mothers have told me on nights out ‘DS1 is the only one on X colour reading book’. My standard response is ‘lots of work still to do on xxxx.’ But it doesn’t take too much of that kind of talk for parents to know exactly what order kids are in. At Y1 I remind everyone that age is a big factor...but maybe that’s easy for me to say when I have no concerns about DS1’s progress.

Primary schools make a huge fuss about kindness and teamwork and effort

well, yes, but they are usually rewards given to the ones who have achieved nothing else, and won't help you for 11+!
No one is pretending that being kind is wrong, but it shouldn't be the main focus. At least, again, it's not disruptive and by definition doesn't hurt anyone.

There are better rewards to get!

At our primary it isn't that the kindness award is the fallback if you don't get anything else, there is no reward or recognition for consistently good work except the satisfaction of doing it - you'd do better to do nothing 4 days of the week and be mediocre on the 5th. It was a revelation to friend's DS to go to secondary and suddenly get rewarded for plain good work.

But “Top of the class” could still mean that child is coasting, and doesn’t put as much effort in as the child who is middle of the class but busting a gut to be there. That’s why effort grades mean more than results to me. And that’s why I would take anyone boasting about their “top of the class” dc with a pinch of salt - because I’m not sure what they think it proves?

They know that they are in the top few, most will be aware of test results and whether they are in gifted programmes. No they won't know if they are number 1 but you get a feeling. I know my dd got the highest in maths including at gcse because she didn't drop a mark (she quit maths because despite this she hated it !)

These threads inevitably descend into boastfulness. As if someone thought a target grade was a mistake...it’s not like they go on infinitely and someone’s got to get the higher ones.

Communist, imagine they were predicted a GCSE grade 9 or something - many schools don't normally predict above a 7, particularly when exams are a long way off, as the upper levels are just too uncertain.

The kids mostly know especially if grouped by ability and/or given differentiated work. Also some parents do talk about their kids progress/achievement/levels so you can form an opinion then. Targets given in parents meetings can give info as well even if it's just about your kid, for example if a teacher says that their work now is at the level they expect for the end of the year, or that their targets are in order to get exceeding.. Add in a bit of knowledge of what it all means and you can normally tell if your kid is struggling,in the middle or in the top group.

We have been told my teachers in the past - DS even has a certificate from school for y6 saying "voted cleverest child in class". Not sure who thought giving that out at a parents awards ceremony was a good idea We were told scores relative to other children by teachers at times and once by Head. Top SATS results were given by school and you know who got into 11 plus schools. Also within top set ours were on tables by ability so some were on the top of top set table and obviously to children as they got given extra work. I would say its fairly obvious who top 10% are at a primary - kids will know as test results are read out. Top set alone often doesn't mean much - 2/3s the year can be in top set at primary. SATS scores also give good indication - kids with perfect scores or near perfect are likely to be top or close to it.

some parents do talk about their kids progress/ achievement/levels
Yep most of which should be taken with an enormous pinch of salt!

Again not necessarily a ranking order but my DD (year 5) is aware that red group are the highest group academically, she knows that her table is "top table" and she is regularly paired with less academic students to help them along.

We are also told at parents evening that she is in the top group and she is in top 3 for her class based on test results.

I don't have an issue with it, HOWEVER I think I may have an issue if she was in the lower groups and aware of it. Make of that what you will!!

I think the children do know. DD is in year 2 and seems rather competitive (compared to me) she obviously knows about book bands and is constantly striving to go higher. They are also tested on ability by choosing difficulty levels in Maths etc. At her school this is in the guise of Nandos chili levels. DD will only ever choose 'extra hot'. However I, or the class teacher, wouldn't describe her as top of the class.

The children absolutely know, so the parents do too if their child talks to them about it. People seem to be referring to kindness, teamwork etc as though a) they are not praised or valued in school (untrue) or b) as though academically able children are likely to be less kind (also obviously untrue).

At lots of schools (including my dc's), prizes are not given for academic achievement at all, but are given for progress and for contribution to school life, community service etc. So in fact the naturally academically bright ones don't necessarily get awards.

No ability tables at dc school and teachers would not tell you - it's meaningless anyway as rarely is one child good at everything - reading - maths - imagination - pe- concentration - kindness etc etc etc dd (year2) knows she good at maths reading and gymnastics on but no so good at writing / art as some of the others she is also kind funny and very dependable. Ds (reception) has no clue. I think he is about average and will meet most / all early years goals. He is super imaginative and very friendly boy. I think they are both top

DD7 is on the top table at school, they’re grouped by ability and they all know this. I went to the same school as she goes to now and I was on the second to top table. Everyone knew where they ranked then too.

Only reason I know my child is top of the class is because since reception she has always learnt with the year above - doing maths, literacy, spellings, reading etc she goes out for those lessons and sits with them. Another child has started to do this as well and now they sit with the rest of their own year but doing different work.
I'm very proud however I don't gloat to other parents etc the only reason they know is because they over heard the teacher telling me her spellings one day and they were shocked at the difficulty and then asked me how she is in other subjects and I said she's clever however all kids even out at some point as I didn't want to put any other children down.
She's always been very advanced though and because she's my eldest I just thought it was normal until she went to preschool then primary.
As long as the children are learning I don't think it matters where in "the rank" they are