"He's in top sets for everything"

[isitanywonderthat]

How do people know this? Genuine question, I have 2 dc now in secondary school and I haven't a clue what art they are in for anything. Never have at secondary or primary. Never been given this information and never asked.

How do all the mners with DC in top sets have this information?

I just had DS year 7 parents evening last Thursday and his teachers all said he was in the top set. It’s pretty common knowledge in his school. He had already told me he was early on in year 7 and I did believe him as didn’t think he had a reason to lie and then it was confirmed to me by the teachers.

In secondary they do. Dd is on year 9 and had been set for English and maths since day 1. They are set in Science at the end of year 8

@SpiderinaWingMirror they cannot set from day 1. They don’t know what their capacity is. Year 7 is form based learning. They cannot be set until after assessments. That’s standard for all secondaries.

Teachers tell you at parents evening. My children also tell me what set they're in

No it's not, some schools set from KS2 results and some from their own entrance exams. There is so much variation around here. Some schools don't set at all whilst other set for practically every subject from day 1.

Most schools don’t advertise which kids are in which sets which as a parent I find confusing and unhelpful and misguided. Great if the school system was completely different but given it’s based on a certain type of academic intelligence for neurotypical children then schools should just be transparent.

DD’s year group were set after October half-term in Year 7 - that was the September 2018 intake. DS’s year - intake September 2020 - were set from day one with no movement between the sets for months because of Covid bubbles. The sets were based on the CATs taken across the borough in October of Year 6 for banding purposes plus predicted SATs results from their primary school (no actual SATs because of Covid).

Mine know their sets in high school.

That’s not day 1.

How could you imagine that you know what is done in all secondaries? Have you been to them all or conducted some sort of survey that got a 100% response rate?

They can if they do CAT4s before the start of term.

My dds secondary are set from day 1 for maths/science/English. They have right hand and left hand so essentially 2 top sets. They are numbered l1 and R1 down to l/r 4 so 8 classes in the year. They are L or R for everything including non set classes as they have a 2 week timetable.

My dds are in top set for everything they are set for and they/us were told before the start of the year. I guess this was based upon primary results then tested through initial activity (let's see what you know guys). There was a little movement after the first half term but not loads.

They are very open about this to the extent I didn't realise schools weren't!

Main thing is DD was happy, but it was a combination of asking and DD telling us. My four year old DD understand in first term where she was - she wasn't told it was the top set but said it was the hardest set and boring!

In primary school, from reception the group lists for maths and literacy were up on the window. They were colour coordinated red to purple, it was fairly apparent quite quickly that all the bright kids were in purple and the less able kids were in red. These groups changed a little bit over the year but the brighter kids always knew which set they were in. My daughter tells me which set she is in now for maths at secondary school and the teachers also give an indication at parents evening, but maybe that is just the higher sets.

My 13 year old was set fairly early on in year 7. So that's not standard for all secondaries. They carried out tests that looked very like iq ones. He was put in the express set and I was told that in October/November of year 7.

Ask the head of year it’s that easy