"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?

ds's primary (in later years) and secondary schools always had sets for maths and english. Other subjects were mixed ability due to timetabling.

For maths and english the kids know themselves what set they are in, the top and bottom sets are usually very obvious, the second set the teacher might mention it, which makes it obvious who the 3rd set is etc

DC's school only sets for maths but on the timetable they are Ma1, Ma2 ... where 1 is the top set, 2 is the second set etc.

What you can't tell (for example), and this varies year by year is whether there are equal sets (so Ma1 and Ma2 are both top sets of equal level) or whether there is other timetabling in place (one year DD was in Ma3 which was actually the top maths set for students taking Combined Science as that was how they'd timetabled it).

I think the children can tell whether they are in a strong, medium or weak set.

Most kids are fully aware of who is good at subjects and when children are set/streamed (less of that these days), it is very clear to them who is in top set!

I don't understand why a parent would be so uninterested in their child's education that they don't know or seem to care.
For us it was clear from the timetabling and from info from the school re equal halves etc.
If my child changes sets I'd certainly want to know if they are going up or down.

DS is 13 and knows which sets he is in. Has done since starting secondary and hasn't moved despite trying his very best to get dropped down in French.

To be honest I've never looked at his timetable so couldn't tell you if it says on there. He's good at letting me know if he needs Food Tech ingredients and if he has PE.

The kids know and will tell you.

You may be told by the school.

The classes will be labelled by set number.

If none of this is happening it's likely your DC's school doesn't set the classes. If you're wondering though, your children's school is probably the place to ask rather than Mumsnet!

I've asked at parents evening and have been told what stage my children are at. I ask so I can then provide further help if required in certain subjects.

I did my GCSEs in '93 and was in the top sets for English (Lit. and Lang.), maths, German (once we were studying for GCSE) and science. Everything else was mixed ability.

I work in my DCs school so that's how I know. However, by the age of 6/7 my DCs had a good idea about who was in the bottom set and who was the top set. They figure these things out.

My DS knows which set he is in. His school reports also contains graphs for each subject showing his exam/test results compared to all other children in his class so you can see how he is performing relative to the other students in his class.

Each school does things differently. Around here there is a school that doesnt set for anything, school just for maths, school just for maths and english and school that sets for everything.

Some use timetable codes, some dont,
The fact though that you dont seem to know which if any sets your child is in is more unusual

DS's school told us.

There was a meeting at the end of Year 8 where they explained that top set would do GCSE a year early, then further maths, two middle sets and two bottom sets, maybe 10 students each, that would get more individual attention. And not to panic if your DS was in bottom set as that didn't mean that they wouldn't get an A (grammar school).

Sport was also streamed so everyone got a better game, but everything else was mixed.

If children are set then the brightest know from Year 1 or 2. Some primaries use colours rather than numbers but they bright kids figure things out fairly quickly. Ask other parents if you don't want to ask the school. Not sure of the ages of your children but it is important to understand whether your child is excelling and heading for Uni or struggling with things because as a parent you can push for extra support and help them make options choices etc

You might need to watch that a little bit. The well-behaved kids who quietly sit and get on with their work can sometimes get overlooked, and don't get the same level of support and teaching as the ones who mess about, or are struggling. My dd once said of her Y3 teacher: "Some weeks she ignores me completely".

When I was at school we were streamed for every subject except art and technology. It was on our timetables and also the teachers used to address us by the set, eg ‘set 1, quieten down please!’. Do you have your DCs’ CAT test results? They are what schools usually use to stream so might give you a rough idea.

I don’t know about nowadays, but when I did my GCSEs in the 90s there were different level papers for maths and science at least, higher, intermediate and foundation. I can’t remember whether we were specifically told what sets we were in, but we all knew which was top set, middle sets and bottom set and what paper we would be entered for.

my DC, just at the end of Y9, knows exactly what sets he’s in. I think some teachers tell them and some don’t, but all the classes have codes anyway.

I knew which sets I was in myself when I was in secondary school so could tell my parents. It’s usually pretty obvious, especially as they get towards GCSE age as different sets will complete different level papers/ coursework etc.

Some secondary schools openly set for all subjects, some set for some subjects, some don’t set at all, some set ‘by stealth’ (although the kids usually work it out). Sounds as though your DC’s schools might not set?

As PPs have said, my kids both worked it out for themselves.

However, it's pretty obnoxious to let other parents know that your DCs are in Top Sets For Everything, so I'd try and let it wash over you, OP.

DD2 didn't take long to work out the meaning behind being in Giraffes compared to Gazelles and Crocodiles. They did change it for the following year, but being an Eagle instead of a Owl or a Hummingbird still held the same messages.

When I was at high school, it'd be on the timetable, so for me it'd be something like 11H1 so 11 for the year, H for my house, and 1 for set 1. Could you look at his timetable to see if there's anything like this?

Secondary school children generally know! My son's school has the class code thing too, SciA1, EngA2, MaB1 etc etc.

I think at primary the more able children are by nature observant and work it all out pretty quickly. At DD's school they put them on different colour tables from year 1 - DD would tell me what book band everybody was on and it was obvious she was on the "top table". They know who the other brightest kids are.

They stopped doing the ability tables a while ago but she now talks about the greater depth kids - they are sometimes given different work or taken off in a group. Similarly she knows what kids in the class receive extra help.

I didn't know my kid was in the gifted and talented stream at school, from reception, until he was in year five (obv not very smart myself).

Child was happy to come home and tell me about the child who only had to do five sums to get a prize when he had to do 20 for nothing (I did explain diversity in learning).

So he could clearly see who in the class were in an intervention group (like himself for handwriting) but couldn't tell who was in top sets at all (him).

The class is not physically divided into tables or sets though, The children are next to peers they may have to help or who help them or who partner better together for other reasons than ability at the task so I think thats better than the old top middle and bottom set table thing.

Codes
Fr1=french set 1
all on timetable