"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?

The kids know, unless a subject is mixed ability. When DS started school they were put in groups for maths and literacy from term two. The groups had names not numbers but he knew at four years old what the groups were.

In my school we went into sets in the 3rd year (year 9 in new money). 1-3 were lower 4-6 middle and 7-9 higher. I was in 9 and my friend's parents came into school and (unsuccessfully) kicked off about her being in 8 because, although they were all higher sets, 9 sounded higher! 🙄 I found out years later from my mum that a similar scenario was played out when they wanted her to start school in September with her nursery friends, rather than starting after Christmas because it used to be the term before your 5th birthday then. They were obviously concerned she'd be behind if she missed that essential 3 months of sand and water play. 😁😁

The title on her exercise book “Maths. Mrs Smith. Set 1.” gave me my first clue!

Generally though the kids have always known. Dd told us about groups and that each group did different work depending on how easy they found it when she was in reception.

Also teachers need a way of knowing quickly which group was which so there would always be a pattern. Maths groups were about how many sides the shape had, reading groups were about the size of the sea animal. And the kids know who is able and who isn’t. They know who has their hand up in every lesson. They know who gets high marks in tests. They know who struggles. So it is easy to work out which group is which.

I always find it confusing when people don’t seem to know these things.

When I was at school (showing my age here) we knew because some groups were doing O'levels and others were doing CSE.

Kids usually know who the bright ones are from the kick-off anyway.

Oh come on, I suspect if your children can’t work out what set they’re in they are not very bright! So you could safely assume bottom set.

of course the children know who the clever children are in the same way they can tell who the sporty kids are. I assure you if there was an A team netball team and a B team netball team it would be obvious to the children.

The kids know which set they are in, or a teacher is discussing with a parent (e.g Jane has done really well this term if she continues to progress we might move her up to set 1 if we all agree that is the best decision for her). When I was in school we only had sets for English, Maths and Science which were 1, 2 and 3. Set 3 were given a different expectation when it came to GCSEs (they would only be expected to achieve grade D-C max, set 2 would be aiming for C/B and set 1 would be aiming for B and above) generally parents would be told what grade their child was expected to receive on reports too.

As for primary school again I assume it would be similar parent/teacher correspondence, my DD is in a group that needs a bit more assistance and so has to leave the classroom for certain subjects, she doesn't like doing this so we are working with the teacher to try and bring her up to a level where she can stay in the classroom (although probably still needing some extra support).

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.
This. DS was one of the youngest in a class with an 19 month age range and he knew most of the birth months and who was turning 5 and who was already 6, who was in what group or on what level.

Most children speak to their parents and tell them

Odd yours don't know, or know and haven't said anything

We get told via the time table. Sets for every lesson including PE.

However, it's an unspoken rule that parents never discuss or mention. That's really gauche.

Kids know, I remember being at primary school in year 2 and being aware I was in the bottom set for maths but the top set for everything else. Nobody was ever told outright ‘this is the top/bottom set’ but you can tell even as a 6yo where you fit.

Andvif I'd not been told it would be my first question at parents evening!

Being in the top set isn't always quite what it's cracked up to be. Especially if you are at the lower end. Far better to be motivated by being at the top in set 2 than demoralised by struggling with the work in set 1.

Your kids should know, and if they don't they need to pay more attention. If they or you must know they can email their teachers

My DS goes to a secondary school that has sets for almost all subjects from early on in Y7. They are all told what sets they are in, it's on the timetable code, and if they are moved, the reason for the move is explained.

Having said that I don't understand the boasting behind it (being proud yes but some people do act like it's down to their superior parenting). I was in top sets throughout school, I was one of the brightest in the year group, I knew this and so did my peers this wasn't through some fantastic effort I put in, it certainly wasn't down to my parents who literally never paid me any attention what so ever or spent any money on my education (my mother refused to buy me underwear - she certainly wasn't paying out for tutors and books!). I was rubbish at sports (still am) and my social skills have always been non existent so I wasn't brilliant all round, just academically lucky.

My eldest DD struggles academically despite our best efforts, it simply doesn't come easily to her. She is however fantastic at drama, very outgoing and a social butterfly, and enjoys being active. Her younger sister is more like me (socially awkward but quite intelligent) again nothing I've done. Nothing to do with my parenting, just her personality.

My son is in top set for science. I don't know about his others because he doesn't tell me, presumably because he's not in top set and also because he's not sure how many sets there are so it's hard to judge unless you are set one.

However, it's an unspoken rule that parents never discuss or mention. That's really gauche.
I didn't, but other parents at the school gate frequently brought it up. Especially when DS turned 5 and the mothers who volunteered for reading had assumed he was a year older (despite the fact that he was the smallest in the class). Sometimes you can't avoid it.

We were in sets for English, maths and science. It was pretty obvious by the people you were in a class with which set you were in.

All other classes were mixed.

Very old school teaching. If this is still happening at your dcs school then they need some up to date training.

A friend was in middle set for maths at secondary and her parents who were teachers were always pushing her and trying to get her moved up a set 🙁

Our school used to use codes that would correspond with set but have changed it so they now don't mean that. Also we have switched to mixed sets for all but core subjects.

If you don't know you ask the school. Obviously. You should know OP.

My ds has the number of the set at the end of the code for each lesson on his timetable.

DS knew at Primary School. The maths sets were given shapes names, the higher the number of sides the higher the set!

But even without that obvious clue all the pupils knew who were the best at maths, writing, reading etc

When I was at school they were named by letter which were in the order they were in the school name. For example Springfield school - sets S,P,R,I,N,G,F with the top set being S.

There were seven sets. Unfortunately the bottom one was called R and one of the lower ones was S so predictably they got nicknamed S for stupid and R for something even less nice.

Everybody knew which set was which.