Year 7 DD sets and homework

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My DD 12 is currently in set 1 for maths but thinks she will be moved down to set 2 as her results have not been as strong as others in the class. She’s feeling upset about it and as far as I understand it in set 2 you get a little more support which is probably what she needs. You can still potentially do well. Am I missing something? I’d also be grateful for any tips re homework etc. My DD will do what she’s asked and no more. I’m not sure how much to encourage, let her find her own way or be more pushy. My own childhood involved being pushed to get the best grades which created feelings of shame when I didn’t (other stuff going on at home too) so I feel like I don’t know what is normal. Should I get a tutor? A good friend is now sending her DD to private school which I could never afford anyway but I feel like I’m letting my DD down in some way. Also menopausal so panicking about everything. Any wise or kind words works be appreciated. Thank you.

First step is to find out how many sets there are. For example if there is 6 sets then set 1 and 2 are likely to be very similar, if there are only 3 sets then set 2 is going to be much different to set 1.

Maybe give her rewards if she does extra, ask teachers or the head of maths in the school what she needs to do to improve etc.

Happy to help via private message if you need any more support but please don't panic, sometimes students move up or down sets, especially in Year 7, it might just be a better group for her.

Your DD might be getting ahead of herself, has the teacher said anything about her moving down sets? It could just be that she's seen other children do better than her so thinks she's the worst but actually she's nowhere near the bottom of the group.

If she does move down and is upset about it, then that should be motivation for her to try hard to move back up again if there's an issue where she hasn't been working hard enough.

Doing what is asked of her on her homework is reasonable - what do you think she should be doing?

Some parents are insane about their kids being in the top set and this rubs off on the kids. Schools are pretty good at sorting them into sets, if she goes down then don't make it a big deal. You sound like you're being sensible about it, don't worry.

I understand there are 6 sets so not too big a move I think. Rewards definitely might help! Thank you for your kind reply, it made me tear up a little x

In some schools "set 2" is the same as "set 1" just a bit slower. That's the only difference.

Thanks for your reply. She says her marks were lower but you’re right, it might not be the case she’s moved.
re homework, I was wondering if she should be doing extra on the things she’s finds hard maybe?
Ive told her it’s ok to feel disappointed if she’s moved and going forward to think about which bits she found tricky and to maybe work on those. And that it doesn’t really matter which set.

Thank you x

Does she do Sparx?

Yes does Sparx. I let her just get on with the homework but maybe I should sit with her more?

Also, make sure you have the CGP Maths KS3 - Higher Level revision book ☺️

I wonder if your DD struggles with one particular topic rather than the whole year? Ask her what she's struggling with.

I would buy her a nice new pencil and notebook. And ensure she does good bookwork in Sparx. If you login you'll be able to see if she's "green" for book work (good) or amber / yellow (needs help)

Can you login and see? X

Ooh thank you re checking in sparx for good work- I didn’t know that. And I’ll get that book’ I know she gets very stressed being cold called on in class and want to help her build her confidence.

My kids are in consecutive year groups. At the same time the kid at the end of y8 was moved from set 1 to set 2 and the sibling at the end of y7 was moved from set 2 to set 1. It was actually the best thing for each of them. The one moved up was worried about keeping up with the very maths-y kids but has held their own once they got over the confidence barrier. The one moved down doesn't cope well with pressure and benefits from not being out of their depth. It could all change again but parents' evening suggest that my 2 are each in the right place. Its isn't a big deal so long as you don't tie your self esteem to your academic performance.

Why don't you sit with her during maths homework until the end of Year 7 and see how it goes? Sometimes seeing your "book work" dial turn green gives a confidence boost ☺️ we had the same problem with my son!

Don't stress. 💐 even if she does end up in Set 2 she may thrive being top of the class in Set 2. Same work but slightly less pressure! You never know x

As well as there’s unlikely to be too much difference between set 1 and 2 in a six set year, there’s also an element of personality to it. Some children do better being at the bottom and having someone to chase while others do better being more towards the top of the set to give them a bit more confidence. I doubt it’s purely based on marks once the teachers get to know the pupils.

The school will put her in the best set for her. Bear in mind that there's likely on 30 spaces in Set 1, so if she's student 31, she will be in Set 2 regardless of how well she is doing.

She also has no frame of reference with anyone else. It makes no difference what maths set she is in - what matters is how she does in GCSEs in 4 years' time.

I'd encourage her to stop focussing on what set she is in, and focus more on improving her maths in areas where she is weak. If she doesn't know, she could look back at previous tests and see where she lost marks. Or you could ask the teacher.

What she needs to understand is that there are only 30 places in each class usually because that is the number of desks. If 47 children are all capable of being in the top set then 17 of them are going to be in the second set. It is as simple as that. There is always an overlap. Some of those in the second set may get moved up and some children may get moved down. I don't think it would be based on one test.

Talk to her about GCSE maths papers, there is a foundation paper and a higher paper. The likelihood is that the top 2 or 3 or 4 sets will be sitting the higher paper. It depends on the cohort and how well they are performing.

This is also about resilience, teach her that lower marks means she can put in some effort now and let it motivate her to do better, study more for the test, ask for help when she needs it. Look over her work, see where she needs help. As she is in year 7 this should be the same for all her subjects.

Thank you. She doesn’t deal well with pressure so I actually think the move could be a good one. Spot on re self esteem and academic performance, I really don’t want her to feel how I felt (and often still do).

Relax OP, it doesn’t matter which set she is in as long is the class is working at a pace that suits her.

I remember when my DD was moved down to set 2 in science in year 9 because she was struggling a bit with biology. She was distraught but it was the best thing for her. She received additional support, the pace was a bit slower and now she is on target for 3 science 9’s at GCSE (currently sitting them so fingers crossed for August!).

Also, re homework, I’ve always thought that at secondary, it’s best to just leave them to it. They need to learn to be able to independently study.

I thought book work on Sparx was just how well the pupil does at writing down all of their answers and then typing it in for a "book work check". My son gets all the answers correct but is too lazy to write them down. His book work is in the red while all of his answers are right.

Is your daughter doing XP Boost and Target on Sparx OP? If not that might be an easy, small bit of extra work to help her if she wants to improve.

Not sure about the Boost/Target thing, will check! Thank you

My DD has been all over the place in maths sets. She clawed her way up to set 1, then we asked for her to moved down because she seemed to understand classwork, but then have completely forgotten it by the time she tried to do her homework. Fundamentally, she is reasonably able, but just not very interested and won't be carrying on with maths after gcse, so just needs to in the best set to get a good grade at gcse. What is your goal for your DD?

Hard to say for sure but I don’t think she naturally finds a lot of maths easy so likely won’t go beyond gcse.

Sparx works like that, if she is getting stuff wrong it will give her more questions on those topics.

She could do XP boosters for extra questions.

DS was in set 5 out of 7 and got an 8 at GCSE. What mattered was that the class pace worked for him. DD is in Y9 and we asked for her to be moved from set 1 to set 2 because the pace was just too fast for her and she was getting stressed that she wasn’t keeping up. Neither of them took further maths as that was only for set 1, but further maths wouldn’t have been right for either of them anyway so it really wasn’t a concern. We have been far more focused on them getting the best GCSE grade in ‘normal’ maths that they could.

There is zero point being in a set that is too hard or easy for you just for pride’s sake.