sorting classes according to ability

[creamandsugar]

Hi, dont know if this is normal but
Speaking to my dds teacher this morning,she's still only in Montessori going to primary school attached in Sept,that they are sorting the class into levels . There are 3 separate classes per year and from what I understood that the weakest students will be in one, medium in another etc.

This seems really wrong! At such a young age,some aren't even 5!!
Aibu?

If poorly managed, then mixed ability may have an adverse impact on the higher achieving children.

But with a good teacher, appropriate use of table arrangement, occasional 'peer mentoring' and so on, it can work very well for all the children with no group disadvantaged, unlike with the arbitrary division of children into ability classes.

Dd is in year 6 and would be called a high achiever. She has not been disadvantaged by the scrapping of setting. Targeted tuition for high, middle and low achievers in particular subjects or even areas of individual subjects where they might not be performing so well is provided at our school. It acknowledges that some children may struggle with a particular mathematical concept, or a particular area of literacy, or might be strong at literacy but weaker at maths.

Ds1 is in year 3 and is particularly strong in literacy and reading. It hasn't been entirely possible within his class to provide the challenge in that area for him, because he especially able in, for example, reading/comprehension and there hasn't been a guided reading group within the class that matches his ability. So the school has arranged for him to join a different year group for some of the lessons. Setting within the year group would not have made a difference.

If a school is well run and children are given appropriate targets and taught well, there shouldn't be the need for rough sets within a cohort. Certainly not at age 5!

Maths and reading can be set for regardless of whether the class is streamed or not.But what about the other work, topics, stories ,humanities? I would say the topic activities you could plan would vary tremendously depending on the ability of the cohort.

Well I finally managed to ask the teacher how they sorted out the 4 different classes and what she said was that they make up the classes by ability, who they are friends with, and a even mix of boys and girls. I asked would they change round the class during the year and no.
She said ability was factored in so not just one teacher will get many students that need a lot of attention. they will be evenly devided between the 4 classes.

I am a firm advocate of rigorous and early setting.

However, I would say 4 years old is too early. Can teachers comfortably state at that age who has the highest ability across the board (and I mean ability not achievement, which is a totally different concept)?

At 4 my premature summer born twins could not read a word, write their name, hold a pen or do up their own shoes .

Now they are both considered very high ability and high achievers. One attends one of the most selective schools in the country (which the early high achievers ion reception did not manage!)...

Ah, so OP the classes are split not just on ability but by age, gender, friendships etc.

That is quite normal.

My dcs attended a large primary school where there was much effort to ensure an even spread of children in the classes. They are swapped around every year.

In the infants there were "tables" for English and Maths, and in the Juniors they are set across the year for these subjects. Seems to work ok.

Btw dd is the youngest in the year, premature, and in Yr R couldn't (or wouldn't) read one single word. In year 6 she has just done Level 6 SATS for English and Maths.

I think that early streaming and setting is not a very good idea apart from in the most staggeringly obvious cases.

My DD (ending Y5) has been at the same school since nursery and I have seen many DC earmarked as high achievers and/or high ability come a cropper as their early "promise" fails to materialize as they mature, for multiple reasons. The primary years are a marathon, not a sprint. Of course, some DC who were clearly bright aged 2 are also near the top of the class aged 9/10, but there are also plenty of new competitors.