To think school should have informed us of child's set?

77 replies

NotTonightDeidre · 30/01/2026 00:29

DD is in Y10 & we've just received GCSE predicted grades.
She's been predicted a 4 in her MFL.

This has come as a bit of a surprise as she was working at greater depth all the way through Y9.

I've found out today that she's been placed in a foundation level class and not higher tier. When I asked why, it basically came down to number of students.

They're now saying DD has "switched off". However, she's been telling me she's frustrated that others are messing about, don't listen and don't understand basic language concepts.

AIBU to think school should have told us if they were putting her in foundation tier? I'm really quite angry about the situation.

She's a bright kid & predicted 6/7/8 in her other subjects.

OP posts:

Bushmillsbabe · 30/01/2026 12:02

At year 10 level she can tell you herself, at year 5 level my daughter tells me which set she is in for core subjects. She got moved down as talking too much, and asked me to ask the teacher to move her back up again to be with her mates. That was a hard no from me as I could see her engagementhad dropped, I asked her to ask the teacher herself what she needed to do to get moved up, the teacher told her that if she got 65% or above at next test she could move up. Which gave her a kick up the bum to engage, she worked super hard and got 88%!

Your daughter can advocate for herself. If she believes the teachers assessment of her ability and engagement level is wrong, she can ask to politely discuss it with them. If it's not wrong she can chose to work harder or chose to stay where she is.

RawBloomers · 30/01/2026 20:55

Midsizegal29 · 30/01/2026 11:12

As an ex-MFL teacher, it is actually really common for bright, able students to score 1-2 grades below what they get in English/Humanities subjects due to incredibly harsh and unfair grading from the exam boards. I can say from experience this is true and my school would only support entry into the higher tier if the student repeatedly demonstrated achieving a solid grade 6 or above in class assessments and mock exams.

Unfortunately the cut off mark on the higher tier papers is so strict, and if DD has a better chance of securing a 4/5 on the foundation paper than potentially getting a 3 or a U on the higher tier due to the tiny grade boundary allowed, she is better off doing the foundation paper. Lots of parents think Foundation means worse, but it isn’t- it’s just a different distribution of the grades, usually is slightly less content than the higher tier paper, and can remove some stress and anxiety about getting to the grade 4 on higher.

If you are concerned, I’d suggest a calm conversation with you, DD and her teacher to discuss what she needs to do to improve and have the chance at the higher paper or moving up to to the higher tier class. Offer to supervise her sitting practice papers at home to revise and practice the skills, or see if they are running booster sessions to build on what they’re doing in class.

Have you actually bothered to read OP's posts?

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