Year 7 (who is very good at maths) has been put in the bottom sets.

[ReevesJeeves]

My DD has always been very good at Maths. In Year 6, she achieved Greater Depth in her Maths SATS (achieving 115/120). Since joining Year 7, she has been in a mixed ability Maths Set. In the work that has been sent home from Secondary and that is set on Sparx, she is getting 80% - 90% correct, independently.

We have just had a letter home today, advising that Maths will be set after half term, and my DD will be in Set 5 of 6! The letter also explains that she has been assessed as finding Maths challenging and not to worry about sets, every child will be assisted individually. AIBU to think the school doesn’t know my DD at all, and to send an email querying how they came to this decision? I fail to see how she can now be finding maths challenging and in Set 5 of 6, having achieved 115/120 in her SATS only months ago. Maths has always been a subject she has excelled in, right down to her KS1 Times Tables test where she scored 100%. BTW this is not a selective school or grammar, it’s mainstream state, so it’s not as though the department will be awash with Maths geniuses (in the least offensive way). I also don’t want to appear as a trouble maker or someone the school will be fed up with, but I think this needs to be questioned to find out what has gone wrong so to speak.

My husband thinks I shouldn’t say anything as the school will just think I’m a neurotic mum, I disagree and I think it needs to be dealt with and questions asked pronto - something has clearly gone drastically wrong either with the teachers assessment of DD or in the way DD is presenting herself in class?!

My husband thinks I shouldn’t email as they will just think I am a busybody and may then treat DD differently but I completely disagree.

Has she bombed her Cat4s?
(Or whatever assessment tool the school use?)
Or, is it a large year cohort that is just very good at maths?
Or, did her primary school coach them all to get greater depth and now their understanding of mathematical concepts is lacking?
Do contact the HofD as it could be an admin error.

You should contact them, but don't be accusatory, just ask how she has been allocated to that set.

Sounds like an admin error. There's no way they would want kids with DD's SATs score in bottom set. It would screw up their progress 8.

You have to contact them. Do it quick before half term.

I would definately query it. Similar happened to my DD athough this was a long time ago. I hated doing it but I rang the school. Turned out to be a typo on a spreadsheet and they swiftly moved her up

If you word your query correctly you won't seem like a busy body. The best approach is to ask for an explanation of the criteria used to decide the sets rather than ask if there has been a mistake. The explanation of how the decision was made will show up wether there has been a mistake or not.

Do all her other sets seem to fit with your expectations?

Your DH is being ridiculous.

The whole purpose of a parent is to keep an eye out for their child.

Asking a polite question is the sort of behaviour schools expect and respect.

I had the same and did query it, apologising for being that parent. Turned out she had the highest score in the year and when they sorted the groups her name was stuck in the header in excel so they assumed she had missed the tests and just put her into one of the middle groups! She was moved with no problem!! It's always worth a polite query!

Have you actually spoken to your daughter about this? Have you asked her how she has been finding maths so far this term? Have you looked at her homework to see how she’s getting on?

Sorry I clicked the wrong option the vote. I think you should politely challenge this

Similar happened to my son, I was told at parents evening that he ranked 99 (out of 120) in the year for maths, and not to worry as they would give extra help in lower sets. I queried it and it turned out his teacher had been telling people all evening their percentage score as a year group ranking - so DS had actually scored 99 percent (and come 2nd in the year) rather than being position 99. By the time we saw him, he had already met about ten parents and given them incorrect information - it only came to light because I knew for a fact that DS is outstandingly good at maths and no way was he coming near the bottom quartile in the year.

I wonder if something similar may have happened here?

I haven’t told her what the letter says. I asked her how she was finding maths, she said easy and I asked if they’d done any tests recently and she said yes, and the feedback from the teacher was that she had done well. Her lowest Sparx score has been 80% correct, most others have been in the 90%s.

It’s definitely set 5 of 6, as in second lowest, and the immediate paragraph under that states that students in sets 4-6 are assessed as finding maths challenging and needing extra support.

The only thing I can think is an admin error, the teacher not having a clue who my DD is, or DD spectacularly messing up class work (this seems the least likely explanation)

My son was also put in a lower set for maths due to a mix up of students (his name very similar to another child). I did contact school after and the maths teacher was surprised that he was in her set but he did stay there for a term. Teacher gave him extra work and loved having him in the class and he quite liked being top of the class. They moved around again the next term and he was then put in the correct class. Definitely worth a check with the school.

You need to ignore your husband and query it with the school. They’ve probably just got her mixed up with another kid with a similar name.

Our school have sent out wrong emails like this more than once

Sounds like an administrative mistake. Even if it’s not, I would like to know how the schools teaching has resulted in my daughters maths capability deteriorating so quickly!

Email the teacher and ask what she got in the recent test to see why she is in the set. Perhaps go from the angle 'I am wondering about DD's maths group, she has never struggled with maths, gaining xyz in SATS and seems to get higher marks in SPARX. Please could you let me know what she got in the recent tests and confirm that she is in the correct set. Also what can we do to help at home'

Ex head of maths at a secondary school here. Email in! Admin errors happen, and set changes always provoke conversations with parents. You won’t stand out from the many other emails they’ll be expecting to get. I genuinely put a child in set 3 rather than set 1 because their class teacher typed the score in wrong! Wouldn’t have noticed if the parent hadn’t raised it at the time. My school had around 300 pupils per year group so mistakes were inevitable.

I agree that an admin error sounds like the most likely explanation. Just get in touch with them and explain that as she was working at greater depth at primary, you wonder whether there has been a mix-up, and if not, would it be possible to have a bit more information about where she appears to be struggling.

They made a mistake with my kid and it all because of an incorrect cell in a spreadsheet. Raise it, might be easily solved

Your husband’s being lazy and sexist. Your role as a parent is to advocate for your child. Just send a breezy “FAO head of maths, please can you check the set for my DD as there seems to have been a mistake”.

Your husband is being ridiculous. It’s your job as a parent to advocate for your child and this seems like a mistake has been made maybe? As long as you are being polite and asking for the rationale behind this decision I very much doubt school would feel you are interfering? You are doing your daughter a disservice if you don’t ask!

Send the email. I’m a secondary teacher, though not in a subject that sets. Explain your reasoning and ask if there definitely hasn’t been some kind of admin error. As long as you’re not rude, it’s perfectly fine to try and get this sorted.

YANBU. Tell them all of that and see what the response is. You need to understand what is going on.