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?!

BTW my dd was placed in middle set for maths in Year 7 when she had previously been one of the top in her class. I queried with the teachers and they had no problem discussing with me, showing me where DD had struggled and where she had done well. I wasn't demanding or unpleasant and they were perfectly happy to discuss with me in a prodcutive and constructive conversation. In this case, DD stayed where she was but I understood why and where she might need more support to do better. Your case is way more drastic and in any school worth its salt the teachers should be prepared to discuss this with you as a core part of their job.

I don't really agree with parents constantly contacting the school for trivial things...but this isn't trivial.

It's not unreasonable to ask for the information you have been given to be double-checked and, if correct, for you to understand the rationale for the decision when it is at odds with the information you have available about your daughter's performance.

I'd be polite and frame the request as wanting to understand the position in order to support your daughter, as you are worried that she will take the news badly and you don't feel able to explain the position to her based on what you know of her performance in maths.

This happened to my sister when she started secondary and I remember telling my mum she would embarrass her by asking; turned out someone had mixed up two names on a spreadsheet, it was all sorted the next day and my sister went on to get an A* in GCSE maths.

YANBU, either there’s a genuine issue which you/DD need to get on top of, or a mistake. Also, have you seen your DD’s hard copy of the test (the teacher had made a significant error when adding up the marks for my DC).

Mistakes happen and if you don’t speak up for your daughter, who will.
My friend was at a parent teacher meeting for secondary pupils and a teacher gave her a glowing report of her son and his ability in a certain subject.
She knew her ds struggled with this particular subject so questioned the teacher nicely.
Turns out the teacher had mixed him ip with another boy 😮😩

Echoing other posters, I absolutely would ask about this! A simple question is not the same as picking a fight, it's just being an active participant in your child's life.

Personally I'd write something like:

"Dear X,

Just checking if this set assignment (5) is correct for DD?

After a 115 SAT and her reporting that she really enjoys maths, if she is now struggling I'd like to learn more about the problems so we can support her and her maths teachers at home."

No big deal, and I completely agree it's likely just an admin error.

I'd query it - with head of year and head of maths department.

Mistakes can and do happen - but there could also be some sudden issue with maths than she needs support with.

I'd just ask if this is corrected based on her Sat scores and general ablity with maths - and if it is the areas of sudden problems so you can help at home.

That doesn’t sound right and I agree to query.

However, the doom and gloom doesn’t come from the parents of kids who have been put in the wrong set.

My dd is really good at maths but somehow managed to get 103 in her SAT. I have no idea how, she either had a very bad day or it was a mistake are the only explanations 🤷🏻‍♀️

She was put into the second bottom set in year 7 for two terms, then was in set 2 by the start of year 8. She moved into top set in year 9 and has been flying ever since. She didn’t get left behind like people are claiming at all.

Interestingly less than half of the original top set are in it now.

Yikes, and this was the math teacher going around confusing percentage with ranking? I would be worried about the teaching 🙄too....

I would request a face to face meeting with the Head of maths, at their convenience.
i would ask in the meeting for them to have her CAt test results, all her homework results and all tests they have set and marked in class, plus her marked maths book.

Then I would look at that data with the Head of maths and see why they say she needs set 5, if data supports it, ask for which areas are weak and get a tutor! If it is an error, then that will be discovers during the face to face meeting with all resources in front of you.

Absolutely drop the teacher a polite email. If she's always been strong at maths and is now struggling, that is a cause for concern. She won't be as challenged in the lower sets and it may affect her confidence.

This is way over the top

To be fair on him, he was a substitute teacher on long term supply who had only been in school a couple of weeks!

Yes query it with a polite email. DD once got mixed up with another girl with the same name during selection for an athletics competition- it can happen! If it’s its not a mistake, going from exceeding to struggling in maths would surely warrant a chat? So definitely worth trying to get to the bottom of it either way.

I think you should query it. Tell them her sat results. Sounds like a mistake. I don't think they'll mind as long as you're polite. They won't take it out on a child that their parent politely asked a valid question.

My Dad’s 84 - when he started secondary he was placed in the bottom set. It was discovered after a couple of weeks that he and another boy shared a surname, and the first letter of their first name, and they were mixed up. It happens, and it’s definitely worth querying. It was even the plot of one Trebizon book.

OP, you sound pretty moderate, and as long as you don’t go in all guns blazing nobody will think of you as ‘that parent’. It may be a mistake, it might be for an objectively justifiable reason. But either way, it’s fine to contact the school.

I would email because the same happened to my eldest (they aren't a Maths genius by any account but should definitely be in middle set not bottom) and it turned out an admin error had muddled my child up with another with a similar name on the register. My child was quickly changed into the correct set before their first streamed lesson.

Mistakes happen!

Possibilities: an admin error - which needs investigating and fixing; a problem with her behaviour in class - which needs investigating and fixing; a sudden deterioration in her performance because of their teaching or other factors - which needs investigating and fixing.

In short - something has gone wrong and whatever the cause, it needs fixing. And that will only happen if you talk to them about it.

I was almost put down a set in maths at the end of my 2nd year in senior school. Turned out I hadn't done enough booklets (self-directed study). The reason I hadn't done enough booklets was because half of them were on really basic things I'd already covered in primary school (like mutiplying by 10) and I saw no point doing them again. Poor class performance can be nothing to do with maths ability. By 4th year I understood the system so did the entire 2-year GCSE syllabus book twice in 1 year, and the additional level exam work. For 5th year the head of maths said 'some things are boring, get used to it' and expected me to keep going though the same stuff but fortunately I had a teacher who understood the difference between bored-struggling and bored-finished, so he dug out the old O-level books from the back of the cupboard for those of us who were ahead. If my parents had accepted the original set drop I'd probably have become disillusioned and given up on maths entirely.

Face to face with head of maths is overkill in the first instance when an initial polite email query will do.

Ah I loved the Trebizon books!

Either it's an admin error and can be quickly rectified once realised or there is a gap or a difference in ability between yr6 and yr7 and may need a bit more support to be able to achieve at their ability. In both situations a quick politely worded email will help. Doing nothing delays the solution.

There was almost the opposite problem when I was in year 7. I sat next to a girl that has the same hair as me and the teacher couldn't tell us apart. I am very good at maths and she wasn't but we both got given the extra homework for the first couple of weeks before they put us in to sets.

@ReevesJeeves I'm a retired maths teacher, and was a head of maths for eight years.

Firstly, if you contacted me as your daughter's maths teacher, I would have been sympathetic. In fact, contacting me would increase the likelihood that I'd push to have your daughter moved to a higher set, as there would be clear parental support. I would take another look at your daughter's work, perhaps give them a couple of tests to do, then arrange to contact you in a week's time.

If you contacted me as head of maths, my attitude would be very similar, and I would work with your daughter's maths teacher to assess whether she had been correctly placed. I would collect evidence, discuss it with you, and take a decision based on that.

You should contact school. Be very polite and maybe start with the class teacher; bear in mind that their experience may vary greatly. If you don't get the result you want, contact the head of maths. Again, be polite - but at least get them to agree some sort of plan for re-assessment.

I always liked it when proactive parents contacted me.

Surely all this information would most usefully be shared with the school. Administrative errors are a thing.

Christ I know right

I would send an email to ask them to explain because your daughter has always excelled in maths. Send the Sats results and all you got. Copy head.

@ReevesJeeves This happened to my son in year 7. I got an explanation from another teacher in year 8 who said the teacher who evaluated didn't look at skills but more to personality. Since DS was shy and sensitive she didn't want him to feel any pressure 🙄. But my son felt confused and thought it was too easy.

All schools are different - when DS was put into a lower set after an end of term exam when not well. The subsequent lessons he said were boring and I was fortunately in a position to go over missing material he then came joint top in his set at end of the next term. School were reluctant to move him back because he would find it difficult to catch up with the higher group so I became that mother.