Top sets/streaming in secondary school

[Justasking321]

Hi, can anyone clarify because my DS' school is rubbish at communicating and have sent nothing regarding this.

Ds is in year 7 and came home with a new timetable saying he is in the 'second top set' for most of his subjects. A lot of them had number 7 next to the subject. He said top set is 8.

I thought top set would be 1, 2 then so on.

He had a couple of 5s in subjects that he's not really into.
Does this make sense to anyone?

And if it does make sense, what does being in this set even mean?

Schools can call the sets what they like; I've been in schools that gave them letters rather than numbers, and not in alphabetical order.
It's unusual to set every subject; it may be that for some they have reorganised them (perhaps to separate some with behavioural issues) but the groups are still mixed ability - they'll need a number or letter to distinguish them on the timetable, but it needn't be a ranking. It's also possible that they are only roughly set, so that there are three upper ability, three middle and two lower, or something like that. Again, each group will need a distinct label, but set n and set n+1 may actually be "parallel".

Your best bet is to ask the school if they can put out some information about the regrouping.

We don't set. All our groups have letters.

There's no rule that the top set has to be 1. Maybe his school uses reverse numbering, in which case it makes sense that if he's in the second set for most subjects that corresponds to 7 out of 8.

Does the 7 correspond to their eventual target grade?

A school near me sets from year 7. They set according to what grade they anticipate you will get based on SATS, initial tests and discussions with the old school they attended. They get excellent exam results and are open about what they do.

No reason a top set would be called 1 not 8. it is purely down to whatever the school decides to call it. What does it mean? That he is learning with children of roughly similar ability

Yeh you need to ask the school, sorry. There is no way anyone on here can know. Schools use all kinds of notation and I agree, it doesn't necessarily mean they are set; it may just be mixed-ability groupings.

We once set for MFL as well as maths and English from year 7 and I thought it was successful, but maybe it caused a timetabling headache as we didn't do it again!

In terms of what it means to be in a specific set - it means that the work will be appropriately targeted so your DS is able to do well. It's a good thing IMO as if students are struggling, or conversely finding the task too easy, then they won't make progress.

Our high school splits the year in two and then each side of the year has a top middle and bottom. They’re called more tactful things than that though.

Thanks everyone. I will definitely get onto the school regarding this, I just know how long it'll take for them to get back to me.