DD moved to middle school in September, which is common in our area. It covers years 5 to 8. Just after we found out she had a place at that school they announced that they were moving from their current setup, where the kids are in sets for certain subjects, to a ‘primary’ model which seems to mean mixed ability classes. To be honest at the time I thought that was a good thing as she’s only 9. But I hadn’t realised that it applies to the whole school - children right up to year 8 are in mixed ability classes, even though they’d previously been in sets.
The school did get a poor report from ofsted a couple of months ago, which the school had obviously seen coming, hence the change in format. But I’m really worried about the effect on my DD, who is bright and has potential to really achieve. So I don’t know what to think. We haven’t had any communication from the school about it, either, apart from the ‘welcome’ meeting we went to before she started there, and they certainly didn’t tell us it would be primary model all the way through the school.
Has anyone got any experience of mixed ability classes at years 5-8 and any advice please?