Should I ask school about my Year 9 child's science set?

[anranana]

Hello! My capable new year 9 child is distraught to be in middle set of science.

Despite being bright and able, her teacher last year put a huge amount of pressure on the kids around 'reaching the top set' and stressed how limited the number of places there were in that, and as she has always struggled in tests when under a lot of pressure, this led to panic attacks and half completed papers in several of the tests due to this.

Exams where she was not stressed, she sailed through. She even got 97% in the most recent end of term test and was hopeful that she would be in the top set and can't understand it. The teacher never came across as particularly encouraging nor understanding of her issues.

This has on and off been an issue in some other subjects as well but she's made top set in those, and none of the exams or subjects have seemed to stress her out like science.

Whilst we have told her it's not an issue to be in middle set, and said we are proud of her, and it doesn't matter, she's distraught and convinced that she could be in the top set. I believe there's no scope to move up or down until the end of the year.

I want to be supportive and I believe that she could thrive in the top set with a different teacher (she did not have these issues in year 7 and did brilliantly).

Is this something we can raise with the teacher? Seems such a shame that she might be missing out due to her anxiety and panic attacks when we both know how capable she is. Additionally she is worried it might limit her ability to do triple science. She's always been an overly anxious child but also very bright. I think as she matures it will get easier for her to cope with pressure and with science it seems an issue only since last year.

I don't want to be an annoying parent, but neither do I want to see her limit her achievement further down the line when I know she is capable and this is probably linked to the pressure handling rather than ability. Should I email her new teacher? Ask about it? Is that a fair ask? Will they think I am a pain of a parent?

We do plan to practise a lot at home as well.

Thanks.

Distraught isn’t a great reaction - obviously not your fault but she’s obviously quite an anxious soul.

yes, email in and ask about it - how it was decided - but it is quite possible that the teacher said she was having panic attacks etc and so they chose the less stressful option.

schools differ massively in how they approach triple science - in some schools you have to apply, in others students are given (mostly) free choice about choosing it. Email in and ask.

I think worth asking HoD whether being in the middle set will preclude her doing triple science for GCSE.

Eg
... disappointed to be in middle set ....does panic in some tests but did well in these tests .... Will it impact triple for GCSE? If so ....

Does the teacher from last year teach either set? That would definitely influence me as I’d not want her taught by them again. Sounds like she was unnecessarily creating pressure to do well.

I think approaching it from a ‘will this stop her from doing triple science’ angle makes sense.

Ask what she needs to do to move up.

It could be as simple as she wasnt in the top 30. Or they tjink she will be better at the top end of a class than the bottom.

I'd give it a chance to be honest.

I got put in set 2 for maths after a year in set 1 with a teacher that really didn't suit my learning style well.

My parents were flustered because I was psychologically evaluated in primary school and found to be "highly gifted" at maths.

However, the set 2 teacher actually suited me perfectly and I thrived in her class.

A couple of years ago my son got 99% in the end of year 9 languages exam which they were told would be used to set them for GCSE. My son was placed in the second set and I wasn’t going to make a fuss as the teacher if that set was softer and far more suited to have temperament. However he was upset and quite annoyed and said ‘what do I have to do’ I queried it with the academic head to be told it was an admin error and he was moved up.

I don’t think it was an error. He had some SEND and I believe the top set teacher didn’t want to have to deal with it.

sometimes school and setting sucks.

This happened to me going into year 10. I was in set 1 of 8 for everything except science, where I ended up in 5 of 8. I stuck it out for a few weeks, then mum marched up the school and I got moved up to set 1.
I ended up doing biology at uni and got a 1st, so maintain the complaint was justified!

If you are your daughter are concerned I would ask for clarification. I sense from your post that your daughter is concerned about the set she is in.

There could be numerous reasons, and schools do things in different ways, so no one else can really say why she is in the set she is. They may

Have set based on actual marks scored.
Have set based on a combination of marks scored and grade expectation based on previous tests/class work
Have had more children they would have put in set 1 than they had space for, so some needed to be set 2.
Have factored in not just ability to get the answer right, but speed at which they pick up the work. Class 1 may go through things at a faster pace.

Other things to consider in relation to gcse are how they choose who does tripple science.

Some schools they have to choose it as an option, and therefore have the core time for science, plus the allocated to an option.

Other schools don't use an option, but choose those doing tripple science based on ability/speed of learning, because they cover the work of 3 separate gcses in the time allocated to 2.
Will the set they are in next year determine whether they are entered into a higher or lower paper, and will this year's set impact that?

I don't think I would adk to change straight away until you know a but more and find out how your daughter gets on with the current teacher.

thank you all! I emailed the teacher and she's coming back to me with more reasoning.

Unfortunately the first lesson didn't go well, my daughter felt the pace very slow and patronising. I'm worried about how this will impact her over the next year!

I think it's worth a discussion. She clearly had something of a contradictory set of results, and that could point in different directions. If they were aware that it was a panic issue, they may have thought that she would be better in a less pressured set; with some kids, that might have been absolutely the right decision, but it sounds as if it is not the right one for her. If they thought she didn't understand some of the work, there might be legitimate concerns about whether she would keep up in the top set - could she demonstrate that she could do better on a second attempt at the bad tests?

There is bound to be a numbers game too - if they have already filled the top set to capacity, it may be difficult to move her, because that would mean moving someone else down to make a space. Ask whether setting is reviewed at any point. If the top set accelerates through the syllabus away from the others, you could try asking for the scheme of work so she can try and cover the extra work - then if there is someone who needs moving down at Christmas, she would be in a better position to take their place.

@lanthanum thank you that is super helpful. I'm honestly not feeling great about it so far, but we have to give it a chance.

I like the idea of asking for extra work if necessary but my main worry is that in slowing the pace down so much, she will become bored and demotivated, and less inclined to do extra work, when she's actually very capable and bright.

Definitely push, it was a disadvantage for my DC - put in middle set due to a couple of bad tests and wasn’t allowed to do triple science because of it. She ended up getting 9-9 at GCSE, so clearly should have been in triple and she feels it meant she started two of her a-levels (inc. Chem and Bio) on the back foot. If they won’t do it straight away, find out what they would need to see to make it happen and by when, so you know what you’re working with.

Thank you for this. I have been told that there is a reduction in the overall number of top sets, and there is no chance to move up unfortunately so she is not the only one in this predicament.

That said I am also assured that there is no reason she can't do triple science next year because of it and tests are the same, and she is to ask for extension worksheets and so on.

I am just so disappointed though. I feel that the depth of the work won't be the same and she is already complaining that the classes are slow and demotivating, and way below her ability.

For example, the equations they are working on are apparently 2+2 or something insanely easy (chemistry equations). This does not fill me with hope.

Why can the school not accommodate the brighter children! FFS so disappointing and lets the kids right down.

I am pushing the complaint further and trying to get clarity on the reasoning so I can understand firstly why she was put here, and secondly why they did this with the classes.

Finally I will be pushing her to ask for extension sheets every lesson and we will be pushing for additional revision and learning at home. The problem with that is she is one of those stubborn kids who hates me getting involved with her learning - so I am not that delighted at having to do this at home and worry that it won't be as effective. I hope that by this age she will be better motivated towards self learning though.

Any further ideas on this welcome if anyone has any! Thanks :)