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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

The meaning of your childs table??

40 replies

daisy243 · 06/09/2010 23:09

How do people know so much about the meaning of the table their child has been put on? I know nothing about the other kids ability in my dd's class and have no idea what, if any the significance is of who's on her table!

I know she's pretty bright!
Does it really make a lot of difference?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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kat2504 · 06/09/2010 23:13

No they might be in mixed ability groups for some subjects and ability groups for others. obviously if they are ability groups they are not going to tell them which is the clever table and which is the thick table!!! Perhaps the teacher moves them around for different subjects so they get to work with a range of children. You could ask the teacher but so long as she is making good progress and is happy I wouldn't worry.

booyhoo · 06/09/2010 23:13

i didn't know there were ability tables!! although we are northern ireland so maybe we don't have them.

sfxmum · 06/09/2010 23:17

what year is that? I don't really have much experience as dd is only just starting yr1 but since Reception she has been on what they call Job Groups which has been fixed and they move around together for most activities, these groups are not ability based
but they do some activities which are targeted according to ability which sounds sensible to me but no idea if it is the norm

Original poster

daisy243 · 06/09/2010 23:21

My dd is in year 1. I have no concerns about her (only, I guess, that she could be doing more!).
It just intrests me that a lot netmummers seem to know how well other kids are doing and I really don't.

OP posts:

bumpybecky · 06/09/2010 23:24

dd3 is in year 1 and their tables are mixed ability groups

they move into different groups for maths and literacy which are ability based I think

Kitty1980 · 06/09/2010 23:30

If you know she's bright, why worry?

sfxmum · 06/09/2010 23:32

have you talked to the teacher? I generally have an idea of how dd is doing but not in comparison to anyone else iyswim unless they tell me about it but it is not really relevant unless there is a concern

Original poster

daisy243 · 06/09/2010 23:42

Im not worried. I just wondered how so many posters on here seem to know what table their child is on and what it means in terms of their ability!

The last thing any parent ever discusses at pick up at dd's school is how well/not well their child is doing! Not that I want or need to know.

As I said dd is doing fine and is happy, it's just....how do people know!!

OP posts:

sfxmum · 06/09/2010 23:44

ask the teacher but that would put you in the pushy parent league
I know some curiosity and pride in one's own offspring is to be expected

plonker · 06/09/2010 23:48

My dd1 (now 10) has always told me about ability tables and which is the 'clever' table. She's always been painfully aware, despite never being on the 'clever' table.

My dd2 insists that there aren't any ability tables in her class (despite dd1 insisting that there must be).
Dd2 has no idea and couldn't give a monkeys.

Maybe the parents that know have children like my dd1

domesticsluttery · 07/09/2010 07:50

Plonker my DC are the same. DS1 knows exactly who is "top" in each subject, DS2 hasn't got a clue (to the point that he is the only child who has to go to a higher class for reading books, but he still doesn't realise that other children don't read as well as he does). Last year I knew roughly where DS2 was in comparison to his peers as they were both in the same class (small school, 2 year groups to a class) and DS1 would tell me, but now they are different classes I have no hope of finding out from DS2 as he has no idea!

I think DS2's attitude is probably healthier.

aegeansky · 07/09/2010 10:12

hello, please don't worry about it.

DC now in year 3, worked out what the tables meant at the beginning of year 1 - which has always amused me, as they obviously went to some lengths to conceal the hidden hierarchy of the tables using abstract names.

In his school, a lot of work is on mixed tables, with HA children helping out those who are struggling a bit.

Literacy project work is on ability tables, and so is maths, but that's just for convenience and ease of differentiation.

Some schools put HA children at the back of the classroom, and middles along the sides with children who are struggling (and/ or who have behavioural problems) nearer the front.

chatnamenotalreadyinuse · 07/09/2010 11:45

Domestic Sluttery - am curious, how far ahead is your ds2 from others in the class to mean he needs to go up for reading?

domesticsluttery · 07/09/2010 12:05

He was on ORT level 10 by the end of Year 1. ORT levels 9 upwards are in the Year 3 classroom, so he had to go there to get them (he brought them back to his classroom though).

I know that plenty of schools probably have level 10 in Year 1, but theirs don't, possibly because they read in two languages.

asdx2 · 07/09/2010 12:20

The tables in dd's classroom are mixed ability but the children are streamed for numeracy, literacy and phonics and so go to different classes then.
DD knows as I assume they all do who is in each group and which is top group and which is bottom.

Giddyup · 07/09/2010 12:26

At DS's school as fart as I am aware they sit at mixed ability tables but go into ability based groups for literacy and numeracy.

Giddyup · 07/09/2010 12:26

typo! *far

lovingmy2 · 07/09/2010 12:51

neighbours child told me. Said DS is a Zebra next year (Y1) and that is the top set and i was a zebra and you have to do lots of hard work. DS is a lazy bones and responded 'well i don't want to be a zebra i don't even like them'.

lovecheese · 07/09/2010 12:53

domesticsluttery - makes you wonder why they dont keep a supply of those books in the infant classrooms, saves the traipsing to the year 3's. In my DDs building all of the books beyond I think turquoise? level are in the library, hence the ones are on high reading levels are catered for. Just a thought.

lovecheese · 07/09/2010 12:55

sorry, hence the ones WHO are on high reading levels...

domesticsluttery · 07/09/2010 13:06

They don't have to traipse particulary far, the Year 3 classroom is only next door. It is a small school and they don't really have a library (some books eg the Encyclopedias are kept in the dining hall, but that's all). If the Level 9 and 10 books were in the Yr 1+2 classroom they wouldn't be available for the Yr 3+4 children and they would have to go to a lower classroom to get them which would be far more de-motivating.

lovecheese · 07/09/2010 13:27

Fair point about it being de-motivating for the juniors, but still makes me wonder why they couldn't split the books up a bit?

And no library? Just scheme books?

domesticsluttery · 07/09/2010 13:34

They have plenty of books other than the scheme books, but they are kept in the relevant classrooms.

They only have one copy of each book. If they "split them up a bit" it would leave the class where most of the children were on those levels short of books.

Currently there is only one child (DS2) in the Yr1-2 class who needs to fetch books from the Yr3-4 class. At the end of last year I think there were about 4 (DS1 and two others from Yr 2 plus DS2 from Yr 1). So it is never going to be an enormous problem of tens of children tramping back and forth. And it would seem silly to leave the Yr 3-4 class short of books just so that one child could have Level 10 in his year 2 classroom.

As I say it is a small village school and so no room for a library (or a floodlit lacrosse pitch )

chatnamenotalreadyinuse · 07/09/2010 13:38

Just read your post properly and seen he was getting the books only from the higher class not actually going there for lessons .

Ds had to get his books from another higher classroom last year and it wasn't a problem at all - same kind of set up and actually I think it was quite motivating for him to have to go to year 2's cupboard to get his books when he was only in reception.

Can see it would be a big problem in an infants only school once they needed year 3 up books but surely they'd have some in an infants school for the better readers each year.

lovecheese · 07/09/2010 13:43

Righty -o domestic.

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