Is there any real difference?

[lovecheese]

Between numeracy taught to a top group in YR2 and that taught to the second group? For example, are we talking 3 digit numbers to work with instead of 2 digit numbers for group 2, or are the differences wider? The homework is now differentiated between the top 2 and lower 2 groups and from what DC tells me she will sometimes work with group 2 in class but increasingly with group 1. Bless her she is so keen and really enjoys maths and I don't like the thought of her not being given the opportunity to do "harder work" which she clearly wants to do. Just wondering what any teachers think? BTW they had assessments before half-term and she told me that she had done better than most on the top table. Thanks.

It will depend on how the abilities differ in the class but in my experience of having children at a state school, the difference is marginal.

I have heard that the difference can be as little as the number of questions completed in a certain time or group 2 having children that could be sat with group 1 but for practical or personality reasons they sit with group 2. At our school group 1 and 2 do the same work.

As Cat says, the tables they sit on never work out exactly in ability groupings. In my year 2 class, although I have a list of who is in each 'group' for maths and literacy, the children are always moving around between groups, so someone who has a really good understanding of numbers and the number system, but struggles to understand the properties of shapes could work in the high ability group most of the time, but work at the middle, or even lower, ability level when we do shape and space, depending on what they need. And just because they've worked at a particular ability level, doesn't necessarily mean they're stuck there forever. Sometimes if a child in a lower group has performed really well in a lesson, I'll get them on one side to see if they can cope with some of the work that the next group had been doing in that lesson, so no child is ever prevented from having the opportunity to do the 'harder' work, if I think they'll be capable of it.

Thanks for the replies, some good points made. I do not have an issue with where she sits - I want her to feel comfortable; simply wondering how subtle (or not) differences might be. Groups certainly do seem to be very flexible at her school, I have read on here before about some schools not having any kind of movement up or down.