Light hearted thread; who has been grilling their DC about which groups they are in?

[newtermnewname]

Be honest Mine have volunteered some information but I am resisting asking any more.

Stand up and be counted.

bellybuttons maybe mrz is your teacher ?

I forgot to ask and then DD offered some info so I asked some questions. It took me until June to find out what group she was in last year and then found out (we'd moved countries) that shed moved from bottom to middle. I'd have stressed out a bit if I'd known she was bottom. They've kept the grouping the same this year. Its the attitude of the people in the groups that bothers me. I'd prefer they switched about a bit more as they don't seem to shake things up much. Oh and this is a school that doesn't group! Ds has been grouped and he has some good kids around him (relief).

Oh no, not me . Although my older 2 are now in high school, so I reason that they are at a far more important stage of their education than primary school and so therefore I Need To Know. No pressure, DCs

No point - dd always tells me who she's sitting with anyway, and from that I am quite sure they haven't been grouped yet!

tbh, my main concern is that she isn't sitting with the few who are likely to cause major distraction from work

Y3, btw. AFAIK, they only started ability groups in Y2, then again it didnn't occur to me to think about it before then.

hahahahahaha!

Guilty as charged, m'lud!

I knew already though...............

I have tried but I have had no luck grilling them this year.... When my DS was in Reception they had 4 groups named after vegetables and I did finally get to grips with what group was what. I remember when I was helping out in one IT session when the teacher told me off for sitting two broccolis together in a pair. Her exact quote was "look, two carrots together is fine, but please don't put two broccolis together!"

Me, me, me! And compared notes with three other parents in DD1's class about what's going on with the maths groups being spread out across different year groups. And we are all getting different stories from our kids and being oh-so-ever-so-casual but DESPERATE to know whether our children are the ones that have been bumped up a year.

DD2, however, is in "blue" group, though, so no scope for drama and intrigue there.

LOL! Yes, but mainly just to find out which others he's with.

It's useful for querying concerns about homework with other parents if you know who else is likely to have been set the same tasks. :) Fortunately he and a friend's ds are still together, so I just need to continue to check with her if I'm not sure.

Well I know the tables are mixed ability anyway but I asked dd which teacher she would have for numeracy and literacy as three classes are streamed across 5 or six sets, only because she prefers some to others. She and I are very happy though with who she has

No, never have and have never heard anyone talking about it in the playground either, and I'm a great one for playground chat.

Lol at carrots and brocoli together!

For whoever was talking about being in triangles and caterpillers.

At Dds school the maths groups were shapes and the number of sides on the shape was clearly related to ability (triangles were low ability, squares and pentagons were better and hexagons were top set)...

In the school I work secs reading partner at they use insects for spellings groups. Snails are very low ability. Spiders and centipedes are better millipedes are best.

I just figure that some pattern to relate the names to the abilities helps the teacher remember which group is which bit may not be the case in al schools...

Bit obvious isn't it Hauntedlittlelunatic? I wonder if the 'snails' realise or say the 'circle' group. [Hope no 'slug' group].

I don't think it was obvious to the children. Mine weren't.

DD is in a small class (7 of them) but they are in with the year above, and so far they have done all the same work. Maybe once the teacher gets to know their levels etc it might differ.

DD only moved to that school at the end of last term, and they tested her to get levels (alta maths?) , and while she was in the right level, its very obvious that things were taught in a very different order. EG current school class knew all times tables by last Easter, DD only started times tables last easter, and doesnt know them all yet! Same with joint handwriting, so that will hold her back (though when we found out about tables last week, we have started learning the ones she hadnt already done yet, with support from teacher)

Think care does have to be taken with how ability groups 'named'. Certainly think kids work things out from a very early age- and parents.
Last year some of 'top group' children told other children [including my ds] that they were not clever because not in blah group. [Year 1]. This year they have got mixed ability groups which [after initial confusion and panic from me I am ashamed to say] I am happy about. No easily identified 'top' table or 'bottom' table. Probably a more socially healthy way of doing things.

As long as the work is pitched at an appropriate level it doesnt matter what group they are in. If the work is too easy/too hard then this would be when I would ask questions (and get shot down because the teacher does know what she is doing and has assessed her children properly)

Totally agree 2BoysTooLoud Have also heard of a 1st or 2nd group child belittling another in a lower set, although thankfully at my Dc's school it doesn't seem to happen often, I don't know, I am not in with the "in" crowd in my DD2's class, I prefer to lurk on the edges and take any gossip that I do hear with a large pinch of salt! Have to say, though, that certainly by year 5 there doesn't seem to be any obvious chat re; the above, but maybe thats because the parents of my DD1's year are a particularly chilled out lot?
You certainly become much more focussed on your child's needs and targets, the children are more mature and high school looms next year.

I remember at my primary we had the following tables
Clever table
Second cleverest table
Silly Table
Second Silliest Table.

tbh I don't think the teacher called them that, but all the children did! Still, that was 35 years ago. At least it was quite clear where you were!

We had a teacher who grouped the kids in such a way that none of the children could work out which group was which, and they soon didnt focus on it and just accepted groups are just groups. It was great for the kids.

My son has just gone into yr 7. They are having tests to group them. He hates it, "I don't want to be in the lowest sets again" . He tried really hard last year but being aware of being in the low set in primary has really made him low in the other sense. I hate banding. When I was at scool I was told I would have been in the top set if they had one more chair really nice to know. In primary we had coloured tables (red, green, blue and yellow) no idea what that meant but must have been banding without the stigma, much better IMO.

Ha maybe if I could type scool instead of school I would have made it to the top set

Love that Everything . My twins are at opposite ends of the classroom in yr 2. I have a feeling that I know why, but I won't be telling ds2!

If you child has an issue on which table they are on, you need to talk with them about how they are coping with the work, is it too easy, too hard, or just right. It should be a mixture of everything, too easy helps with confidence, too hard to stretch them, but on the whole, they can just about cope with it.

This is what is going to benefit them the most. If a child is put with children who are working way ahead then they can feel thick, stupid, dump, lose confidence etc., then this isnt going to help

So instead of stressing about which set they are in, I think it is more important for children to realise they are working at a level that suits them and need to realise that all children are different.

Just as their are brilliant sports children and those who cant play sports, there are children who thrive at the academics and those that dont.

Teach your child that there are jobs for everyone to match their skill set and talk about all the different jobs in the world and why they suit different people with different abilities.

Make it positive and be positive with your children. Never be embarrassed or upset because your child isnt in the top set. It really doesnt matter