Streaming in Y1 state school - normal?

[AAAvegetable]

DD1 is Y1. Her school has never told us that they stream the kids according to ability and I just assumed that was not done at this age. Today DD1 was doing her homework (writing 6 sentences with 6 spellings) and she said "It is not fair the Strawberries only have four sentences and the Mangos don't do spelling tests at all". I asked what she was and she said a Banana. She then said Bananas are taught by a different teacher for spelling/writing/phonics.

I asked her if they have different groups for maths and she does not think they do.

I am just surprised really. It is not that I think it is wrong but I never thought they would separate on ability at age 5. Is this normal?

normal in my experience (have had 3 dds who've got as far as year 1) :)

it seems sensible that they're setting differentiated work that is stretching the more able children and also helping those who are still working at a lower level

From what I have seen it varies slightly. Our school does it at Year 2 for reading and then in year 3 its for Maths and Spelling. I am all for it. Those that are advanced continue to get challenged. Those who aren't so advanced can progress without feeling totally behind or feeling bad at themselves. Every child learns differently and at different stages. Some children will not ever be very academic. Its fine for all outcomes as long as it is accepted and kids arent made to feel bad about themselves.

Ability groups are very normal. In my children's school, which is a two form entry, the ability groups for maths and literacy are arranged across both classes in the year. So children may go to a different teacher for literacy, so as to be with children of similar ability. Other subjects, such as topic work are done in mixed ability groups.

There is plenty of movement between groups.

What I would object to is the system at my daughter's friend's school where they stream at age 7 in such a manner that you are permanently allocated to the "A" or "B" stream and stay there for evermore. And you have to be good at both maths and english to be in the A stream, so pity the brilliant mathematicians that aren't great with words

The only other way to do it would be to pitch it at the middle ability cs, leaving the struggling ones even more at sea and the more capable ones twiddling their thumbs. There can be huge variations in ability in Y1 purely due to their age before you factor in actual ability and exposure to concepts.

dcs

My dcs school streams even within foundation, (well they have set groups for doing guided reading). They then have different groups for spellings & maths from yr1. I was a bit surprised at first, but it has worked well. And of course they should never be called group a & b or whatever, but I'd be shocked if they did!

I think that this is called 'setting' rather than 'streaming'. Its normal to have children grouped by ability for different topics.

They had rough sets in reception but with large groups. In year 1 I know they have sets. The children still learning to write have their learning objective on a label and the ones that can write are expected to write it in themselves and they were split into groups for phonics. I guess it's a case of once they can do certain things moving them on to the next. Year 2 seemed to be a big catch up period when my first child went through KS1 so I wouldn't be too concerned about setting in yr and yr1.

They have to differenciate, some kids arrive at school reading and writing while others arrive not even sure of their own name.

If you don't differenciate then you have to go with the slowest and start teaching how to count and what letters are, not fair on the readers.

Differentiation is normal.

I think it is however unusual to have ability groups taught by different teachers (presumably after the children move to different rooms) so early on, as this is distinctly less flexible than differentiated groups (tables) taught by one teacher within one classroom.

Early grouping for maths is more common, but I'd consider year1 very much on the young side ir that too.

Yes, totally normal.

They group on ability for phonics and some literacy from Reception in our school, and then from YR2 for maths.

Yes, totally normal.

We do it at our school because, in Year 1, we have children who cannot write their own name and cannot add 1+1 and also we have children who are reading books for Year 2/3 and can do things like add 15+20. It'd be unfair to lump them all together.

OP isn't asking about normal (indeed desirable/essential) differentiation within one classroom and taught by one teacher.

She's asking about setting/streaming with different teachers. I don't think this is usual at the start of KS1.

Happens at my DC's school from year 1 onwards and I wholeheartedly approve.

Yes, normal, and I would think for almost all children desirable. Because otherwise you get frustrated children because they're struggling to do the work while seeing others do it easily, and other children getting bored because they can do it without thinking.

At our infant school, they group only for phonics across years 1 and 2, which is 4 forms because they've found having them in groups that are closer to their own ability really helps them and they have a lot of fun. they don't tell them it's "sets" but just give them funny names for the groups. It's not even obvious to them which group their in. They also really love being mixed in with the other year and getting to know them.

In maths they group in the form, and sometimes across the year for certain activities (I think).

In DS's Y1 class the year group (of 2 classes) was put into 3 sets for phonics (2 being taught by class teachers, the other by both TAs).

In DD's Y1 class they are using in-class differentiation for everything atm, but "other" teachers do work with individual groups - generally this is the groups that require additional support or the very able groups, however the "other" teachers do move round the class and support different groups so it's not setting as such.

I think it's OK as long as there is flexibility to move children between groups. I wouldn't want to see a child being put in bottom group and then never have the chance to catch up to be in higher groups. I also think it should be done discretely so that other children do not realise about the groupings.

DS in year one calls all the adults in teh school teachers... so in his eyes the "teacher" having one group for phonics and the "TA" having the other is 2 different teachers for the 2 different groups. His class are split for phonics so the more able ( and in some cases older been at school longer) group are further ahead and the less able group are working at a pace that suits them.

At DDs school they move children for phonics/reading depending on ability since reception (post Christmas). The more able went to do a 30 minutes session daily with Y1, and the ones who were struggling in Y1 went to do 30 mins reinforcement with Reception. They are now doing the same in the following year (i.e she is now in Y1 but does a session a day with Y2 for reading.) Not sure if anything else is done (maths etc).

Normal at my dc's school. I think as others have set it means they get focussed attention according to their ability. Differentiation within the classroom can be hard when some of the class don't even know the basics yet.

Same as notyummy - our school sets children from very early on (ds2 already in a group, largely based on age, in reception). Groups of children then move up or down a year for literacy or maths. It's all very fluid, children move between groups regularly, but it means they are sitting with children of similar ability.