Something not quite right here. How do I handle this?

[PastConditional]

Dd has just started yr 5. She was doing very well last term and her teacher assessment put her at 5C for reading, which is a way ahead of where she needs to be at the end of year 4, so I thought all was well.

However, this term she mentioned that she was in a lower group for reading and being given easier work which she was finding frustrating. I didn't think too much of it until yesterday when she brought her spellings home to learn. The first two were "dog" and "dogs", and the hardest one on there was "trolleys". She said she asked the teacher if she could take the more difficult list that another table had been given as she knew all those words already, but he said "no, they'll get harder as the term goes on".

She is understandably feeling quite humiliated and I am just bewildered.

Has anyone experienced anything like this in primary school, or got any ideas on the best approach to take with the teacher?

Tia

Teacher, thanks. Yes I think that was probably the intention for the group that received those spellings, but it's an awfully long way from "dogs" to "convenience", and the broader issue is that she seems to have gone from working well above the expected level for her age (2 years if the levels are to be believed?) to some way below.

Why won't he test her on the harder list of spellings? Sounds like the oddest man.

The level that you originally gave was for reading, which is not necessarily closely correlated with spelling ability. (My DS, for example, though an early reader, is not as voracious as my DD, but while his spelling is implausibly perfect, hers is erratic!).

What level - if any, there shouldn't have been levels last year although some schools did still use them - was her writing? And within that writing, how good was her spelling - you yourself have commented that it is erratic in her writing, which is where it matters, performance in isolated tests is pretty much irrelevant? (A creative, imaginative writer, with great sentence structure and vocabulary, is not necessarily an accurate speller). It may be that e.g. her group was given plural spellings, whereas the other group may have an issue with narrow vocabulary use.

Thanks, the group she is in is for reading and writing, so it's not just spelling that she's getting the easier work for. The comment about her being sloppy and inconsistent might have been a bit harsh - that came from me, but actually her teacher's comments in her report last term just said that her spelling was good and that she consistently scored highly in tests. Her writing level was lower than her reading but still fairly high for year 4 - 4B.

(I know the levels have now been consigned to irrelevance by the way but they are the only point of reference I have at the moment.)

Iguana, it's because she's not in the group that was given those spellings.

OK. A school that uses fixed, identical 'groups' for reading, writing and spelling is so far from my approach and experience of teaching that I can't help any further. How bizarre.

Even when I do use 'ability based' seating in the class for a particular lesson, it will be on a lesson by lesson basis, and reading groups, when we have them, are flexible from 'block of lessons' to 'block of lessons'. Spelling groupings will vary on a weekly basis. The make up of 'higher ability' grouping / seating / work will vary on a lesson by lesson and subject by subject basis - my best readers are not all my best writers, and some of my best spellers (in their writing) are actually relatively low ability in other areas of English.

I was your daughter in one year at school. I was put on the lowest ability table and given easy work. I lost interest and would mess about and only do the work at the last minute because I was cross with the teacher for not letting be me do the harder work. I hated that year at school and really lost confidence because of it
It sounds like the teacher knows he's got it wrong given all the bollocks about there not being room in the top set and her presence being a boost to the less able kids and allowing her to take the other spellings home.
I would talk to the head about this now. Who cares if you become 'one of those parents' in his eyes- he's clearly got this wrong

Thinking a bit more about this, I think the issue is not 'the easy spellings', but the classroom organisation that gives access to harder work, in all aspects of English, only to one table / group.

However, you will need more than one spelling list to challenge this. What i would suggest is that you should book a longer meeting with her class teacher, and ask to have a look at all of her English books and work. Go through the book, asking for each piece of work 'if she had been in the other group, how would the work she was given to do have been different?'

You may find that it is only a very few things which have been differentiated strongly between groups, so she has been able to 'reach her own level' in the tasks, and table / group becomes irrelevant. However, if her performance is routinely being given a 'ceiling' because she is not being given the higher level work, then you need to ask for a meeting with the head initially, and potentially this teacher and last year's teacher all together as a second step, to discuss the standard that she was achieving last year, and why she is either not showing it or not being allowed to access it this year.

It is difficult, because it may be 'the way that school works', and that is hard to challenge. However, if it is just 'the way this teacher works', and in other classes the grouping and access to higher level work is not so rigid, you may be able to change it.

Yes, it's not not just spellings but things like finding the meanings of words in a comprehension passages where she has found herself being stuck with the easy stuff, and this is definitely not an area of weakness for her.

I would ask for a longer appointment with the teacher but I very much got the impression that the conversation was closed from his point of view. In fact, I did ask when I saw him if we could go into the classroom, having already requested a meeting via the home-school book, but he said "no, here [standing outside in the playground] is fine". There just doesn't seem to be much willingness to engage. I am going to make an appointment with the head.

And you are right that one list of spellings is not in itself an issue, but given the extremely low level it is ringing some big alarm bells.

You must - if she is being given easier work for reading and writing as well then that is a huge concern.

Sounds like a plan. Remember to go in with the 'general' problem - 'My child achieved X and Y levels in Year 4, which seemed to show that she was working at well above the expected level, but she is now not being allowed to access the higher level work in her class, which appears to be due to a rather rigid seating / grouping arrangement - how can you help?', rather than the 'specific' - 'These spellings are too easy', which is easily brushed off.

That's very helpful, thanks.

Foxes, thanks. Sorry you had to go through it for a whole year, that sounds miserable. Was it put right in the end?

OK so this is the email I have drafted for the head, any comments gratefully received:

"I wondered whether I could come and see you for a quick chat about [dd], as I have a few concerns over her work this term particularly in reading/literacy.

She was doing very well last term at the end of year 4 and was assessed as level 5C for reading and 4B for writing. This term though, following the initial assessments, she is in a lower group and has been expressing frustration at not being able to access the higher level work.

I wondered whether she might need reassessing, but I spoke to [teacher] yesterday and he is confident that she is in the right group for her needs. This being the case it seems that there may have been quite a significant drop in the level of her work between last term and this, and there might be a need to investigate what could be causing her work to suffer.

If you would like any more detail at this stage please let me know. If it would be possible to meet with you next week I would be very grateful for the opportunity to talk this through so that we can find the best way to move forward."

I'm no expert but that seems a good email. No judgement, not prescriptive and gets the point across.
In my case I did get moved up to the more able table at some point but I'm not sure what prompted this. I really hated that class!

Thanks, Foxes

I'd say it's fine as a starting point. Try to get from your DD as many examples as possible of when she hasn't been able to access the harder work, so that you have some concrete examples for the meeting.

Will do, thanks

Past, we are having the same problem with DD. She was assessed at the end of year three as a 5c for reading. No score given for writing. The spellings this week contain write, those, there etc. She mastered these in year 1. As did many other children whose parents are now questioning this.
Maths homework last week was the four times table, week before that the two times table.
I already have the label as "that" parent having spent a week at the beginning of year three complaint about getting red and car as spellings.
We queried how she would be taught this year with the levels being scrapped and were told there would be no ability sets and the groups of children would have to work to the ability of the more able. This isn't working.
Watching with interest to see how you get on with the head teacher.