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

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

Primary education

Streaming in reception class

22 replies

LindzDelirium · 23/02/2007 10:19

does anyone else have experience of streaming in receptions classes? When DD started in September class teacher told me they are split into "animal" groups (ducks, penguins, frogs etc)according to friendship groups. I was told they would move around groups during the year if friendship groups change. So I was a little confused to discover that DD's group contained none of her friends she mentioned to me. Then she moved groups (Ducks to Frogs) just after Xmas. Upon looking at the groups the other day when I dropped her off at school I realised that Penguins were full of the Sept birthday children and high achievers, and it worked its way down from there, with the group at the bottom of the chart containing a couple of the young children and the two SN children. I realised that they were streaming the kids. DD is in the 2nd to top group and as the youngest girl in the class I am more than happy and very proud but I was amazed that they stream from such an early age and cover it up with this "friendship group" story? I am not worried about it at all and think it's fine but has anyone else experienced streaming in a reception class at state school?

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blondehelen · 23/02/2007 10:23

they stream at my dc school but are very open about it. they say it is to do with the amount of supervision the table receives by TA. Sort of makes sense

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themildmanneredjanitor · 23/02/2007 10:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Enid · 23/02/2007 10:25

yes they do it here too

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Twinkie1 · 23/02/2007 10:25

Maybe its because mums can get rideculously competitive and they don't want to have to deal with women storming in asking why their kid had been moved from the Green Table (the top one) to the Blue one (next one down) like happened at DDs school recently!!

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mankyscotslass · 23/02/2007 10:29

They do it at ours too.....

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hana · 23/02/2007 10:30

not done at dd's school

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marthamoo · 23/02/2007 10:31

Yes, they do the Secret Streaming In The Guise of Building Friendship Groups at our school too. Only they don't ever change the groupings round so those of us who've already had a child go through Reception know that the Blue Rabbits, Bears, Puppies and Kittens are the top ability group and the Pink Rabbits, Bears, Puppies and Kittens are the middle and the Yellow Rabbits, Bears, Puppies and Kittens are the bottom. They really should change them around a bit once in a while. And change the cheesy category names

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Walnutshell · 23/02/2007 10:36

If streaming that early, I wonder if there is a long term impact where those labelled high achievers (covertly or otherwise) continue to do well partly because of this... and also because they are predominantly mixing with other high achievers...?

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mankyscotslass · 23/02/2007 10:53

My concern is really that the "high achievers" tend to be put together and left to their own devices, as they are "good" and can be trusted to work, while the other groups get more teaching time.....meaning that in the longer term the high achievers arent pushed or encouraged to do more, become bored and then switch off. But streaming seems to be a fact of life in school...I wish i could afford provate, but that's not an option, so we are on the state school hamster wheel now...

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frances5 · 23/02/2007 12:22

I have no idea what group my son is in. He goes to school to learn rather than to massage my ego. All I know is that the children in his group are really nice children and my son is happy. He has work that is at the right level and is making progress.

I don't have a problem with lower ablity children using up more of the LSA's time.
Less healthy children use up more of the NHS resources and in a similar way children with special deserve more resources. It may not seem fair that bright children get less attention, but it isn't fair that some children are born with brain damage or that some childen are deaf, dyslexic or that some children have an exceptionally low IQ.

Sometimes less able children in reception over take the more able ones. Differences like age or having glue ear at the age of 5 have less effect at secondary school age.

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cazzybabs · 23/02/2007 12:37

I would be horrifed if this wasn't happening. all children learn at different rates and come into school from different points. Therefore, to some degreee there has to be streaming.

In my class the children get equally time working with me and the TA - only fair that way!

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Soapbox · 23/02/2007 12:41

The groups are incredibly fluid though as the children do progress in fits and starts. I have found that once they get to Y2 and beyond, things tend to settle down a little in terms of acheivement, and the groups become more established in particular subjects.

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Hulababy · 23/02/2007 12:41

No streaming in DD's reception age class but there are only 15 children with a FT techer and a teaching assistant, so can probably manage without. Their tables do have names - fairy, ballerina and princess - but they have no meaning this year at least.

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mankyscotslass · 23/02/2007 12:41

I have no idea what the groups levels are either, don't know how my son fits in the categories, just know that they do employ this at his school...and i don't agree with it. What my previous post tried badly to say was that although i appreciate in classes of 25/30 the teacher needs some sort of "sorting" mechanism, I dont feel that it meets each childs needs...whether more or less able to do the work, children dont get treated as real individuals because there is not the time available in class to do it! So the teacher has to group children together, and it's human nature to focus on the groups who are struggling to get them up to standard, then think about the other children after that....I too don't object to time being spent on children with SN or difficulites...just feel that all children should have time spent with them by the teacher, but it's not an ideal world we live in! Smaller classes would be my ideal, but it's not going to happen....

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WinniethePooh · 23/02/2007 12:50

MY DD's class has streaming. She is one of the youngest in the class (august birthday). The groups are based on reading ability at the moment, but will later be on maths ability. My DD started in the 2nd group as she is so young and the teacher was not sure about her confidence. She has since been moved into the top group and is dping very well. At the January parents evening we were told that the book her group were currently reading is the one that the teacher likes to have them all on by the end of the year. I therefore do not think that they are being neglected in favour of the lower groups.

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mankyscotslass · 23/02/2007 13:01

I think I am still just struggling with the concept of my ds being one of many, I can't help feeling that he needs individual attention, infact they all do, and I really dont feel that a SATS factory does that....the school is great, the teacher lovely, but my son is not a number, he is my boy!! although i know private is not really the answer, I have some friends whose children are struggling in that enviroment. Really I think my ideal school would be a state school with no SATS, in smaller classes.....Just realised I turned this thread into my personal whinge...sorry

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nikkie · 23/02/2007 15:45

Dds classes both do. and sometimes change according to literacy/numeracy.
Dd1 figured it out in yr r and came home and informed me who was in which group She keeps quizzing dd2 about which group she is in because she thinks she should be in the same as her!

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maggiems · 23/02/2007 18:21

we had streaming of sorts, more by age than anything else. In reception there is a huge difference between a summer born boy aged 4 and an autumn born girl aged 5 so I think its appropriate to have some system to ensure everyone is working at a level they should be at. In later years, the age difference is not so relevant although is a factor I feel for quite a while

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Greensleeves · 23/02/2007 18:25

Have you thought about HEing instead of sending him to school?

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mankyscotslass · 23/02/2007 18:46

GS, yes i have looked into HE a little, but I am very unsure at the moment, and he seems v settled at school, its just me that's unhappy. I think at the moment i would struggle HE as i also have a 3 year old and a 16 mth old....but it is definitely something i have looked at....DH not as interested in it as me!

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valentina · 23/02/2007 18:54

Children in all classes will usually be divided into groups so that they can undertake work which is appropriate to the stage they are at, especially in English and Maths. It is called diffferentiation.

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valentina · 23/02/2007 18:55

It will be related to their achievement rather than age, and will reviewed regularly, with children moving from group to group as and when appropriate.

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