Moving Tables yr4

[Stopshrieking]

Ds was on top table for a subject he likes and is good at - he didn't get on with Child B who is known for being confrontational to other children so Ds was moved down to next ability group and not child B. Ds feels a bit sad about this as teacher even said to me that child B is known for making fun of others a lot but Ds has to learn not to react and that he had moved tables that day. At the time I didn't know how my son felt and ability wise they are both very able in this subject and ds is probably slightly stronger - but overall academically child B would be higher level and they are also middle class where we are working class.
I've tried to tell ds that the table doesn't matter and he can still work well on the group he is in now - but he liked and thrived by working with a group who were similar and higher ability than him - so he is now on a table where he is being asked for answers from the others. Is it worth asking teacher why he moved ds even though it's common knowledge that child B causes and still causes a lot of issues.

Is the ability tables coming from your son or his teacher. I say that because my DD at the same age came home devastated that she had been 'moved down' a table - when we spoke to the teacher she firmly and explicitly said that tables were mixed ability and they seat children in groups that they think will work well together - if they move it because of table dynamic not academic performance. I know they are different schools but i would (nicely) bring it up with the teacher if you aren't sure.

My child's teacher once insisted they don't have ability tables too. But the children are very aware of who the cleverest children are and who are the ones needing help with everything, as well as where they sit in the class. Turned out that the teacher was particularly pc and had a "highly independent" table, a "high intervention" table and a couple in between. So technically not labelled by ability but by how much input they would get from thr teacher or a TA.

I don't have group tables wonder what the theories are regarding my seating arrangements.

Another giveaway. Most of the class are still doing phonics but the top table seem to have dispensed with this and instead keep practising pieces of writing entitled "this is me". I suspect that they are priming them to produce personal statements for Oxbridge applications.

lepetit

The upper class children also get more expensive seats - padded mahogany chairs. Whereas the wc children just sit on upturned barrels. At lunch, the upper class children have blinis off bone China. The working class children are thrown a lump of gristle which they eat off straw in the corner.

I suspect lepetit is bored and trying to get a bite

I have seats for guided reading. And sometimes seats for maths ability but only for occasions where I'm going to be setting tasks that are differentiated by task/materials. Usually they are seated in mixed ability. They are currently sitting in house groups, for example.

I'm under no dillusion that the children decide quite quickly whether they are 'top, middle or bottom' although I do not have a 'top' table etc.

What is a dillusion? Please tell me you're not teaching children how to spell (or you've just been on the gin this morning).

The only time I use group tables is for practical activities such as art

Definition of disillusion
. : the condition of being disenchanted : the condition of being dissatisfied or defeated in expectation or hope suffered romantic disillusions


Source Mirriam-Webster dictionary

Thanks mrz, for posting the dictionary definition of an entirely different word.

I think the poster meant illusion but a stray d crept in but never give the benefit of the doubt

I wonder how you know:
A. Your child has been moved 'down'
B. That your child is stronger in this subject that the other child
C. How the teacher decides where everyone sits

Seating by ability is really frowned on these days, so I'm surprised by your teacher's actions. Teachers are encouraged to sit chn in mixed ability pairs, so as to keep learning fresh. It also does away with the problems of chn not getting on, as they only need to be with their partner for a short while. My class have a new learning partner each week and I change the table layout several times a week sometimes. Maybe a quiet word to the Head might be in order? A modern school such really not stick with archaic ways such as ability grouping, it only succeeds in dividing the children ( and parents too it seems, if you're still worried about class [middle/working] division).

C. is easy to ascertain. Just ask your DC the names of the other children on their table. If they sit with Tarquin and Ptolemy they're on the top table. if they're with Thomas and Olivia they're average. I won't give examples of bottom table names as it's sure to upset but we all know that they usually begin with a J.

I was prevaricating between delusion and illusion and then you threw the disillusion spanner into the works

Surprised to hear that mickey. I'm a parent rather than teacher but my kids always had ability groups in primary and are set in academic groups for some secondary school subjects.

OP - our school is OFSTED outstanding and has 6 groups of physical tables but 3 ability groups. The teacher does this because of personality issues. It will seem like one is lower than another because the children assume that the kid whose best at maths will be on top table but the second table are getting the same work.

In my class the children choose their own difficulty level. Then sit where they like. No chance of ability tables then.

Do you really mean "prevaricating"?

just testing.

But back to the thread, my DD's school uses ability tables, I never thought anything about it. I don't agree with it but I have always been told it's normal and I can't imagine how teachers manage with 30+ kids with such differences in ability levels.

can't imagine how teachers manage with 30+ kids with such differences in ability levels. Sitting them in ability groups (which can contain a range of abilities as it's highly unlikely that two children will be identical in this ) doesn't change anything. It usually means that the teacher and possibly TA work with a group to the exclusion of the rest of the class. Research shows it's more effective to set/stream by ability in secondary (especially in maths) but not in primary and the new curriculum doesn't match the idea of ability grouping or guided reading groups.

Of course by not sitting them in ability groups it leaves the teacher to group them in OTHER WAYS.

So my DD's (Ofsted outstanding) school is doing it wrong? They get different work depending on their ability in the class. I don't agree with it at all but assumed that it was normal.

I bet they're sending home look and say books too. Some schools are just below par.

Not having group tables means you don't group them Lepetit