Please reassure me that setting at 5 does not mean that much for the future

[Wornout8]

I'll keep it brief. I'm not on the same page as the teacher with regards to dd's ability, she's been seen as high ability previously and has been in top groups, however is now in middle ability and now lacking in confidence. It seems we won't be able agree so I'm resigned to doing extra at home. Is this bad year likely to have much of an effect on her future achievement in the grand scheme of things?

My dd is in year two in a state primary and they set from the get go.

Dd is very aware of her position in the class.
It is done by colour.
In reception and year one she was in top table out of 5 and is now on the 3rd table so completely in the middle.

This doesn't reflect her ability at home but I have to trust her teachers judgement on this i guess.
I just find it sad that the children know what each table represents i.e. Rosie is on pink table, that's top, Jim is on purple table, that's bottom.

Ours have at least three table groups.. maths English and topic (mixed ability) They all have names like seasons etc but the kids aren't stupid..they can see what work the others are doing and work it out for themselves. I'm not sure how you avoid that.

You must be at a private school - I can’t imagine any state primary setting at 5. Perhaps this isn’t the school for her - I would consider moving as it’s clearly not making you or her happy.

Really Rainbow? They all do table groups around here. Often set differently for different activities (Im a seahorse for maths and a kitten fir whizzy words type thing in yr 1. They change classes for some things too.)

My ds's state school set from reception. They used to stream English and maths in YR2, and Maths for YR3 upwards. They scrapped it few years ago though, and only sets within class now.

When my DS was in reception they were divided into 'ability' groups named after shapes. He was in the circles which was the lowest group. I think the top group were dodecahedrons or something! Didn't take the kids long to figure out number of sides meant your ranking.
I don't think setting does any of the kids any favours as IMO the biggest impact is on self esteem. It was a killer for the circles, and the tetrahedrons or whatever they were thought they were the next Einsteins - or the parents did.
I think the kids get locked into these groups and it's hard for them to move up and for teachers to consider them with fresh eyes. I used to look in wonder at the super ambitious mums making their kids do extra homework, but now I get it. They didn't want their kids branded unfavourably at a young age.

Totally agree, ilove. Our school's names were similar. More sides you have, higher the group. And name list was on the wall for all to see.
I really didn't understand what the school was trying to do.(I don't think it was teachers idea.)
And our school's end of ks1 results are good, but not the end of ks2. So, those early setting/streaming didn't work out so well, I assume.

dd was in the bottom set in reception - she was a summer baby who struggled with everything. Come year 6 she was on the top table. And now in secondary school she's average

All meaningless!

Really not worth worrying about. If your dd's confidence is being affected then encourage her to follow other interests - music, sport - whatever?

ilove, what you say about getting locked into groups definitely isn't the case at DC's school. It's not like secondary schools and setting where they may cover the material at a different pace, DC's classes are all in the same classroom covering the same material. (Annoying as that can be to those children who'd naturally learn a lot faster.)

Some children will start in the top group and stay there simply because they are genuinely able. There are plenty that move up and down though. Particularly in the earlier years - once reading and writing "clicks" they can zoom up the groups.

I do try to help DS with writing, not because of which group he may be in but because that's the main thing stopping him from enjoying school. On the whole he's happier in a lower group so that's where I'd rather he was. He was upset when he wasn't in top group for maths though as he wasn't getting the hardest level of maths homework - for him, hard means more interesting. Teacher was happy to switch the homework, after that DS didn't mind which group he was in again. Perhaps we're lucky in that he's not competitive in the slightest.

DD1’s school has a lot of differentiation within classes, plus ‘support’ groups to aid kids who are struggling with all sorts of skills (inc gross and fine motor control).
Handled sensitively it shouldn’t (and doesn’t) cause confidence problems, so if your dd is feeling down about it maybe they could approach things a bit better?

Also - assuming they haven’t downgraded their expections as a result of setting, it shouldn’t affect the future.

My dd is very bright. She is in (yr 4) the very bottom set. She will do well in life because she has support from us, she is resourseful, she is bloody determined. She has dyslexia and ADD.

My son is really not very bright. He is in the middle set because he works so bloody hard. All the time. He will be fine in life.

I know it's easier said than done because she's your baby but try not to worry about this year. If she's average, that's great!!! The world is still her oyster!! I work with many Oxbridge grads and I can tell you that incredible intelligence does not get you everywhere you want to be. Your character is the main driver. Encorage her to be curious, relaxed and as comfortable with herself as possible and everything will be just fine.

Every time I see this thread come up in my TIO I just think what does it matter anyway? Would we want our children in the top set if they had to struggle every day to maintain that or would we rather they found their niche, wherever that was.

My ds was in the middle for ks1. I knew he was bright and keen to learn but he was a summer baby and we did no hot housing at home. We spent lots of time chatting and answering his questions and going out for fun but no time practising letters or formally working on his maths. By ks2 he was on the top tables and really getting on well academically. In yr 6 his teacher really didn't get him and plonked him firmly back in the middle. He got brilliant sats results and at secondary has always been in the top sets for everything. Maybe he will maintain this til GCSEs and maybe he won't. But I'm really confident he will follow his passions and go for a career he is really interested in. Isn't that the goal?