How do I know ability set-please help

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Ds is in year 7 at a good academy. I noticed that his maths homework is algebra, balancing equations and negative numbers. I have seen another friends Ds that is HCF, LCM. What does this tell me about his ability set in maths, based on homewrk coming home? Guidance needed please

Why are you comparing to his friends, what will that achieve?

I'm not comparing. I just noticed that the work is different. I have always assessed DcS strengths and weaknesses and worked with them to attain their possible best. An understanding of the level that they are working at will help in doing this in the best possible way

Balancing equations is a much more advanced area of maths than HCF, LCM so I would hazard a guess that your child's friend is in a lower ability group. I don't think you can be sure of whether your child would be middle or higher ability without looking at another group's work.

Isn’t this a bit tacky? The other child might have a different teacher who approaches the material differently. Or it might be a review of something.

I will really appreciate helpful comments please. I'm just a mum trying to do her best to help dc attain their possible best. That's ask my question is aimed at. Are we on the right track or not? It's a simple and sincere inquiry. Thank you for understanding

In Year 7 DS should be aware of what set he is in.
If he isn't, it maybe that the school doesn't set or hasn't set yet.

At this stage in Y7 I would expect all the DC to be doing pretty much the same work anyway; if his friend's homework is different (how on earth do you know!!?) they may just be doing topics in a slightly different order or one group may be slightly behind.

More to the point, why does it matter what set he is in?

What has his teacher said about which set he is in?

Sorry but the work given only tells you that he's working on different things. It doesn't tell you what group he's in or where he stands within the year group.

For information like that, you'd have to ask the teacher.

As the PP said, perhaps his teacher is covering the work in a different order. Or reviewing something. Or spending longer on something they need to spend longer on. You really can't tell from that snapshot.

I appreciate what you are asking, but it's not something we can tell you without more information.

'My sons work is harder than his peers. What set does that make him? Oh no, I'm not being tacky, I'm just trying to make sure he is on the right track.' Yeah yeah. Get your nose out his friends work OP. They don't announce ability for a reason.

Ugh. I had red and yellow ability groups on my wall (red was top and yellow was second) but this particular year the red and yellow groups were identical. A parent came in asking me what could be done about getting her DD into the red group. I explained that they did the same work and were at exactly the same level - she bleated on at me for so long I eventually stuck her name in red and gave up. Honestly, some parents.

... and of course the set he is in is dependent on his peer group anyway. He could be doing extremely well and only in Set 3, or be very average and in Set 1 - depending on the exact school he is in.

OP - surely the best way to help your son is just to make sure he can do the homework he's been given and try to support him if he can't? That's the same whether he is in set 1, 2 or 10.

Ds is year 7. He's done algebra, balancing equations, negative numbers, LCMs and HCFs this term.
I don't think the information has told you anything other than the sets are working on different things at present.

Please tell us how (why?) you have seen friend's ds's homework ?

Perhaps it would be helpful if I explained that I am new to this 'settings and abilities' system. I am simply trying to understand it. Like my friend was and we were trying to unravel the system. I have made concerted effort to ask the teachers and school with little engagement. I come from a completely different system with full engagement, feedback and frequent evaluations. There are no ability sets or different work and we were both confused. All the children do the same work. Along with their parents , they are told their strengths and encouraged to improve on it. They communicate with us their weaknesses and how to work on those and given feedback in a short loop. Before I am berated, please have a clear understanding of this first. It was a simple conversation of mutual concern between 2 friends struggling to understand a different setting and operate optimally within it.

Operate optimally?

Just help him with his homework f he needs it, encourage and support and encourage him to do his best.

How will knowing what ability set he is in, enable him to help him with the work more?

So specifically if he is in set 1 and doing HCF and LCM how would you help him differently to if he was in set 2 and doing HCF and LCM?
Surely you just look at the work he is doing and help him with that.

I think some comments you have received have been because you were asking about ability set rather than about helping your child with the maths they are doing. It doesn't really matter what set he is in. Can he just show you his maths book so you can look over it with him and check he gets it? Email his maths teacher and ask what you can be doing with him? Does the school have an online homework / info / curriculum site where you can look at what he should be doing?

Thank you. This is very helpful. I am working with him based on the work he brings home. I just did not understand the implications of the set thing or if there were any and asked on this forum because I thought I may be enlightened. I did check on Google but that did not help much as the impression I got was that it sets the children on different paths which made me quite anxious. I checked and researched the website too before asking here.

Welcome to MN OP. People here react very badly to parents who want their child to be at the top. It is a uniquely British trait which I find very difficult to understand.

Are the boys in the same class? If so are they taught by the same teacher for maths or do they go off to different classes for maths? My son’s school don’t set in y7. The sets are done at the end of year 7 and letters sent to parents explaining the basis and rationale for setting.
As a PP they cover both topics in each worksheet in y7 so hard to tell what it means.

Thank you Nneoma. They are in the same class and taught by the same teacher but the timings are different. But thanks for explaining. So we'll probably get more information from the school later I guess. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing presently.

He may not be in a set yet. They might do things in a different order, or one class might be more disruptive and so working at a different pace. Even within a mixed ability class there might be differentiated work. The first part of yr7 is revision from primary to make sure everyone is at the same stage.

Year 7 isn't Primary.

He should know when he has been put into sets.

Some schools set late in y7.
Our school does it very early in year 7, because they have 6 feeder schools, so already have the data from sats, and they've had the children for 2 days in the previous summer, before they even start.

Once setted there is chance for movement between sets in year7,8,9 and 10.

By y10, top sets are sitting the higher paper whereas lower sets sit the lower paper? I think, so only possible to achieve a certain grade?

Surely your son will know when he has been setted?