Do all reception classes "grade" children into ability groups?

[jollydo]

After reading about this on different threads here I just wondered if this is normal practise. How do the groups usually work - is it the tables children sit at for "sit down" work? How long do they spend in these groups & do they know they are being ability grouped? (My ds is due to start in September and I don't know if our local school does this. I worry about children having these labels so early, & that they could make a child think of him/herself in a particular way that might stick & become self-fulfilling.)

yes
ds was in raspberry group and was moved to banana (I still don't know if thats good or not)

Yes. Ds1 is in the Rockets. He has a friend in the Boats.

lol at these names!

In our school it's Busy Bees, Ladybirds and Butterflies.

Ours does. They simply used to use a different coloured sheet of paper to work from - eg. for maths, the task was the same but the 3 groups used easy, medium or hard numbers to do it.

It makes perfect sense as you can easily put a child off by giving them stuff that is too hard and which they don't understand. Whilst each child knows which group everyone is in and what it means, it's not as in your face as the streaming I remember from secondary school.

ds1 didn't understand that the tables were set by ability until half way through yr2. He was in blissful ignorance and I didn't choose to enlighten him.

ds2 had it sussed within weeks of starting reception

Ds's class is in groups, but they are mixed ability.

Ours does it (DS1 is in Blue Group, how dull...) and they seem to do everything in these groups, even PE and free play. I guess the teachers have to do something to enable them to target pupils with appropriate work - there's such a vast range of developmental/academic achievement among kids at this stage.

I agree that it's a bit worrying to label children at this stage. I'd like to think that teachers remain open-minded and will change the groups around as necessary - I know a couple of kids in DS1's class have been moved since they started in September - but most research shows that once a child is labelled, it's an uphill struggle to change a teacher's perception.

Ours does and it is essential imo - they only do it for reading and numeracy, so each group will do some work maybe once a week as a group for guided reading, and maybe 2 or 3 times a week for numeracy.

The differences between children in the A group and children in the E group is huge, and it would do the children in the E (or Earwigs(!) group any good to be mixed with the Ants as neither group could do ability appropriate work.

Children do change from group to group as they develop, and I don't think it is a case of 'labelling' - rather trying to give appropriate work.

(Obviously WOULDN'T do the children any good! Must check before posting!!!)

Ours does, they use colour groups. The parents all figured it out, the kids have no idea.

yes they all do

it makes sense to stick children of similar abilities together

the groupings are fluid though

and may differ between subjects

it will probably only be for literacy and maths though .. most classwork is together

it's not a label .. it's a practical device for teaching effectively .. nothing more demoralising than not knowing what's going on

our school does colours and shapes

DS1's class are all grouped to be various woodland creatures. I've no idea if this means anything about ability though. So I assume the children don't have any idea either!

ours are in nursery rhymes/song. DD is in the teddy bears (picnic)....her bf is in the (cow jumped over the) moons

At our school they certainly re-jig the tables at least twice a year, as well as the initial assessment, an will move children if appropriate.

In Ks2 they also have separate groups for literacy and numeracy; as well as a mixed ability setting for some subjects to encourage mixing.

Thanks for all those replies. Sounds as though a lot of children don't realise the significance of the groupings anyway. My first comment about "labels" sticking seems funny when the labels are "raspberries" or "earwigs"

There seems to be a system of fairly fluid groups, for different subjects. My favourite was the Beatles/Elvis/Rolling Stones/Beach Boys grouping, for Gym and Topic work.

(I do love the Inferiorettes' school.)

DD1's classmates are ladybirds & butterflies.There are only 10 of them in reception though,so don't know whether they are streamed or not.I know dd was moved up a level for reading,but remained a ladybird.It's very confusing.

am pretty sure there was no ability grouping when dd1 was in reception (used to help out so had fair idea and am teacher myself) they were in coloured groups

they are in ability groups now in year 1 though

My DS school had groups right from the start, but different groups for different stuff, literacy, reading, PE etc. DS is in danger of being big-headed, so I have explained to him, it is not how clever you are, it is what stage you are at, and had a great laugh about how we all used to compare when the babies started walking, and now all the children can walk. Of course I still think he is "extremely able".

DD knows what each table means and we have had to stop her being mean spirited to the children in the lesser groups. She also knows exactly what reading level each child is on. Kids are fundamently competitive and I think most probably suss the system but it is up to parents to give them a sense of fairness. It is nice to note that there are boys on the top ability table so not just a girl thing.

How could they not start in different groups, given that the eldest are about 20-25% older than the youngest -- the equiv of eight- and ten-year-olds in same class.

so I have a question DS is in the nursery class and we have just been told that in the summer term they are going to be split into red and blue group.. does this mean the teacher is making assesments about ability already?????

Ours currently does mised ability groups so some help the others along. In May/June the groups are apparently shifted to ability based groups. The children are not supposed to know this, but I cannot believe for one minute that they do not. Ds (4.10) already has a pretty accurate understanding of where peoples' skills lie.

AND if I ask the teacher does she have to tell me?