What does HA, MA and LA signify in a classroom?

[ListersSister]

A friend of mine said she has seen lists of children's names in her school's classroom under these titles. If they are as she assumes, High/Middle/Low achieving lists, should they be on public display, or does it not matter as the children are only yr 1 and so not likely to notice or understand/care?

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Yes - higher ability, middle ability, lower ability. Also may get HM - higher middle or LM - lower middle. The children probably won't understand only nosy parents .
We would take anything like that down for parents evening although our groups have names like Leopards and Tigers so no help there. (Although some clucking in the playground indicates that parents think the animal that can run the fastest is the top group and the Elephants are the bottom group
Hee! Hee! )

Ah, but would they work out my system of animals - the larger the animal the higher ability the child, with the exception of the bottom group which I felt guilty/paranoid about so they are a large animal...
Fwiw I don't think HA, MA and LA should be on display really, nor should children be referred to as such.

argh it's awful!

ofsted are corrupt

Thats awful

So is this H/M/LA list set in stone then? Is it about where a child is now, or what they are capable of? Can a child move from being LA to HA or vice versa? Some children get lots of help at home, so will achieve more to begin with, but might not have the innate ability of other children with less support surely? Do parents see the list and question the teacher about it? Sounds all a bit too much imo.
I think the animal (or shapes etc etc) idea of describing setting children is better.

Am surprised about the Ofsted view. Surely having this displayed may demotivate those whose targets are lower than the average?

My dds school have group lists on the walls, but they are just lists. You would have to know the children to be able to understand why they were grouped that way, and in our school, parents are rarely in the classroom to notice anyway. Not sure how it would go down if the children came out describing themselves as high or low achievers

Lol at the parents' working out of what the group-titles really indicate about their child's position in the class.

I confess that when my son told me that he was in 'Pentagon' group for maths, I quizzed him about whether there was a group named after a shape with more than five sides.

I've done the same with colours - trying to see subtle ways in which Red might be a little bit more significant than Green. I even started wondering if there was anything in the fact that some are primary colours, some aren't .
Shame on me.

I have fond memories of a class where the groups were named after toothpastes.

I know Macleans were top and Punch & Judy Strawberry were bottom, but cannot remember how Mentadent P and Colgate Blue Minty Gel fitted in.

lol mrs B!

'Macleans means brightness; don't you forget it!'

(advert jingle)

at the toothpaste!

IME whatever names you give groups parents and children always work out what they mean!
I don't keep these lists on display though, although I do share my expectations and targets with the children. The lists could reflect current attainment (urgh, very teacher word, sorry) or expectation and should change regularly.

When I last had "ability" groups I never had any ulterior motive in choice of names such as the bigger the animal or more sides a shape had in mind when naming them and I'm chuckling to myself thinking of parents trying to work out their child's "position" by their group name.

I don't group my children by ability/achievement for most tasks and only my TA and I know who would fit into each category.

I've always found that my children know which group is which. So I assume the rest of the class do, too. No working out needed. If a parent wanted to know then they would just need to ask their child.

Ours has the list of targets in each subject prominently displayed. And it is perfectly clear that the easiest target is at the bottom of the list and the hardest at the top.

I suppose, in year 1, they assume that those who are on the easiest one can't read them, so won't figure it out

Tired Ali and juule are right -- the kids know which is the "top" group and which is the "bottom" group. They don't even think about it, they just know! Calling them diamonds and stars and elephants is for our benefit.

have never understood why the parents shouldn't know?

Yeah, all the kids know.
But what i'd like to know from a teacher, is how often the kids are moved when they shoot ahead, whih of course kids do.

I know a primay school teacher who said quite frankly, they decided near the beginning who was a butterfly or bee, and rarely changed unless the parents made a fuus , because it was such a hassle.
I was ed

I consider and change round my groups probably about 1x term, unless it is apparent that someone needs changing sooner than that. When I change them round, some children end up getting moved, and some don't - simply according to what their ability is.
I chose the bigger animal / smaller animal thing to make it easier for other adults coming into the classroom - people covering PPA, volunteers, TA's, etc. to know the ability level of each group.

I tell the parebts ibn my reports anyway where their child is. I also have it up on my wall incase of a supply teacher needing to know. The children all know anwyay. Go on ask your child who is the cleavest - they can tell you. My groups are very flexible though and evenb some topics I move them round - someone may be brilliant at addition but rubbish at telling the time.

My son has so many groups in reception he has no idea and as an ex-teacher I would never ask him. How would I ask it without making him feel stupid or pointing out that others are not as bright as him. Am hoping though that one of his groups (the snails) can't possibly be the lowest ability group, it would be too cruel.

Thing is, cazzybabs, I asked ds1 who the cleverest child is, and he replied

"Me"

then I asked him who the fastest runner is, and he replied

"Me"

Then I asked him who the best behaved child is and he replied "Erm, Emil- er, ME!"

So, who knows?