Do teachers tell parents where their child is position in the class?

[mariebelle234]

A friend of mine who has a DC at a different primary school to mine told me her teacher said she's top of the class. I thought that's great. They don't inform us where our child is in the class at our school. Then today my DS informed me that in his class DC A is top of class, followed by DC B, DC C. I've not ever been told this information from the teachers at parent teacher meetings or at any other time. Perhaps it's because he is not near the top. Is this the sort of information that teachers share with parents of top academically performing DCs? Surely they just tell you they are doing better than expected standard, at standard or need support, not some sort of ranking. But I don't know:? This is for primary school.

Of course not and anyway it would be meaningless- your child could be in a particularly gifted cohort or could be top of a very low-achieving class.
You should be told if your child is at the expected level for their year group, but comparison to peers is irrelevant.

I’ve had a few teachers slip up and tell me something about her being top of the class. I’ve also had other parents tell me that their kids considered her top of the class / top girl. Never really mattered much, and she’s pretty average in secondary, but with a strong work ethic (as her now teachers like to tell me).

Was always told dd was doing well but I could tell she was near the top from who she was grouped with.

My older DC is incredibly bright. I have been told that when he did mock sats in Yr 5 (hes was in a mixed class with yr 6) he had the best results of all the yr 5 and 6 children. The thing is, both me and his teacher know he is very very clever, and we do discuss this at parents evenings etc.

‘Top of the class’ hasn’t been a proper thing for decades. The term is a hangover from when kids were literally ranked from top to bottom based on their marks in tests. I started school in the 80s and it wasn’t a thing even by then. Children at primary nowadays will be grouped by ability for certain lessons, but the teacher won’t be explicit about this or refer to any group as ‘top’ or ‘bottom (although the kids may work it out themselves!).

Private school here, ages 8, 9 and 11. We are told if our children are top of the class in Maths because they have regular tests. However, there is a different specialist teacher for English who doesn't tell us.

I have told a parent that their child got 100% on an assessment. They would obviously assume that the kid was top of the class from that. I’d never use the term ‘top of the class’ because what does it even mean unless you know the scores of the rest of the cohort (and some parents can be unhinged as it is…)

They won’t tell you if you don’t ask. After two years of the usual vague “she’s doing fine” “meeting expectations” etc I just started outright asking and she’s close to the top. It helps I was only 16 when she was born and look younger than I am so don’t come across as arrogant and tbh I think they expect the children of young parents to be dumb.

"Top of the class" seems such a outdated term - the sort of thing we aspired to be in the 60s.

We had a teacher who would tell parents, "She's where she needs to be for (insert name)" which told them nothing.

No. Never.

Although, if you go off fb then everyone's DC are supposedly 'top of the class' come parents evening!

If your child is at the extremes, it very often is the subject of lengthy parent teacher meetings. They won’t say that your child is ranked 1st. There will be meetings about trying to meet your child’s academic needs while also helping them integrate in a classroom with very differently abled peers.

you also get things like your student coming home and telling you about the work they are being given that is different from their classmates.

I have a dc that is towards the bottom ability and one that is the top. The one at the bottom I have to pry out of the teachers the areas that he could work on as they are over enthusiastic on how lovely he is (yes he is but he can also be lazy!)

the one at the top is currently obvious by glancing at the work on the wall. I don't know how this stacks up nationally, she simply could be an average child in a slower year. I'm was told in November that they expected her to be greater depth by the end of the year so I'm assuming she is bright.

Nothing like ‘A’ ‘B’ etc in my school but my son’s teacher has been honest with me when telling me that my son is one of the ones in the class at a lower reading level, but he is also on a very high level of maths that no one else in the class is on (year 1, summer baby youngest in the year working at year 3/4 level maths but still can barley read!)

No they don't and shouldn't. You can get an idea from if they are greater depth/ age expected/ working towards and that's more important than how they compare to 29 other kids.

Teachers haven't ever mentioned where DD was in the class but yes I was always told DS was top of the class by the teacher (in the context of discussing how they managed the fact he breezed through the standard work etc).

His peers knew too - I never ever mentioned it but other parents would bring it up

I always tell parents whether their child is working 'at', 'below' or if they are 'exceeding' the expected level of attainment for that year group. If they are exceeding, parents will obviously know they're doing well and are achieving higher than the majority of the class (unless it's a particularly high attaining class). That's their own conclusion to draw though. I would never compare their achievements to that of the rest of the class by placing them 'top' or 'bottom', as it's none of their parent's business how the rest of the class are doing.

Personally, as a teacher, I have never stated 'top of the class' (even when it's clearly true). I just don't think the information is necessary for the parents to know, other than to use it to brag and boast. It also puts a lot of pressure on said child to stay there all year, if parents go around telling everyone their child is 'top of the class' (why would other people need to know that about someone else's child? I find it a bit cringe when people choose to share such information about their child with other people).

People do lie too, so I wouldn't always assume what someone says the teacher said to be 100% true. I've caught parents over the years telling people their child (currently in my class) is 'top of the class' after a parents evening or end of year report, when I absolutely never said that (and it's not even necessarily true!)

People often interpret 'top set' as 'top of the class', when it just means they're achieving broadly in line with 5 other kids who are all Greater Depth Standard in maths in that class.

I've had a parent in Reception interpret "they've settled in really well, have made lots of friends and they are enjoying their learning" as they are 'top of the class'. Someone else who knew them showed me how they'd put it all over Facebook that their 4 year old was 'top of the class' after the first parents evening in October. That child was quite average attaining within the class, but their parent chose to either interpret my encouragement the wrong way, or blatantly lie to their Facebook friends about how well their child was doing. Either way, it was quite strange and made me raise my eyebrows.

Basically, I would ignore any bragging from other parents and just focus on your own child. Working 'at' or 'exceeding' expectations is fantastic, depending on their future ambitions and goals. It doesn't matter where they compare to their peers, just keep encouraging them to do the best they can. Their best is absolutely good enough. It's not healthy to keep comparing their achievements to that of other children.

Well done

there's a really big difference between being JUST exceeding and being at the other end. So knowing X is exceeding tells me nothing.

You are fully entitled to ask whether they are 'just exceeding', or exceeding the expectations by a lot. That still doesn't give you the right to know how they compare to all their other exceeding peers in the class

Context is everything. What does 'top of the class' really mean, in addition to knowing they are exceeding the age related expectations? In one class, they might be 'top of the class'. If they moved to a different school, they might be distinctly average in that class despite still exceeding national expectations.

Top of the class means nothing in terms of actual attainment. It's just how they compare to up to 29 other pupils. It's a pretty useless gage of achievement in the grand scheme of things.

Scored for what?

Usually they have broad ranges for maths and different elements of English. They won't be the only child with the range they got.

Schools usually actively choose not to rank. In 30 plus years of teaching it's very rare to have one stand out child in a class who is better at everything.

Just their scores from the in class progress tests they do. The last time I went I was shown my son's scores (at the bottom) and told they would expect his score to be nearer the top.

My kids are late teens/early 20s, but were always on the 'top' table for Maths and English. This was mentioned at parents evenings. No clue where everyone else in the class was though. 1 was also on the 'gifted and talented' list when that was a thing.

Kinda related but when I was in yr 6 my mum worked at my school. When we got the SATS results... She opened mine... In front of my whole class and proceeded to dance and cheer as id gotten straight 5s. She wasn't even a TA in my class. I wanted the ground to suck me up

A friend’s child was top of the class at her previous school so was rather shocked when she slotted into very much the middle of class when she moved to my DC school. She stayed fairly in the middle into secondary and is now doing well at a good university.

Just comparing your DC to your class can be very deceptive as classes vary so much in ability between schools and even at the same school.

On the other hand there was a boy in my DC class who was convinced he was top of the class (he was towards top end but definitely not top). His conviction never left him and extended to any activity he did. Apart from this mistaken conviction he was generally a nice lad. I am sure he will rise quickly in whatever organisation he convinces of his talents - and his colleagues will no doubt curse him for it!

Asked my DD whose a teacher, her answer, absolutely not, said it’s bad enough the amount of things parents manage to find to complain about without telling them their little child isn’t as high up in the list as others. Said it’s about trying to highlight positives for a particular child, not about comparing them