If you child is in the bottom ability grouping in year one

[Cortina]

If you have a child that is coping well academcially, above average reader for age and everything else is fine BUT they are in the lowest ability group in year one:

1. Do you worry that they might not achieve their potential in KS1 tests etc going forward?

1. Do you worry they won't be stretched enough going forward?

1. Do you worry that they might be placed in the low sets that don't truly represent their true ability in year 2?

1. Do you think, they are young they are enjoying school what does it matter?

1. Would it honestly be any problem as far as you were concerned?

I've seen many that seem unconcerned yet many that are unconcerned have children in higher ability groupings it seems.

Thanks!

Or it could simply be that while your dd is good there are other children who are doing better right now.

4 for me too. My DTs are in Y1 and seem to be in different groups every day, sometimes friendship, sometimes for behaviour management, always seem to be mixed ability, they love school, so that's what matters

How do you know that he's in the lowest ability group?

I work in a Y1 class and we do have ability groups for literacy and numeracy, plus we have ability related groupings for phonics and for guided readings.

Our school doesn't have ability groupings in reception, but they do in Y1 and Y2.

The ability groups are used for specific tasks, so the teacher can differentiate. IME, in Y1, there is a huge difference between the children's abilities in each area. It appears to work very well, and IME the children are not overly concerned about which group they are in.

With ref to the OP; the children in our lowest ability group are generally behind the average of the class in all areas. Some are EAL and some have SLI. All are on IEPs.

For example,

Literacy/Phonics: the children in my lowest literacy group are still learning individual letter sounds; two are still doing the first few letters entirely. Some can write a letter in respond to a sound, others can only manage a handful, and some are unable to without having a letter shape in front of them to copy from. They are working on initial and end sounds, and not yet really blending.

Numeracy: we are making sure they can accuracly count to 10, understand concept of 1 more, 1 less, can recognise numbers to 10, can form digits, can count back from 10 or 5

Guided reading: on lilac/pink books; not yet blending letter sounds to make words, still working on individual sounds, talking about the pictures, discussing stories, knwing that books are read from left to right, looking for initial sounds, etc.

Oh and our groups are not static either. Children have some assessments at the end of every half term (the children don't know this though, it is def not obvious at all that it is being assessed) and groups are determined through them and through class obs.

At our school at this stage in yr1 the bottom ability grouping would be made up entirely of children for whom reading has not really clicked at all yet; ie still struggling to read/sound out basic CVC words.

I know children who were in these bottom groups in yr1 who are now (yr8) soundly average, and others who have continued to struggle across the curriculum.