Bottom third of class in year one, bottom third through primary?

[Cortina]

Just wondering if your DC was in one of the bottom two groups in year one if this was the case going forward?

Yes/no?

Dd got additional help for literacy in Year 1 (bottom group). She is still in lowest reading band in year 3 - however is vv bright class. I suspected dyslexia (familial history) and paid for Ed pysch privately (school thought she was nice but dim). Yes she is dyslexic with high cognitive ability (97th percentile).

Someone has to be bottom of the class, but I often wonder how many of those children are undiagnosed dyslexics. I loved A A Gills article in the paper over the weekend

is in very bright class

In our class the top groups have slightly different work and extension work to the others. The children first work through a numbered list of spellings, word recognition and comprehension exercises 1- 50. All have now completed and are on the A-Z list which follows and most are on letter W, X or Y at the moment. (How do I know? My cousin has a DS in top group in same class). They are pulling further and further away from the others.

DS is on list no 26 (first group). He 'gets' the word recognition right every week. Not given them as spellings or comprehension exercises. I am doing these at home with him. Scores 100% every week usually (they are simple at this stage). We also do the extension exercises together - he gets the comprehension etc. He can never catch up in the way things are structured. They don't want to push him too much (not good they say) so he gets one set of words per week sometimes 2 (if he demonstrates to teacher he knows the words instantly).

Of course the top half of the class feel great they are doing so well and they are keener and keener to learn. The reverse seems to be true in the bottom half of the class. Success breeds success it seems (even in year one)!

He can never catch the top half of the class going by this system. I am greatly encouraged to read that things can change and children tend to find their own level in the end.

Which article??? (A.A. Gill) sounds interesting.

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article7067419.ece this one.

Cortina - your schools system sounds very rigid; What if a couple of children suddenly had a spurt and were moved up a group, would two children have to move down to make space for them? Bizarre.

Yes, that seems to be how it works, as you can imagine it's not a popular system with the parents and I think puts the teacher under some pressure.

My dd's year 1 class has different numbers in each group and different groups for maths and english; therefore, you can be in a 'top' group for maths but not english (or vice versa)

Children do change groups as well. Don't know if it's discussed with parents or not.

I am not entirely convinced about grouping. I agree that work should be differentiated but I worry that the children in the bottom groups might be unmotivated and decrease their expectation accordingly.

On the other hand, they are just 5 year olds and perhaps don't give it any thought; just another strange school thing imposed on them.

Quite frankly, it is a ridiculous system! All the school needs to do is move a table to make a larger group, it's not rocket science! tables are not fixed to the floor, so I can't see any reason for not moving. Your school seems to have some very strange ideas, thankfully these aren't in my experience common, I've certainly never heard of this before!

Cortina Thu 25-Mar-10 23:53:16

There is a way round this, the teacher could create a new Top+ group, which some of the existing top group and new top groupers move into. This then creates vacancies for some children to move UP, all the way through the class without anyone having to move down. The whole "bottom" group could be promoted, so that ALL the current "slugs" or whatever thoughtful name they have, become "mice".

Most childrene do know where the various groups stand, but I do wish that they would give them TRULY non-judgmental names, rather than it being a bit obvious from the number of wheels, or number of sides.

DS#2 was in bottom of bottom of class in Yr 1. Still is I beleive but his work is improving hugely. I think that's what counts.

O bum, I was about to edit the "e" off the end of children. I do feel the bottom groups should be promoted though. They are all progressing to some extent.
At DS school they give out house points for good work, but it is based on your improvement, (and effort) rather than your actual scores.

And I think they should be monitored more closely for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia.....

Those of you with children in the bottom group - have you considered it with respect to your children?

Yes HMC. We have in DS#2's case but he was assessed and there are no major problems. He's a bit of a round peg in a square hole.

OK - glad you've looked at it and have been able to exclude it. It is a bit of a hobby horse of mine that it is often overlooked.

choccypig this is exactly what my DDs teacher has recently done ie. identified 3 who were previously in the top group and created another group for them so that they can go off and do their super stuff. Its not rocket science is it?