Possible SEN discrimination after child moved down maths set at school

[Meforthree]

Does anyone have any experience with SEN needs discrimination? Our DC is in year 6 at a relatively selective school with documented slow processing and dyslexia but regularly scores 129ish in maths assessments.

He has now been moved out of the top maths set (the lower sets do less challenging work) after having a teacher who was very noticeably resistant to making SEN adjustments for him - and given those grades, (which put him in the 97th percentile nationally) the only thing I can think is they equate his slower pace with lower cognitive ability. Surely this is discrimination?

What does your DC think? One of mine has been all over the place in maths sets, but finding where she is comfortable has been important to her. If your DC is unhappy with the set change, that needs to be addressed.

They’re very unhappy about it. Their self esteem took a real knock last year because of this particular teacher - they kept saying they were shit at maths because they’re slower (due to a diagnosed SEN need) - despite these high grades - and they now think this is evidence that they are indeed shit at maths. which they categorically aren’t. I’m so angry.

Firstly, you don’t know why he was moved you are inferring it was discrimination.

email in and ask why and what he needs to do to move up.

You say he has a slower pace, can he keep up with the pace of the class? If not then that may be the reason.

@Meforthreei am late diagnosed adhd and executive dysfunction. At school I was always ‘naughty’ but got high 90’s in any test in any subject despite not appearing to ever listen.

can they keep up with tests even if they can’t keep up with lessons? If so I’d challenge although sets were not a thing for us until secondary

My daughter (ASD, similarly high grades) moved down to set two because she couldn’t cope with the noise of the top set. It was full of equally neurodivergent boys but with different presentation to her. She still came third or fourth in the year group. I don’t think they cover desperately different stuff at that age. I would wonder if they think he’ll do better covering the same topics at a slower pace given his processing difficulties?

129 for CAT4?
sometimes kid WANT to be in lower math secretly .

Where is the discrimination?

Is being in the lower set unfavourable treatment? Is he going to be denied sitting exams etc?

Yes he gets 129 in assessments (91pcish and 96th percentile). That’s why i think this is to do with classroom behaviour. He can absolutely keep up with the maths level.

Because he is able to do more challenging maths. Which is what they do in the top set. Just with adjustments because of a diagnosed SEN need.my understanding of the qualities act is that he shouldn’t be denied access to an appropriate curriculum because of disability.

In DC’s school they do different maths and get different homework in the different sets.

If you can afford one, get a good Maths tutor who suits how your son learns. IME you can spend an insane amount of time trying to get school to do the right thing. Work around them.

What do you mean by 'classroom behaviour'?

But is he going to be? He’s only in primary school. If it was going to mean the difference between getting a GCSE and not
you would have a point but I think you need to calm down really

I literally just mean he is slower. Both in written output and sometimes in terms of focus/attention, thought never in a naughty way. (Slow processing just makes him slower to grasp information. But - if you’re not familiar with it - it is very different from cognitive ability. His is very high, hence very high grades once he’s been given time to consolidate.)

He is capable of keeping up with the complexity of maths… but can he keep up with the class speed? If not it’s not reasonable to have to slow down the entire class for him. What is then reasonable is to move him down to a class he can keep pace with.

We have a SEN tutor, who helps him come up with strategies for all subjects. She used to be in senior leadership team at a selective London private school so she definitely knows what she is doing, and she says he is absolutely top set material, he just needs more time, as per his diagnosis. He doesn’t really need a tutor for actual curriculum, more just how to access it, given processing needs.

Just slower processing. He is very well behaved.

He will not be denied access to the Maths curriculum. It could be said that slower-paced lessons are the reasonable adjustments that he needs to access the curriculum.

All the children will sit SATs at the end of Y6 and you can be assured that the school will want as many high scores as they can get.

Although SATs are designed simply as a measure of the school's performance and have no impact on a child's future school career.

I don’t think this is reasonable though. Diagnosed slow processing is a legal disability under the quality act and SEN needs. He is hugely capable of doing the higher level work - just with small adjustments. In fact (at our insistence) small adjustments were made last year (that really weren’t hard to implement and didn’t slow the rest of the class down) and his grades shot up instantly. It really isn’t about cognitive ability or putting other children at a disadvantage.

No the different sets do different work and the lower ones do less challenging homework.

Also they’re not doing SATS? It’s private so they’re stuff like GL progress tests and CATS (out of 141)

Then ask the school. Maybe something changed between now and last year. You might be right that the teacher just doesn’t want to deal with it or they could have a defensible reason for moving him. But don’t go in on attack mode 3000, all guns blazing spouting that they’re purposefully discriminatory with 0 possible reason for moving your child. Ask them first. Let them explain.

Think of it this way - he thinks he’s thick because he’s a bit slower than rest of the class- if he put him down a set it could help with that. My daughter was loved down a set in secondary (y9/10 I think) and it was the best thing for her - she just took a little longer to grasp stuff - she got a 9 at gcse.

Have you actually talked to the school about this?