Moving sets, is this normal?

[furymum]

My DD who is 11 and in the first term of comp secondary has been moved from the top set to the second with no consultation - in fact we had been told that she was doing very well. This was on the basis of her assessed work - she is 6C in maths and science and 5A in English, which I think is OK but she says other kids get much higher grades. She is mildly dyslexic. We received the letter a couple of days ago which was posted after the end of term. She is devastated as she has a best friends and other friends in the group she is leaving and most of her teachers are different. The kids are taught in the same set for all classes. Is this normal treatment or do I have the right to be upset at the lack of consultation?

I challenged the school's decision and they immediately backed down and said they didn't know all the circumstances (dyslexia and high IQ) when the original decision was made and DD could stay in the top set and was doing really well etc etc.

They also promised to at least inform parents before the end of term in future.

They refused to look at streaming for individual subjects though. The sets in year 7 and 8 are based on performance in maths and English. If you are bad at English but good at maths you would be in a lower set for all subjects, maths, science, PE, art, everything. They start the GCSE route in year 9.

Fury
Glad you got an almost straight answer.

Streaming in a comp.
How incredibly old fashioned and lazy.
Now that there are computerised timetabling systems there is really no need for such a scattergun approach.
Almost EVERY child will be in the wrong "stream" for one subject or other.
Might be worth writing to the Governors about if you have the energy.

Furymum, fantastic result for your dd, and great that quite rightly in my op they will now inform parents beforehand so that you can at least understand reasons and be aware so that you can ask questions if necessary, showing good pastoral care for dcs

Agree though streaming just crazy, english and maths skills are so different that one subject is bound to suffer at expense of other with this system. wonder what logic is for doing this?