Would you question this subject setting (Yr7)

[TunaPastaBake]

DS has just finished first half term at secondary school - yr7 - and when they go back after half term they will be set in subjects .

He is in sets 1 & 2 for all subjects with the exception of Design and Technology which he has been placed in set 4.

It seems quite an anomaly to be set this low when his others at at 1 & 2.

If he has been placed correctly at 4 then so be it he has to work to get moved up but does it seem strange and would you initially query it ?

They do review the settings half termly.

That doesn't surprise me a lot - D&T is quite practical and hands-on, many more academic children don't have the skills for D&T while others who may be less good at written subjects might be better with their hands.

I guess it's like DIY - intelligence and ability with writing or numeracy isn't a predictor of who is good at DIY, but it is generally a predictor of most other subjects.

Does he do Art? Does art have sets? I'd expect art and d&t to correlate a bit.

It'll just mean that DT isn't his strongest subject, that's all. Not strange at all. My daughter is in set 2 for English, but set 5 for Maths.

I've never heard of students being set in D&T!

Presumably they set him based on some sort of assessment. What were the results?

Students are perfectly capable of being good at most subjects and suck in others so being in set 1&2 wouldn't be expected for everything.

I haven't seen any assessment results but part of the query would be what it has been based on .

His Art is 2 .

I've never heard of students being set in D&T!

Neither have I. Are you absolutely sure it's a set, or could it just be a class name? The class may have had to change if timetabling of sets for other subjects caused a conflict.

Incidentally, I was always in top sets for academic subject, but would have been in the absolute bottom class for any practical subject. Just not my thing.

The accompanying letter about the sets didn't mention anything about D & T not being set .

Both my DH did discuss this as DT encompasses so much - cookery, needlework, design , woodwork etc etc.

School have always said that children would be set for subjects - no subject exemption mentioned.

Quite possibly he isn't practical and it is correct, or there isn't really a set for it, that is just the name of the class for DT which is mixed ability, and that is correct also.

Could DT set really determined by timetabling against other specific lessons for which he is set. dd will be set for Maths (only afaik) in January but it will only be across 2 of the classes as their Maths lessons coincide on the timetable.

No clash on timetabling.

I'm happy to accept that DT may not be his best subject - he really enjoys it however so will do him no harm in working hard to improve.

I will query it - not in a pushy parent way but as some of you have thrown up that it is a strange subject to set in.

Practical subjects (except games and PE) are rarely set I think.

Agree with others. re you sure it's a set and not just the name of a mixed ability group??

They set for D&T, it's just called technology here, from day one at my sons school. Also for ICT! They must have used CAT scores and talks with school? I was confused it's to as if there were SAT results to go on. My son started ischool knowing some basic programming. The school specialises in ICT, maybe they were on the lookout for children with an ability in engineering.

They haven't done anything that requires being good with their hands yet, apart from being able to move a mouse , they have used CAD software lots and got stuck into their isometric projections.

Apologies, spurious words made an appearance!

Op I think your ds may be at th same one as mine (does it begin with E?) if so d&t is taught in mixed ability groups even though they don't explicitly state that. (At least that's how it works for my older one.)

My daughter is in top sets for English, Maths and Science, and we expect the same for French. They don't set for anything else at the moment (except PE), but she's been told she was working at about level 3.25 in RE and History (whereas she's level 5+ for Eng, Math & Sci). They can't be good at everything so I wasn't too worried, but I've tried to ensure she understands homework. On talking to her further, it turns out she is actually level 5.25 for both subjects, but her effort is 3.25 (ie she's not really trying, I think because they don't interest her), so it might that your son isn't so enthusiastic about D&T. If you've got a parents/mentoring evening soon, you could check this out or if you do want to know more, put a note into the tutor.

Thanks all.

MadameCreeper - he is 2 for ICT

titchy - yes ! - thanks for that - his tutor is D & T teacher so perhaps a quick email to her to clarify.

Madmog - what is a level 5.25? Sounds like your school doesn't use NC Levels as you can't have .25 of a NC level.

TunaPastaBake - this may not apply but DT classes have a legal limit so tend to be smaller than other classes - the limit is 20, compared to probably 30 or up to 34 in a 'normal' classroom. So being in set 4 in DT may be like being in set 2 or 3 for a classroom based subject. In which case it is lower, but not as low as it sounds!

Dcs school used numerical instead of a,b,c
VJ32. A 5.25 is about a 5c.

My Y9 DS is not doing so well in DT either. He is in set 1 for everything, apart from maths, PE and DT (which are all mixed 1 and 2). Have been told he's doing well in everything apart from DT - so maybe it is a more difficult subject than it might seem, even though it's one of his favourite subjects.