Should I be worried that my going into year 9 son.....

[Hakluyt]

......has never heard of the kids in his school who got stellar GCSEs and their names in the paper?

most likely they didn't know he existed either, so shouldn't worry.

well it depends on how big the school is but I can't imagine that many 13 year olds would be hanging around with the Y11s however studiously academic they might be

Obviously I don't expect him to be hanging around with them- but I would have expected him to have heard of at least a couple of them! If only because presumably they've been getting multiple mentions in the three times a year praise assemblies for the two years he's been at the school..............

Do you really think a typical 13 year old boy listens to names read out in assembly? Even if they did listen, the retention period for a random name of someone 3 year groups older would be negligible, I wouldn't expect them to be remotely interested and would be surprised if they were.

They may not have had their names read out that often either if the school has a different ethos. They may well be being praised in a more understated way.

Can he actually name any of that yr11?

And if so, what have they done? Sports, school rock band? Or notorious extortionist, plus excluded cronies?

I am sure he could give me the name of the First 11 and First 15.............

You only need to start worrying when he can name all the kids coming out of youth court

No - younger children know the sporty ones, the drama ones and prefect type ones who run clubs. They will not know the geeky, quiet, studious ones! Always was like this - regardless of the size of the school.

Assemblies at my school are done on a year by year basis anyway. So you wouldn't hear who had done well in any year but your own.

This is not an enormous school btw (average intake 220) so unless yr DS's school is very small OP the same might be true.

You are taught mostly in forms in my school and I find the kids don't know many of the other students in their year. In fact at the end of year 8 I asked "Harry" if he knew the answer to a question and a girl who had been in the class since September piped up "Harry? Who's Harry???" (he was a very quiet lad but even so, she had been in class with him 3x a week for a year )

Sorry should have made clear that my subject is set from year 8 so the group was mixed across 4 forms. I am pretty sure my student knew all the lads in her own form.

I am not sure what the point of your post is
Are you intimating that the school might have invented this pupils?

No, icymaiden, I wasn't.

Although as the governor of a school whose results were disappointing this year, I wish I had thought of it......

Students don't listen to stuff in assembly that applies to them - let alone when it doesn't!!! Bane of my life trying to get messages to students as they have seriously dodgy selective hearing!