DS1 goes to a standard mixed comp. Now in yr9, not all subjects are set but in those that have been last year and this year he has been top set for all. I suspect towards the bottom of the top set though.
He has made his targets in Maths, science etc but not English. At the end of yr8 he got 6b and his target was 6a. This showed a fair bit of progress at the end of yr 8 compared to yr7 (was level 5 in yr6 sats)
English is not officially set. However, this year they have decided to do an all boys English set. We have had no communication about this as parents. Last year another parent (now yr10) told me that top set boys were put together as a focus group as girls achieved better.
However, this year DS says that they have been told by the English teacher that they are all underachieving and so they have been put together. I have heard from another parent who has spoken directly to the teacher, that top boys and girls have been put in a set together, this class of male 'underachievers' and two other mixed classes in the 'house'. (House is 4 classes out of 10 in the year). This class seems to have levels down to 4a & 5c that I know of, DS at 6b and maybe higher levels too, I don't know?
DS has asked us if he can move classes as the behaviour is so bad and he can't learn. He says there are no other adults in the class apart from the class teacher, who he doesn't rate (not that that necessarily means he's not a good teacher, who knows?)
So, I am torn as part of me thinks 'great, they've spotted an issue and are trying to target these kids', the rest of me thinks that if they really are taking all the underachievers together, surely they should put some more support in the class and does have two whole levels of ability make sense?
Teacher when he spoke to the other parent admitted it was an experiment.
I want to find out more, but do any parents have experience / teachers have any tips of what I should be asking and whether this sounds normal/the right thing for them to be doing?
Thank you