What would you make of this email? Sorry, really long....

[BertrandRussell]

My ds's friend's mum struggles with English so I help out with emails from school and so on. They are top set year 10, and recently did a mock GCSE and as a class, did rather less well than either they or the teacher expected. They have already been warned that they will probably not all be put in for the Higher tier paper. She emailed the teacher asking what this meant for her son- he needs an A equivalent for what he wants to do next, so it matters- and got this reply-

I will keep you posted as to his progress with the Higher Tier content as we progress and let you know of any concerns that I have. We have moved the seating arrangements around in the lesson so that he can keep his focus for a longer period of time. He was not fully focussed this morning and we had a chat after the lesson and agreed to move him in the hope that it will improve his work rate and attention span. If this fails to happen, then we may need to look at a set move so that he can work on easier content (the Foundation tier)

She and I both interpreted that as meaning he was definitely "in the drop zone" but when she asked her DS about this he seemed genuinely surprised and shocked. So she emailed the school again asking the teacher to have a word with him and tell him where he stood.

He came home yesterday saying that the teacher had said "it's fine, you're definitely not going anywhere, you're not moving to foundation. Tell your mum not to worry". My DS heard him saying this so either they have both concocted a story or it's what he actually said.

I'm now completely paranoid that I've interpreted the email wrongly and panicked my friend unnecessarily. But I'm right, aren't I? The email and what he told the boy are incompatible? They were only 3 days apart. If it was me I'd just ring up on Monday, but she won't do this.

I'll tell my friend, shall I? No problem here, just an unrealistic parent!

By the way- how did your 17 and 21 year olds do linear GCSEs?

The class might not be particularly disruptive, but new seating plans and emails home saying that individuals are lacking in focus and working slowly along with unexpectedly poor class results does indicate an issue with the class as a whole, especially in terms of motivation.

In year 10, I think the teacher was giving a warning shot about being moved to the lower tier. In other words, if you do not focus, you will not do well enough to be entered for the Higher paper next year. We all know the maths curriculum has been extended so children are having to extend their skills. Teachers too. However a tutor may not be up to date with what is now required - so be careful. I met a supply teacher this week who said he did not know what the changes were in the primary maths curriculum.

Surely if the whole class is not doing as well as expected, either the rate of progress has stalled or they got the predictions wrong in the first place? Being in the top set may also be irrelevant if few children are good at maths. I would honestly just take the comments as "you need to concentrate if you want to do well".

I also tend to think that if a child is not flying at maths, is taking the subject beyond GCSE a good idea? Although if they just need a 4 or 5 (?) to access another course, then that is a different proposition and the foundation course is just fine.

I had no idea however that there were different sorts of GCSEs for different abilities. I thought that's what the grades determined. I don't think my children's schools had those and dd's took some lower ability children - the intake wasn't high flying by any means.

Of course your child's school will have had foundation and higher tiers.

I don't see how you could have misinterpreted the email, it's pretty clear. And on the surface the contradiction to what ds's friend was told makes it sound like she muddled up friend with another dc. Which is possible because she probably wasn't the only parent to contact her from what you say.

Other alternative is that the set move was a threat about what might happen if friend doesn't concentrate, but the teacher now has the impression that friend has taken it more seriously than it was intended and has backtracked. i.e teacher was using it as a warning, but now thinks it's perhaps dented his confidence and left him worrying.

Interestingly, when I only had a grammar school child, I thought the idea of tiered GCSEs was a disaster. Now I'm a bit more switched on about how lower ability children perform I have completely changed my mind.

The email was in response from one from my friend, by the way, it wasn't unsolicited. What I suspect is going to happen now is that she is going to crack down hard, and he will, with some justification, say "But Mr X said I was dong fine"

Time for me to step back, I suspect!

GCSEs have always been tiered. Although for maths we had Higher, Intermediate and Foundation tiers. I'm 34. When did it change to only two tiers?

I also agree that it sounds like the lad is busy yapping or messing around in class, or distracted in some way. Hence the possibility of being moved to a lower tier if he doesn't pick himself up. Perhaps they are waiting to see if it's a case of him being distracted with people and therefore not working as well as he could or whether it's a case of him struggling a bit and distracting himself due to it?

Doing. Dong would not go down well.

I'll add to that. When I was at school, in top set science we had a girl from the bottom set join us purely because they thought it would influence her behaviour and make her concentrate or take notice. She was far from bright tbh. She sat the foundation paper though.

Do they still do things like this to try and help specific pupils?

Not sure what they were thinking though, we may not have messed around the same way as the lower tiers but we had our own brand of messing

Out of interest, do you know how experienced the maths teacher is Bertrand? Or what their highest level of maths qualification is?

Extremely. Lots of experience. This is his second HoD. 1st from Russell Group. I rate him. Which is why I am so puzzled.

Ah, all off dd's A'Levels are linear. The IGCEs were too. I am quite sure neither secondary did foundation GCSEs but will ask dd.

No explanations there then as to why group might be underperforming. Hopefully a combination of needing to get used to the new style of question and some pessimistic marking to try and shock them into putting more effort in.

I actually don't think they are necessarily "underperforming". I think doing a completely new sort of paper more than a year before they have to do it for real is a big ask. Although he is very experienced, this is his first high school, so he may not have fully grasped some of the literacy issues our kids face. And I think "Have a go and see what happens" might be a good idea for all round high ability kids- maybe not for our lot.

If literacy is a major issue then the school should consider which exam board they enter for. I know that AQA were touting their new GCSE as having the 'lowest word count', which might make a difference.

It's also possible that the teacher just doesn't understand the new GCSE in detail - like I said, he shouldn't be giving out 1s 2s and 3s on the new higher paper and there are no grade boundaries so he shouldn't really be giving out grades either.

Agree Bertrand, although by doing it so early it does alert the teacher to the problems that need to be overcome and the DC to the fact that they can't be complacent, so perhaps it is a good idea (especially with the new syllabus) even though it's a big ask.

Why set this paper in year 10 when the syllabus cannot possibly have been covered? It is just setting the children up for failure. Guess what - they did. A teacher should know what needs to be covered in greater detail by assessment of the childrens' work on the curriculum covered so far and the teacher already knows what has not been covered! They have more than a year to go so working on mathematical language is perfectly possible. I would be far more concerned at inaccurate predictions this time next year.

A new SATS paper for year 6 I saw this week was also rather wordy. Those who are not good readers may not understand what they are being asked to do.

As I said, I think the top set in his previous school would have relished the challenge. Unfortunately some of ours took one look at the language and panicked! He will live and learn.