Y7 new starter sets based on sats results, help!

[steggers123]

Hello, my DS started high school last week and received his new time table yesterday, he has been set purely on his Sats results. He scored 107 in maths 108 in SPAG and 98 in reading he went into meltdown during the reading paper and his primary school teacher explains to his new high school that this score was not a reflection of his ability and looking at the other scores this is quite clear, so he has put into set 1 for maths and set 3 out of 3 for English, the humanities and science. I'm going into school on Monday and any advice you could give me would be much appreciated. Thank you

Absolutely you are right, I bow down in deference to your superior knowledge.

I'm sorry, you're hacking me off because I come from a family of teachers, my husband has been a school governor for 10 years and I have the utmost respect for teachers like yourself who are up against it from the government and their ever changing curriculum and the parents who delegate all responsibilty for their little cherubs to you. I'm not one of those parents, I am level headed and would never confront a teacher without evidence to back up what I was saying, I'm not tgat arrogant or scary! Hey I did my BEd and then much to my mother's disgust decided teaching really wasn't for me lol!

Long lost what do you do after those conversations? Make a note? Ignore?

I'm just curious as best approach as an engaged parent.

Long lost what do you do after those conversations? Make a note? Ignore?

Listen carefully, we have setted on the basis of exam results, not just one exam, but several over the year, so it is as fair as it can be. However, if there are genuine extenuating circumstances, we will give the student another chance to sit an exam. There was one this week, but I actually genuinely can't remember the exact details, there was some reason his exam results might not have been a reflection of his ability and commitment - it must have been a medical reason. He is taking an exam on Monday anyway.

Apart from that, explain the decision to parents, quite often it is a case of reassuring them that taking double science is not going to be a disadvantage to their particular child, and will actually decrease the pressure on them. Many parents want triple science, without really understanding that BB is gong to be so much better than CDD, or similar, in the end, in many circumstances.

Yes, record the conversation, but to be honest, school records these days are sooooooo long and detailed that you can rarely find information if you want it. We've gone, over 25 years from having so little information on students that we were ill informed, to having so much information we can't find out what we need to know.....

I always think it is worth contacting the school if you have questions or concerns,

I do have to say that parents capable of cheerful, polite, breif concise conversations are likely to find staff far more keen to ring them back!

We have one parent we need to ring back, but everyone is putting it off, as it is likely to be a general ramble of 30-40 minutes, and no one is going to pick up the phone unless they have that much time spare!

Emails are very good, if your school has the facility to email teachers. It is easier to reply at a convenient time, where as phone calls might come when you have to be on break duty, or something. Also, there is a clear record in an email conversation about all the relevant points.

So, if you want to know my advice for an effective, engaged parent, then keep in touch with the school, use email if you can, or short, friendly phone conversations.

( and don't ring while drunk or stoned - also quite a common occurrence, and not very productive.....)

Longlost thank you very much for the detailed answer.

Also suits me -- I prefer email. Let's hope the secondary school has it.

Just wanted to update you on this, After numerous meetings with school, son distracted, unable to concentrate and 'the victim of a sustained bullying campaign' (pastoral's words not mine) and an outstanding set of CAT scores but no movement in his sets we went to appeal for another high school and won. New school spoke to his primary and set him based upon his CAT scores which put him into the top sets of the top stream for all subjects, he is also on the accelerated learning pathway for maths. He is happy and loving every minute, I got a real slating from teachers on here when I first posted, but you know what schools do get it wrong he WAS set incorrectly and as a parent you have to fight for the best for your children because you do know them better than anyone. His CAT scores put him in the top percentage of children, yet he was set in the lowest possible set where in English he was being asked to think of other words to use instead of big, I would love you to justify this! Anyway he's moved, he's happy and it's onwards and upwards 😁

Is he definitely in set 3? Some schools don't set all subjects in year 7 and he may just be in class 3.

Sorry I should have read the whole thread. I am glad your son is happy at his new school.

It was actually worse than we initially thought, he was in set 3 of the lower stream so effectively he was on set 6 of 6. However all sorted now he's changed school and is very happy.

He may well be very capable. But he didn't actually perform in the SAT test. That is a problem. It happens to many. Children don't perform well on the day. That is one of the main issues that needs to be addressed.

The children in the top set presumably did perform well 'on the day'.

Our secondary takes into account the sat results, but they take more notice of the tests that the children do on computers, the schools own tests, when the children come for the 'visit day'.
and finally there is a lot of movement in the first term between sets, after the autumn term tests have been done. in the first term, by Christmas and then at the sets generally settle down.

I have been very very impressed by the way our school has handled it all.

I'm glad that you were proactive OP, and that your son is in the right place now and doing well. So good to hear back when there is a good result!

Good news. Glad he is happy now. How long has he been in the top sets in the new school? Hopefully his future test results in school will continue to be good enough to keep him in the top sets. Our school reset at beginning of year 8.

He's only been there since the second week in October, he'll try his best but even if he's eventually moved into set 2 it doesn't matter, he's in a much better place than he was and he's happy and that really is the most important thing 😊

Great result for your child's education. Thanks for the update.

Well done fighting for your son's chances. Clearly in his old school they were not prepared to move people between sets, which is bad practice. It sounds as if he's in the right place now.

Not all schools are like that though - at our secondary there is movement every term, despite timetabling issues.