Should i call dds schoo

[queeniee]

Hi all,
My dd has come home crying on multiple occasions due to her year 9 settings. The worst experience of this was her first day in year 9 where she found out she was in ‘bottom set’ for english, geography, re and history. I rang the school when i found this out and found out it was mixed for these lessons however maths isn’t and all the people in ‘top set’ are also in maths top set. The sets have been set for years 7 and 8 and about 4 people where also in the top sets in 7 and 8 but the rest were in bottom sets.
Around half of her class is distruptive and a handful on report. The teacher (her head of year) also said that the sets where done like this to mix the distruptive students yet dds class seem to have them all.
My dad has also informed me that she is getting 4 and 5 (gcse levels) and her peers are getting 3s and one even got a 1. This concerns me as she has said that they aren’t giving her the opportunity to get the target grade sometimes and that her peers in top set are also getting similar levels to her.
I don’t know what to as it is really upsetting her and it takes the head of behaviour sitting in the back of the lesson to even remotely behave and in geography the other day they didn’t even finish 1 lesson of work in 2 lessons as the class was so destruptive.
My dd has parents evening in early march so should i wait to say anything again until then although i’m concerned her teachers won’t be able to talk to her as some teach multiple year 9 groups and i think they will be prioritising the distruptive students.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

As this seems to be more than 1 subject I would write to the head of year. You seem to have 2 points?

1. Behaviour in current classes disrupting her learning
2. The 'mixed ability' classes not teaching to her level. Plus also perhaps concern how this experience will impact her starting levels for GCSE courses and thus the final result. Especially if mixed ability setting were to continue into y10/y11?

I would use phrases such as 'my Daughter reports' and 'my daughter feels' rather than 'this is' and 'she is not' as it is less confrontational and you only have your daughter's view on it.

Then you have to think what you want the head of year to do, and be clear about it: e.g.

• Contact all of DD's class teachers to get their view
• Consider whether DD could move classes for some/all subjects
• Meeting with you to discuss way forward

Parents evening won't get this resolved if you only have 5 minutes with each teacher. You need a more formal approach.

(And personally I might consider whether there are any alternative schools if this doesn't get resolved. Maybe check how setting is done for GCSEs.)

teentimestwo sadly dd will definitely be staying at the school as she is very happy there in general and her other teachers are doing a superb job and she has very good relationships with her friends and teachers. dd also mentions how she enjoys the subjects just not the classroom experience.

the setting for gcse is done individually by each subject so that shouldn’t be an issue which is why i’m haopy for her to stay.

last year dds school did it mixed for the same subjects but they were in top half’s and lower half’s instead of just a random split like has been done this year. last year it wasn’t a problem as she was with the smarter half of the year anyway.

i think what i may have to do is wait until parents evening, talk to her teachers (ive already spoken to one at dd2 parents evening and she basically said how good dd was and how sorry she was and that she was trying to sort it out) and see how dd is doing and then at the end of the night go and talk to head of year about it and ask i can ring up sometime?

Why would you wait another month before raising this with the head of year? Fingers crossed that another parent doesn't ring up and ask for their child to be moved sets first then.

quite frankly no other students in my dds class are bothered as they are all used to thus. my dd has also said to me on multiple occasions that she doesn’t want to move sets as she feels like everyone will laugh at her and be like why are you moving sets. i wanted her out after the first day but she said she didn’t want to move sets so i think she may be being a little precious about the situation. as far as i’m aware she is on target for these lessons

What does it matter what others think? If she is crying then there is a problem. You don’t have to take into account the views of others. Perhaps you should speak to her about confidence and resilience because you are going round in circles at the moment with no action!