Very High ability dd(111 in SATS) been put in bottom set maths-action?

[Mumof3xbears]

Would love advice from any teachers, heads of maths or parents been in similar situation.

My dd has consistently been in the very top of her class often coming joint top with another student. Always working on higher level work and then going for extensions. In her SATS she was one of a small handful of children that achieved are+ in all areas.
Since starting secondary school she has worked hard and found the work easy and the internal assessments easy too. She says cats on computer where a bit weird but she’s generally a bright girl all round.
Anyway last week the year 7 were set and my dd was put in bottom set. She devastated and said kids she’s with were doing the lowest level work at primary and set 2 were the middle runners. Even some kids are shocked that are in top set as they said they were struggling previously. I hadn’t been worried as I thought she was a shoe in.
I’ve made an initial enquiry and they’ve come back and said she didn’t make top 60 on the assessment but I really struggle to see that happening but now my battle will be convincing them to check that it wasn’t a marking or data input error which is my gut feeling.
How can a child go from excelling and achieving above the expectated level in all areas to totally flunking and being put in bottom set. Just doesn’t make sense.

When you say her scores put her in top 40 nationally you surely don't mean top 40 children? Top 40% maybe?

Yanbu to query her maths set though. I know my DD would have been upset to be bottom set after being top at primary and it does sound like an anomaly to me

It is right that you question this. My son was placed in a lower English set when he started high school (start in y9 in this area) despite being a high ability they based sets purely on tests in the first weeks of term and not on information from previous schools.

I challenged the placement and it was agreed they would re-evaluate placements and he was moved up after the first half term. Schools do not always get things right and it is ok to challenge a decision you are concerned about. Children are generally well aware of their ability and what setting means, it is demoralising to be in the wrong set, be it too high or too low.

i'm answering only in case it is helpful because I note your dd has pretty much exactly the same sats scores as mine - including the 111 in maths. She's in set 2 (of 6 in each side of the year) at her large, well-regarded comprehensive (girls only if that's relevant) - where she seems to be about right. I suspect the top sets are bigger than the lower ones - so imagine that only puts her in the top half, no higher. They use SATs together with one assessment of their own to test. I've no idea whether she's doing the same work as set 1 - but it seems to be mostly algebra at the moment.

Hope you get it sorted soon.