I think I need some advice from everyones favourite secondary school teacher! <crawl, creap> MB, are you there!

[MaureenMLove]

DD is in year 7 of a non-selective school. They have a grammar stream though, for those who narrowly missed the pass mark on 11+ and they have just done their CAT's to stream them. However, dd told me yesterday, that they are not going to be streamed until Yr 8. Nearly every day she tells me about a couple of kids in her class that are really not very good in any of the classes and are constantly disruptive and are always getting really low marks on work. I can't decide if this is an issue, in that if she is in the same class as them for a whole year, they will get more disruptive and ultimately the rest of the class, who are able, will suffer. I'm not saying that dd should be in a grammar class, but it seems to be getting more obvious that these kids need to be in a lower class. Am I making too much of it, do you think? They know what their doing, right? They're not going to change the whole system for me are they? I've just answered my own question! Thanks for listening though!

Well, naughtyness and low marks don't always mean that a child isn't clever. Sometimes it can even mean the opposite.

If they are in the same stream as her (and I hate streaming!! it is archaic)they are probably of similar ability unfortunately

Low marks can indicate lack of effort, but not always lack of ability. Unfortunately she seems to be in a class with some disruptive kids, and even more unfortunately, it happens quite often. Believe me I face it every day.

Best thing is to use parent power and complain. At least then something might be done about the disruptive ones, like putting thme on report
HTH

Am not MB but am a secondary school teacher and a Head of Year. I agree with Fizzbuzz that it's worth using "parent power" and raising the issue with the Head of Year.

It would not be good policy for the school to move pupils of high ability down because they are misbehaving (as this is likely to make them more disaffected) but it would be good policy for them to hear your concerns and assure you that there are tight proceedures in place for dealing with the disruptions.

It also would not hurt for them to make these proceedures a little more public, so that the pupils who ARE working hard and behaving well, see more clearly that there are consequences for disruptive behaviour.

Gosh that was a ramble - sorry!

As a fellow head of year I would also say phone the school and say something, encourage other parents to do something. Parents have power - use it.