Sets in Maths- should I make my views known?

[savetti]

Ds -always excelled at Maths- year 8 has been put in set 3.
It’s based on their exam last year, however there were a couple of them involved in a fire alarm that missed half an hour of the exam.
In his report and parents evening the teacher remarked that his exam results didn’t reflect his abilities. He said he was aware of the fire alarm issue- but not sure now that they’re taking this into consideration.
Do I remind them? Or do I trust them to put him in the right set, they’ve said they’re not fixed yet. His teacher from last year mentioned he should be higher, but not sure if he makes the decisions

Yeah, they’d normally have one big test every term, but last school year didn’t go exactly to plan!!

Our school used both the set test and the kids' classwork in determining their sets. Everyone can have a bad day and the teachers do not want a bored or struggling child in their set.
Good luck, OP!

Ours usually do 2 or 3 exams a year but do regular class tests on top of that to check understanding of topics. Did the school get back to you?

They’ve just emailed, not in response to my email, but the official email saying what their set is. He’s moved to set 2. But I still don’t know if they took my email into consideration, no acknowledgement!
He’s happy enough in set 2, it’s his teacher from last year who he likes.

My DD is in year 10 and has moved to bottom set in maths,. Maths is not her strongest subject but she was in set 3 last year and coped fine. I thought there had been an error so contacted the school and they said she works so hard but there are "children cleverer than her" than deserve the place in a higher set more but if she works hard she should be able to move up a set in January. 3 weeks in and she says there is no way she will be able to move up as she isn't learning anything as it is diabolical she is constantly distracted because all the kids just mess about and the teacher is constantly having to deal with verbal abuse and very little teaching takes place!! Don't know whether to complain again!!!!!

Contact school asap. Probably an oversight but, even if they don't move him now, he will be on their radar and they will pay attention to how he is doing. I'm a teacher, by the way.

Thanks for flagging this up OP. I have a Year 10 DD in a similar situation to @peppajay (although she's not in the bottom set, she's in one where she will be on the foundation rather than higher trajectory). Having not had any proper maths 'learning/teaching' since mid March, I wasn't really sure that the setting for this year has been accurate. DD really upset but we are biding our time until we see what happens after they get their late September maths test results - I suspect there will be some movement between sets pretty soon.

I did however point out to DD that her rather laid back attitude may count against her sometimes in such situations. They are probably more likely to give the benefit of the doubt to someone who they knows will work hard to get the result, don't you think?