Appealing being in the bottom class

[Stressmess]

My DD is due to start secondary School shortly. She has dyslexia. The School she has got in to takes in to account scores from their primary School and then does their own test what she wasn't allowed extra time or assistance with. They then group them from class 1 to class 10. 10 classes which all get the same work then this bottom class. It seems all the ones going from her primary school have all ended up in higher classes. I don't know what this is going to do to her confidence and self esteem when she finds this out.

The 10 classes all do the same work and are eligible for mainstream GSCEs. While this bottom class will be doing differentiated work and will not be eligible for mainstream GCSEs. It just feels like she has been written off before she has even started. Although she has dyslexia, she is keen and a good worker. This will effect her whole life, if she doesn't get proper GCSEs, she isn't going to get in to a good job.

We are meeting with the SENCO shortly. Has anyone been in this situation? Can we appeal this or do we just have to go with the schools decision? I would be very happy for her to move one class to the lower average and work hard to prove herself.

Fwiw, my son (also diagnosed with dyslexia, with a sprinkling of autism and ADHD in the mix) has always been in lower sets throughout secondary. There is scope to move up sets throughout the years as they are constantly reassessed so don't lose hope there. I don't think avoiding GCSEs altogether is even an option in most mainstream school settings. Are you sure you're not thinking of foundation level papers for certain subjects? Those, absolutely, are legit GCSES and a pass at foundation level is still a pass.

I was listening to Melvyn Bragg being interviewed yesterday. He was in the bottom class at school and then he ended up with a scholarship to Oxford. She can prove them wrong.

Has she had help with dyslexia? GS has it, declined extra time in his GCSEs as he wanted to be the same as his friends. Did well, got a 7 in English language. It was lots of hard work for a few years.

I hear you as a Mum.that had to fight for an often frustrated dyslexic son.

Separate from.the advice you've received on dealing with the school I recommend

• letting her try hobbies she loves and is good at

My son became "best in school" at a.very cool musical instrument and it bolstered his self esteem no end

• sign up to listening books and let her listen to books that she can't access reading but that ate more typically interesting to her. It helps vocab too,

• look into.colorimerty glasses to see if they help, not all.opticians have this system, and

• let her play with computers and coding. My son loved coding and its actually his job now. He's mid 20s and doing fabulously. I believe dyslexics have gifts others don't so if you can identify them and give her access to use them it may help her in taking a path of least resistance

Good luck. I bet she's a smart cookie in a system that has a lack of resources.

I mean this as gently as possible, but do you think that she may have been placed in this class because she needs it or would benefit from extra support?
I understand having a best friend and a twin, no less, who have been placed in a higher class than her would be very difficult for her but surely this is reflective of her experience in primary school? If she’s been placed in the lowest set, it is likely that, even though they could have been in the same class at primary level, she would have been being taken out for extra work, support or intervention anyway or had been doing different work which was supported by a teacher or TA.
I agree that it is absolutely horrible for her self esteem but this is a conversation I would definitely open up with the SENCO as this will be hugely relevant and not apparent just from data like test scores.
I would try not to be too panicked by the school saying that classes/sets are unlikely to change as this is often a tactic deployed to avoid parents complaining that their child has not been placed with their friends.

Some of the online testing like CAT4 doesn’t allow for extra time for Dyslexia, tests take the kids in different directions based on their answers.

What areas of Maths is your DC struggling with? If it’s basic numeracy and number familiarity them consider Kumon which is excellent for underpinning the basics.

It might help if you tell us where you are based because everyone is piling on with advice from the UK school system (excluding Scotland which has a different system).
This is no help to you because as many people are saying schools in the UK would not put a child in the bottom set at year 7 and then say that means they won't be able to take GCSEs and you can't move between the bands.

I think it's unacceptable that they are saying that. I also find it unacceptable that they have made no allowances for dyslexia but unfortunately some school systems in some countries are like that. I tutor in Austria and it's sink or swim. If you don't reach the required standard at the end of the year you have to resit the year.

So please let us know where you are.

I think you need to quote the Equality Act 2010 to them and ask them why they don't make reasonable adjustments for this test. They will try to argue that it's OK because children with learning difficulties will get more support in that class, but it's just not a valid argument. Dyslexic children automatically shoved in with a group of children with generic learning disabilities will be bored rigid because they are likely to be doing work which is beneath their abilities; they then tend to play up because they're bored, which gets them labelled as disruptive and troublemakers when they simply wouldn't be if doing work that engaged them properly. What they need is proper support, probably including specialist dyslexia tuition, in a class which is appropriate for their actual cognitive ability.

A good illustration of how rubbish this policy is - suppose a child with brilliant marks all the way through primary school could hardly write on the day of the test because they'd hurt their hand. Presumably they will end up with an extremely low mark and therefore should go Into this class because of the "no allowances" rule. Is that remotely sensible?

Where are you OP? Not England?

I would say that if they have placed her in that class purely on the basis of their own testing (before school even starts? so how?) without putting any reasonable adjustments in place, that this is not the right school for her let alone the right class.

There will be room to manouver. I did a single year in a private school to escape bullying so missed y9 sats.

Moved to a diff state school for gcses. Was put in bottom set for everything as a lack of sats meant I got the average year groups prediction or some rubbish (really poor school). My mum rowed with them. I self taught (with a tutor for maths) all the higher curriculum and basically ignored all of the class teaching. They let me take higher papers and I got 5a*/9a/b. Did wreck my predictions to get into medicine and took a year of rowing to not predict me d's but it didn't stop me.

Hopefully it's just so they can give her extra help but if you/they can show are capable it shouldn't be a ceiling for exams or future sets etc

Ah @Stressmess if you are not in the UK then a lot of what we have said here is not relevant. Certainly my experience as a teacher and a parent is only in England. Where are you - someone who knows more about the system in your country may be able to help.

It’s perfectly ok that she had to take the banding assessment, but it is not ok that they did not provide her reasonable adjustments. It’s against the Equality Act. Unless you’re not in the UK?

WTF? You aren't UK? You didn't think to mention this before? FFS.

OP hasn't said she's not in a he UK, she is probably in NI as they don't do SATS and haven't gone back yet (Scotland doesn't do SATS but us back).

How do you put a child in the correct band if you've adjusted things to cancel
out anything that could indicate she needs to be placed in that band? How do you identify anybody's range of needs without allowing those needs to be fully assessed?

It would be like putting me in the Olympics for 5,000m after cancelling out the need to be half my age, a third of my weight, not disabled and with an extreme aversion to running round in circles whilst wearing little more than a pair of knickers and a sports bra. To make the necessary adaptations to give me the equivalent speed and endurance demands, I'd need to be tested on my acceleration over 1.5m at 3am when the cat makes furball noises at the pillow end of my bed.

The tests are also used to identify previously undiagnosed children and potential areas of greater ability in the case of CAT4s - they can show a spiky profile where they have areas they find far easier - indicating potential dyslexia/dyscalculia, or a generally low one - or one that is remarkably high in an area the primary school hasn't ever looked at because the dyslexia is concealing areas of ability.

The OP said some time ago she ms not in the UK, but hasn mr given any more details. I suggest nobody puts any more effort into helping her. Because it won't help!

Well it’s all academic now because apparently the OP isn’t in the UK.

However, this was a banding assessment. The OP says her child had already had an Ed Psych report for dyslexia at primary. IE the child should have been tested to see what band would have suited her based on exactly the same criteria (the reasonable adjustments) that she would always be allowed in every lesson, exam and assessment during the rest of her secondary education. It’s like another PP said earlier it’s like saying to someone who wears glasses, let’s take them away and see how you do, and we’ll put you in the class that suits people who can’t see without glasses.

like saying to someone who wears glasses, let’s take them away and see how you do

I think the suggested adaptations would be more like only testing their eyesight when they're wearing glasses and saying 'you don't need anything, your eyesight is fine'.

But the banding assessment isn’t about checking whether they are dyslexic or not. The school would have already known they were because the Ed Psych was done during their primary years. All the secondary school needs to know is how well the OPs child can do when all of her legally entitled adjustments are in place.

Basically, the school do not need to know how the OPs DD fares without the reasonable adjustments because, due to the equality act, she will never have to take an exam etc at their school without her reasonable adjustments in place - she was diagnosed dyslexic years ago. It’s a lifetime diagnosis, it doesn’t go away.

My dd is dyslexic and English (and by extension most other subjects bar maths) didn't "click" until year 8. She got decent GCSEs including 3 9's, excellent a levels and a good degree at arguably the best university for this subject. I say this now but back in year 6 she achieved 3 in her sats literacy reading and 2 in writing she struggled big time. No school should be writing off students who are genuinely dyslexic, that is academically bright but specifically struggling (as opposed to being learning delayed more generally)

Which country are you in if you don’t recognise SATS or CATS but study GCSEs? Is it Wales?

I'd be really unimpressed with this. My eldest has dyslexia and going on his primary scores he went into lower class for English and mixed ability class for maths. Streamed into higher ability class for maths after they had settled in a bit and done their own testing. I find it a really bizarre way to group children as often they are more capable at certain subjects than others. I suspect despite being allowed additional time in the exams etc. Ds will never do exceedingly well in English but will excell in Music, Art, Maths, Physics. I'd be looking to change schools if they weren't trying to get him to work to the best of his ability across all subjects just because he struggles in other areas.

Education in the UK is devolved, not all the countries do SATs.

@Insommmmnia "Education in the UK is devolved, not all the countries do SATs"

I know. I just think it's pretty unlikely that if the OP was in the UK she wouldn't have at least heard of SATS. And I worry that she might end up misinformed.

Aaah I get you