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.

Could be Wales, could be NI. Alas we will never know, as it doesn’t look like OP is ever coming back.

A lot of the CAT4 other tests used by secondary don't allow for any adaptions/extra time and in fact are not recommended for severely dyslexic students who the company selling the software advise are assessed individually to get an accurate assessment of ability, so she may have been assessed unfairly- you need to find out what tests were used and look at the guidance for using and see if there is any unreliability with use with some students.

An update. We wrote the School an email addressing our concerns and have met with the Head of year and unfortunately they are refusing to budge.
We had hoped they would see our point of view and slot her in to one of the other classes. So despite our best efforts she is starting School in the bottom class which we have made it very clear that we are not happy with. My worry is that once you are in that class you will be pigeon holed and never get out of it. So she is starting School and instead of feeling excited, I feel rather deflated.

Have they clarified what they mean by them sitting non mainstream GCSEs?

@Stressmess Why won't you say where you are and why sort of school it is? People might be able to help then.