Year 7 end of year exams

[OnePlusOneEquals]

DS has been talking about his end of year exams he’s had this week. He had his maths one yesterday and he told me that it was easy, I said to him that either he either got given the wrong paper or he just thought he was correct on every answer.
After a bit more questioning it turns out there are two papers for year 7 - foundation and higher, just like in GCSE - is this a common thing in high school? Are they already segregated for exams at such an early age? I know he’s not an academically high flyer, it’s a good comprehensive school with a grammar school in the same town. Of 6 sets he’s currently in set 4, got 103 in his sats….but this just doesn’t feel right to me. Why couldn’t they give 1 paper for all students with a mix of levels of questions?
His sets are a bit all over the place, he’s been bumped up to set 1 in maths, and set 2 in Spanish, but the rest he’s still in set 3 or 4 - which isn’t exactly low set…..or is it? But for him to say the exam was easy, it must have been. Time will tell when results come out I’m sure and the parents’ evening in a few weeks.
But is this normal??

But if he gets moved up a set……then what teaching has he missed out on? Higher sets move at a quicker pace, so he will have learning gaps. I’m really not bothered about what set he’s in, what I’m concerned is that there is already segregation - why not just have one paper for all. And his attitude now is that it was easy, no point in worrying and actually doing revision, it’s unnecessary. Such is the thinking of my adhd child!

6 sets for 300 children doesn't sound right, that would be 50 children per class?

the segregated papers will have a lot of variation in difficulty as well, and much of it will be crossover. So if he does very well in the lower paper, then he'll probably be moved up a set. The topics are often not that different - he probably won't have missed out on actual learning - but the types of problems they solve are different, and they might work on more interesting variations for homework or for extensions or whatever, whereas in the lower sets, the questions might be much more straightforward. By the time you get to GCSE foundation and higher tiers, then yes, the content does start to diverge, but in Year 7, it probably doesn't. They'll be taught much the same thing, but just explore it in more depth or problem solving for the top sets.

I have taught children who get marks like 3 or 5 out of 80 on maths tests, and it's really demoralising for them, and they also don't get the chance to show what they know and what they have learned, as there isn't enough space to do several levels of each type of question. One big combined paper could be impractically long! So two tiered papers can do the same thing, but just giving a hint about which questions each child should try - there is still plenty of scope to show what they can do.

There are 2 classes in each set apparently, I tried to explain it earlier. They say that 1-2 are on equal footing, 3-4 and 5-6 and then 2 streams. So all in all 12 classes of children apparently, they have upped the intake over the years. Were on 270 a few years back and are definitely at a minimum of 330.

At my DDs' school there were overlaps between the sets, you could move up sets without having missed major chunks.
If you do contact the school do it in a 'please can you explain' way not a 'you are doing this wrong' way. They probably know what they are doing, though if it is causing a specific issue for your DS then do let them know and they can make sure their messaging to him is useful.

Prior to 2016 there were segregated maths papers for ks1 sats (so for year 2 children).

Generally pretty much every child did the level 2 paper and then some did the level 3 paper.

Old papers are here

www.satspapers.org.uk/Page.aspx?TId=4

It changed in 2016 to the current papers which I believe every child does.

The KS2 sats also had segregated maths papers - so there used to be the normal ones that everyone sat and then a level 6 paper which was for the higher attainers.

www.satspapersguide.co.uk/level-6-sats-papers/

There are vast, vast differences between children in terms of their maths ability. At primary there is a focus on keeping the whole class together and using mixed ability teaching.

Many higher attaining children do get very very bored with this especially in year 2 and year 6 and the "higher" (level 3 and level 6 papers) were to make sure they weren't just being ignored and making no progress.

In theory the new ks1 and ks2 sats are harder so there is no need for this but in practice there's a lot of bored high attainers in year 6 these days still.

In the U.K. secondary is generally the point at which the balance between keeping the whole class together for essentially social and developmental reasons and academic progress tips and although some secondaries have mixed ability in year 7 (usually to help with the transition and also so you are not setting just off ks2 data) most will set after that.

This means that the lower attainers can get the support they need - drop a language etc in the hope they can progress well enough to pass maths and English which are really important.

The higher attainers need much much more challenge and are capable of much more. So top set maths will often do two or three GCSEs in maths - they'll do the normal one at the normal time but add in either stats gcse or further maths gcse both of which help with the transition up to a level.

They can do this in the time that that lower attainers need to get up to pass level at gcse because most higher attainers come into secondary capable of getting a gcse grade 4 or 5 already at foundation gcse because the foundation gcse topics (with a few exceptions) are what is taught in primary.

We spend 5 years basically re teaching the lower attainers the primary maths curriculum again in the hope that this time they will get it.

“He had his maths one yesterday and he told me that it was easy, I said to him that either he either got given the wrong paper or he just thought he was correct on every answer.”

You said that to him?! Next time, I’d go with, “that’s great you feel confident, sounds like you’ve done well - when do you get it back?”

My kids school set in maths from the start of Y7 based on SATs. They have tests all through the year split into Foundation and Higher. There’s enough crossover. Kids move sets termly if needed though yearly more common. All the work is covered multiple times so there’s no issue with missed work - and a child moving up is moving because they’re able to catch up. It a lot of topics, Higher isn’t totally different maths - it’s the same maths concepts but harder questions.

@TeenDivided Don’t worry, I’m not daft - I have no intention of going in guns blazing, I have the utmost respect for teachers and what they do.
I didn’t want to upset my son by quizzing him too much, but I would just like clarification - which I will get either by sending an email or asking at parents’ evening.
I was just curious about other schools and their processes - and I’ve gleaned a lot of insight via this thread.

There will be a decent buffer! If needed kids can always sit the extra higher questions if needed ( have never known it be).

No ones pigeon holing anyone. They're assessing them appropriately.

If there is a grammar school in the town, then the other schools will not really be comprehensive, more like secondary moderns

Not necessarily, if the grammar is super selective. It could be that its impact on the intake of some of the comprehensives in the town is very small.