"Banding " in Year 7. Just another word for setting??

[Myfanwy81]

DD is only a few weeks into Y7 and was put with a group from her primary school for "form" class. She has been happy but now the school have said that they are being split up into "bands" and she had jo one she knows in her class apart from one child who has always been unkind to her. I've asked the Head of Year why they are doing this as my eldest who is in the same school never had this in Year 7. Was told its not setting but "banding". Am unhappy about this and wondered of anyone's experience on here of this?

I have a Y6 who is looking at secondary schools so I googled this. It seems that in some boroughs there are ability tests during Y6 which ensure each school has a mix of abilities. But this doesn't sound like the same. However could it be so that each class is actually mixed ability (the opposite to setting)?
Edit: or alternatively just top, middle, and bottom ability but with more than one class in each ability group?

https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/education_and_learning/schools/school_admissions/Banding-arrangements-for-Year-7-entry.aspx

Banding doesn't have a recognised meaning in schools - can mean different things in different schools.

However many schools start year 7 with mixed ability and then a few weeks in move to ability based groups in some subjects while staying mixed for others -Pshe, PE, etc.

It is a form of setting but not necessarily best to worst. They are in with a wider range of abilities- this has been shown to improve all results.

So it could be a very broad setting or mixed ability using banding to determine the mix.

Thank you so much for the replies. The Head of Year was being very vague about it when I emailed to ask outright. Poor DD only just getting used to secondary and now there us another change.

It’s where the pupils are grouped into broad ability bands. Basically, it’s loose streaming