Year 7 - so worried because my son has been put in lowest set

[Itallsucksnowdoesntit]

My son is bright in lots of ways and interested in the world and enjoys sports and art. He hasn't been enamoured by school yet. He found primary school and the teachers boring and plodded along with not much interest. He has been placed in the lowest set at a fantastic (ofsted - outstanding) secondary school that promises extra support and nurturing. I feel upset and like I have let him down by not getting him tutors/extra lessons etc at primary. Getting him to do homework for primary school was really hard work and I felt like a tutor would not have helped at that time. He is my only child and I do not have any friends with children in this position to ask. Should I worry for his future? Sit back and see how he gets on, hoping that the school will get the best out of him? Not worry as he is only beginning? I am proud of the kind person he is and he has a wide range of friends. Has anyone else experienced this? The school have placed him here due to Sats and tests done last week at the school. I also feel like there is no point talking to the school yet - what would I say? It's obvioulsy right that he's in this set. I'm just feeling sad and want the best for him and also like there is potential in there but like something needs to light the fire inside of him. Only football and sport seems to get him excited and interested. Will there be a turn around? Is there anything I can do to help?

well the first issue is whether this is the right place for him.

secondaries usually set based on sats results.
if he got very high sats results then clearly he’s in the wrong place.

on the other hand if at primary he’s usually been getting “working towards” and struggled with his sats then he’s probably in the right place.

in your shoes I would be worried about disruption and also his attitude.

personally I would begin to start working on his maths and English if he’s in the right place. They are the important GCSEs to pass.

Bottom sets can be a mixture of those with significant additional learning needs and children who are poorly behaved. Presumably they aren't always like this, but they can be. I would be worried about him picking up poor behaviours and low work ethic from his peers, if he doesn't already have those and also low expectations.

How is he feeling about this? Is he willing to put the work in to move up? Or is he genuinely struggling and needs more support?
Also... how many sets? At my DCs school they are split into two halves, so the "bottom set" is the bottom 20-25%... which is a world away from the bottom of 10 sets for example.
(And a bonus for the bottom set... it is often smaller than the others so the teacher has more time per pupil)

DD was put in bottom sets at secondary school when she started. I was shocked as I thought she was quite able! She too loved sport and still does. She was lazy though. Anyway by year 9 she was in set 2 for most things, has just passed all her GCSE and now started sixth form. I felt that sets were quite fluid those first few years until they get to know the children properly.

At my DC's school there is a lot of movement between sets, based on test results, so don't panic too much OP. However, if I was in your position I'd consider the possibility of getting a tutor to help him improve. In my area there are often 6th form students offering their services on FB in the subjects they're studying at A level - maybe this would be more acceptable to your DS than a "proper" adult tutor? (And cheaper too.)

It's good that your son is kind and sociable OP. Sets aren't everything!

I would talk to his form tutor as soon as possible. Ask what you can do to support him. This will serve 2 purposes. You’ll find out what you can do. And the school will find out that you are an involved and interested parent who they can rely on to do what they ask.
And make sure your DS does not realize that you are upset. He’s in the right place for now.

When my Dd started secondary school she was put in the bottom sets after a difficult primary school experience.
She gradually worked her way up through the sets and took her GCSE’s this year being one of the highest achievers of her year. She has just started at a selective sixth form for A levels with plans to go to university.
Once her school could see her potential she was moved up through the sets and not held back.

This is sound advice IMO.

DS1 was in the bottom set for everything at Year 7. But the school reviewed set placements every half year or so, and when it was obvious he was really out of place they were happy to move him within that period. His main issue was focus and self-confidence.

He's in Year 11 now and is in set 2 for everything except maths where he is in set 4 and unlikely to go up. But it was all quite fluid for a bit.

I believe bottom sets have less kids than higher sets so they get more attention. I remember visiting a school where they were arranged in a circle so couldn't really hide and mess about.
You did nothing wrong not getting a tutor at primary school but you could always try one now. See how it goes and stop it if it's not helping or working.

What did he get in his SATs? If he didn't meet expected standards in Y6, then statistically he is headed to get below 4s in his GCSEs. Obviously this is 5 years away and a lot can happen in the meantime, but it is worth knowing this.

You can look up the stats for the school and see how children perform at GCSE according to how they did in their SATs (v rough groups of low, middle and high prior attainers).

https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk
Enter the school, go to secondary, scroll down to results by pupil characteristics, then select prior attainment.

Do you trust the school to help him beat the odds based on that? Anything you can do outside of school to help would be good.

A good tutor will help them enjoy studying. my ds hated English gcse and the one on one time was really game changing. I can put you in touch if you would like.

My daughter was bottom set all the way through school. Went to a sixth form doing subjects she’s genuinely interested in she’s now at uni.
I wouldn’t worry too much just encourage learning and focus on his likes and strengths

Tutoring is very different to getting a child to do homework.

My child is much younger but works beautifully for her tutor but it’s like pulling teeth if I get her to do anything.

The risk is that he’s surrounded by kids who don’t care about their education/are disruptive. This is the case at my DD’s excellent Ofsted outstanding school (she got mis-setted due to an admin error in Y8 as her name is similar to the next girl in the register - MN advised me this actually happens quite often so I contacted the school after a few weeks and asked them to check as dd didn’t feel comfortable asking).

Anyway dd said that the lower set has a very, very slow pace and she was extremely bored. They were still recapping some grammar points in English that they should have mastered in primary school.

So I would actively encourage your ds to tell you how bored he feels. If he was bored in Y6 he may hate this even more! And then tell him the only way “out” is “up” so he has to work his way into a more interesting set.

Well someone has to be and every child in the 'bottom set' has parents who - in most circumstances - would prefer it were otherwise. But your son sounds to be doing really well at many other important aspects of life, maybe he's not academic in the strict school sense of it, maybe he'll have one of the millions of jobs that make our world go around and where what sounds like social skills and an interest in life and people will see him more than alright. He doesn't sound lazy per se, just not the formal schooling type. By all means get him extra supports if you can afford it and he doesn't kick too much against it but it takes all types to make a world and he sounds pretty great. My two cousins left school at 16 and fitted floors and other similar types of work, have lovely homes, families and social lives in the place they grew up. Not a thing wrong with it.

Is he set in the same group for all subjects? That would be quite unusual at the start of year 7 and not necessarily a good thing. While some students may struggle (or achieve highly) across the board, many are good at xxx but less good at yyy. Maths vs English is an obvious one.

Many schools set for maths even in year 7; when I taught in school we had one year when we set for MFL and English as well, but the sets were different from the maths ones which was important IMHO.

Anyway – I might ask the school for clarity on this. If it is one set across the board, is there an area where you feel he does better? Can you interrogate whether he should be in the lower set for this subject?

You say that you feel that he is in the right set – OK well a way to support him is maybe to check his homework diary and make sure he is doing the work – maybe talk it through with him and make sure he understands it.

Agree that maths and English lang are the key subjects to get a pass grade in.
Do you maybe have an early year 7 parents' eve coming up where you can discuss with teachers? If not then I would email any teacher of core subjects where you are especially concerned – they should be happy to suggest ways in which you can support. And also yy his form tutor to see what they can suggest.
But yes, someone has to be in the lower sets, if a school sets students.

Bottom of how many sets?

I only ask as I have known a situation where there were theoretically four sets, but 1 and 2 were considered equitable ‘upper’ classes, and 3 and 4 equitable ‘lower’ classes, so effectively only two in practice.

How big is the school? Like a pp Set 1 and 2 at our school got similar results so being set 6 meant that you were bottom third of the year which isn’t so alarming - especially if his SATs results were bottom third nationally.

Sets are fluid ime- my dd started in maths set 3 but was set 1 by year 10 and ended up doing maths A-level as well. Whether or not he manages it another question but passing GCSE in English and maths helps getting onto college courses (I assume that this could be where his interests lie) so if you’re going to invest in tutors then I’d start there.

Year 7 sets will most likely be reviewed after half term or Christmas, depending on the school policy. Please ask your sons form tutor, they will know.

Secondaries only have the KS2 results to go on, but as they get to know the children it will be obvious which ones are in the wrong set - either too high or too low.

You should try and impress on your son that the way out of the bottom set is to do work to the best of his ability.

Teachers love a trier. Even if they're not particularly good. The effort will be appreciated. And it will reap rewards further up the school if he gets into the habit of trying hard.

All year 7 sets at our secondary are reviewed & changed after half term. They have cat testing first, and will then be placed according to ability. I primarily work in bottom set however, top sets can have significant disruptions too.