Higher or lower set for KS4? Secondary teachers - Help!!!

[Topsy1980]

Secondary Teachers - could someone who’s missed half of KS3 manage GCSEs? My 14yo dd (Y9) stopped attending school in Jan 2025. Prior to this 100% attendance all through primary and Y7. At end of Y7 she was moved down into a low set after school ranked all the pupils based solely on end of Y7 tests. This moved her away from all her friends and into a class where my dd said work was too easy and pupils’ behaviour was really disruptive. I complained etc to school but they refused to move her. She stuck it out for a term of Y8 and then attendance dropped more and more til she’s stopped trying to go in at all since January this year.
Now for KS4 the pupils are split into two groups to choose options - higher and lower bands (x and y). My dd is in the lower band.
My question is - if I asked them to move her into the higher band is it likely she’d cope having missed 18 months of KS3?

Thank you. This was my thinking. She’s insisting on going back but I think she’d much better academically at home, but I do worry about her socially if she’s always with me and she says she wants to be back (she just says she can’t right now 🤦‍♀️)

I’ve tried section 19. My LA do either S19 or SEN route. Initially EHCP was refused to issue but they overturned that at mediation. My understanding is that school can use the band B funding that she’s been granted for her to access some online Alternative Provision. She’ll have missed almost 2 years of school by the time this happens due to the systems and processes. It’s all a joke 🤦‍♀️

My LA do either S19 or SEN route.

Whoever told you this lied to you. You could have forced, and still can if DD is unable to attend school full-time, the LA to provide alternative provision as per their s19 duty.

As I said, it is the LA with ultimate responsibility for ensuring DC unable to attend still receiving a suitable, full-time education. They will often try to fob parents off by saying the school should provide AP, but it is the LA who is ultimately responsible.

Not being in mainstream school doesn’t mean DD has to be with you all the time. DC not in mainstream can still have social opportunities.

I’m not a teacher but my DD missed 18 months of school and returned to foundation maths. She had tutors at home to catch up on what she’d missed and was moved to higher. But as others say, in most school they can only move her up from foundation if it’s proven in mocks / assessments etc that she is at a higher level than a student who is already doing higher.

If her remaining friends are from a lower set surely it’s better for her to return in the lower band so she can catch up and be with her friends?

When she was moved down initially, was this a reflection of her academic ability, or the fact she was struggling SEN wise? What did she get in SATS/assessments the school have done?

If she’s actually academically capable and just didn’t have the right support, one route (if financially viable) might be to hammer it with tutors over summer to get her caught up, and ask for her to be reassessed for sets in September.

Thank you. Are there particular subjects we should focus on if we did this approach?
She was academically able. She achieved well in SATs, and on their on-entry tests into Y7 she was in the top 20%. At Y7 parents evening I was told she was doing well and exactly where she should be. Then they moved her down solely based on end of y7 test scores for which no SEN support was in place. But she is now quite far behind I imagine and I’m not sure how to get her caught up. She’s been massively failed and no one, neither school nor the LA, has taken any responsibility for this.

HI @Topsy1980 to try to answer your last question, I would suggest a focus on English language and literature, maths and science, as these are usually compulsory GCSEs, plus any subjects she is particularly interested in (history, music, PE, geography?).

Am I right in thinking she has been out of education for almost 18 months? Is that pretty much all the time or was she still attending say half-time in year 8?

What has she been doing in terms of education in that time? Were you at home with her to support? You mention Sparx maths but not anything else – were you keeping up with the basics via any kind of online learning, CGP KS3 guides etc?

She did about half of Y8, tried to keep up with maths and English. She’s missed most of Y9. She did a term of maths and English in Y9 and has done lots of reading, sparx maths and some cgp maths. I work full time and did try her with oak academy but she didn’t like it. She will be way behind on science as she’s not done any of that.

OK well I suggest that you lay it on the line to her (if you think she will take it well) that if she really wants to go back to school and be in the higher group, she has a lot of work to get through.

Can you between you really blitz it over the next three months? Get the CGP guides for the sciences, English lang and maths, spend an hour working with her each evening and give her some tasks to complete the next day. There are lot of resources online as well. If she really wants to go back to the school she needs to catch up or it will be really challenging, even in the lower group.

Sparx Maths and something like MyGCSEScience does have the advantage that you can show and share progress with the school. It's clear evidence of what she has done / can do / can't do. Does the school have Sparx maths accounts or do you have a private one? Does the school use an online science revision tool as well?

If I were you I would have a proper meeting with the school, with follow-up in writing. Explain about the diagnosis. Show what she has done so far to keep up with maths and English and find out what she needs to do to slot back into the set she was in and also what she would need to do to qualify for higher sets and how realistic this is (be prepared that it may not be possible for logistic reasons, even if she technically manages to catch up at home). If the school make promises, get them in writing if possible.

what type of education has she engaged with at home? I have tutored children who have moved up quite quickly from lower sets. Is there an option for her to move bands/sets, if she does well in class tests/assessments.

Does being in the lower band massively restrict her?
eg is there a policy of lower band only doing Foundation tier for Maths/Science?

I can't really see that behaviour in the top set lower band would be bad as that is 'middle set' really.

I'm not a teacher. It sounds as though your daughter's school is very divisive, to be honest. Forcing people into two broad categories of higher and lower for everything is short sighted. It's perfectly possible to be amazing at Maths and crap at English, so what do they do in that case? Anyway, if that's how the school operate then there's not much you can do about it. Just a too rigid system for a kid that needs flexibility, perhaps. I have kids in Yr8 and Yr10 and the schools in our area put children into sets for Maths and Science (plus there is one top set for English, with about 10% of the year in it) only. Other subjects are all mixed ability. I am commenting because my son is in a higher Maths set but one of his friends is also in the set - he has lower Maths ability but is SEN and it's recognised that he works better in the higher set because he is unable to cope with the disruptions in a lower set. Flexibility is perfectly possible if you have a school that can show some empathy and understanding! Could you ask school if timetables allow for some element of mix and match between the two bands, as an exception for a school refusing SEN child (i.e. they won't have to do it for eveyone)? For example, she might need to be in a lower set for Maths if she's missed so much, but could she join friends in the other band for Art, PE, Geography, whatever?

Either way, if she wants to go back to school, I hope she can. Whether that's through the school offering flexibility or her accepting she needs to be in the lower band. Also, could she 'prove' herself and be promoted to the upper bad part way through the year? Another thing to speak to school about and might be a carrot for her to keep up attendance and hard work. Good luck!