Put in a low set due to Disability

[Noapologiesthisisme]

My son has been put in a lower set due to his disability rather than his ability. The school have said that he will struggle to keep up even though he has scored one of the highest scores in his assessment. Is this discrimination?

I think more context is needed. What is the subject and what is their concern?

He is visually impaired but very bright, the subject is maths

It depends. I didn't contest my son being moved down a set in science despite being very able as the teaching style didn't suit him and keeping him there would have really stressed him out in the long run. That was also a very significant move, going from triple science to double. Will moving down a set in maths make any difference? Do they still cover the full curriculum? How old is he?

If it is as simple as all disabled pupils or all VI pupils are put in a low set. Then yes, it is discrimination.

For less clear cut circumstances, I don’t think there is enough information to comment either way. Yes, it could be. Equally, it may not be. In many schools, lots of factors determine the makeup of sets rather than decision made purely on academic ability and test scores. Often there is some overlap between the bottom of one set and the top of another. In some schools the overlap is even wider and the bottom of e.g. set 1 will overlap with all of set 2 and the top of set 3. Sometimes it reasonable to place a child who would typically be placed in set 1 in set 2 if they would do better with a slightly slower pace or to enable them to have the confidence boost of being at the top of their set. Conversely, it would not be reasonable to place the child in a lower set in the hope of other pupils being able to piggyback off the child’s 1:1.