Ds 14 hasbeen dropped a level in maths, am not happy

[FayeGovan]

feel the school has made a mistake and will phone them tomorrow

ds is gutted and can;t believe the maths class he's been put into

he's 14, I feel this stage is crucial, if I let this go his confidence will be crushed and he'll be totally de motivated, he's hard enough to motivate as it is

any advice from mums who've been there would be appreciated

How would "discussing it" with parents help ?
My dcs know that the teaching staff will have discussions, as a department, and make the decisions about who is in which set. This doesn't just happen at the end/start of a year, people sometimes move around during the year too. They know if they really want to move up (or stay in) a set, then they have to put the work in as nothing is static. What would be the logic in "consulting" me ? I trust that they (the teachers) know who the 30 pupils currently working at the highest level are - I don't have a clue who that would be, I only know my child.
At my ds's school though, they don't have rules limiting the number of pupils who can be entered for higher or lower papers, they enter pupils to the paper that is most appropriate to them.

We don't discuss set moves with parents either. We decide on any set movements in either direction based on test scores and performance throughout the year, then we inform the pupils and parents of our decisions. Obviously we have conversations throughout the year if we believe that a child is in danger of moving down (and motivate kids who might move up), and we speak to parents at parents evenings so it shouldn't come as too much of a shock when it happens. We are more than happy to discuss the movements with parents if they wish to have a discussion, but it is very rare that it changes the decision we have made.

We don't base the tier of entry purely on which set a pupil is in though, we have 4 sets doing Higher and 5 sets doing Foundation (this is GCSE), but the top few from the Foundation sets also have the opportunity to sit the Higher tier.

Yes Int2s are run like a higher doing nabs dd2 is now in 4th yr but did some nabs in 3rd year, I think schools or LEA run their own system some schools do standard grades in 3rd year and concentrate on highers i think it depends on the school TBH

Personally, I think sets work better if they are quite fluid- that means it is easier to work your way up as well as down. Also not sure parents should be closely involved in every discussion concerning a 14yo- surely the people who know enough to have an opinion are the 14yo and the teacher? The teacher can tell the 14yo how fast he has to run to stay in the same place and the 14yo can then make a decision about how (and whether) to set about this.

thanks for all the above answers

ds is staying where he was put, with me encouraging him to do homework on time and I have asked for some extra homework during the summer hols to keep his mind active with regards maths (which he isnt pleased with...)

he is a clever boy who doesn't want to try too hard.....needs pushed, but sometimes too much pushing backfires too.......I feel at least I'm trying to get involved and ask for the teachers guidance and advice, they know better than me and I'm trying to encourage a reluctant but bright boy

Faye - you have this for some time to come I@m afraid .

Speaks as ds is off to GCSE tofay, once again having barely touched any revision throughout half term.

I hear ya

I had this with my second son. The top set that he was in was just too quick for him and he was dropped down a set, which took everything slightly slower and steadier.

He got an A at Int 2, so it worked for him.

thats good to know, thanks