Educating Yorkshire

[Hallelujah2020]

Coming soon, so hopefully will be in next few weeks

I think Darcie-lea and Alexa were good academically weren't they

But yes they will have chosen the ones for good TV most

Alexa was shown in another episode to get 2 marks or something on a test - she was worried about moving down sets.

In my dc school the head students are generally the over achievers (not saying that's right).

In one subject it did show that yes

I got the impression they were saying both of them were good academically in general though. Anyway that's just the impression I got. We don't know all the details either way do we

I thought it seemed an abrupt end, maybe because we’d seen already prom and GCSE results being given in earlier episodes?
Also, for anyone who saw the first series, they had a big emotional finale with Musharaf’s leavers assembly speech. Pretty hard to follow that!
I’d like to see another series.

I teach science. There is a foundation tier of entry, there is absolutely no point in teaching them content they will not be tested on. There is so much cover on the higher paper we have to go pretty quickly.My foundation tier set (passed on year 10 exams and discussion with students and parents) mean we can go over core skills, embed the basics as there is less content to cover.

This is in complete contrast to my top set, where they are all aiming for 7 and up, where the extension question in class is often taken from Alevel.

It is almost like teaching two completely different subjects,

Mixed ability classes produce the best results for all students. Research backs this up. Your top students remain top but the middle ability are pulled up. When I taught English we had one bottom set for our very low ability and every other class was a mix. It worked very well.

It’s still separating the lower ability students where lots of behavioural issues lie.

A lot of behaviour issues come from feeling lost and not following the material. Students can feel stupid (not saying they are) if they are comparing themselves constantly to higher achieving students.

The class is analysing Mice and Men and some don’t have the reading age to follow the text. That would be soul crushing for anyone. Repeat 6 times a day.

Lower sets can have less behaviour problems, as seen the teacher can try to build up confidence and focus on core skills. Any subject there is a foundation tier entry needs to have sets as the material covered is different.

Not all behaviour issues are from lower ability students. Just because someone is able/bright doesn’t not mean that that their behaviour is excellent.

I completely agree with you. However my personal experience is that the worst behaviour is linked to the bottom sets.

I would prefer my kids to be in sets. The person above has said that evidence shows mixed ability sets are best but then they also say they have a lower set, which doesn’t fit with their argument.

I just feel the gap is too wide between the top and the bottom to lump everyone in one group. There were kids in my GCSE class at school who could barely read or write. It’s hard for a teacher to help them and also someone going for a top grade at the same time. I wouldn’t choose a school that did that.

That was a criterion for you??

Erm no that was not one of the reasons we chose the high school and I have never once said that