HOW STUDENTS ARE GROUPED

Year 7 & 8

Year 9

In Year 9 things get more complicated, students could be in different classes for different subjects. To do this we create three populations – English, Mathematics/Science and MFL. The reason we do this is to allow for some setting by those subjects. For timetabling purposes students are first of all split into two populations, in one is 9H, O, N, E and S, the other is 9T, F, A, I and R. Then the four subjects mentioned can group the students how they want to. It means a student could be in 9H for English, 9E for French, 9O for maths/science. Even if a student is in 9T for all subjects, the other students in the class will vary from subject to subject.

At this point it is worth saying that the evidence for setting students by prior attainment is inconclusive, this is not surprising as the circumstances under which it is studied are different (different ages, different subjects, different countries for example). Due to this we don’t have one policy for how we group students – it is left up to each subject area to decide. The information below explains how each subject does it.

Mathematics/Science

Groups are put together to acknowledge some students may need extra support with their maths and perhaps a slower pace to help them master key concepts, while others need to be extended and stretched further. The majority of students in the year will continue to work in mixed attainment classes as they have in years 7 and 8.

Mixed attainment: 9A, 9E, 9F, 9I, 9N, 9O

Support: 9R, 9S

Higher attaining: 9H, 9T

English 

There are 9 mixed attainment groups (H, O, N, E, S, T, F, A, & I) and one support groups (R)

MFL

There are 9 mixed attainment groups (H, O, N, E, S, T, F, A, & I) and one support groups (R)

Other Subjects

There are of course more subjects than the four mentioned, but without getting technical we couldn’t create a timetable which worked if all subjects could set up their own groups. Some subjects use the English classes and some use the mathematics classes

Science/Maths – Geography and Computing

English – Drama, Art, History, RE, PSHE and Music

This means for example, if a student is in 9A for maths they will be in 9A for geography and computing and the rest of the students in the class will be the same.

Year 10 and 11

English

Year 10

There are 9 mixed attainment groups (H, O, N, E, S, T, F, A, & I) and one support groups (R)

Year 11

Mixed attainment groups: A, E, F, I, N, O

Support: R, S

Higher attaining: H, T

Mathematics

Year 10

Mixed attainment groups: O, N, E, F, A, I

Support: S, R

Higher attaining: H, T

Year 11

Mixed attainment groups: O, N, F, A

Support: E, S, I, R

Higher attaining: H, T

Science

Year 10 and 11

Triple Science: X1 and Y1

Combined Science: X2 to X6 (no X6 in Year10) and Y2 to Y6.  Groups are setted, e.g., students in X2 have a higher prior attainment than students in X3.

MFL

Year 10 and 11

Groups are setted, e.g., students in Sp1 have a higher prior attainment then students in Sp2

Other subjects

All other subjects are mixed attainment