Dear parent / carer,
When your child joined us in September they were placed in a form group and have so far attended all lessons as part of that class. We feel that this transitional arrangement, when students are moving from primary to secondary education, is important in helping our students settle in well and feel safe during what can sometimes be a daunting first few weeks in secondary school.
We are confident that the overwhelming majority of year 7 students have settled in well now and, with this in mind, students will be moved into broad ability groups in some of their subjects from Monday onwards. This is to help teachers provide appropriate support and challenge to all students.
Students will be placed in one group of three (if they are in form groups P,E,R,G,A or T) or four (if they are in form groups O,M,I or N). These broad ability groups are based on available KS2 assessments, along with CAT scores (that have been completed earlier this month), teacher assessments from primary schools and the feedback from staff who have taught Year 7 for the first 4 weeks.
The group that they are placed in for English will be the same for modern foreign languages and the humanities subjects. Students will also be grouped for maths, and will also be taught in this group for science. Students could, for example, be in a higher group for their English lessons than their maths or they could be in the same or similar groups for all of their subjects. All students will remain in their mixed ability form groups for PSHE, DT, Unlocking the Curriculum and the performing arts subjects. The new teaching groups will be in place from Monday morning and these should show on Edulink over the weekend.
Please be assured that assessment and monitoring of students’ ability and progress is continuous and that groups are regularly reviewed; anyone who is obviously misplaced will be moved as soon as possible. This will continue throughout Year 7 and the remainder of your child’s time at school.
It is not unusual for parents and carers to have some questions following the grouping process. The most common one received is where a child from primary school has been working ‘at greater depth’ and yet finds themselves in ‘set’ 2 or 3 when they were maybe expecting ‘set’ 1. I would just like to make you aware that this Year 7 cohort do have above average KS2 SAT scores with the average for reading and GPS being 106.6 and 106.4 respectively and the average for maths being 105.4.
Whichever group your child is placed in, I just want to reassure you that the work in each class will follow the same curriculum schemes and your child will be stretched and challenged to enable them to make the maximum progress possible. For any student the most important factors in making progress are having a positive attitude to learning and working hard to achieve their best.
I wish your child every success whichever group they are in going forward and I hope they continue to enjoy their time with us at Haslingden High School and Sixth Form.
Yours faithfully,
Mr T Goodman
Deputy Headteacher: Quality of Education