Grouping Arrangements

Croxley Danes School believes that individual departments should have discretion to choose their grouping arrangements as long as all learners’ progress and the school’s curriculum intent is maintained. 

• The majority of subjects are taught in mixed prior attainment groups at all key stages. Where subjects employ some grouping by prior attainment (e.g. Mathematics and Science), subjects must have clear procedures for placing learners in different groups and must review learner placement regularly. Any changes to groups made throughout the academic year should be communicated to parents.

• Selection of groups is based on a variety of sources, including: 

    ➢ Prior and current attainment 

    ➢ External assessment data 

    ➢ Teacher assessment 

• Learner behaviour is not a criterion for selection. Requests for learners to be moved “down” groups should be thoroughly discussed with a focus on the impact on the learner’s motivation and learning. All teaching groups must be designed to maximise learning outcomes. 

• All stakeholders: learners, teachers, and LSPs should be involved in the process determining effective groupings where they exist. 

• While numerical codes (e.g. Set 1 - Set 4) are attached to groups for purposes of timetabling, it is preferable that they are not referred to as ‘top’ or ‘bottom’ sets in order to support learner motivation. 

• Higher groups will invariably have larger numbers of learners than lower groups. From Year 9 onwards, in English and Maths, nurture groups follow the same curriculum as their peers. However, due to the smaller class sizes learners receive additional support within these subjects.

• Teachers should recognise that ‘set’ groups are not comparable and still remain mixed prior attainment groups. Adaptation remains crucial if learners are to maximise their potential and adaptation must also occur by task and not solely by outcome. This occurs by using: 

➢  A range of teaching strategies based on knowledge of learners’ prior learning, with reference to the use of the learner’s Personalised Learning Plan (PLP) 

➢ A range of inclusion strategies such as differentiated resources, within class groupings, in-class support, extension activities for all learners including high prior attainers