At Chailey School we think hard about the learning groups we place our students in, and reserve the right to alter these for individual students as necessary. The information below shows you how we base our groupings.
English
- Year 7 – taught in tutor groups
- Years 8-10 – taught as mixed ability groups (but not tutor groups)
- Year 11 – groups remain mixed ability but will be divided based on the 19th century text studied.
Maths
- Year 7 – taught in tutor groups for term 1. Then set from term 2.
- Years 8, 9, 10 and 11 – taught in sets.
Science
- Year 7 - taught in tutor groups
- Year 8 - taught as mixed ability groups (but not tutor groups)
- Year 9 - taught as mixed ability groups (but not tutor groups)
- Year 10 - taught in either Combined Science (mixed ability) or Triple Science groups
- Year 11 - taught in either Combined Science (mixed ability) or Triple Science groups until the revision programme in term, classes are then set into higher and foundation tiers
- Setting for all groups is reviewed at the end of every term with adjustments made as necessary
Modern Foreign Languages
- Years 7 and 8 - taught in tutor groups
- Years 9-11, following options taken in languages, are set where there is more than one group for a particular language; otherwise they are mixed ability.
Humanities (Geography/History/Beliefs & Ethics)
- At Key Stage 3, students are taught in their tutor groups for all three subjects.
- At Key Stage 4, groups are mixed ability for each subject.
Art/Drama/Music
- At Key Stage 3, students are taught in their tutor groups for all four subjects.
- At Key Stage 4, groups are mixed ability for each subject.
Design Technology / Food Preparation & Nutrition
- At Key Stage 3, each half-year group is divided into smaller groups of 20 students which are randomly generated from the student database. The groupings change year to year.
- At Key Stage 4, groups are mixed ability in Food Nutrition & Preparation and DT since these subjects are option choices for students.
PE and PSHE
- Year 7 – Taught in tutor groups for the first 3 rotations. Assessments of these 3 units of work are used to rank students and to set by ability. Students are then organised into three groups, all of mixed gender. Sets are reviewed regularly at each assessment point and movements between them are made as necessary.
- Years 8 & 9 – students continue in the same groups as in Year 7, although there is normally movement of students between groups based on performance levels after each assessment point.
- Years 10 & 11 – Students can choose to take the Sports Leader Award. If they do choose to do so then one of their two core PE lessons per week will be based on this course. The other lesson is an option in which students make a choice from the selection of sports/activities available. If students do not choose to take the Sports Leader course then they are set by ability based on their end of KS3 data (2 sets). Again, one lesson is an option and the other lesson’s activities are set by the PE team.
- BTech Sport – Option choices determine the number of groups possible but these are usually mixed gender and mixed ability.
- PSHE – mixed ability in all year groups
