EDIT: You should all read my friend's book "On The Edge" abut teaching in the UK's worst schools.

I was setted for almost all of my subjects, but as I was in the top set for them all anyway I didn't give a shit.

We only had sets in maths, but my school performed extremely well in the league tables and exam results as a comprehensive. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it - I can see benefits for some pupils, but I'd worry that early sorting into abilities might end up subjecting kids to a path leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I remember in maths that two sisters were moved up two sets simply because their daddy, friends of one of the teachers, got a stink on that his two little girls weren't thought to be the best, and they really should never have been put in the top set for maths as they couldn't grasp the things we were learning.

I also remember looking at one of the text books for a friend of mine who was in the second set, and the difference in what they were learning compared to the top set was quite stark.

What particularly annoyed me is that I was also good at French but had been placed in the second set, for which the maximum grade on the GCSE paper was a B. The only way to get an A was to sit the top-set paper, which they wouldn't let me do because I wasn't in the class, despite having high enough attainment.

I was top set for everything

I was setted for almost all of my subjects, but as I was in the top set for them all anyway I didn't give a shit.

What went wrong?

We were streamed for maths, english and science from year 8 onwards, with exams at the end of year 7 determining your set. I was top set for everything except maths because I was ill on the day of the final maths test and my final score was dragged right down. Amusingly, whatever system they used didn't compensate for missed exams, landing me in set 3. After about 6 weeks in set 3, I was (quite rightly) moved to set 1, where I was able to jump start my career as a world famous mathematician.

I was in top sets for everything except in the final year, when I was moved down a group for English because one of the other girls in my English class was picking on me.

It pisses me off to this day that a) I had to share a class with dossers who could barely read and b) I couldn't achieve a grade higher than a B, and all because of the actions of someone else.

I was in some 'unstreamed' classes like Music or Design Technology. That was a terrible use of my time. I had to share a class with the the complete retards that are usually in Set 5 for things and they didn't do anything but sit there, occasionally shout out random bollocks, make bizarre macaw sounds or perform the classic schoolboy act of throwing rubbers around the room. All it did was break the teacher's concentration and cause him to pause the class every 5 minutes and basically ruin my education.

You know what I really would've liked to see streamed from an early age: games. I was a runty kid and co-ordination didn't come to me until I was in my late, late teens. I loved having a kickabout with mates at the park as we were on a similar level and it was friendly, yet back at school it was most disheartening to struggle alongside the big sporty and competitive kids (some of whom went on to sign as YTS for pro clubs, and one still plays in the premiership), and it was probably a bit annoying for them to get lumbered on the same team as people like me, just as I would have been irritated by knuckleheads ruining science class.

It really knocked the enjoyment of sport out of me as a kid and it wasn't until I was much older that I learnt to enjoy playing organised sport for fun or even competition, and that seems like a big shame.

I keep seeing this thread and thinking someone wants to bypass their work's VPN so they can watch Netflix.