11+/Grammar school entrance exam entrance/KS2 17 February 2009 at 12:41PM in Freebies (no spend required) 30 replies 34.5K views

patelsdp1

Any good free sites to help my son with 11+ and Grammar school entrance exams?
Found:
http://www.happychild.org.uk/wks/math/key2/index.htm
http://www.chuckra.co.uk/

Stressed out parent:mad:

Thanks in advance

Zara77

Hi
The bbc have some good resources online. The key is to get your child reading a variety of materials. So the timeonline.co.uk is a great site,for getting your to read a paper. Good Luck

halkerstone

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/ has free downloads

http://11plusexam.co.uk/

http://www.nelsonthornes.com/bond/ has free resources , you will need to register.
These Bond papers are excellent, if you can afford to buy them;the ten minutes a day, are just right to keep focus and practice.

Also make sure he knows his times tables accurately up to 12 x 12.

Good Luck.

Dandy30

Tudor House offer a free initial assessment to children in years 3, 4 and 5. There is no obligation to pay anything for the free assessment. visit the Tudor House Website.

Discodee

Don't stress! Just remember if your child is up to it, they will pass, and get a place. If they're not up to it, they are better off in a comp, thriving, than struggling in a grammar! You are doing the right thing by just giving a bit of practise rather than cold hard tutoring.

My kids had no tuition and just did a couple of practise papers and got 98% and 96%. My eldest has just got 10 A* and an A in her GCSEs. Some kids in her class got Cs and Ds. They are kids who were tutored to pass and have struggled through school.
You should be able to ask for a starter pack from your LEA which should contain some practise papers. If not, WHSmiths will sell a pack of 4 papers which contain papers similiar to the 11 plus exam.
There is also a good website here :http://www.bond11plus.co.uk/?gclid=CN_Rh5eCua4CFaQmtAodMBxkDQ
I would also, just as a game over dinner etc, keep him brushed up on capital cities, collective nouns, names of the young of each animal, things like that, as you'll sometimes get questions like, "Which two are the odd ones out, leveret, bunny, kitten, calf, doggy." Bunny and doggy would be the answer as the others are all young animals, and sometimes kids can get questions wrong, not because they're not clever enough to be able to work things out, but simply, they may not know what a leveret etc is! Colours, trees, and flowers are other things to talk about. ie you may get one, saying which two are the odd ones out,, Oak, daffodil, daisy, yew, laburnham. If they've not heard of a yew or laburnham tree, they can get confused. So chat about things like that, making it into a game, and you can also then make up some of your own questions.
Good luck,but don't get stressed. As the LEA said to me, the whole point of this exam is to determine if someone is Grammar School standard, as if they're not, they shouldn't be in such a competitive environment. People who tutor are cheating and doing their kids no favours at all.

jaxjax123

My lad goes to a school where a boy has been doing a couple of days a week at Grammar school he has been since year 4 but he is still being tutored. If he gets tutored what hope does everyone else's child have?
I have said I won't tutor my child but I start to feel bad when most of the children in his small school are being tutored. Could it be I'm holding him back?

Queenriderbrekke

The best tutoring is always to constantly talk to your child from an early age as mentioned, the names of flowers, trees, cooking together and weighing ingredients, enjoying a book together, counting out smarties when they have a treat as in we've got 5 smarties left you can have 4 that leaves me 1, colouring together! Making it fun rather than a chore for the child:)

Discodee

jaxjax123 wrote: »

My lad goes to a school where a boy has been doing a couple of days a week at Grammar school he has been since year 4 but he is still being tutored. If he gets tutored what hope does everyone else's child have?
I have said I won't tutor my child but I start to feel bad when most of the children in his small school are being tutored. Could it be I'm holding him back?

I wondered that when my daughter was taking the exam. I even went onto an 11 plus forum, and was told by rich, snotty people, when I asked for advice, but said I didn't want to tutor, that she would FAIL unless she was tutored for at least 2 years. N;eedless to say I went back and told them when she got 277 out of 282! (The pass mark is around 236) I was also glad I hadn't wasted money on tutoring. It's about £20 an hour or something stupid!

When my son took his 4 years later (2 years ago) I didn't worry in the slightest. Just got him to do a few papers, checked his knowledge on cities trees etc. He was already a whizz at Maths so got all the code questions easily. I found the only weakness, as I previously said, was with the words ones, if he hadn't heard of things. ie, one question had crochet, sew,embroider, cricket, football. He thought sew and embroider were the odd ones out. He'd never heard of crocheting, but plays a lot of croquet! lol Easily done. That's why it's good to just play with words a lot leading up to it.
All his friends mums were saying to me, Aren't you worried he won't pass? Don't you think he should get tuiton? I had been through it before so just smiled. He got 266 o/o 282
By the way they add on marks for their age too, although my son's bday is Sept, so he got none added on and my daughter's is Oct so she got 1 mark added on. A July child would get about an extra 13 marks. (I think that's wrong too, personally, as it means a child can be tutored for years, fail the exam by 12 marks and still get in. (I know one child did just that!)

And if you think your child isn't up to it, then don't do it. It is cruel. A bit like sending him to a school for athletes when he isn't sporty!

Discodee

Queenriderbrekke wrote: »

The best tutoring is always to constantly talk to your child from an early age as mentioned, the names of flowers, trees, cooking together and weighing ingredients, enjoying a book together, counting out smarties when they have a treat as in we've got 5 smarties left you can have 4 that leaves me 1, colouring together! Making it fun rather than a chore for the child:)

Apart from the cooking we always did all those things walking to school.
So many benefits outweighing going by car
Save cash
Better for the environment and ultimately the health of your kids
better for your kids health as they're getting exercise
(good for your health too!)
Kids perform 20% better at school after walking as they arrive awake nwith their brains full of oxygen (as opposed to half asleep with their brains full of carbon monoxide)
And you get to talk about everything you see, and can count them, see colours etc etc!!

Queenriderbrekke

Just out of interest has the 11+ been bought back in then? Last I heard it had been stopped?

hermanmunster_3

Queenriderbrekke wrote: »

Just out of interest has the 11+ been bought back in then? Last I heard it had been stopped?

Never went away in a range of LEAs / counties. (Gloucs, Kent, Dorset (part ) Devon (part) N Yorks (part) Lancashire (part) Birmingham Bucks Berks Lincs
There are about 130 grammar schools in the country