Do you think my DS will need a tutor for 11+

choccymoose

Before anyone says i'm a pushy parent, let me get this clear I'm not!

My son is 8, he has a natural talent with Maths and ICT and was on the G and T register in yr 2. I don;t know where he gets it from as I originally got an F in maths but have retaken and now have a C.

We have never pushed him, just done the homework that has been sent home then brought some of the Letts books at his request. His teacher set him a yr 6 maths test just before Easter and he scored a 4c he got pulled out of science last Friday to sit 2 more maths test and has now been graded a 4a (hes yr 3). At the moment he is not on the G and T register, current teacher does not seem to believe in it, although he is the only child excelling this far ahead, we know this as my OH is the Governor for his yr group. He also scored 3a in his English so is pretty good all round!

My question is as we live in a Grammar school area should I start saving for a tutor to support his learning ready for the 11+ or should I leave it to him to study with our support! My preference is that he should study off his own back, as if he gets into a grammar he won't have that one to one support their to help him, but on the other hand if other children are tutored to pass the test then what if he misses out!!! Really could do with some input as to what to do for the best!!!

Choccy

mountainofdebt

My nephew is due to sit the 11+ in September and he is being tutored - not because he's dull but becuase, as my sister said, the others are and they have to play the system like everyone else.

However we have friends whose children have also gone through the 11+ route and they've simply gone through past papers and the children have all passed.

Personally I think if you and your OH are able (mentally as well as time wise,lol) to tutor him then I think I would follow that route.

However having said that I had a maths tutor many moons ago only for the simple reason that whilst my parents knew how to the maths I was having problems with, the method had changed so many an arguement ensued.

I'm not sure what format the 11+ takes so this may make a big difference.

choccymoose

that's the bit I'm concerned about is not playing the system and then him missing out, its such a minefield. I'm sure that he would get by on his own back with our support but don't want to let him down. My OH would have to tutor him, cos I struggle now with his homework!!!:eek:

callow

I have used this website

http://www.11plus.co.uk/

There are lots of free papers.

In my area there are several tutors that offer exam classes. There are just children sitting the tests in exam conditions. The tutor marks the test and gives feedback. There is no tutoring as such.

They are much cheaper than a tutor and give the child lots of practice at the tests. Exam technique is very important especially for the verbal reasoning test.

I am of the opinion that you have to play the game. If your child is able you wouldn't want him to loose a place to a child that was less able but had more tutoring. I hate doing it but that is the situation you are faced with.

You don't have to spend money. There are several girls in my daughter's grammar school class who didn't have tutor. However each one of them did have practice doing the exams. If you feel able, tutor him yourself, or just get a tutor for the subjects you are not able to teach. I had a few English tutoring sessions for my daughter as I don't have the confidence to explain English very well.

choccymoose

callow wrote: »

I have used this website

http://www.11plus.co.uk/

There are lots of free papers.

In my area there are several tutors that offer exam classes. There are just children sitting the tests in exam conditions. The tutor marks the test and gives feedback. There is no tutoring as such.

They are much cheaper than a tutor and give the child lots of practice at the tests. Exam technique is very important especially for the verbal reasoning test.

I am of the opinion that you have to play the game. If your child is able you wouldn't want him to loose a place to a child that was less able but had more tutoring. I hate doing it but that is the situation you are faced with.

You don't have to spend money. There are several girls in my daughter's grammar school class who didn't have tutor. However each one of them did have practice doing the exams. If you feel able, tutor him yourself, or just get a tutor for the subjects you are not able to teach. I had a few English tutoring sessions for my daughter as I don't have the confidence to explain English very well.

thanks for the link callow

blindmouse

I had tutored my daughter for a year before the 11+ because she loved her school work and enjoyed lessons and homework, but sadly she was no good at those 11+ papers and I knew that most of the kids in her class were being tutored it cost me a fortune and to no avail she missed out getting into our grammer school.......

My son who was 3 years younger than her thrived on the papers he would sit with her and help her and he loved doing the papers and seemed to have a natural ability with them. I decided to only get him some help 3 weeks before the exam and that was because he remembered she had been helped, yet he hated homework and anything that involved essays etc.... Well he passed the exam no problem..

Fast forward....... Daughter did really well in our local girls school and went on to uni with no problem and now has a 2.1 degree......

Son hated his grammer school all those essays etc was unable to stay on to 6th form as he was one B short, yes they have to apply for 6th form along with the rest of the world.... Dropped out and had a years break but is back on track for uni hopefully this year...... They didnt seem to grasp that although he was good at exams he hated the general written work, and this counts with the GCSE's. So any extra help from the school was non existent.

The moral of my story is grammer schools are great for kids that love homework etc... I wish the exams were based on what they had learnt in the time they have already been at school and not just an exam based on logic and reasoning....

choccymoose

at the moment, DS in hungry for learning so going with the flow, he spends his break and lunch times reading, he enjoys anything math based and is always asking for harder stuff to do, downside is he detests football and other school sports apart from Rugby which he is hoping to start next season. He does sailing, climbing, potholing etc with cubs so has a pretty eventful social life.

If he didn't get into Grammar then we would chose to send him to a school outside of our area. We have a number of Grammar schools each setting its own test, 1 is ruled out as its a girls school the other is a boys and the final one mixed. I live slap bang between the two so also need to consider that aspect aswell!!! Allegedly the pastoral care is better at the mixed than the boys but that is only what I have heard from other people! Guess I need to investigate all this aswell, just wish the current school was a little more supportive !

The experience you have described for your son is similar to the experience a colleagues son had at the Boys grammar here!

anonymousie

Choccymoose there is a world of difference between being frankly "hot housed" and taught to perform for a test, without your ability being academically rounded and guided practice taking exams- working to a time deadline and other exam taking strategies.

State primary kids in the UK are primed to take test in the May of year 6,and this is when they have exam strategies under their belt. We are also in an 11+ area and 11+ exams are sat on the first saturday in Nov ie 6/12 almost to the day before SATs exams.

It therefore follows that even the brightest state school child is going to struggle to know, off their own bat, how to sit a formal exam and give of their best, 6 months before the educational system has trained them to do so.

I have 2 at grammar school and 1 starting in Sept. All 3 had a tutor for about 12 months before the 11+. THis tutor was carefully chosen to concentrate on techniques and strategies rather than trying to teach to the test IYSWIM. THey also did fun stuff every few weeks- exciting maths "play" , programming lego robots etc and DD1 and DS did some art (their tutor had an art interest, as did the eldest, and DS did some art as a confidence booster as he believed he was no good- a couple of 1:1 sessions and I have an amzing winter trees picture to treasure, and he has a lot more art confidence).

THe 11+ round here is a very secret exam and there are no past papers because of the cramming potential. Every year my kids have sat it there has been a wide variety of areas tested including one they haven't seen before eg naming countries on a map, ot guessing which words could be german, which french and which dutch from a list. I don't believe those questions were there because the examiners wanted absolute knowledge in those areas- just a formulation of a strategy to approach the question, and , if need be pass on and do something you do know the answer too and not be thrown into a full blown panic because there is something you don't know!

In DD1 (now nearly 17) and DS (14) school years there are kids who have been over tutored and are probably working at the full extent of there ability all the time. It's clear, certainly to the kids in the year group who they are , and they are the miserablest kids unfortunately- mostly of an ethnic minority background, who aren't allowed to do anything other than school work and their maths tutor etc (yes they have tutor support at home to keep up). DD and DS take full part in the musical, sporting and drama opportunities at school as well as the academic stuff.

Chose your tutor carefully and all will be fine.

choccymoose

Anonymouse, your post is really helpful thank you.

I totally agree with what you are saying about the importance of knowing the strategies in which to approach the exam and not going down the hot-sousing route! Definitely something to consider when making the decision.
Thank you once again everyone for your advice its really given me food for thought.

anonymousie

blindmouse wrote: »

I wish the exams were based on what they had learnt in the time they have already been at school and not just an exam based on logic and reasoning....

With kids at grammar school now I can't disagree more with this statement.

11+ is seeking out children with cool head, an easy ability to learn and think in the way the school deems it is looking for. It isn't a "how many facts have you crammed this week" exam, if it were then it would simply be a non fee paying extension of the prep school system.Grammar school kids need not only to be able to soak up facts but also to understand things fast- stuff is generally only taught once and they all just "get it" (and therefore, even from 12 or so my kids never ever wanted to be off as they feared they'd miss something important!).

Grammar schools are good, but only for the right sort of child. Even two equally "bright" kids may not both be suited to the grammar environment- DD1 has a friend from primary, who went to a comp and is back with DD for 6th form at the grammar. Being the "star of the school" at comp did so much to boost her self confidence, whereas being in the middle to lower streams at grammar would have academically "drowned" her .

chloe99_2

If you think your child can genuinely thrive or succeed in a grammer school environment then I would say get some tuition to "teach to the test".

the 11+ bears almost no resemblance to anything they will have done in mainstream school, and like someone else said, most of the other children will be receiving tuition, so you need to get your child to the necessary level to pass the test with a high enough score.

If you dont think your child is grammar school material then I can see absolutely no point in trying to get them through the test.

One last point, in my area they have brought the test forward to the very beginning of October this year, so dont get caught out leaving it til too late to prepare, especially if you were only going to do a couple of months work.