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

Mips

My reply -

If the child could cope with grammar education and not feel pressure amongst his peers.. I would say go for it.

If not, and the child isn't as naturally bright as his peers, I would leave him to find his own way.


No good pushing a child, for him to struggle in a grammar school and always feel inadequate.

Just my tuppence worth.


I am all for grammar education and further education - but also want the child to achieve to their own capability, and not my expectations.

elfen

I agree with Dippychick, if you think your son would excel at grammar and not feel pressured, then let him take the 11+ and send him there. In fct, I'd say do it without tuition as then you have a more balanced idea of what pressure does to him - I did it (as I posted earlier) without tuition, and yes, I've had things go wrong (genius is close to insanity as Einstein said) so now I'm at uni and aiming (and getting marks for) a high 2:1 with the possibility of a 1st class degree if I keep going as I am.

If he enjoys outside stuff, do as much as you can to round out his skills so he's not just good at one thing, but can converse on all - I was a buggar at school - finished all the reading levels at 7, so was let loose on a library that couldn't cope, had to have extra maths books ordered in - not so surprisingly English is still one of my good areas, as is analytic study/research (I'm a geek for films and books now and spend my time analysing both through studying it - got told at college during A2 year that the others should listen to what I told them, since I was the one getting near full marks for coursework when they were getting D's and E's - passed with an A )

See what HE likes, and don't put pressure on him, if he wants to do extra work for the 11+, let him make that decision just as much as you. He may surprise you without it

yalisrib

I did an 11+ with tution and failed. It made feel hopeless and 15 years later still affects me. On the bright side I got sent to the local comprehensive and still struggled which made me thank my lucky stars I didn't get into the grammar school where I woul be falling behind even more.
I personally feel that a child who needs tutoring to get into a scholl should not be in that school. They will be surrounded by peers who are naturally academic and have teachers who expect A's and B'. If the child is not academic and will need outside tutoring then it will do nothing but damage their self esteem, whereas the local comp may not be brilliant, but will treat your son like a person, not a statistic.

Why not send him to do the test without tutition. If he passes then maybe he has got it in him. If he fails then he can go to another school with many of his mates.

tiredanddesperate

My DS1 passed his 11+ with the general tuition that his primary gave him, which was practising old papers. He used to bring 1 home every week over the summer term of year 5 and just sit and do it. Home life went on around him - music playing, DS2 & DS3 doing homework or playing around him, etc.

I wouldn't send him to a tutor because I felt that if he needed additional help he shouldn't be at grammar school.

We kept it all chilled and no fuss so he wasn't stressed - even at the exam he was calm.

I am now spending some time with DS2 because his school has had a change of headteacher & they don't do any work at all towards 11+. All I am doing is some practice papers. We have been spending about 1 hour a week on these, him & his mate, for the last 4 weeks or so. His mate is doing it as well because he wants to go to same school & his only chance is passing 11+. His mum says he won't work with her so I am happy to help (although I've told her I'm not promising anything )

So far it's going well - they are both still interested in doing the work!

I can't do links, sorry, but look at elevenplusexams.co.uk - they have a forum with loads of help, as well as an online shop. I have bought some downloadable papers & they also do some CDs for working on the computer.

Also look at freerice.co.uk - they have some great maths & english questions & they feed the hungry as well! My son loves that site.

I'm not sure if I read your post correctly - is your son in year 3? If he is, I wouldn't worry about 11+ just yet. He sounds bright enough to cope with GS, providing he is comfortable with the types of questions (that is what practice papers are for). Of course, if for some reason he doesn't make the grade for the 11+, it sounds like he will do very well (top stream?) in the alternative school.

Good luck & kind regards to you and your son.

Notso

Penny-Pincher!!

I personally feel that passing the 11+ is more about reading the question properly as they can be worded to throw the child, but it's more to see if the child is articulate enough to read the question correctly.

DD passed her 11+ and has attended a great Grammar school for the past 4 years. She was never tutored as I felt the same as the previous poster-if DD needed help then she shouldnt be at a Grammar school. We did however get a set of practice papers from the primary school that she went through.

Our borough in London is sought after and we have thousands of children out of borough taking the 11+ annually as the schools are excellent within our borough. The scores needed seem to go up each year.

One thing I did teach DD when doing her 11+ to read the questions accurately was to take a small ruler and follow each sentance with the ruler underneath, exposing 1 line at a time so it went in better mentally IYSWIM and it seemed to slow down her reading the questions and taking them in better.

HTH

PP
xx

andrealm

If schools are in an area where they have the 11+, do they not do any preparation in school for them?

When I was at school they did lots of practice for it, verbal reasoning tests and practice papers and as far as I know schools still do. Although they have now done away with the 11+ here, the grammar schools have set an entrance exam and the primary schools prepare them for it,even though officially they're not supposed to.

choccymoose

as I highlighted in my first post, we do not push him, he has excelled at maths off his own back, and is above average in other subjects, our evenings are spent doing fun things that he has asked to do, He asked to go to football club - tried it, didn't like it so he doesn't go anymore, he asked to go to teakwondo - he tried this for nearly a year, decided it wasn't for him so he doesn't go. He tried Beavers, loves it so is now in cubs and is doing sailing, kayaking, rock climbing etc and loves it. Formal, structured education wise at home, he does his homework as set by school and that's it, unless he goes on the web and finds a site he wants to do some work on. He wants to try Rugby and so next season we will be taking him down to try.

With regards to the 11+ its more about be preparing myself and my OH for whats ahead both financially and academically than actually doing any work with DS at this stage. He is at the moment bright and more than capable, the scores he has have been achieved during a very difficult period of time for us as a family with his Gd, my Dad being diagnosed with a terminal illness, whilst living with us!

Thanks once again

mrcow

If I was you, I'd get the Letts 11+ packs from Amazon/WHSmith etc and do it myself.

I know so many people who have had tutoring and have gone on to fail. Why? Because they weren't suitable. It is a different type of questioning to what they get at school......but the reason for that is that it's not trying to assertain school levels - it's an IQ based exam. Yes, you can learn how to do IQ tests, but you're never going to get there really if you don't have the natural ability.

Going through papers to get him familiar with the type of questions is a good start. Maybe see how you get on and how confident you are with things after that? it would certainly save money.

For what it's worth, I took and passed the 11+ 26 years ago without any tutoring and I'm fairly sure I wasn't as bright sounding as your son!

Oldernotwiser

mrcow wrote: »

For what it's worth, I took and passed the 11+ 26 years ago without any tutoring and I'm fairly sure I wasn't as bright sounding as your son!

I've always said that (but with a rather longer gap!) but I do think that things have changed over the years. A couple of hours of tuition on exam techniques from an experienced tutor might be a good idea to top up the more general preparation done by the parents.