Support thread for parents of pupils sitting AQE exam in November

happymummy24-7

36square wrote: »

For the benefit of several people on this thread, you're aiming to get your children into a grammAr school, not a grammEr school. Hopefully your children know how to spell it properly.

you know 36square,im so glad you got that off your chest....here we are,some of us feeling like we are loosing our minds we are so stressed with the AQE tests and worrying for our childrens future,and you felt the need to point that out,gosh to have so little to worry about that i might feel the need to point out other peoples spelling mistakes :mad:

thanks steveymp and BOBS,i know its not clear cut and thats what i am struggling with,its the un fairness of it all really lol my daughter is trying so so SO hard it makes me cry,im very very proud of her but the horrid feeling of possibly finding out even your best isnt good enough at the tender age of 11 is sickening to me frankly!

steveymp

happymummy24-7 wrote: »

you know 36square,im so glad you got that off your chest....here we are,some of us feeling like we are loosing our minds we are so stressed with the AQE tests and worrying for our childrens future,and you felt the need to point that out,gosh to have so little to worry about that i might feel the need to point out other peoples spelling mistakes :mad:

thanks steveymp and BOBS,i know its not clear cut and thats what i am struggling with,its the un fairness of it all really lol my daughter is trying so so SO hard it makes me cry,im very very proud of her but the horrid feeling of possibly finding out even your best isnt good enough at the tender age of 11 is sickening to me frankly!

:T:T Well said

Oh and 36square you may want to read up on the ethos of being a nice money saver rather than a pedantic richard head;)

I hop mi spealling and grammar is coerreckt this tyme

Airgead1

As a parent who has had a child through year 1 of the AQE system may I offer a few suggestions.

1. Different techniques are required to encourage different children in terms of preparation, but it will definitely be unhelpful if parents show stress to their children and is likely to have a negative affect on scores.
2. As another poster has pointed out, AQE set out the scoring system in a letter to parents. It is the same as that used in a lot of other primary school tests such as InCas and it is very unwise to try to equate it to a particular percentage.
3. Some parents may find that the grammar school of their choice requires a score of around 101 but many require a significantly lower score. When one considers that most parents are only likely to enter a child for the assessment if the child has a chance of doing moderately well, then it is reasonable that well over half of those entered should get a grammar place.
4. If your child is at a primary school which had a number of children entered for the CEA last year and you know, for example, that 50% got into the grammar school in which you are interested, you can make an inference from that (although age standardisation can cause some movement from practice test scores).

rolo1_2

Don't get to hung up on the scores is the best advice I can give. And you must not be put of applying for your 1st choice school just because this year was e.g 101 cut off and your child gets say for example 95.

One prime example of this was in East Antrim. Historically BHS took slightly higher 11+ grades than Carrick Grammar, but lowest score in Carrick Grammar this year was 101, and BHS was around 95!!.

I bet next year it will fluctuate back again - mainly due to Parents trying to second guess what score will be good enough.

Stick to your choices in order - let the clearing system work it all out, no matter what score your child gets. And don't let P7 head change your mind!
Also remember this years P7 population is slightly less than last year, by around 3%
Good luck all - Can't believe it is almost a year ago daughter sat the tests !!!

Freefromdebt_2

Ok so heres the thing. The grammar school my kid wants to go to is one of the top in the North and last year the lowest score they accepted (GL assessment) was 228 which by my reckoning is a VERY HIGH B2. Because the P7 population is around 3% lower than last year is this better for our kids ?
I am very confused :eek:
Anybody able to help ?

jogym

Hi all from my initial post I have to say things have improved greatly. We have made good progress in 2 months. Even though my daughter is usually top 3 in her class I still am unsure how she will do. Top score has been 91% and parent/teacher meeting was told good things. The thing am worried about is if her nerves get the better of her as teacher said she noticed this when she sat pupiles in exam environment in hall but then ALL their scores dropped and it was a v hard paper (let's hope it's not that hard on the day). She is sitting test in school she wants to go to but everyone else is doing it elsewhere in a classroom environment. This worries me and I was annoyed I didn't find this out before entering her but am hoping she will just put her head down and get on with it. Have looked at ways to calm the nerves and received good advice eg. camomile tea, lavender, rescue remedy as well as all the usual good night's sleep, good breakfast etc and I am going to do them all - anything that will help right. It is now getting close and I have to say I will be glad when it's all over. It has been a long and stressful process.

I am a bit wiser as to how scoring is set but you still cannot tell. Our kids deserve one hell of a treat when this is all over. Good luck everyone!!

BOBS

Hi all - the test dates are coming round very quickly. We have been for a settling in morning to see where dd will be doing her test etc. All very well organised. Have been going through the summer packs of papers we got from primary school and rewriting the maths questions that she struggled with. She is now finding them easy - so hopefully we are heading in the right direction.
And I totally agree that they will need a nice treat when they are all done and dusted!!

Doggies

Hi everyone, this is my first post on here. I usually just nosy about. But I am actually feeling a bit queezy in work the more I think about these tests. I am usually very calm and easygoing, but have seen the hype in my daughters school and the stress these tests have caused! I am getting slightly obssessed now printing out more work for her to do as we speak!

I have my own sign language course to go to tonight at College and really could do without it. Probably would do us both some good though to have a couple of hours break from schoolwork.

I think I need wine!

Cheers:beer:

Rach39

Is anyone else heading to Wallace High School for the familiarisation session tomorrow morning? Good idea for them to allow the children to do a practice test to get them used to working in the environment but just a shame it's so close to the real thing - my son is doing AQE and GL and tomorrow is the start of 5 straight weekends of work connected activities!!

Fortune

Hi all

Just wanted to say I am following this thread very carefully. My dd may be sitting these transfer test next year (YR7). Just wanted to ask is there any correlation between InCAS results and marks for these tests? I have only the one child and I do not have any idea whether she will be fit for g. schools. In Yr 5 in her InCas test she scored well above her age although this year both results for English and Maths have gone down. Teacher stated she did not think the marks were a true reflection of her ability but did not indicate if she was g. school material. The school as far as I know does not give any help to those preparing for transfer exams.