11 plus

patchwork_cat

My DD had tutoring, but my elder DS didn't have much. My DD got into the grammar school and is doing well, my DS didn't and frankly as their parent I think their intelligence is very similar.

My DS has just gone up to Uni to study Pharmacy, so obviously the grammar were wrong! So having said all that, yes tutoring is important to some children, even if all it does is give them some confidence.

Poppy9

betterlife wrote: »

........the local grammer school has nearly 100% A and A* for gcse results for last year and the 2 normal schools have 50/52% at A-C, then of course im going to try and get my son in the best school.

I agree with poster above that the %ages are meaningless when the mix of pupils in each school are skewed by one school skimming off the more academic (at 11 ) pupils. Where as the 2 "normal" schools are achieving over 50% with the remaining 2/3rd of the catchment area pupils. As generally you see classes only have 1/3 who are classed as above average I would say the other 2 schools are doing very well.

Also you should consider whether the opportunity to study a wider range of subjects is an option at each school.

My DD went to a very large comprehensive school and had to study a very wide range of subjects. She would have been more comfortable just doing the basic academic ones but having to be involved in other lessons and stretched her outside of her comfort zone.

Children change so much from age 11 onwards and need to broaden their horizon outside of the core subjects.

Oh finally you should ask around to see how many parents are using tutors for the core GCSE subjects in Y10/11. I think schools should have to publish this as many schools in some areas have excellent results but a lot of parents are paying for private tutors.

purpletoenails

Was much the same for me, as the grammar school was out of the catchment area (in the next county) so the primary school had nothing to do with whether the children took the test or not. It was down to the parents to sort out, so there were no practice papers or anything done in school.

kentclaire1

betterlife wrote: »

hi, im not sure if this is the right place to post this? (i think it is but i was wondering if anyone has a child that will be sitting there 11 + in november?
and if they have extra tutoring, at home or online, i no its less than 8wks away but i was considering using an online tutor , and was interested to see if anyone else uses one, thank you.

Hi
Not read what area you are in but my daughter sat her 11+ in september of this year. She had a little tutoring as my son did just to get her used to the format as , the same as last year they now take it ( or in daughters case 4 months earlier). I have said to her that if she doesn't get the required score for grammer school, i would rather her not go to grammer school and struggle and go to her local comp.
As others have said a little help in right direction is far better than a full on push before. I would feel really bad if after years of tutoring to get them to Grammer school, they then had to stand on their own two feet and struggle.
This is a scary time, sometimes i think more for the parent, than the child. Good luck to your child.
Regards claire
.

catch_me_if_you_can

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I agree - but won't the school do that anyway?

No - not in this area. They considered that they do their bit by issuing the entry forms/notifying the parents of the exam. We had to get a tutor to discuss/revise the papers with DD - the Head Teacher was as anti 11-plus as you could get as she felt it divisive and that "natural talent would come to the surface with good teaching"

DD also sat an entrance exam for a private school but as she wasn't interested, (girls only school) she wrote her name and drew a smiley and that was it. I shouldn't have, but I did laugh when I found that out, ages afterwards. You can take a horse to water... :cool:

betterlife

same with my son`s school, we didn`t get any entry forms, no dates, no viewing the school dates, nothing! and even now they no he`s sitting the exams, no help!

patchwork_cat

At my children's primary we were not even informed about the grammar schools.

Some teachers are against selective education. My DH used to work with a man whose wife was a teacher and they were very anti selective education, until his wife taught at one of the grammars whilst on supply. He came in and said to my DH move heaven and earth to get your children in there!!

neverdespairgirl

catch_me_if_you_can wrote: »

No - not in this area. They considered that they do their bit by issuing the entry forms/notifying the parents of the exam. We had to get a tutor to discuss/revise the papers with DD - the Head Teacher was as anti 11-plus as you could get as she felt it divisive and that "natural talent would come to the surface with good teaching"

DD also sat an entrance exam for a private school but as she wasn't interested, (girls only school) she wrote her name and drew a smiley and that was it. I shouldn't have, but I did laugh when I found that out, ages afterwards. You can take a horse to water... :cool:

My primary school (which was a private one) found out which schools all the girls were applying to, and the details of the entrance exams & requirements for each one.

They also prepared us for Common Entrance, which is a set of exams a lot of senior schools use.

But I didn't do anything else for it, and wasn't aware of any of the other girls having tutoring, either.

Blackpool_Saver

I think tutoring is more likely to be required today, as the standard of literacy and numeracy is much lower across the board at primary level. Please don't be offended betterlife but there are many basic spelling mistakes in your posts, I think it would be advisable to use a tutor so they are not passed on to your child.

I would not dream of tutoring a child of my own, unless I was a highly qualified teacher and very knowledgeable of what was required for the grammAr school tests.

patchwork_cat

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

I think tutoring is more likely to be required today, as the standard of literacy and numeracy is much lower across the board at primary level. Please don't be offended betterlife but there are many basic spelling mistakes in your posts, I think it would be advisable to use a tutor so they are not passed on to your child.

I would not dream of tutoring a child of my own, unless I was a highly qualified teacher and very knowledgeable of what was required for the grammAr school tests.

Here's me thinking, 'ohh a capital in the middle of a word' and then my rather slow brain today twigged what you were doing! I agree even if your grammar and punctuation are excellent a lot of children do not respond well to parental instruction, I KNow mine don't!

As I say even a very bright child can fail to get into the grammar schools even with some tutoring, so if you have a child who is not going to struggle then do all you can to get them in. There is a lot to be said for peer pressure and the ethos is totally different.

My DS spent the first 2 years at his comp, before setting, having his chair kicked by the girl that was bored as the lessons were way above her, whilst he was bored because he could do the work. He achieved anyway, but I think his route would have been easier and he would have learnt a good work ethic earlier if he had been to the grammar school.