Support Thread for parents of children sitting the AQE /GL Transfer Test in 2012

aqeworrier

I started this thread saying that I am going to self tutor my daughter. Now it seems that everyone in her class has a tutor and I'm starting to worry that maybe she will miss something vital if she doesn't get one. I hate the idea of paying £20-£30 per week for an hour with a stranger when I am perfectly capable of going through the work myself with her and she is more than willing to work with me.

What are other parent's thoughts on tutors? I have so many questions about them. Do they really provide magic answers that us parents don't know about? Are they worth paying for or has it simply become a commodity based on parents' fears? What kind of work do they do with the pupils? Is it just practise papers or do most of them get the child to do extra work during the week too that they then go over during the tutoring session? ( I find it hard to believe that one hour a week with them would be enough on its own). What kind of exam technique tips do they give? Do people go to them more than once a week?

Sorry, but I find myself worrying more and more as tiime goes by! She's coping well with the work with me but just worried that by not getting a tutor I'm not giving her an equal chance with her peers. I hate the way that we all now feel pressured to pay for tutors. I really don't want one but now starting to wonder if working with me alone will be enough. Apologies for posting this on both threads but would also appreciate the help of those who have been through it and most of you are on the 2011 board. Help!!

aqeworrier

Well now that we're almost into September and the test is looming closer, just wondering if anyone else getting as nervous as I am. Would be good to hear from other parents with children sitting test this year and form a support group to help get each other through it.

BOBS

Hi AQE worrier - we are in the same position that most of the other kids in the class seem to have tutors. IMO if they are capable they will get through with the work that the teachers do in class. Whats is the point of paying a tutor to coach them through and then have them struggle their way through a grammar school .....after all i dont think too many of these parents will continue tutoring through grammar school to GCSE etc. We have gone over tests at home - the ones that dd struggled with I rewrote with different numbers etc and retried until she worked out how to do them. I would reckon things will be stepped up once school reopens.

mrsrwallace

I really feel the need to add my experience of this. I have been through this process twice with my children and can honestly say that I never once felt worried, pressured or in anyway under stress at all. My two sat the AQE test but did not do the GL one. I was not in favour of the transfer test as I felt that I and my children's teachers had a very good understanding of their capabilities and knew pretty much which school would suit both of them best and no test would change that.

I have to say one thing I did find though from my children doing it and through talking to other parents when the marks came out, was that some children scored lower than would have been anticipated and my opinion is that they were so stressed out they "underperformed" so to speak. I and my children are happy with the school choices we made together and are both doing well and the test didn't make any difference to our original school choices.

I have to say I did find a lot of parents were paying an arm and leg for tutors when it was blatantly obvious that if they needed tutoring then perhaps they were not of the academic standard required by the grammar schools. I also saw firsthand some irate mothers belittle the teachers for their supposed lack of "pushing" the children and looking to place blame if their young one didn't score high enough to get offered a place at their desired school even though the whole way through primary school they were not in the top academic band anyway.

I just think at times parents need to get a grip and realise that doing their best for their children does not always involve forking out money they do not have to pay tutors to "keep up with the joneses" so to speak. I know many children who scored enough to get in to their chosen school with only having sat the practice papers at school and no other tutoring and I also know of children who had tutors and the extra tuition material bought for them and still didn't get the marks they needed. It's all about perspective.

I am not against academic selection persay but I do think each parent should be realistic about their child's ability and yes positive encouragement is always advised but not to the detriment of leaving some children feeling like failures - that's just like saying some of us "failed" our 11 plus exams. I also believe parents should lead by example and just because they don't get into their chosen school does not mean that the child is destined for a bleak future.

leftieM

I'm jumping in here as a 2013 parent. I've thought about paying for a tutor. I tutored a friend's child and it's not that difficult so I'm going to try tutoring my own child and she's up for that. I think the children need some support outside school - bear in mind that the schools are breaking DENI rules by coaching for private exams in school, although many still do.
I wouldn't be concerned about a child artifically getting a higher grade than they might otherwise and not being fit for grammar school - as you recognised, many are tutored so they will not be the only potentially artifically inflated one!
Whether you pay for a tutor or not, a parent needs to know the format of the exams and have some idea of what's asked so that you can recognise if a tutor isn't doing their job. I was told of a tutor who just sat babysitting a child doing papers and didn't intervene when they were consistently getting something wrong. The tutor was a primary teacher too.

RikM

leftieM wrote: »

bear in mind that the schools are breaking DENI rules by coaching for provate exams in school...

My understanding is that this is not quite correct.
While schools shouldn't coach to the transfer test, the AQE gets around that by making the syllabus purely key stage stuff. So the only way a school could *not* coach the test is to stop teaching...

A head told us that they could not be critiscised for putting emphasis on key stage English and Maths.

aqeworrier

leftieM wrote: »

Whether you pay for a tutor or not, a parent needs to know the format of the exams and have some idea of what's asked so that you can recognise if a tutor isn't doing their job.

Thank you LeftieM, I totally agree with this statement. I am tutoring my child myself and would be shocked if any child could walk into these exams and get a good score without knowing the format of the exams.

Yes, they include key stage English and Maths which they are learning in school but for MrsWallace to say "...when it was blatantly obvious that if they needed tutoring then perhaps they were not of the academic standard required by the grammar schools" is a bit harsh. Whether the tutoring is paid for or not, I strongly believe that preparation is everything and is key to doing well in these tests. Let's not forget these are 10/11 year old children and it is the wording of the questions that throws them most of the time, not the working out of the sums or the finding of the answer in the English questions. My child has always been in the top half of her class but I have to say would struggle to answer some of the questions in these papers without the guidance and tutoring she has been receiving, simply because of the unfamiliarity of the way the questions are asked, not because she isn't capable.

leftieM

RikM wrote: »

My understanding is that this is not quite correct.
While schools shouldn't coach to the transfer test, the AQE gets around that by making the syllabus purely key stage stuff. So the only way a school could *not* coach the test is to stop teaching...

A head told us that they could not be critiscised for putting emphasis on key stage English and Maths.

By preparing I meant, specifically, doing past papers. That is not allowed.

mrsrwallace

Let me clarify my point. In my opinion if a child requires tutoring (and by this I mean paying a tutor to instruct a child in Maths and/or English) to sit the AQE or GL assessments then, in my opinion, it shows, to me, that if the child needs help for the test then how is that child going to cope in the academic set-up of a grammar school education? I do not believe that comment to be harsh.

I have seen it first-hand where a child not of the academic standard required is tutored and given extra learning material to be coached for these assessments and to get a mark not as high as would be preferred by the grammar schools. Then due to the fact that the grammar schools are accepting lower marks to fill the places in first year (I know of pupils who got marks in the low 60s getting a place in a grammar school alongside their peers who scored in the high 100s), these pupils go on to struggle to keep up. I feel that if that child has been tutored to get into the school then surely that child will require further tutoring throughout their school years?

I agree that familiarisation of the paper layout and mock exam set-ups do prepare the child for the actual assessment and give an insight into the testing procedures and how to cope on the actual day. As I said in my original post I am not against academic selection, yet I fear that some children who do not have the ability are being pushed and pressured by some parents who see it as the be-all and end-all getting into a grammar school. There are perfectly acceptable and successful secondary schools in this country who churn out excellent grades each year and have many students who go on to be very successful in their chosen careers.

Catherine_Bell

As a Mum of two who have done both tests, my advice is chill!! The children find their own way through the process...any anxiety from us is felt by them!!! Mind you, I'm glad it's over!!!