11 plus

bylromarha

Son has shown aptitude to go to a grammar. If he gets in, great. If not, great.

We WILL be doing a little bit of exposure to past papers and types of question as we owe him that. He's bright, but not bright enough to get used to the type of question he'll be asked in the test.

Just hope we can move house in time so we live in the catchment area of the grammar school. Currently just outside it, so need to get a wriggle on.

bylromarha

Argh - just spent an hour looking at the 11+ site.

Sooooooo many ancy parents on there...why don't they just let their kids be kids? An hours homework a night is far too much for an 8 year old.

emsywoo123

bylromarha wrote: »

Argh - just spent an hour looking at the 11+ site.

Sooooooo many ancy parents on there...why don't they just let their kids be kids? An hours homework a night is far too much for an 8 year old.

DD is in Year 5 and has an hour 4 nights a week.......nothing to do with 11+, just what the school sets (this does include reading time.)

Spendless

I don't live somewhere that has grammar schools so have no axe to grind for or against, but what I will say is that my 12yo is considered one of the most able students in his year group for Science. His yr7 teacher rang me last year and told me he'd come top in her class with 16 out of 18 correctly answered questions but he would have got full marks if he hadn't given Answer B to question A and answer A to question B. He did this because he read thru all the questions, decided to answer the hardest first so he could spend the most time and then the 'easy' ones the 1st 2 questions he rattled off and got wrong! Simply using a ruler would have changed that. As it happens, I'm not worried, I'd rather he learnt that particular lesson early on and it made no difference to him academically- but put doing something as daft as that into an 11+ exam and it could make a difference to getting a place. That's why I think you should give your child some tutoring in whatever form, so he understands the papers.

meritaten

do be very careful about 'coaching' a child to pass the 11 plus. What happens if they then attend the 'preferred' school and cannot keep up? are you prepared to pay for tuition all through thier school years? Not to mention the pressure the child is then under!

and I have to say - you do sound rather snobby about local schools!
and do you think that no-one swears in 'Buckinghamshire'?

peachyprice

mrcow wrote: »

No-one who actually cared about their child would put them in for such an important test without at least letting them see an example paper and having a go at the multiple choice format (which is different to anything they will have tried before). Imagine sitting in the exam hall with all of your peers "getting on with it" and with you staring at the paper, not knowing where to start. It would be horrific. Especially with the verbal reasoning questions - there is a set format for these which, if you get your head around it, makes the questions very simple to do.

There's a world of difference between preparing a child by doing practice papers as home so they know what to expect and expecting them to give up every weekend and at least one night a week to tutoring for 2 years.

Plenty of parent do just that, the worst I know is a teacher, I've known her since our daughters were 4, that child was tutored for KS1 SAT's, she was tutored for KS2 SAT's, she was tutored for the 11 plus, she failed. She wasn't allowed to do any non-academic activities and her brother is now being out through the same.

geoffky

..I would never want to be on a aeroplane that's on fire with some of you...you would trample me to death in a rush to the exits....

emsywoo123

geoffky wrote: »

..I would never want to be on a aeroplane that's on fire with some of you...you would trample me to death in a rush to the exits....

If it was the best thing for my children.......yup, I'd squash you in a flash

ktb

I'm from Bucks my OH is a Geordie & although we've discussed moving up to Newcastle for the Junior & Middle school years (should we be lucky enough to have kids) I have asked that we please move back to Bucks at a time that makes sitting the 11+ possible. I was lucky enough to attend a Grammar school and without question I would like to give my kids the same opportunity.

I wasn't coached to pass, but my friend who was a year older & had passed the previous year, came over with a past paper & explained it to me.

I have to say though, although i don't condone it, I can totally understand why people coach! It's not just the standards of learning that are better, but they have a more 'private' education ethos - which in my opinion was a huge plus! Discipline was excellent and the single sex thing (although hated at the time) definitely helped me to concentrate on school a bit better. On the other hand I would like to think I would not apply any undue pressure to pass, I certainly didn't have any from my folks.

I know in a perfect world all kids would have access to the same education and that education would be top notch, but this is far from a perfect world and I would like the brightest in society to have access to places where learning & education are held in particularly high esteem & future doctors & scientists etc can thrive! In the same vein there should be more technical & vocational education opportunities for people whose areas of strength are not the very traditional subjects. I honestly don't understand why the UK education system is so narrow and prescriptive. One size does not fit all, but this seems an unpopular view with many?!

meer53

ktb wrote: »

I'm from Bucks my OH is a Geordie & although we've discussed moving up to Newcastle for the Junior & Middle school years (should we be lucky enough to have kids) I have asked that we please move back to Bucks at a time that makes sitting the 11+ possible. I was lucky enough to attend a Grammar school and without question I would like to give my kids the same opportunity.

I wasn't coached to pass, but my friend who was a year older & had passed the previous year, came over with a past paper & explained it to me.

I have to say though, although i don't condone it, I can totally understand why people coach! It's not just the standards of learning that are better, but they have a more 'private' education ethos - which in my opinion was a huge plus! Discipline was excellent and the single sex thing (although hated at the time) definitely helped me to concentrate on school a bit better. On the other hand I would like to think I would not apply any undue pressure to pass, I certainly didn't have any from my folks.

I know in a perfect world all kids would have access to the same education and that education would be top notch, but this is far from a perfect world and I would like the brightest in society to have access to places where learning & education are held in particularly high esteem & future doctors & scientists etc can thrive! In the same vein there should be more technical & vocational education opportunities for people whose areas of strength are not the very traditional subjects. I honestly don't understand why the UK education system is so narrow and prescriptive. One size does not fit all, but this seems an unpopular view with many?!

They must have Grammar schools in Newcastle !:D