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Original poster

BBC news Kent 11+

112 replies

Startail · 19/03/2013 11:03

stopping coaching

I am confused how does making the 11+ maths and English based reduce the value of paying for tutors.

Surely it increases the value of paying a current teacher to tutor your child to the very very top of the primary curriculum. Well of parents are still not going to leave it to chance that their DCs class teachers have.

I'd be quite happy to buy a few bond Verbal and non verbal reasoning books and tutor my own DDs (I'm not Kent and in the end DD2 decided not to try for our grammar which is a very long day).

DD1 gets 131 on non verbal reasoning without having ever practiced at all, she just likes them.

English on the other hand I certainly would need to pay someone, I've tried marking SATs practice papers the mark scheme is in gobbledygook teacher speak. It's not simply right or wrong like maths or VR/NVR

OP posts:
socareless · 20/03/2013 09:58

you keep using same argument seeker. are all schools in Kent grammar schools?

Lucyellensmum95 · 20/03/2013 09:56

wow - MTS, do you realise quite how smug your post is? Of course if you had a bit of intelligence i suppose you could have got onto the internet and looked up some free resources.

MTSgroupie · 20/03/2013 09:39

Our primary school wasn't particularly academic so we paid for extra help with maths and English for my DCs right up to the end of Year 6. Consequently they finished primary school over a year ahead of their classmates academically speaking.

So the proposed changes aren't going to give pushy parents like myself an unfair advantage Wink.

The current system isn't perfect but IMO any parent with a bit of intelligence and an Internet connection can get loads of free resources. The proposed changes on the other hand will favour the prep school kids and well off parents like myself who can afford academic tutors.

seeker · 19/03/2013 13:02

Or just get rid of the whole unfair antiquated system and have comprehensive schools like everywhere else.

If selective education was so fantastic, Kent would have GcSE and A level results stratospheric ally higher than other LEAs with similar demographics but with no selective schools. But it doesn't.

Original poster
Startail · 19/03/2013 12:53

From what DH says the old Cambridge entrance exam got pretty close, but that was a crazy collection of general knowlage and educated guess work that couldn't work at 11.

Also DCs also had very formal O'level and A'level grades to be considered too.

OP posts:
tiggytape · 19/03/2013 12:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Startail · 19/03/2013 12:34

"For English, children are taught how to construct a short story and formal letter using pre-learnt vocabulary, rhetorical questions, similes and metaphors. They practice ways of demonstrating varied sentence structures for any topic posed by always including some semi colons and ellipsis."

I can't even remember what these things are!

OP posts:
Original poster
Startail · 19/03/2013 12:31

Thanks tiggytape you put it way better than I did.

DH and I are bright graduates, had DD2 chosen to go to our, not very local grammar, I'm absolutely certain we could have tutored her in VR well enough to get in. If they added NVR and maths that would be OK too!

But English marking schemes are so prescriptive,and so far removed from my write and essay do a comprehension O level, that no way would I be happy to judge if my DD was working at the required level.

I suspect trusting there DCs primaries is a leap of faith very few parents will risk.

OP posts:
Original poster
Startail · 19/03/2013 12:23

Yes, but I still don't see why well off parents won't coach. Good primary level maths and English is more dependant on good teaching than NVR.

As I say DD1 can just pick up a NVR book and do it, she's never practiced at all. Likewise she's now pretty good at VR too.

She practiced and practiced for maths SAT to be sure of a reasonable grade. No way did she do enough in school to have passed at grammar school level.

Seriously, maths and English based 11+ can only begin to be fair if all state schools offer free upto L6 extra lessons for all able DCs in school time, this is Not going to happen.

OP posts:
tiggytape · 19/03/2013 12:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

weighingitallup · 19/03/2013 11:25

I totally welcome this - i am in kent and cannot afford a tutor for my DD many of her classmates will be "coached"

sue52 · 19/03/2013 11:21

I am in Kent and am pleased to read this. Anything to help level the playing field is a welcome move. As I recall, the maths covered in school did not include all the 11plus course work so I think that subject could do with a revamp.