Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Evidence for DCs exceeding expectations in 11+ - or am I kdding myself?

43 replies

MrsSteptoe · 28/12/2013 10:46

I referred to this in passing in another thread, so soz if you see both: but is there any evidence for the idea that DCs may do better in maths and reasoning exams than practice papers?
DS is doing 11+ in January (he'll be 11 in March) and I keep hoping that maybe he'll get a few extra marks just because he's in an exam room and there's nothing to do except focus, IYSWIM. He tends to be a bit fidgety here, and keeps shouting out "I'm half way through, Mum", "I'm on question 20, Mum". He's hovering around the 70-75% mark on maths, he can be around the same mark on reasoning but he's had some spectacular crashes. I know these aren't stellar marks.
I suspect English practice papers are a more accurate indicator of what he'll do on the day.
I guess the answer is that some will do better, some will do worse because of the pressure, but I'd be interested to know if there's much evidence of DCs exceeding expectation when they get to The Big Day!

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
hopeful123 · 07/01/2014 13:10

think we have all migrated to the T/W thread?
DS was downbeat about Dulwich- but it was a long shot.
re St bens- DS not keen on rugby at all (state school football) and was told at visit that there was a choice- so you did not have to do rugby!

Original poster
MrsSteptoe · 07/01/2014 12:19

Any updates on this thread? DS sat DC yesterday and came out very upbeat. I should emphasise that this has never historically meant that he's done a particularly good paper. I do hope, though, that his basic optimism manages to survive this process, because his faith that he's done well is very touching, and I'm sure he'll have more fun that way, as opposed to his anxious pessimist mother.

OP posts:
Original poster
MrsSteptoe · 07/01/2014 12:19

Any updates on this thread? DS sat DC yesterday and came out very upbeat. I should emphasise that this has never historically meant that he's done a particularly good paper. I do hope, though, that his basic optimism manages to survive this process, because his faith that he's done well is very touching, and I'm sure he'll have more fun that way, as opposed to his anxious pessimist mother.

OP posts:
Original poster
MrsSteptoe · 04/01/2014 23:48

Oh, yes it does! I really liked St B's - reminded me of a good old fashioned grammar. Except for the bloody rugby thing, which I hope isn't going to be too much of a problem. New DT facilities in the next year or so as well, which DS will love.

OP posts:
hopeful123 · 04/01/2014 21:47

Thanks for these posts. I am hoping DS does better than his revision (spent staring out of window, forays into his computer etc).
He has suddenly developed an interest in reading..rather than doing revision.
Mrs Steptoe- it looks like we have chosen similar schools. St Ben's on the reserve date of Thursday, but we backed out of Emmanuels.

Dibbleofficer · 04/01/2014 16:49

Much good luck to all , Sutton tests went well but what does a pass mean , still a lottery even with this. A possible at St Os but have written this off really , despite 2 on the CAF after Wilson's.

Now on to Alleyns , DC and Whitgift over the next 10 days ....not sure what to expect ... DS is looking forward to the sports scholarship days at As and Whit that he has entered

sleeplessknights · 04/01/2014 15:14

Well said Kenlee, though in our school it is also viewed as tantamount to child cruelty. Noone seems to 'get' that one's child might actually enjoy sitting down for a couple of hours of reading and maths. Yet it is ok for the girls in the year to do endless ballet exams, be subjected to mad training for routines and then hours and hours on motorways going to national gym and dance finals or simply locally week after week in rubbish weather in the park next to us the boys are defending the town's honour in the under 8,9,10 football teams. I am sick of it and just hope like your ds Dinocroc that mine will have done enough to get somewhere where it is ok to want to work hard . You go and polish those shiny orange and black stripes! ps no spoilers as dont know when the ill sitters day is.

Kenlee · 04/01/2014 11:59

don't worry dinocroc....you haven't reached Tiger mum status yet...Its normal..just because others aren't it is not your fault....

Dinocroc · 04/01/2014 07:32

Well he has a couple more schools to come , which I think (hope) are less academic so we are optimistic one will come through. We have been trying to give him the bigger picture and inspire him as sadly the state schools for boys near us aren't up to much. None of his friends are doing exams either.I reckon I'm thought of as a tiger mother Wink They are heading out into the storm soon. Best of luck!

Original poster
MrsSteptoe · 03/01/2014 23:39

Look forward to hearing from you, Dinocroc. My DN was at Hampton. He loved it. I could write a book - well, contribute a chapter to a book - on children moving from state to independent. I imagine some state schools are fairly clued up about kids moving on to independent and have strategies in place, but DS's school, while lovely in many ways and absolutely, emphatically, not a bad school, does not push them academically at all (homework=about 10 minutes of maths every fortnight, and 10 short sentences a week for literacy to test understanding of the 10 words on their spelling list) and has no experience of preparing kids for any form of selective exams.

Furthermore, there is the motivation problem of getting kids to work for exams when nobody else in their peer group is doing the same exams. DS would far rather go to one of the better states that everyone in his class is fighting to get a place at. (In many ways, so would we, but we know how unlikely he is to get a place there.)

OP posts:
Dinocroc · 03/01/2014 22:06

It is indeed Hampton. Am sending husband to navigate the car park crush. Can only hope he will compose something wise. His school is 'requiring intervention' which can't be good. He's up at the top of the class but everyone coasts at their school ( hence the intervention ;) ). At least he is relaxed ( as am I after some wine ). I am thinking we haven't taken any of this seriously enough, but if results are good I'll be back to cheer you up Grin

Teddingtonmum1 · 03/01/2014 21:42

We are at an outstanding primary bit to be fair he has been allowed to coast along he was always in the middle of the pack until some practice stats exams last year and he came 2nd in the year the. He was hurriedly pushed up to the top set am a bit miffed that this wasn't spotted earlier but he does exactly push himself forward ( unlike his mother !!) so I guess it was never noticed DS is definitely a bare minimum to get by child.

sleeplessknights · 03/01/2014 21:39

Is this H Boys school by any chance with a composition. In which case I also had to clarify.

Dinocroc · 03/01/2014 19:30

I can't cheer you , only to say that I am in the same boat and would like happy tales of children at poorly performing state primaries getting in to give me hope please. With a husband and son who are off watching Wolverine as essential last minute preparation for the independent exams that start tomorrow. Given that I just had to clarify the meaning of the 'composition' that he will be encountering tomorrow I'm feeling like a large glass of wine ....Grin

Original poster
MrsSteptoe · 02/01/2014 22:09

Bottoms up, T'mum1.

OP posts:
Teddingtonmum1 · 02/01/2014 22:07

That's the beauty of exams , your ds can be hitting 100% on practice papers ( hahaha yeah right ) but it's no guarantee that ds is going to replicate it on the day .it will basically depend on which side of the travelodge bed he gets out of on Thursday morning for W . Just wished W did NVR as that's his strongest subject hey ho time for some vodka me thinks ....

ClaraMaugham · 02/01/2014 00:02

Great, thanks - I'll have a look. I've lurked a bit on those threads in the past but they always seemed quite T and W specific. How nice it must be to have a shoo-in DC!

Original poster
MrsSteptoe · 01/01/2014 22:54

Hi ClaraMaugham I'm all about the company, particularly from anyone whose DD/DS is not looking like a total shoo-in (no offence to anyone with a high performing DD/DS, it just depresses me a bit, but that's my problem!!)

you might also find company on the 2014 Trinity Whitgift thread started by Ladymuck - although T and W are boys' schools, there's a couple of fretting mums of DDs on there so the conversation is a bit more general across the London indys! xx

OP posts:
ClaraMaugham · 01/01/2014 22:50

I've got a DD just about to embark on her exams - similar sort of deal but South West London. She's scoring round about the same kind of marks as far as I can see, and it's nerve wracking stuff. I'm worried about the interviews too. Would appreciate some company while going through it!

Original poster
MrsSteptoe · 29/12/2013 13:55

Yes, he did better at Wilson's. I stupidly didn't put in a bid for extra time as I have with the independents - we have an NHS report from an OT stating that in her opinion it would be necessary for him to have extra time to realistically produce the same amount of written material because of pronounced hypermobility and the excess hand fatigue it causes.

OP posts:
stressedofstreatham · 29/12/2013 12:21

Re Wallington. The English was apparently worth a third or thereabouts of the marks yet was only 25 mins so they can't have managed much whereas at Wilson's they had a whole hour just to write one article

Ladymuck · 29/12/2013 12:20

Come over to www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/1949925-The-Trinity-Whitgift-South-London-school-10-11-thread-of-2014 and meet another dd mum.

The written papers vary across the indies too - Whitgift is a long essay, Trinity shorter.

stressedofstreatham · 29/12/2013 12:17

Re Wallington. The English was apparently worth a third or thereabouts of the marks yet was only 25 mins so they can't have managed much whereas at Wilson's they had a whole hour just to write one article

stressedofstreatham · 29/12/2013 12:10

p.s. any other lonely mums out there with dds?

Ladymuck · 29/12/2013 12:09

"Strategies" vary! I'm going for a full on week starting tomorrow. (We're not doing DC so will have 10 days), and am ever so nervous that I may have left it too last minute. If I were back at the start of year 5 then I would have concentrated more on vocabulary, but we are where we are. But yes, way too late for different tutors etc.

Ds seems to do ok on exam day, but actually it is the interviews that will throw him more (so utterly different from his elder brother that it will be a shock for any teacher who encounters both of them - they've been at separate schools thus far so very few teachers know both).