The Politics of Grammar Schools

Shoo-in!

DCs prep school advised repeatedly against tutoring for 11plus.

Of course some parents ignored this!

One girls mum instilled a regime like portico but it was unnecessary. Said girl was wildly bright! A shoe in IMVHO.

Actually I tell a lie. The best thing I did for either of them was leaving the country while they were doing the exams. So it was impossible for me to wind them up with my worrying. Obviously that's a strategy that only works if you have a job that makes/lets you do that and a partner/spouse/whatever to stay at home and be CALM. It was a scheduling snafu that I was away for DD1's exams, and at the time I was pissed off but she thought it was brilliant and it's an approach we've adopted ever since for exams and music exams.

I didn't d anything (well - I fretted a bit). They each did about 4 independently organised 'mocks'. They didn't do any extra homework or prep or anything like that. They wouldn't have had time. EC stuff every day after school and most weekends. They do 'puzzle' for fun though, we all do, so that may have helped a bit possibly (but I think their facility for number puzzles - sudoku, kakuro, Ken ken, suko etc - comes from their ability in maths rather than the other way round. Same with logic problems. The jury is out on the crosswords because I try to keep them to myself and am thus less than delighted when one or other of the kids decides to help. I suppose they have helped them think laterally and spot anagrams and anagrinds and wordsums - but we do them because that's what we do to stave off the tedium of life's turgid trudge. They've been 'helping' me with puzzling since they were tiny and stealing my puzzles since they were not that much bigger.) If I could target one thing that I did that helped them I'd say spending all my disposable income on books. But again - I've been doing that ever since I've had an income. And they aren't necessarily the sort of books that people recommending strategies for 11+ approve of, anyway.

Hak
It stops in 1905 as the Empire started to decline My kids were given a copy - its cringingly dire.

Word
And the thing is that your DD feels supported and stretched without feeling pressured so will probably end up doing better than many of the hothoused kids - tee hee

I loved Our Island Story as a child. I can still remember some of the colour plates vividly. There was a fab one of Boudicca. Very bloodthirsty.

I daren't read it again now- I am sure it's ghastly and would spoil the lovely memories.

How much did you do Rabbit?

I agree with PP: hothousing your DC for 11+ is setting them up for failure further down the line. There is everything to be said for familiarising DC with the format of the examinations they are going to take, so that they don't lose valuable time trying to work out what is being asked of them. And familiarisation can take quite a bit of time if there are several exams to be taken. There is everything to be said for filling in gaps so that your are sure your DC have covered the exam syllabus. But you cannot spend hours every night "prepping" DC by learning vocabulary. For vocabulary to be properly embedded it has to be learned in situ.

Well quite talkin
Dd say for a selective independent, a grammar and a mixed ability independent.

So it wouldn't have mattered if she'd failed the first two.

As it was she wanted to go to the mixed ability school anyway . Should have listened to her from the off!

Portico
If your kids cannot sail through the 11+ without thousands of hours of hothousing

how do you think they will cope at University when you are not there to read "Our Island Story" to them

OK it was a LONG time ago, but I do not remember doing any extra work before sitting the clutch of entrance exams I had at the end of primary - my Mum's assumption was that if I got in, I got in and if not we went on down the list. (SPGS, WA, G&L, FH were the top of the list BTW)

Notsure actually your regime sounds excessive too, to be honest. My DD's are also at one of the highest ranked SSs in the country. If they'd been asked/expected to do what you describe they wouldn't be at the SS because there'd have been a palace revolution.

portico your 11 plus regime is absurd!

Trust me, I have DC who have passed several selective exams for several schools between them and didn't do anything close to that sort of prep.

I really don't want anyone to think that all parents with children at superselectives are that obsessed. My dd's are at one of the highest ranked ss in the country. For preparation they did one hour per week at a tutor for 20 weeks, and 10 mins a day at home. That's it. So not much blood sweat and tears nor cost were involved. And in that they are certainly not unusual amongst their classmates.

Hak - you're right. Especially since I have to get up at 5:15. :(

Rabbit- I wouldn't engage if I were you. Portico is either a piss taker,or one of those bonkers mothers on Child Genius. Or starting an ill judged marketing campaign for a new range of 11+ preparation materials. Whichever she is,she is also unhinged.

Anyone stop to think what the children want

And 45 minutes every morning too?!?!?! This is madness. It must be a pisstake. I genuinely believe that if any of my kids had 45 mins spare in the morning before setting out for school the world would in fact have ended. Perhaps not all families are as bed loving as we are (in the mornings. We are all a bit allergic to our beds in the evenings) but even so - 45 minutes learning a 'word list' when you could be (a) sleeping or (b) reading a book (or (c) 'helping' with the crossword for the more annoying child) really is lunacy.

Portico, I promise you, if your Y4 child needs to work till 9:30 every night to stand a chance of passing the 11+ there is something very very wrong indeed. The only reason 'working' that late might be acceptable would be if in fact the child was reading a fiction book, in bed, and couldn't bear to put it down. I'm also bemused at your suggestion that you have been scouring round for 'resources'. Unless you mean 'buying fiction books on Amazon'.

It is not recommended. But it is done by virtually all parents whose dc will sit the exams.

Do you think that that amount of prep is recommended by the super selective you have chosen to sit for?

No more like 2 to 3 hours, but sometimes can be about 30 mins more. Spends about 45 mins in the morning on learning an 11+ word list, as well as attempting freerice.

Can I just clarify, is your DC doing approx 5 hours work each night as prep for their 11+ later on in 2015?

I was sure you were just taking the piss, portico- always nice to have things confirmed.

Congratulations to you guys in KENT

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11278399/First-new-grammar-school-for-50-years-likely-to-win-approval.html

Evil

I have nothing to lie about.

Ps, look at the Peter and Jane books at books 9 to 12. They are markedly harder. They were a catalyst in inculcating an interest in reading. That's all.

My dc does not do school work that late. We get that out of the way ca 4pm. About ten minutes later we start on the 11+ work. Works off an on until 930pm with a fair spread of breaks.