11 plus????Help please from anyone who has succesfully been though this process.

Good advice from many. I started introducing the 10 minute Bond books (age appropriate) in year 5 and very slowly worked our way through all the different types of questions that year. We started with 1 or 2 a week, no pressure. Then a month before all the exams started we did 2 practice papers for each type. VR, NVR, English, Math, Creative Writing under timed pressure. If they are doing well in school and you are paying attention to the work they are doing, it does coincide with what will be expected of them on these tests. I didn't get a tutor, as I think if they are able and willing then great, if not, selective isn't the place for them. Many schools receive great results, weather they are selective or not and you don't want your child to struggle when they start Secondary. Figure out what schools you want to apply for in your area that suit your child, then sort out what is required for each school. That is the hard part. They're all looking for different things, so in preperation it is good to be ready for anything and for the child to have agility. Keep it low key, and don't get roped into playground talk. Everyone wants to believe that their choices are the best and some parents can be really over the top, which feeds into their kids. Then the kids start it. That can stress the child more. I can't believe some of the things parents say. I found this forum a relief. I kept telling my kids whatever happened it didn't matter. They'd be fine and they would end up somewhere. Just do their best and try to enjoy the challenge. The work I did with them was really just to make sure they understood the testing process and to familiarise them with the format and type of questions. Our school didn't do any prep for the kids which is a shame for those whose parents aren't able for whatever reason. 11 is not the indicator of success or not in life. My DC1 did very well and is in a super selective. My DC 2 has just gone through the process of the grammars and selective state and faired well enough in all of them to list them on his CAF. But even then, there is no guarantee as I've told my children. So many kids apply. Nothing ventured, Nothing gained. Good Luck! It is a horrible process really and I wish it were different. But the supply and demand for good schools in our area isn't great so that's the situation we were in.

My daughter got standardization score 104.70 at wood ford county high school ,on the email it is mentioned that who are above 104 they are strongly suggested to put the school on preference ,is there any hope for her .please help me

Does everyone get tutors and stuff?!!
My Dd (August born too-30th) didn't even know she was doing it until the morning it was,went in with no worrys(didn't have time to worry) and did great.got about 93% on the test.she got in the grammar school but we didn't take the offer.
She sounds very bright so I would just do a little bit of practice here and there and let her have a go
Good luck!

Think it is.If you apply online I think you find out on the 1st.We didn't so a whole extra day to wait

Yes I think we hear the same day or thereabouts- national date for all school offers?

Well done!
We know on 2nd March[by post]eek

Well we got the letter today and he passed. So we are half-way through the process; just need to wait until the 1st of March to find out if we got in.

Thanks. We'll do some practice over the weekend; a paper a day. He's doing pretty well now; gets in the 80% for every test, so we're hoping that he should be ok.

It is all bonkers, I know. We think it will suit him, but you never know til he gets there!

Hello op.
Our ds1 is 10[August born too]
He recently sat 11+ and scored very highly.
He had 4 of each test paper for practice 4 months before test[teacher recommended] and did NOTHING over the summer hols.Test was early/mid sept.
The teacher also said that quite a few children are tutored from year 5.She also said that there are children who do not really suit the Grammar who go and some that would suit it don't.I think it is all rather bonkers...the hysteria etc but then we have other options.
Good luck with your choices
Merle good luck to your ds!

My son sat the familiarisation yesterday and does the real thing next week, over two days. I've taken the view that I would prefer him to be average at grammar school, rather than above-average at the comp. This is because the grammar school is smaller and gets outstanding for pastoral care etc. It seems to be a more nurturing environment. I think that at the (large) comp he is much more likely to not fit in as well and to be bullied. I realise that the grammar school is not utopia and that, as he's not mega-sporty, he'll still be a bit out on a limb, but on balance I think it's a better choice.

That's if he passes, of course....

My daughters go to a grammar school and there are still behavioural issues, clever kids being called geeks and the range of ability is quite astounding! However, they do work at a cracking pace and high standards are expected... and it's not enough to be good academically. There is an emphasis on 'activities', all the sporty kids are like olympic level athletes, the musicians sound like the royal philharmonic, the artists put on displays that would make a fortune at the tate etc..

Your DD sounds very bright, I always advise familiarisation rather than intensive 'coaching' and Y5 is just the right time to start doing that.

My son is sitting his 11+ as I type , over the past year we've gently explored the joys of verbal reasoning, non-verbal and maths puzzles. I have also encouraged him to read widely - a good vocabulary always helps.

All you can do really is let them have a crack at it. It's scary though!!

Depends massively on the comp or the grammar. My DH and I grew up in the same area, I went to comp, he went to grammar.
My school took me out of classes for extra tuition (one to one) and gave me extra homework etc...
DH's school realised he wasn't as bright as some of their other kids and he was pretty much ignored (despite being very intelligent, he wasn't in the top 20% of his class). As a result he hung around with all the kids who were in a similar position and it's only by the grace of God that he didn't end up on drugs, because all the rest of them did. In fact he was doing so poorly that his parents had to move him to a private school to pull up his failing grades before GCSEs. He subsequently got all A's and took 5 A'levels (back in the day when that was still rare).
I think it's well worth investigating all the schools in your area and finding the right one for your DCs, regardless of whether it is a comp or a grammar. Don't make any assumptions.
Some kids thrive in a competitive environment, others don't. I certainly won't be sending my DS to a grammar school unless I am confident he will outperform every child in his class. I would rather he was seen as gifted in an average school, than average in a gifted school IYSWIM.

Thing is, that the 11+ is not really about being clever, revision doesn't help as all the questions are based on how the child thinks, not what they know.

All you can do is let your DC practise the papers, so that they don't panic and make sure they have rehearsed ways of figuring out patterns.

If it makes you feel better, I passed the 11+ very well, but still went to a comprehensive school (all my friends were going there and I couldn't cope with the idea of going to a grammar without them). The school were brilliant and ensured that I had learning support to stretch me in areas where I needed it. If your DC does end up in a comprehensive, it won't be the end of the world. I really enjoyed it and got some great exam results at the end.

Dover has a fab reputation but to far from us, Highworth in Ashford has bril reputation but takes no one on appeal (over subsrcribed so i am told)

The system in Essex is very different to the Kent system which QOD is talking about. Sats results don't come into it at all (although obviously they will give you a clue as to how your dd is doing). The school don't use their sats results for anything and very few get in on appeal (ie mostly no-one gets in on appeal!) There are a lot more grammar schools in Kent - IIRC they take about the top 20-25% based on 11+ results whereas the Essex schools take the top 5% at most.

they will not take kids under high level 4's - and only if thats in one subject - having said that, this year in dd's class, 2 girls have passed who are 3c in literacy! they did brilliantly on the maths & nvr and then just squeaked in on vr (tutored) - my dd missed the automatic pass by 1 point on her maths, didn't get in on ht appeal as her english paper on the day wasnt up to scratch and yet is 5c for lit.... it's a mad system but we have to live with it!

what are her sats like? Thats more relavent to how she would cope in grammar.
Also, in Kent at least, they have to get 50% to pass and 75% for top score which is 140
good luck, its a long road!

Yes I am very pleased with the school as dd is extremely happy there. It is definitely the right environment for her. They have very high expectations of their girls in everything that they do and dd finds it stimulating and also a lot of fun. She loves being with like-minded girls (although when you get a whole load of them together they can be very "full-on" as one of the other mothers accurately described them to me!) Having said all that, there do seem to be a lot of staff changes at the moment and the head who is newish, seems to want to make her mark.

I think you have every reason to be optimistic, keevamum. My dd is at Chelmsford (and my dh also went to KEGS, incidentally!!). 82% seems a good score for this stage. I think you just know if your child is bright enough to do well at the school. If your dd is always in the top few in her year then she sounds like she would be fine. I would keep practising with her between now and the exam so that it is second nature to her. You are right that there tends to be a considerable drop in their scores in the actual exam. I think dd dropped as much as 15%.

I refuse to put any pressure on her. She has been tutored and it was her idea. She has been doing about 1 paper a week for the last few months (mainly verbal resoning) and today she has done a proper mock with the correct timings. I will go over a few bits of the maths she had forgotten and we read alot. Her performance is very up and down. Last week she got 90% in her verbal reasoning, today she got 70%. So much depends on how they do on the day.

Many of the parents I know seem to be pushing their DCs to do 11+ stuff every day and tutor twice a week!

I chose not to do that- if kids need tutoring to that degree they are not going to be able to compete when they get to the grammar school.

We are lucky that there are lots of other choices open to us (Mayflower is just over the road and she also really liked Brentwood Independent) should she not get into Chelmsford. I think for parents in other areas where the secondary schools are dire, the pressure must be much worse.