We live in Kent (clearly, as the thread title suggests) and my DD is about to go into Yr 6.
All through primary school she’s done well, always achieving good marks, even getting a couple of prizes for projects etc.
Now, we are facing the Kent Test, and suddenly she’s dropped off so much, she is very, very unlikely to pass.
She has done a week’s summer camp with a couple of tutors and other kids, 2 hours a day, and where she needs 80-85% to pass, she’s getting marks of between 35 and 70% depending on the paper.
We haven’t made a massive deal of it because she can only do her best but the problem is two parts.
One - her school and teachers have said repeatedly throughout Yr 5 that she is definitely a prime grammar candidate and she would stand a very good chance of passing so now she suddenly thinks she’s useless, and two - she has ASD, cannot cope with large crowds and open plan buildings, she has panics and meltdowns in airports, shopping malls, museums etc but every single high school within a six mile radius is designed this way.
She went to one with Brownies for an event and we had to come and pick her up after half an hour because of the noise.
Our nearest, the only one in our town is enormous, I think about 1800 kids.
Her primary school is one form entry.
There’s one “older style” one 8 miles away but it’s a faith school so she would need a miracle to get in.
If she’s passes the test, there are three grammar schools within a reasonable distance which are smaller and she would feel less stressed at.
But her marks over the last few weeks have seriously got me concerned that we are setting her up to fail.
The test is in two weeks. I’m not sure whether to keep pushing her to do more practice just for those two weeks, knowing she will never have to do it again, and hope something clicks and the potential her teachers see suddenly shines through, or to say, sod it, it’s not worth the anxiety, the tears, the sleepless nights.
I have toyed with applying for an EHCP to see if it can help secure her a place based on the layout and not the distance, she hasn’t had one up till now because her school have just adapted to help her thrive without one. But it’s now up to a 2 year process because of a backlog.
And we didn’t push during Yr 5 because we didn’t think we would need to consider the huge local schools.
For anyone who doesn’t have to decide whether to put your child through this torture or not, I envy you,
It’s a shit thing to do. It’s no longer compulsory but obviously, you give your kid the best chance and her teachers think she’s would be better at grammar school, you have to give it a shot.
Any advice please?