To think it's cruel to enter your child for nine 11+ exams?

[48wheaties]

Seen the news article about the child from Isle of Wight who passed nine 11+ exams in various counties all over the country. I think it's unkind to put a child through that. Yes, he's a bright boy, but what are the parents thinking? And no, I dont know them personally. (Runs for cover)

https://www.islandecho.co.uk/island-boy-has-pick-of-grammar-schools-after-11-plus-exam-success/

Some kids like doing stuff like that 🤷🏼‍♀️ mine would hate it though 😂

Some children are very competitive and enjoy an academic challenge. Even at 11 years old. I’ve come across a few.

All 11 plus exams are pretty much the same. It's not like studying for 11 different subjects. It would pretty much just be one lot of studying for them all

Fair enough. Mine too!

The child may well have found it fun, rather than stressful.

Seems an odd way for a family to decide where they are going to relocate to. Getting their 10 year old to sit a bunch of exams in different parts of the country and then finding new jobs, new house, new school for siblings. Hopefully they did do some research on the area, job prospects, desirability of location when they were choosing which exams to enter and then again when deciding which school to pick.

What happens if the younger one does the same and picks a different school in a different area?

My 9 year old son would adore this - he begs me for maths work late at night and gets a real kick out of academic achievement - he's even teaching himself Japanese. Some kids just love this sort of thing.

This is something I would have enjoyed. In my last 2 years of high school the head of school agreed I don’t have to go to classes as long as I passed a final exam on each subject at end of the year (not in UK). Almost every day for 2 weeks I had exams at the end of the year, some days 2 exams and I found it challenging in an exciting way🤷🏻‍♀️

I would have loved this tbh. I'd have never told anyone that i liked doing it though!

I’d have loved that, I was always putting myself forward for random things, not just academic stuff, I loved doing sports and craft things too.

I loved doing 11 plus practice papers and entering poetry and handwriting competitions.

I would go for to local swimming pool on the bus when I was around 9 or 10 and come home with my mile badge and a bunch of massive brass rubbings I’d done at the museum next door to the pool. My DM would get home from work and ask if I’d been to to much that day?

Well, I took them, my ACs took the equivalent as did my GCs. We never saw it as unkind. 🤷‍♀️

My thoughts exactly - there is a younger sister in the family photo, what happens when she gets to the same age?

I think the Gloucestershire grammar schools have introduced a new system prioritising local children and this child exemplifies why.

In 9 different places?

YANBU OP, but it's not so much the 11 tests it's the pressure of the family relocating for his schooling.

Hopefully he won't feel the pressure and will sail through his teenage years unaffected.

Only Denmark Road, I think it's a trial. But completely agree with your point. Although I would prefer them all to be scrapped!

I loved doing practice papers at that age and would’ve happily sat for more exams. The parents allowing him to do that and having their child’s picture in the paper isn’t the greatest idea.

We live in a town with excellent Grammar schools. When picking my kids up from their tests I overheard parents asking their kids how the test went compared to places 200 miles away and other parents seemed clueless as to where they actually where, just driven for miles to get there.

When the time comes to sell my house and downsize, my house is going on the market a week before 11+ day in the hope that one of these type of parents will be wanting to put an offer in when the results come in

Nothing strange about it. Our DD prepared for three years before sitting the 11+. We are in NI. She was in the top ten per cent of pupils who sat it.

Genuinely, I really like exams and find them very relaxing. There is literally nothing else you have to do or think about. Just you vs the paper. It’s fun.

If my options were some of the state schools on the IOW I too would be doing everything in my power to seek out alternatives…

I don’t think it’s that odd to sit the different exams but did he have to travel to them all? We’re Kent/London border and my son could sit the Kent test at school but if he’d sat the London equivalent he would have had to go to a test centre.

Also lol that they have already announced he has a place and they are moving. They’ve only applied, places aren’t given until next year and with VAT on fees it’s going to be a super competitive year, I don’t think anything’s a given

Bucks grammar schools have catchment areas. Completely fucking pointless taking the Bucks 11+ exam if you live on the Isle of Wight.

Clearly the boy is much brighter than his parents 😂

He sounds like an incredible all rounder who is thriving