Those of youwhose children passed the 11+ well, can you answer a question for me?

[OlaSparkles]

Because in RL you aren't allowed to ask people.

How did your dc score on the CATS in the year or two preceding the 11+?

I live just out of a grammar school area so in order for my dd to get a place she can't just scrape a pass she has to get stellar marks (she does not know this)

A friend told me that her (private) school had said if your child doesn't score over 85% to forget grammar.

So what are people's experiences with the CATS and actual 11+ success?

I hate this system.

I can't answer that as I am not aware of my child doing CATS tests in the years before. All I can say is that my son passed in Warks with a high score. School had said he was a child who may well pass but of course they give no guarantees. He had no tutoring and did no practice for it but we knew he was on target for level 5s in his SATs so decided to sit him. He was already a level 5 in maths in year 5, his literacy was slightly lower. My oldest child didn't pass so there was no pressure on child 2 as we were happy with out local comp. However he did pass, and passed very easily. He then achieved all level 5s in hi sats. Bizarrely child 3 sat it this year but has not passed (well we know for sure next month but it going on previous years marks he hasn't). He was higher levels for maths in year 5 than his brother and is on target for level 6 in his sats for maths, 5 for english. Again, no tutoring or extra help so it just shows what a lottery it is as I actually think he is brighter than his older brother!

I don't understand how grammar areas can be so different, I'm Kent, coastal and they didnt and don't do CATS.
She was however on 4's for everything in yr 5 (4c for maths barely scraping in from a 3a)

Do you mean SATS?
Mine didn't do CATS until year 7

They are both at selective schools. Ds2 will not be doing the 11plus in 2 years though.

You would be looking for confidently above 120 in cats ( you want stanine 8 or 9) for a high pass. What county are you looking at?

I'm not aware of my DCs doing CATs. In any case, I wouldn't use that as the basis for any decisions.

Some bright kids (according to their parents) can turn up at the exam for a highly selective secondary and, with no prep, ace the exam. For piarents like me, with 'lesser ability children', it's all about the prep that you do with them.

Over the Year 5 Easter break we went through some past papers with DS. At the end of the two weeks we got him to do a mock paper with no time limit. I think he scored 60%. The 'safe' mark at his school was 90% so DC was nowhere near ready. Nevertheless the 60%, albeit in 2 hours, after a few weeks showed that he had the potential to past so we went for it.

You don't say how old your DC is. Assuming that he is about Year 5, I suggest that you spend a few weeks tutoring him and see what happens. If it results in two weeks of crying, screaming and tantrums then perhaps you should take that as a sign. If the DC struggles to do the paper even with unlimited time and with you there to give hints then perhaps you should take that as a sign.

..also..

My DS was KS level 4 at the end of Year 5 which is good but hardly brilliant. People told me that DS would be going up against kids who are L5 so they didn't fancy our chances.

My point is this. CAT scores and KS scores are only rough indicator of ability. In the case of KS levels, DS's was merely an indicator of the teaching at his school and not of his ability to past a 11+ test.

It really depends what the 11+ is.

If it's VR/non-VR, then CAT scores.

If it's English, then English Levels.

My daughter (now in year 12) scored over 120 in her cats. I do remember that children scoring in the high teens were considered boarderline for the 11plus.

No Cats here, either, sorry. Maybe the school does them, but they are not made available to parents.

I don't even know what a CAT is, so presumably DSs primary doesn't do them!

They do SATs though.

Are we missing out?

We won't know for sure until 1st March but DD2's score is pretty safe ...we can't help on the CAT scores, I'm afraid

Can I hijack a bit....and ask a question. My DD is in year 4 and I have no idea if she'd be able to pass the 11+ but plan to ask her teacher about it when we next meet.

however...what are the indicators? Are her levels as of now indicative of her ability when the time comes? She's predicted to be 4 something in her reading by the end of year 4...and I can't remember the others but they're I think, only slightly above average.

Thanks very much.,,,last meeting I had the teacher said DD had shot up in terms of performance and that she was "heading for the top ten percent" ....hopefully she'll be able to set me straight.

Really, I imagine it's a very stressful situation...planning for exams...so a small part of me hopes that DD is'n't in the right league. But only a small part.

Ok.

Yes CATS not SATS (they also do optional SATS) at dd's school.

She is stanine 9 for verbal, quantitive and 8 for t'other.
Don't know how you get over 100 as ours were given as a percentile!

We're in Kent btw. No English paper (other than a written piece that is used in the case of an appeal only) we have maths, NVR and VR.

In Kent on stanine 9, with a bit of practice she could probably get top score ( usually 420, but does not equal 100% in each paper).