The Trinity-Whitgift-South London school 10+/11+ thread of 2014

[Ladymuck]

A few days early I know, but most of the entrance exams will be out of the way in a fortnight or so, and I'm sure there are a number of us who are in need of or or as we watch our (still very little) boys forget everything that they may have learned over the last couple of years. And there are many veterans of the process who will hopefully be around to reassure us that we will all come through this unscathed.

Following on from yesterday's fun activity we're now watching "Look Who's Talking".

Reading this thread with amusement and despair in equal measure. DS attempted his first dulwich maths paper the other day and was pleasantly surprised to find he got 63%. Was sufficiently encouraged to try the Alleyns sample maths paper. It was a car crash, only managed to do about half and what he did do was very hit and miss. He averages about 65-70% on maths bond papers, 80% NVR and about 60-65% on VR. I have no idea on English, though he tried a Dulwich English paper and what he completed seemed fine but he ran out of time and lost out on about 20 marks. We stated doing the practice papers at the end of October and he sees a tutor twice a week and he has made rapid progress but is it too little too late? He is doing 2 practice papers per day but reluctantly and making him do more would be counter productive. He likes to write comments on his papers, recent examples are "please take into account I feel sick and shouldn't be doing this" and " this splodge (arrow pointing to it) was made by one of my tears" hmmmm!
Dulwich exam on Monday and really using it as a mock with the view to nailing St Dunstans the following week. Anyone have any idea of levels required for St D's? There seem to be loads of kids registered but no-one I have spoken to has it as first choice. It's my DS,s favourite by miles which makes it my first choice and most realistic. I felt sorry for friends going through the grammar school thing but I had no idea!!!! I am the only one of my friends facing this and it's a nightmare!
Happy new year to you all and the very best of luck to your children.

TeddingtonMum is your ds doing an exam this Sat?

LM are you watching 'Three Men and a Baby Next'?!
Happy New Year everyone, and good luck to all from me too.

Erm, we've gone onto "Call the Midwife"...

I'm going to be asking for trouble with this, aren't I?

Hi sleepless

we are sitting reeds and whitgift end of next week , not that I'm counting

Lady muck
When his good his really good when his bored or can't be bothered its a total disaster !!.... was coasting in the middle groups for the last 5 years until he topped the year in his stats much to everyone's surprise and was pushed up to the top group but now complains that he prefers it in the middle as he knew all the answers I do despair will be resorting to cold hard cash insentives next week no doubt out if sheer desperation.....

Matlow
Creative writing will be rewarded!! Made me laugh must be worth a few more marks !! , we sat the Wandsworth test ( for practice) and my son said there was a kid who wrote his name then put his head on the desk for the whole exam if his in a strop I could well see my DS doing that so trying to humour him at least til next week !!! ....

The talk of creative writing has made me search for the thread when DS2 did the 11+ exams. I remembered this gem...

If it makes you feel better, DS2's practice story which he wrote today was a) crap b) illegible and c) ended with 2 characters face down in a swimming pool of blood with gunshot wounds to the head. Thankfully his maths is brilliant.

Lol very funny !!! don't know what they'd give for the blood bath at the end do u think they deduct if its age inappropriate ??

I remember reading it in absolute horror :) He got offers from T,
W and a grammar though so I'm guessing he did something right in the end. MrB at Trinity never mentioned calling social services when I discussed DSs exam results with him so I'm guessing it was massacre free!

My point was that your DS may surprise you, even allowing for your worst expectations :)

DS is another who believes that every good story should end with a tragic death.

I do find it reassuring that the schools will be very used to reading the writing of 10 year old boys, and won't find this unusual at all.

Actually for ds I am less worried about his exam papers, but more worried about his interview. We have one under his belt already as one school interviews everyone prior to the exam. His answer to "what would you do if you won £1m" (give some to charity and then save up to buy a house and car) doesn't strike me as stand-out, or even an answer where the interviewer can continue to explore much ("So, what do you think about local house prices then?"). My nerves are not helped by the fact that ds is aware he turned red and imitated a goldfish for a while first before giving an answer worthy of a dinner party of acturaries. However, that is all a worry for later in the month, assuming he passes the first hurdle(s)!

Not only are they used to judging the writing abilities of 10/11 yr old boys, they are also used to interviewing them :) I realised I was trying to judge my DSs by my level, not that of a child.

Apparently DS2 was "very honest about his faults" during his W interview. They still wanted him even though those faults were many.

If it's any consolation my DS had a traumatic day at W 11+ 2 years go - got a headache and totally cocked up the maths - his strongest subject. He got an interview and when we went in and we're told his best paper was English I put my head in my hands and had to stop DH saying they had the wrong boy! His English was and is still pants. I remember talking on MN to soup about it pre exam. She gave me great advice and is right - they know and get 11 year old boys and can see through stupid mistakes, tethered imaginations and make their own judgements. DS got a place and is thriving. One of his mates finished no papers and had a terrible exam day - he got a place and is one of the brightest in the year - they saw that somehow. Lots of deep breathing and ease up on the shouting (which I didn't!!). Most DC will start to go backwards in the papers in the days leading to the exams! Best of luck.

I'm hoping that he will get an W interview I think if he gets a chance to get in the room so to speak we have a good chance . he has no problem chatting to adults and if he really wants it can hopefully get that across might say something embarrassing tho !!... ( has a crazy mother who makes him study maybe ) we are a week away back to work Monday so between now and then will put the work in then give him a couple of days to relax and here we go the roller coaster starts again if they want him it will happen if they don't get ready for a new thread !!! ..... And all this and I don't even get the privilege of choosing which school he can go to !!, just want him to get SOMETHING phew rant over going to pop to the shops for a break ....

OK, I think I'm going to regret asking this, but what is your experience of 10yo boys and comprehension? School has always said that his comprehension is good (by which they mean sort of Level 5C at the beginning of Year 6 good, not 5A, IYSWIM, so above average but not brilliant). I think it's really rubbish, but I know that I'm probably judging him to the wrong standard. On tutor marked papers, he frequently seems to have the "wrong" answer - but on a number of occasions, I've looked at the "right" answer from the tutor, and thought "actually, I agree with DS" - and my degree is heavily weighted towards lit, so not being able to do 11+ comprehensions feels a bit weird.

Well, when I looked at the 11+ multiple choice papers from GL etc I really thought that some of the answers were wrong, and was in the middle of drafting my email of complaint when I ran it past dh to check ( and of course he ended up agreeing with the written answer!). Certainly I do find some questions a bit obscure, but I think I have always hoped that his maths and VR will carry ds through,and that he'll be able to say enough at interview if they double check his comprehension then. Other than that he is having "Answer-Quote-Comment" or "Point-Evidence-Explanation" drilled into him regularly....

Have you seen baldworm's PEE song?

I know English is a bit subjective, but I find some of demands that are put on our kids for English at this age a bit iffy, to say the least. I don't mind them being tested on their ability to understand the emotional trajectory of a story, or their ability to unpick a sentence with (reasonably) complicated syntax; I certainly don't mind their spelling and punctuation being tested, even though the results would not be pretty for DS. But I really think it's a bit young for testing their ability to identify the construction of a piece of writing for its formal effectiveness. I know undergrads who aren't too hot on that. And as for the sophisticatedness of their written answers, the standard is waaaaaay beyond anything DS has done at primary school, although I do realise that schools are going to differ in that sense.

And thanks for the baldworm thing, I've just located it on google...

Unless they've had a few common literary techniques drilled into them, I suspect those requirements go way beyond what they might be expected to learn by year 6, though the level 6 SATS paper may have moved the goalposts again. I've seen fewer "why has the author used (insert technique here)" on actual sample papers, though I think one or two girls schools have such questions. The ISEB practice papers do seem to like them though and they're very common at 13+.

Are the stressed DD parents still here? My DD is doing the same kinds of schools (Putney, Godolphin) and in the same kind of 70%+ but not over 80% league and it would be nice to have some hands to hold! I'm also very worried about interviews, and I suspect that 11 year old girls (mine is an immature 10 year old) are generally quite articulate.... Ugh all so stressful!

Hi Clara, since this is mainly Whitgift and Trinity, you could always try starting a thread for girls schools. Welcome of course to stay, but you might get more joy with handholding if girls schools you are particularly interested in are mentioned in the thread title....

I thought I'd seen a couple of stressed DD parents further up the line - though a new thread is, of course, a great idea! - but I'm personally holding any hand I can find. I'm an equal opportunities handgrabber.

My elder ds is at a selective independent coed school. In year 7 they were not set, and for their maths and English exams (half yearly) the class results ranged from 36%-100% with the majority of results being in the 65%-85% range. The high performers scored in the 90s, but I think there was only ever 1 child with 100%. Since then they have been set for maths and the gender divide at the top is fairly small, but it sounds as if the bottom set might be slightly boy heavy.

Would be interested to hear from any of the W or T parents in terms of their knowledge of the range there, though I'm aware of boys scoring in the 40s at W (who then have to resit until they pass?).

Claramaugham Aha - bickie and stressedofstreatham. Knew there were a couple. They might have got one going for the girls' schools.