11+ with State school report

[deerison]

Having read through my sons' year 4 end of year report, I am concerned that rather than boosting his chances for the private school entrance exams, the report will mean doors are shut. The current report is basically for each subject -good comment on ability, poor comment on focus/speed.

Can I ask the school to do a 'nice' report and try to minimise the negatives for year 5? Does anyone know if this kind of comment is common/how the admissions team would view it.

Eg, from the year 4 report.
X is an able mathematician. He is able to grasp new concepts quickly and usually listens carefully in class to new concepts. He is always happy to share his knowledge and understanding during class discussions. He said he is proud of his ability to now round in maths. He has a good understanding of the four operations and is able to use written methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with remainders. He showed a good understanding of fractions and can relate tenths and hundredths to decimals.

Whilst X is able at maths, he does not always produce his best work when working independently. He must keep trying to ensure he is fully concentrating during lessons to ensure he is challenging himself.

Might they read it as bored/not being stretched or will they just read it as naughty/not engaged with learning?

@deerison , your primary school fills in a form sent to them by the private school with loads of different questions. You don't need to ask the primary school to do anything.

But I believe you do have to send in the year 5 report.

If you have concerns about the report email the teacher. And yes they will ask to see the year 5 or year 6 school report, this is common. You cannot ask the school to do a nice report if it puts your child at risk of being misunderstood however..

Interesting thanks language lover. I just got the impression that the prep school reports are super positive, like sake pitches. But I may be wrong in this. Do you think this comment is pretty standard or does it read as quote negative?

Sales not sake (though that sounds more interesting!)

You should check if your primary just sends the Y5 report, or if they will fill in the questionnaire that the secondary school sends. Some primary schools just send a copy of the report as they don’t have the resources to do lots of questionnaires, which is fair enough, but it does mean that the only non exam information the secondary schools have is the Y5 report - no reference, no CAT scores.

If this was the end of year report back in July

What have you been doing with the school since to address these issues? I mean your son's actual issues with his schoolwork, not his chances of getting into somewhere.

Merry - he has the opportunity to go and work at a quite desk by himself if he want to to avoid distractions. I believe he does choose to do this sometimes. Not sure how often. The teachers know to call him by name to prompt him to follow instructions. We have heard very little from the school though. I think maybe it is a bit better, we have parents evening soon so will get an update.

Also, they have had quite a bit of substitute teaching though, so not sure what happens there. He is generally not disruptive to others and a high achiever, so I think his lack of focus and day dreaming are not flagged up as much as they might be if he was failing.

What do you think we should be doing?

Usually (always?) schools will ask for a reference, plus the most recent report. Ie end of year 5 report, not y4. There is such a leap from y4 to 7 that a y4 report will not be taken as madly important. It simply gives an insight into the child. Most important will be his test results. Then interview. Reference. Report/S. All taken together to form a picture of the child. Yes, ideal if everything is super duper, but not make or break. Also, depends on the school. Super academic, super fast paced schools may be looking for self motivated, independent kids etc. But I can’t imagine they wld base final decision on a line from a y4 report.

Top independent academic schools care about how kids do at their entry exam, order them by exam performance.
School report is probably looked at but coming from state school and prep school they’ll be huge differences in how they are written. I would not worry at all for year 4 report.

Thank you. We actually just had a really positive parents evening, so I'm a bit more hopeful for the year 5 report!