ridiculous pressure on high achievers.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Just want the opportunity to rant please, without it appearing like a stealth boast, which it really isnt.
dd is in year 10. Target all a*s. Only now this doesnt seem to be good enough for some of her teachers who are putting pressure on her to aim for 100%

she has a mfl speaking thing soon. Dropped 3 marks on her last one. Her teacher has told her she should be aiming for full marks. Its batty! If she makes a single mistake she will have 'failed' their expectation. Its across several subjects and yes, she is bright, but she is a human who makes mistakes like we all do.

How on earth do I handle it? We've spent much of her life trying to rid her of the idea that she needs to be perfect and weve suddenly reached this.

Ditto. If the whole school is just the top 10% by IQ or whatever then the whole school is geared towards the brighter pupils. Even there you get some genius types (my daughter was at a top 3 school for A levels) but it's easier for that type of school to deal with those children than a mixed ability school.

I also agree that perfectionists often don't do that well actually. When I was interviewed for a series about successful women the interviewer said she found in each case we were all able to say - we have done enough at work and at home and were satisfied ("satisficers") so could get on with the next task rather than spending 10 times more than is needed on one task and getting behind with the rest. That does not mean we do not try to get things right. Trouble is children can take this to extremes. My children might be aiming to pass an exam so 1 mark over the pass mark might be sufficient, in their view which is not always that great an attitude unless I suppose genuinely you only need to have "passed" that particular one.

If a school selected on IQ, creativity, critical thinking and analysis, DS would be in. If a school selected on 11+, SATS, spelling and maths, he would be out!

I'd love to meet a school that selected like that, rotary, the students would be awesome (although I imagine that they could wear the teachers out...)

One of the many reasons selective schools are a bad idea. What you need is a big mix of abilities/skills/talents/gifts/challenges/strengths/weaknesses.....because that's what life's like.