Greater depth?

[BasilF12]

DS is 10, youngest in year. He has achieved greater depth consistently throughout school including this year. This isn't a boast, I simply want to know how common this is? He is taking his 11+ but is struggling to reach the required pass mark for maths but is doing well on the English (70 per cent average maths, 90 per cent English). I know he is bright, but is he grammar school "material"? I'm just struggling to make the two correlate.

we don’t have grammar schools here so I don’t have any experience but consistently achieving GD sounds promising.

I’m a bit confused though - is he in year 6 now? Hasn’t he already sat the 11+?

He is end of year 5, just turned 10 a few weeks ago.

Yes ignore me - my son is still 10 in year 6, I don’t really know what I was thinking to be honest!

Have you asked the school if they think he should apply?

Nationally collected stats for greater depth is only done at the end of KS1 and end of KS2, at those points, only around 5% achieve it all in areas, and even less if they are summer born. Top 5% is unquestionably grammar school material in academic terms (if he is in other terms is a different question)

I think you have to question a bit how 70% on a grammar maths test matches his greater depth - is he struggling with particular areas, the format of the tests or something else, identifying that mismatch will likely help improve the score.

Is it a selective or super selective? Also 11 plus measures somewhat different topics to curriculum and at different level. It sounds as if he will probably be sufficiently able to manage certainly at a selective and probably a super selective, but whether he can pass the 11 plus depends on how well he has prepared for the exam, whether he has covered all the relevant curriculum (some goes into yr6), whether he is feeling well on the day (really ill and he could sit at a different time but a bad cold probably not), and luck - whether the topics in the exam are easier for him, and say if a comprehension and he prefers fiction but he gets a non-fiction passage. Lots of variables.

I do t know if it's selective or super selective, I feel so naive and out of my depth. It's 335 to be considered, 350 for a definite ace based on last year. But I do t even know what that means in terms of what percentage and marks he would be aiming for?!

Sorry for typos,baby laying on me.

You need to go to elevenplusexams.co.uk there are a number of forums there, look for your county and there is likely to be a discussion about the school he hopes to go to. There may also be some threads already about marks to aim for on each practice paper. Without knowing the school and the papers he is doing, and having some experience of that test we can't really help, but you are most likely to be able to access that specific help on the forum linked to above.

Around here a super selective only takes the top 5-10%, there may only be a few in each county and the entrance requirements are often ranked so for example the top 100 boys get a place. A selective is more likely to have a definite pass mark and the nearest 100 boys scoring over X will get a place.

Around here there are both selective and super selective schools. To just pass often they only need to get half the marks on the actual exam, whereas to do well they will need to get higher marks.

It is important to go through the paper afterwards and spot where there are gaps. It may not necessarily be because they aren't good at maths, but because they haven't been taught it. My ds gets lower scores in maths than the others, although in class he is one of the top, simply because he hasn't covered all the 11 plus work yet (in yr4). In the English and verbal reasoning he can score well on simply because he is very keen on reading, and non-verbal reasoning is to an extent not easily taught and more 'intelligence' although there are tricks that you can learn. Maths if you haven't been taught ratios or algebra then however good you are at your times tables and co-ordinates it is a big ask to expect a 9/ 10yr child to be able to figure it out in an exam situation.

There are loads of you tube videos which explain techniques, but he will need some support in terms of thinking about which questions he routinely gets wrong and how to tackle them. If he has a tutor then this is what you are paying them for, if not then (and I know it is hard with a baby) you need to go through each answer and spot common themes. Is it always the same areas of maths or does he get confused with worded questions and though he knows his times tables has difficulties when it is loaves of bread in an oven or plumbing call out charges.

I really would go to www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/ this should take you to the forums page (although there are lots of other useful resources elsewhere on the site). Look for your region and there is likely to be info on the school you are interested in. Plus you can sign up and ask questions.

Thank you, will take a look.

Only the top 2% get into grammar where I live. It's not uncommon for children here to achieve GD across the board throughout primary and be tutored but still not get a place.

It is also important to remember that they are not actually selecting the top 2/5/10/25% they are selecting an approximation to that. So a child applying in LetItGoToRuin 's area might be in the top one percent but have a bad day and not get in, whereas someone in the top 4% might have been to a private school with small class sizes, have had a tutor since yr1 and was lucky with some questions.

We always framed it as just having a wider choice of schools rather than essential and finding the right school for them. At 10/11 You can spin the story in many different ways as long as you aren't over invested yourself. It also is not a great predictor of GCSE success in an otherwise able child.

Personally I have reservations about DS going to grammar. He is vla very anxious child and I am worried about the pressure on him. Additionally children come from far and wide so socialising with peers outside of school may be difficult. When we looked around I felt like it was quite suffocating and his life would revolve around school and studying, which although academic success is important it's not everything. However our local secondary isn't great, those further afield, in my opinion, are either full from children in catchment, or if they're not full, there is a reason.

I have looked through DSs mocks and am trying to plug Amy gaps in knowledge I can find but often it's a case of not putting an answer out of fear of being wrong as much as not knowing, as in only answering if he is certain even on multiple choice so will do some exam technique work with him and try and boost his confidence.

I know they are only primary, but I find the broadness of either, below, expected or greater very broad and doesn't really help with getting an idea of where they really are academically.

Does anyone know how the marks are worked out? So I know his raw scores and percentages on mocks, but how does this equate to the score. I know he is aiming for 350 but how do they come up with these numbers from the scores? Would really help to know so I can see if we are anywhere near!

From that score I don't think that you are in my area and also it depends which mock tests you are doing and what percentage the school takes. There are different test providers too and he needs to practice for that style.

One strategy for multiple choice is to eliminate options, and then guess, so if he can't decide whether it is A or D then just guess and move on. Unless the exam is negatively marked though he must guess any he doesn't know.

A grammar school has different stress so he might stress about exam results in a grammar school but that the teacher is always dealing with riots in a different school. Not that grammar school children aren't disruptive but just an example. It is probably easier to move to a non grammar school in the future if he is not happy rather than the other way around.