How young can you tell if a child will pass the 11+?

[Tryingtomakeitthroughtheweek]

I was chatting to a parent of DD who is a TA at the school & we were talking about grammar school we are in catchment for. She mentioned that her older DD might sit the 11+ but she's sure her younger DD (year 1) would never pass so probably wouldn't get her to sit it.

From what I can see the younger DD is about middle of the road (she showed me her report as I had some questions about DD's and she mentioned before that she's where she needs to be with everything.

Aside from those children who are obviously very bright or those who are really struggling can you tell so early on how they will fair so far ahead?

Obviously she knows far more about her child's ability and is a TA herself but it made me wonder 💁

I would say not necessarily. Some children peak early. I have seen it with other dc. For example, one dc I know progressed early on with reading and flew through the stages, but then seemed to not progress in the later years and struggled with comprehension, math etc. My dc progressed early on with their reading at an average speed (but I also was very relaxed and spent a lot more time in the park with them over doing homework after school). Anyway, then on their own they showed natural ability from years 3. DC one did well for 11+ and is very happy at an academic secondary. DC 2 is in the middle of 11+ so we will see. I did feel like dc 1 was more of a natural compared to dc 2.

You can’t tell. Children can have spurts in development at any age. And can really surprise you! I was a ta for many years and would never, ever assume that a child would stay at, for example, an average academic level all their school lives.

I don't think you can tell. My DD has worked to greater depth across every subject from year r to year 5 but she is ND and really struggles in test taking environments. We are putting her up for it but we have no idea whether she will be able to do it on the day.

Never had doubts with our girls. Bright from day one.We had doubts with our son untill around age 8.
All 3 went to grammar school.