hindsight's a wonderful thing! Post 11+ thoughts

[minecraftfansmum]

My little minecraft fan managed 100% in his non-verbal reasoning test - giving him an IQ of 131+. However he missed out on the 11+ by 3 points in September 2012, the pass mark was 236 he scored 233 - which I think is fantastic since verbal reasoning isn't his strongest area. The appeal by the headmistress of his school was unsuccessful. He's always been a shy little dreamer - head in the clouds and chatterbox in class (only child) and his Y5 sats results were level 4s (he's a young end of July birthday). His new Y6 teacher called me up to school a few times to complain about his talking in class and moved him to sit with a group of girls for a while. This upset him a lot, hours of sobbing at home, however his sats practice tests have shown a big jump in his ability and I'm thinking he needed the kick up the proverbial! He's passed for St Anselm's, which is wonderful, managing 77% in their English papers and 81% in the maths. I'm wondering if it's worth appealing to the grammar admissions board on March 1st - or whether to leave it as St Anselm's seems to be a great school? Does anyone have any advice? (ps if your practicing for the 11+ do lots of timed work - don't let them diddle daddle!)

If your happy with St Anselm's, wouldn't he fit in better there anyway?

You might get more specific answers on the 11+ forum.
I'm a bit confused; you said the exam was non-verbal reasoning, then said he'd done quite well as V R is not his strongest area.'

Horses for courses is my mantra for school.
I have a DS in Y5 who is academically bright but a lazy unmotivated so-and so.
We - including him, have decided not to go for grammar school as he would loathe to feel that he would have to have a rocket up him for the next 8 years!
We have decided to let him sit for a part selective school, where there will be mixed abilities, but where if he wants to get suitably challenged in the areas he likes (maths and science) the opportunity is there.
Happy children learn.

I would go for the appeal- you can decide after! Is it the St Anselms in a road with another school in it we're talking about?

And black blazers?

As he hasn't coasted in to the grammar school but has a place at another good school why not just leave it. Your head has already made one appeal on his behalf which was unsuccessful, at this point you need to accept this school is not the right school for him & move on. He has plenty of time to do well in public examinations and as he matures may grow to be one of the stars at St Anselm's rather than just another pupil at the grammar.

I'm not sure how a 'shy little dreamer' can be a 'chatterbox in class'...

Thanks for your replies. This is the first time I've done this and it's so reassuring to read points of view from those who can look at it all more objectively than me. Yes, he could be happier at St Anselm's - the only problem being that we hear where he has been allocated a place on the 31st of March. He isn't Catholic and if the school is over-subscribed he may not get a place there! The other thing is - I know of a lot of children who have been tutored for a number of years in preparation for the 11+, which I couldn't afford. Since the end of the autumn term of Y6 he has been in the top group of the top stream for maths - ahead of those who passed the 11+ (he's jumped a couple of levels and has become competitive after being spurred on by examination success in the St Anselm's entrance exam, he's always previously felt he's not as clever as the other kids) he's taking level 6 sats in May. He's shy in groups - will not push himself forward - too inhibited (like me unfortunately) he won't speak up in class, but when sat next to another boy had running jokes and chatting, that was important to him. Anyway, he wants to go to Pensby Boys (old secondary modern which i think is probably a good school) with one of his best friends. His father (we're divorced) wants to go for the appeal for the grammar. I absolutely agree that a happy kid will do better and the public examinations and decisions he makes in the future are what are so vital, I need a crystal ball!

Also in reply to auntevil, Pensby could be the option most similar to your choice in that he could shine in maths - be put into the top stream - do well in his art, and yet not be made miserable with pressure from other curriculum areas, I'm thinking aloud here, time for a coffee! Thankyou!

Do you know how many places went to catholic boys in each of the last few years?
And if they did get to category 2, (assuming your ds is baptised), then what was the lowest scoring child who got a place last year?

I think you need that info to understand whether your DS has a reasonable chance if being offered a place at st anselms.

Why can't he go to his local school? Why the competition?

I'm not answering for minecraft , but our local secondary which would be offered as the only school place in our LEA's magical catchment area, fails high achievers. This is based on their own published results.
When you live in an area that has a 2 tier state system - grammar and comprehensive, the former creams the top, the latter takes the rest. There is a disproportionate % of low achievers and mid achievers to high achievers in the local population.
This causes some schools to opt for serving well one of their higher proportion groups.
All schools would argue that they differentiate well and that all children receive a good standard of education. Realistically this is not the case. The school that we would be offered shows an above average attainment for low achieving pupils, average for mid attainers and low for high achievers. Why would I want to send a high achieving child to that school?
His nearest school is a grammar, so therefore his local. The next nearest school is as above. That's why he can't go to his local pollypandemonium - that's why there's competition.

Thankyou tiggytape, we will go down that route, it's a fair way of deciding whether he is able to cope with grammar school. In the meantime he may have a place at the catholic grammar.

It hadn't occurred to me, auntevil, that the differentiation in comprehensive schools can be more effective in a non grammar area, particularly if your child's motivators are competition and achievement. Life would be simpler without the grammars however reading your message, tiggytape, that's not necessarily so.

I wonder how other countries organise their high school system. I wonder if they have this minefield to deal with. I somehow doubt it. Yes, it is a rat race for grammar and selective places.

You asked for hindsight: here's our story.

DS was a high achiever in a high achieving Junior school but didn't get enough points in the Grammar entrance test. Part of the problem was "ps if you're practicing for the 11+ do lots of timed work - don't let them diddle daddle!" He was slow on the part that is designed to test speed.
Six years later, we discover that he has a learning difficulty (processing problems). Because he is intelligent, he could overcome the worst of the effects so teachers never spotted the problem. But, because of the learning difficulty, his intelligence was never demonstrated properly in exams. i.e. his 'really good' and his 'really bad' aspects cancelled each other out to become merely 'above average'.
Now DS has been diagnosed he gets extra time in exams and is supposed to have support in school.

Is it worth having your DS assessed? I could be reading too much into "shy little dreamer - head in the clouds" but could that be indicative of something?

It's only a rat race if you want it to be. Most comprehensives love a good bright child that they can nurture. He might actually enjoy it - have you asked him what he would prefer?

*When you live in an area that has a 2 tier state system - grammar and comprehensive....'

They are not comprehensives, they are not taking the full ability range.They are what used to be called secondary moderns

But even if they are only taking 8%, then the other school isn't getting that 8%, as a comp would, so it can't be comprehensive.

I also thought that it was either grammar and secondary modern or comprehensive - you can't have both in the same county unless the grammar is fee paying.

There are some areas that have superselectives- that is, schools with no catchment who take the top tiny % of all who apply.

These areas have other schools which are nearly comprehensives.

The two main "grammar" areas- Kent and Bucks have a completely grammar/secondary modern system where 23-25% of kids go to thie grammar and the rest go to a high school- what used to be called a secondary modern.

But remember that there only 160 odd grammar schools anyway.

I think you can have both in the same county.
I would argue that Wiltshire is a comprehensive county, despite having a grammar school option in the south of the county at Salisbury. As a rural county, with poor public transport links north to south, getting to Salisbury each day would be a complete non-starter from about 80-90% of the county. Therefore not an option.
Luckily there are some great comps, but also some pretty poor ones, which tend to reflect the socio-economic areas they serve. Much like most of the rest of England I guess.

"If 25% or 50% of all children were disappearing off to grammar school, and if the comps didn't offer triple science or A Level Further Maths or Oxbridge guidance then I would agree with you, but that's not the case at all."

In some LEAd it is. Well, 25%, anyway.