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!)

[Sulawesi]

Is that because there aren't enough spaces at the grammars tiggy?

[Sulawesi]

Thank you for that information, very interesting and informative.

[Sulawesi]

I thought the test would be the same countrywide, is that not so then?

[Sulawesi]

Mmm thanks tiggy very interesting.

Thank heavens I don't have to go through this but have friends with children in 11+ areas and it has become a source of great worry and concern for them.

[TheSnowFairy]

DS1 took it but again, found the timed aspect beyond him.

He failed and is going to the local comprehensive in September.

He is delighted as all his friends are going there (only 1 boy passed in his class).

Hindsight? I wouldn't have done anything differently, he had a tutor for 1 hour every 2 weeks to familiarise himself with the questions. The rest of it was up to him and he couldn't do it. He tried his best - he couldn't do any more.

I am proud of him for trying and it doesn't seem to have destroyed his confidence (which was what I did worry about).

[Yellowtip]

What is really interesting here is that the level of competition to get an offer of a place at a superselective doesn't appear to translate into results, either at GCSE or A2.

There's so much talk on MN about tutoring. How it makes all the difference between 97% and 98% and therefore a place. But does it really?

[AtAmber]

Hi. My ds who is now in y9 passed for st anselms and calday. I let him choose which one he went to. I wanted him to go to st anselms. I really liked the atmosphere and I have friends with boys there who are very happy with it. We aren't catholic either. He chose to go to calday and loves it. I think I would prefer st anselms over pensby.

[JoanByers]

To give you an idea - one London Grammar took it's current Year 7 pupils from 75 different primary schools last year.

That means that the top 1 or 2 children from each primary school within a very large radius will get a place at grammar.

I don't think this is actually the case. They are the highest performers on the test from those whose parents chose to enter them. This doesn't make them the top children at all.

Grammar school places in London go disproportionately to certain groups, and there's no reason to believe that this is an accurate reflection of the underlying ability profile of London.

[JoanByers]

What is really interesting here is that the level of competition to get an offer of a place at a superselective doesn't appear to translate into results, either at GCSE or A2.

Superselective grammar schools do very well at GCSE and A Level.

[Yellowtip]

tiggy London sounds a complete and utter nightmare these days, with parents wasting thousands of pounds simply out of fear. I don't get why London superselectives, with all this competition and the crazed tutoring for places, don't massively trump other superselectives when it comes to GCSEs and A2s. Honestly, it suggests that either tutoring doesn't affect 11+ results to any marked degree or that the non London superselectives are far superior.

[Yellowtip]

Joan London superselectives do very well I know, as do other superselectives in areas with less students competing per place. I'm comparing the two.

[JoanByers]

Oh ok.

Which schools are you comparing in particular?

[Yellowtip]

Yes, marginal is right, but given the difference in competition for places, interesting nevertheless.

I had no idea that the London schools didn't ask for English. Has that been true of all of them up until now? It does make sense to introduce English then or to give it more weight. Time consuming though.

[springlamb]

London is a nightmare. My friend, who is very ambitious for her daughters, spent the whole of autumn term, every weekend, taking her eldest to entrance exams. These schools are spread over 4 boroughs, not one is close enough for her to walk to or have local friends from school.
The poor girl was quite exhausted by the end of term, stressed out, and had had not a lot of a fun. She was also getting quite upset in class as she always felt so under pressure.
I am ever grateful for dd whose only criteria was 'I wanna go to a school with a farm' (we are moving and this is entirely possible).

[Erebus]

Q: (from earlier) "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."..

-made me a bit. I know a lot of parents who happily drive 40 miles one way twice a day to access SWGS. Those parents very much see it 'as an option'!

[seeker]

"-made me a bit. I know a lot of parents who happily drive 40 miles one way twice a day to access SWGS. Those parents very much see it 'as an option'!"

If they don't WOH and can afford the petrol. And don't mind their children not having any sort of social life......

[Erebus]

Guess it's a lot cheaper than the £12000 pa they otherwise pay out if Jemima fails her 11+ Those gels don't end up at St Edmunds- which is a pity as I gather St Eddy's is a very good school!

Fwiw, I went to SWGS a thousand years ago but it was a very different beast back then, full of local village girls from the surrounding catchment. There was one mystical creature in my class of 30 who'd been private! Even back then, and even being a SM (as really, it still is) St Eddy's got quite a few girls into our GS 6th form as opposed to a lot of the other SMs who barely managed an O level between them.