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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Anyone's dc sitting 11+ on saturday? Hand Holding needed

21 replies

steppemum · 02/10/2013 12:18

Title says it all really. I am really nervous, ds seems laid back (but we have tried to keep it low key)

Not sure if he is going to pass. Not sure which school we choose if he doesn't. Not sure if we are doing the right thing anyway as he will have to travel.

Seriously questioning everything, and we have to hand in the secondary form in 29 days...

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zower · 02/10/2013 12:26

i have had all the issues you raise and more, so sympathies.

strangely, on the positive side, it has forced me to get to know my son more, and ask lots of questions. its tiring though, esp. as all last minute in our case.

Original poster
steppemum · 02/10/2013 12:33

what year is your son in zower?

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zower · 02/10/2013 13:08

y6, steppemum, we are making our choices quicklyish as just moved home too.

Ladymuck · 02/10/2013 13:34

Ds2 is sitting his 4th 11+ paper on Friday and his 5th the following Wednesday. Some of his friends are sitting one on Tuesday as well. I am definitely far far more stressed than ds. Less about the outcome, and more about finding a parking space! If this is your first then allow yourself at least 30 minutes to find a parking space.

I know that they wouldn't do it as it would be too easy to prepare for in later years, but I do wonder what the outcome would be if the essay title was "Explain why you want to come to the school". Judging by the number of multiple applications this year, I suspect that a number of children won't necessarily know the name of the school they are sitting in! (though as ds was actually sitting in a girls school for 2 of the exams so far that probably isn't a bad thing!).

I'm not thinking about the CAF yet as we won't get some of the results until 22nd October...

Original poster
steppemum · 02/10/2013 14:56

ladymuck, we only have to do VR, and we can only get to one Grammar school form where we are so it is one exam.

Are you on the border between lots of counties? There is one exam for the whole county here.

have been warned about the parking

We were alright until last week, 1st choice GS, 2nd choice comp A. Then at the weekend we found out that one of our friends whose opinion we respect is pulling their son out of that school, due to poor teaching AAARGH.
Now looking for an alternative comp as a second choice if he doesn't pass.

Results on 14th (mon) possibly even by email on Friday 11th!

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Ladymuck · 02/10/2013 15:20

Ds2 would love a VR only exam... But not an option.

We're looking at 2 LAs as transport is easy for both. One area has one test for all schools, the other has an initial test which you have to pass in order to sit the tests set by the different schools Hmm.

I'm sorry that you've had your views knocked at this late stage. Plenty of time to make your own enquiries though, especially once the results are out.

The verdict of "poor teaching" is obviously a concern, but things I would consider:-

a) in a grammar school there is a more streamlined intake. Typically you're not dealing with classroom disruption and children unable to access the curriculum. A weak teacher is less disastrous than it would be in certain comps.

b) is the teaching poor in one subject or many?

c) What is the leadership at the school like?

Travel is an issue. If the school is exceptional then I'd go up to an hour each way on a straightforward method (eg not multiple bus changes etc), but otherwise I'd be cautious - they have to do this journey twice a day for 7 years.

Good luck on Saturday. It can be horrible watching your child going off to be "assessed". I definitely suffer more than ds.

Original poster
steppemum · 03/10/2013 22:32

wow, that is a lot of exams to contend with.

It is the comp that we have concerns about, and having talked to some others it seems that there are problems we hadn't heard about before, but the comp also has a new head who is addressing the same issues. It is local and ds was happy as an alternative, and it took the pressure off a bit knowing there was a reasonable alternative.

If he doesn't pass we will go and visit 2nd comp which I hadn't considered because I thought we couldn't get there. I have just found out that there is a minibus from near us, so it is now a possibility, but ds isn't keen, so will need some persuasion.

Hopefully we won't need either! Just hope he gets a nice clear pass.

Travel to the grammar isn't too bad, train for 28 minutes and then 10 minutes walk. He will eventually cycle to the station (about 10 minutes) so leave home at 7:45 and a bit of exercise thrown in!

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richmal · 04/10/2013 09:04

Thought I would join as dd sat her first last week, is doing another on Saturday and has another the week after. I agree about the parking especially as at the last school the boys and girls grammar school were close to each other and, seeing everyone else parking, we went to the wrong one.

Original poster
steppemum · 04/10/2013 11:52

ds is very laid back. Found out last night that we are dog sitting my cousin's dog this weekend, so ds looking forward to long dog walk on Sat pm, and ignoring sat am!

Have promised to take him out for lunch afterwards, he has chosen McDonalds (bit of rare treat!) So he is focused on all the fun I think!

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Original poster
steppemum · 05/10/2013 17:16

well, he has done it.
didn't finish either paper Sad other parent's posting on 11+ forum are saying paper 1 was hard and paper 2 easy. and they all finished the second paper, but not ds. he did guess the remaining answers though.

Seeing the school this morning made me really want him to go there.

Ah well, results next weekend (hopefully fri not mon) and then we will see and maybe have to visit some more comp options

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Ladymuck · 05/10/2013 18:52

Well, it's over, either way. At least it isn't that long to wait.

Original poster
steppemum · 05/10/2013 21:21

ladymuck - how did your ds get on on Friday? Do you have to wait til 22nd for all your results?

richmal - how did dd get on today?

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Ladymuck · 05/10/2013 21:55

Ds is a mellow soul, so he's not too bothered by the paper. I don't think that the creative writing task will have suited him, and my heart sank when he said that he hadn't put any working out for the 5 mark maths question "because it was easy". His maths is good, but he is likely to say 5+8=12!

I don't think that I can double guess as to how he has done. He just knows he now has to prepare for the next exam....

I think we should know by 22nd though so far results seem to be coming out earlier than expected!

Good luck with the wait!

kilmuir · 05/10/2013 21:59

Good luck. We were there this time last year. Think some of the parents were more nervous than the children

flakjacket · 06/10/2013 08:53

steppemum - my dc sat the 11+ a couple of years ago in a VR county (I suspect same one as you), missed 10 questions on the first paper and didn't finish the second. DC is now at the only mixed grammar school in the county. Don't give up hope!

bottersnike · 06/10/2013 20:00

This is encouraging as ds1 sat this exam on Saturday and didn't finish the paper either!
Fingers crossed for results on Friday.

Original poster
steppemum · 06/10/2013 20:43

flakjacket - is that a school beginning with P Grin

bottersnike - in county G?? Which school are you aiming for?

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richmal · 07/10/2013 08:41

steppemum On Saturday dd did finish the tests, though the week before she did not when her friend had. I'm not too concerned about it as it depends on how many they got right, not how many they finished. For some reason dd seemed to get around the same mark in practice tests, whether she finished or not.

She was nervous going in, but came out fine and happy, but later got upset about something else small and stupid which I think really was to do with having done the test. A little listening time and she was fine again though.

Just the wait now. Good luck to everyone.

flakjacket · 07/10/2013 11:48

Yes steppemum it is Smile. DC2 sat it there on Saturday too so I am waiting impatiently for results along with you.

bottersnike · 07/10/2013 13:42

Yes, steppemum - county G, school P! :)
Same as you, it's the only one ds could reasonably get to without a ridiculous journey each day.
Trying to keep myself busy and hoping we get results on Friday!

Original poster
steppemum · 07/10/2013 14:27

we are heading for M in another town. It is accessible on the train from us. The other grammars are all too far (over an hour on the bus)

so in theory we don't need such a high pass, but at the moment a pass at all seems unlikely!

very encouraged by your comments though flak

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