You don't say whether state or private?
DD has very slow processing speeds. Her writing skills were pretty poor when she was 10, and though she was good at maths/science this ability did not really show through till she was about 15 when some of the hard working non-mathematicians started to struggle. Her Prep school head was pretty down about her chances, but we wanted to go to the same sort of school as the academic purposeful girls who seemed to form her natural friendship group.
What we did was:
- Not request extra time, as she did not need it for maths and would not have known what to do with it in English. Instead we wrote a letter saying that the entrance tests were likely to show a wide gap, and that if offered a place we would work hard with the school to bring up her English skills before she started Yr 7, including having her tested and some targetted support. nter alia this gives you a useful insight into their willingness to work with SEN.
- We focussed on co-eds, because we reckoned that though lots of girls wrote beautifully at this stage, plenty of able boys were still getting their writing skills in place. I think this helped, as at her secondary, top maths/science sets were very boy dominated, and so it probably suited them to have a girl who would join them.
A teacher friend suggested I think about where I expected her to go to University. Did I think she was a possible Oxbridge candidate. The most competitive schools would be selecting candidates who were good at everything, but the next tier down would be happy to look at one-sided applicants as long as their core English/maths skills were not so bad that it would slow down general academic progress.
She has just left school, went to a very selective sixth form and is sitting on a deferred medical school place. So some advice:
a) look at her friendship group and where they are headed. To a large extent kids chose friends with similar academic potential.
b) keep a close eye on core skills, and provide support if needed. Poor reading/writing or numacy will affect other subjects adversly which will really hurt an otherwise bright child. At A level DD found biology hardest, not because of lack of knowledge or understanding but because it involved essays. The earlier support meant she got the grades she required, and thus has opened up doors.
c) Find out how your child learns/revises. Up to Yr 10 DD was pretty hopeless at revising from a book/notes, but learned quickly when tested orally. It was important for her to really listen in class, and keep her school attendence perfect, and then to make a friend who took good notes which she could copy.