Good luck to all those preparing for January entrance exams!

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I remember being in this same position last year...Great words of wisdom from a Head Teacher in this article www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/12/21/preparing-school-entrance-exams-celebrate-childs-efforts-much/

lucky you to be done today chocolatewombat glad it was a good experience, that's all you want really isn't it?

lots of girls missing from dd's school today. i can't think which exam was on? any ideas? LEH is tomorrow, Surbiton on Friday, so neither of those!

DD says Ibstock was today. She's Y5 so watching all this with interest/horror....giving the KGS 10+ a go for practice on Saturday....

ah yes, ibstock that will be it. thanks. [need a nosey emoticon]

Ibstock was today

North London Girls Consortium group 2 is this Friday,

Latymer Upper next Thurs

North London Girls Consortium group 1 next Fri

and good luck for Saturday SW15mum'

Thanks (eek). She's really keen on KGS (although hasn't seen many) but I hear it's virtually impossible at 10+. All good experience though I suppose!

anyone know when St George's Weybridge is?

well there's only 20 places at 10+. Hard but not impossible and will stand her in good stead for next year!

That's what I'm hoping. Her comprehension is her weakness but she doesn't really care so am going it might give her a bit of a wake up call (although I do feel bad about putting a 9 year old through it all!)

Whining her way through a really boring comprehension at the moment. I've set the timer and when it's done it's done. One NVR to finish as a practice tomorrow and then we're done. I've resorted to bribing her with a new pair of trainers if she doesn't make a fuss over the last few bits of practice.

dh has told dd she can go to bed whenever she likes for 2 weeks after the last exam. bloody hell, he's not the one who has to get her out for school !!

DD doing a maths paper at the mo. She has never once complained about all the studying, she's so committed to it, that's why I'm heartbroken by the idea of her being rejected by all her schools.

i hear you stalingrad. do you have a school that she should definitely get into as long as no disasters? what's your state option like?

my strategy is confidence boosting "you're ready" "you can do this" "if it's the right school for you, you'll get in, and if it's not we don't want a place anyway and 7 years of stress when the work is too fast"

then post exam in the waiting period i'll be dropping in a bit about the numbers vs applicants. how a wait list place isn't a no, just a "we want you but we have to work out the numbers". how siblings, junior schools, sports/drama/music scholars etc get priority blah blah (even if not entirely true). just to prepare her a bit. how everyone ends up at a good school in the end. i've already been telling her about x,y and z in dd1's year and which schools they did / didn't get so that she isn't too devastated by any rejections and knows it is normal. I'll also be telling her all the pros of the state school she should be allocated to. I've always positioned taking these exams as just giving her more choices rather than being lumbered with whatever the council computer program allocates her.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL !

Thanks @nocampinghere , your strategies are sensible and I will definitely use similar messages. We haven't gone for an easy fallback private option, there seems no point in paying for a second rate school, but we have a reasonable chance of getting into a state secondary that is brand new but promising.

Tomorrow is DD's first big exam. She is cool as a cucumber. She did her last mock today and got 83% in maths (yay!) and 62% in English (WHAT!). Usually those two scores are reversed.

We haven't gone for an easy fallback private option, there seems no point in paying for a second rate school

Stalingrad Why do you think less selective private schools are second rate?

Sorry, that sounds harsh the way I typed it.

Where we live in London I was not impressed by the less selective schools we visited. They seemed full of very rich kids who were there for the lifestyle rather than the learning.

if your child isn't academic or the anxious type that wouldn't cope well with pressure and competition a non selective private school can be marvellous, as long as it doesn't let down the clever kids and get them the high grades they deserve if you see what I mean. It all depends on the state options available.

Absolutely. I should not have said second rate.

I just didn't feel like the less selective schools near us offered the kind of education that would benefit my eldest.

Stalingrad Thanks for recognising that different schools suit different dcs.

Good luck to your dd today and to all sitting exams.

Having been through this twice I can say that although it is a painful process, particularly for parents, dc do seem to end up at schools that suit them, even if that was not the first choice.

SW15mum my ds is also sitting the 10+ KGS tomorrow.

Am getting a bit nervous now though as I registered at the last minute to do it as a mock but now ds is really hopeful that he'll get in (already asking interview and offer dates!!) which is improbable given that our only prep is looking at some past papers over Christmas. I'm starting to think I should have prepared him properly as he is so keen to get in, but at the time I really just thought it would give us a gauge of what level he's at. Also went onto elevenplusexams forum and fell into a blind panic seeing the amount of prep people do. Hey ho, let's see how we go!

bunch of nutters on the elevenplusexams forum. stay well away.

Anyone with a DD sitting the North London Consortium 2 exam today?

Moominmama- I think the numbers involved at KGS 10+ make it a very long shot so have been telling DD that! We both really liked the school so will just use this as a practice. A friend's DH teaches there and she has 3 kids there. They all took the 10+ but none passed it!
Good luck for tomorrow. DD is most worried about having to be there at 8.30!

I have told DD when the interview date and told a fib that offers are made in March...

Haven't told her - that should say...