Things you wished you had known about the 11 plus process

[Goposie]

For me, that the numbers applying are crazy and the sheer odds stacked against getting in.

I agree that children are not always offered sufficient choice of school to meet their needs.

FWIW I passed the 11+ and went to a SS GS. Academically I was very comfortably within the top 25% of my year group but the GS was, without a doubt, not right for me.

That last year, almost 1,000 children sat the Bucks 11+ with a postcode registered at an address from which it would be physically impossible to attend. The Bucks test is usually held the Thursday before the Saturday test in other counties. So parents are using it as a practice test before the real thing in their own area.

Plus the raised eyebrows when I say we’re only doing exam technique practice at home and not paying for a tutor. And those parents who are banking on their child passing the 11+ even though their academic aptitude is way off the mark, tutor their child for two years and then blame the tutor when their child doesn’t pass.

Even the brightest child might not make the grade if they have a bad day. It comes down to that single day. Nothing can be seen as a dead cert.

It's very hard Maria. And of course we have to be flexible the state cannot provide bespoke eduction to suit all needs.
But some dc need smaller school, they cannot handle large classes and huge site. Some comps are very pushy for top sets and ignore bottom sets.
Some grammars are not pushy but the parents are.

Fwiw due to strange circs I only went to grammar for 2 years and it was very much the right place for me compared to comp. However a more creative type school would have been even better.
For my dc one is very academic the other is weaker but far more creative.

Zodle where on earth did you get those stats from. Are they available for other areas as well?

Smaller schools are definitely needed. All through schools with year groups that are not too large are drivers of academic achievement.

I don’t believe “selection at 10” is harmful. People are talking as if the less academic are second best. When did that happen?

Some people are more practically minded, some more creative. If people stopped talking as if academia is the number one thing and everything else not as good, it wouldn’t be an issue. Who is doing this? The parents?

VW-what do you think happens to kids who fail the 11+?

If I had not passed the 11+ I would have gone to a much more suitable school. I could have gone to that school having passed the 11+ but the silly mystique surrounding the 11+ and the local pecking order blinded my parents to the GS’ very obvious weaknesses as a suitable school for me.

The Bucks information is freely available on the Buckinghamshire CC website. Bucks has a problem as those 1000 are often highly tutored, push the pass mark up meaning local DCs don't pass (top 25-30% "pass") but the far away DCs that pass don't get places, and often don't even apply. Madness!

BertrandRussell What do you mean what do you think happens? That’s hundreds of kids all with different skills and different lives, lots of different things happen.

“BertrandRussell What do you mean what do you think happens?”
I mean- do you think there are lots of different schools specialising in non academic subjects for the kids who don’t pass the 11+? All with equal status?

Because that is the narrative of many pro-grammar people “Grammar schools aren’t better -just different. Not every child is academic, and they need schools where they can learn to work with their hands or be creative”

Maria Novella you went to the appropriate school for the cognitive ability you obviously presented by passing the 11+ !

If the comprehensive school had been appropriate (noting a school that has at least 1 pupil from high middle and low ability bands is by definition a comprehensive school) you would not have passed the 11 +....

• some parents lose their minds about it, and are insanely rude about the schools that children not attempting it will go to.

• if your child doesn't pass they may nonetheless absolutely flourish in the frankly amazing comp you were so desperate for them not to go to (BF's DS).

Actually I agree with the statement that grammar schools aren't better , that they are just different because they are catering for a different type of child !
I know that on here writing that is the equivalent of blaspheming in the Vatican but that is my opinion .

However, what I will say they are no bad grammar school (despite the political correctness employed by Ofsted grading against grammar schools sometimes) There are countless secondary schools in non selective areas that are the Pitts !

I know writing that on here is equivalent of blaspheming in the Vatican..

Following

That we were lucky that we live in a super selective area where only a very small number go to grammar school, which means the comprehensive schools really are still comprehensives and not secondary moderns. DS3 took the 11 plus and passed suffiently but chose to put 2 comprehensives ahead of the grammar school on the CAF. ‘Friends’ were aghast! We were just trying to avoid the local sink school.

That one particular ‘friend’ wouldn’t share with me the name of her child’s tutor. I was only being nosy as I was home tutoring DS last minute (August and September before test in October) and was in the middle of a divorce and couldn’t afford a tutor anyway. I don’t know what she was thinking? That my DS3 might somehow do her DS out of a place? Her DS did better than mine and went to the grammar school. My DS went to his first choice comprehensive. Both happy.

Vw I agree re second best. This only comes from the parents. Most definitely my pils are like this.

I've never met anyone else like this though.

Dc who fail the 11 + may have sensational maths skills but English let's them down and vice versa.

And some may not be good at those at all.

That I would feel like our family is different to many other families who have children at the school. The parents of my child's friends are mostly professionals and I would guess 10 or more years older than me. We moved into the area and DS sat the test and got in without fuss or worry, I bought a workbook that he did on his own, but no other preparation. About 10% of children get a place here. I just thought that would be the bright kids of all backgrounds, I didn't know about all the tutoring that goes on.

“Vw I agree re second best. This only comes from the parents”

Utter rubbish. You put a child into an exam with a pass mark there is no way on earth they won’t feel as if they’ve failed the test if they don’t hit the pass mark. Parents can do a lot to ameliorate the damage the failure does, and you can make sure your own child knows that you don’t think she’s a failure, but you can’t do anything about the other kids, the teachers, the other parents, the friends and neighbours.......

“Dc who fail the 11 + may have sensational maths skills but English let's them down and vice versa.“

For kids like this in particular selection at 10 is spectacularly crap.

That thank God my child didn’t have to go through this, no ones path should be decided at this stage

BertrandRussell of course there isn’t. This is the U.K. with a shit state education system.

What an odd question

There are opportunities if you are an engaged parent. I’ve just come back from taking a friends’s children to orchestra practise. They are brilliant and committed and their vocation costs very little because all instruments are borrowed if you can’t afford your own etc. You have to search for the opportunities however.

bertrand I didn't pass first time & wasn't especially fussed and nor were my parents. I did a retake and got a place second time round. It was really not a massive deal for us as a family. I didn't feel stupid or second best when I didn't think I had passed.

VW talks a lot of sense.