11 plus support thread 2022

[PalindromemordnilaP]

Anyone else have a DC sitting 11+ this Autumn?

If so, would you like to chat on a support thread?

DD is sitting her exam tomorrow.

Anyone else? Waiting for the results will be nail-biting.

Yeah it's intense for sure. This is the level of homework the tutoring company sets - it's not me encouraging her to do extra. She is beginning to speed up slightly (often depending on how difficult she finds the maths on any given week.)

I'd use a different company. It's really unfair on your child to try and sustain that for a year and not at all necessary.

@Octoberfishing I hear you. The whole process makes me anxious! My DD is in year 5 too and we're preparing for the 11+ next year although in a different county. Happy to have someone to chat to about this if you want to DM me.

Good luck to those still waiting for results.

@Octoberfishing wow that is a lot of work. You really don't want to burn her out before she's even had a chance to sit the test.

The tutor needs to step back, why does your dc need to do that much work? The 11+ prep feels excessive these days, and it seems tutors are really pushing for this (money pays the bills though!).

Hope it works out for your dc (I'm also impressed she's keeping on top of it, she's obviously a very able child )

@LittleMissGossip She's chosen to do a class that her best friend does. She had a personal tutor last year, but I wasn't hugely impressed with the tutor (nothing to do with volume of work, more leaving her mobile on and beeping throughout sessions, saying "innit" at the end of every sentence... perhaps I'm a snob...) so when DD said she wanted to do the same sessions as her friend instead of having a personal tutor, it was fine with us.

It's hideously expensive - best part of £300 a month and comprises a 2-hour in-person session on a Friday, and a 2-hour online session (optional) on a Tuesday, plus all the homework.

Gut feel is DD perhaps doesn't need to be working quite this hard - but of course it's a chicken and egg situation - if her competition is learning 50 vocab words a week and learning how to do long division, you don't want to disadvantage your own DC.

The tutoring company said to give her two months to settle into it, and really it shouldn't (eventually) take her more than 45 minutes a night.

Whilst PPs are correct, and the volume of work is (currently) taking over our lives, I can cope with it. Or we can make a change in a couple of months if we're not coping with it. It's more the anxiety of imagining opening that email and getting bad news, preparing for appeals (or deciding not to), that's worrying me.

That sounds really intense. We didn't decide that DD would sit the 11 plus till after Easter (due to a change in personal circumstances) so we did nothing till early May of Y5.

We've done no paid for tutoring but I did go through the CGP books with my DD and got a couple of packs of GL papers from Amazon that we worked through towards the end of the summer holidays. I think if your DD is exceeding across all areas in school, then it's just a case of familiarity (which helps speed) with the type of questions that come up with whatever exam board she's sitting.

These last few days waiting for results have not been fun at all though!

But 45mins a night is far too much. No school is worth that truly. See what pressure you're putting on your child. What if you do all this and she doesn't get in- how bad will they feel.

I think sometimes people get caught up in it and don't see the madness!

@Octoberfishing Hi there. My DD is also Year 5 and I totally understand the anxiety (I feel it too). But the best advice we've been given is "don't forget that your child only has one childhood." By any measure, an hour a night, plus tutoring sessions, plus weekends and online sessions is really excessive. As other posters have said, your tutor is just seeing the pound signs. There's really no need to be paying that much, or making her work that hard. She's so young - she must be exhausted! Most people I know have had good outcomes just from doing CGP / Bond books (no timing at this stage - just get them confident for now and start the timings in the summer term) and a bit of Atom Learning over the summer, again to help with the timed tests.
I know you don't want to look back in 18 months and wish you could have done more if you don't get the desired outcome. But neither do you want to look back and feel guilty about all the pressure you put your DD under. And there really is an argument that if a child has to work that hard to pass the 11+, grammar might not be the right environment for them. I know so many people who crammed their kids for 11+ and now are still having to tutor in Years 7/8/9 and beyond so their child can keep up. I definitely don't want to be that parent (or my DD to be that child!)

Hi we’ve received our results and DD passed CSSE and CCHS so we need to decide between chelmsford or Colchester which I’m finding quite hard. We liked Colchester but got a bad impression of chelmsford from open evening but that could just be because it was soooo busy and there’s no opportunity to go in and tour the school etc so feels not very open like the other schools. Does any one have any positive or negatives about either school that would make one a preference? Any help appreciated!

Hi, @Mum3ch we were in that position last year! Dd had very high results and I knew we could basically make our choice, (this year I'm hanging on and praying until March lol) . Eventually we decided on CCHS as we felt that they seemed to have a more balanced and rounded approach to their education, so far we've definitely not regretted it, DD is loving it. Lots of emphasis on encouraging extra curricular, caring environment etc, whilst letting them gallop academically also.

Thank you! What do you think of the new head?

Anyone waiting for OSH??

Seems good so far. He led a great parents meeting fairly near to the start of term, talking to everyone about his thoughts and expectations etc. He's clearly very passionate. A friend who had a daughter there who overlapped with previous head and current said she this this one much better. Feel free to dm me any questions you like.

I agree that 45mins a day is way too much. We did a 10min test every morning and then 1-2hrs absolute max over the weekend. We went through the books and the maths syllabus and then over the summer started doing timed mock tests. This was absolutely plenty and my DD got a superselective mark.

We ranked top 50 but that's not enough for ours only 24 places (not grammar).
We may move up the list but now have to wait on day place for non exam places. 😬

I know it's a good problem to have, but is anyone else's child who DID pass well finding it hard to navigate the situation with classmates who didn't? DD almost feels like she's not allowed to be excited and share with her friends and even when she tried to be nice to a girl who was crying another child just "gave her a look" as he obviously didn't think it was helpful, but she wasn't trying to be unhelpful!

For next year's parents who'll be going through this in 12 months' time, I've started a thread here: www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4658781-2023-eleven-plus-support-thread

Luckily it's just about the only thing that's good about being out of catchment! Only two other children from my DD's class took the test and neither passed, but they are not close friends of hers so it hasn't really come up.

Still no official notice of when our results will arrive. Online rumour has it available tomorrow on their online portal. I shall be staying up late tonight to check at 12am!! Fingers crossed.

@jessieminto called Altrincham grammar today and they said results would be available on the portal tomorrow afternoon but didn’t give a specific time.

Ah thanks for the info. I'll try at 12am anyway but then maybe only once an hour tomorrow!

@BabaJones how did DS do?

We're having a bit of that problem here. DD is the only one at her school that got in and some of the kids are very upset.

It's horrible to have to navigate this all, for such young DCs.

Kind of feels a bit like all the expectation is on the kids who did well to either keep quiet or give all the empathy but no expectation on the kids who didn't to let the others have their enjoyment of it. You don't want them going around everyone telling them how well they did or going on about it forever or like they're a better person, but they should at least feel able to feel proud/be happy/share. DD surpassed her own expectations with her results and is entitled, IMHO, to be chuffed.