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Original poster

2023 Eleven Plus support thread

854 replies

elevenduck · 19/10/2022 16:30

I thought it might be useful for parents of 2023 children taking the 11+ test next school year to have a space to talk everything 11+ - tips on managing stress, approaches to the different papers, ways of relaxing etc.

Let's try and keep it positive and supportive!

OP posts:
thing47 · 08/06/2023 10:15

TheLemon · 07/06/2023 17:03

I heard from a teacher friend that a kid in her class sat exams in Yorkshire, Buckinghamshire, Birmingham and Surrey and were planning to move house to the "best" school he passed the exam for.

Crazy!

Assuming your friend doesn't teach in Bucks, this won't work because you have to be living in the catchment area before you sit the test for an application to any Bucks grammar school.

Furthermore you can't rent in the area while still owning a house elsewhere – the latter will be taken as your actual address. As you say, crazy.

Torvi1211 · 08/06/2023 10:27

Tbh I wouldn’t compare expected and greater depth. All schools put a certain level of their own judgement on this. A child of greater depth in one school could be average in another.

my dd for example struggled according to her school reports but got greater depth in all her SATS. It’s done on teacher based assessments and they can and do get it wrong.

I would base it more on what the tutor thinks and how they feel your child will fare in the grammar school.

This is just my opinion. I wish I had known more when my daughter was going through the primary side. I’m looking at the 13+ for her now :)

Torvi1211 · 08/06/2023 10:28

Please ignore the typos you can’t seem to edit on here 🙈😅

TheLemon · 08/06/2023 10:46

Torvi1211 · 08/06/2023 10:27

Tbh I wouldn’t compare expected and greater depth. All schools put a certain level of their own judgement on this. A child of greater depth in one school could be average in another.

my dd for example struggled according to her school reports but got greater depth in all her SATS. It’s done on teacher based assessments and they can and do get it wrong.

I would base it more on what the tutor thinks and how they feel your child will fare in the grammar school.

This is just my opinion. I wish I had known more when my daughter was going through the primary side. I’m looking at the 13+ for her now :)

They can and do get it wrong but it is supposed to be a national standard. Levels are moderated nationally and locally between schools, not just at SATS, so in theory at least a child at greater depth at one school should be greater depth at another - it's not a comparison to the cohort.

I do appreciate however that assessment is never infaillible.

TheLemon · 08/06/2023 10:53

@thing47 She does teach in Bucks. Wink

thing47 · 08/06/2023 11:09

TheLemon · 08/06/2023 10:53

@thing47 She does teach in Bucks. Wink

Ah, fair enough then! Although if you live in Bucks not sure why you would bother taking 11+ exams elsewhere given that Bucks grammars aren't super-selective (so you stand a reasonable chance of getting in) and a lot of the non-grammar options are a decent fallback…

2privateschoolDDs · 08/06/2023 11:29

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curiousmamma · 17/06/2023 23:16

elevenduck · 28/05/2023 12:47

We are still struggling massively with Spatial NVR, not helped by the fact that I find them impossible myself, so clearly a genetic disadvantage.

DD hates Lego / jigsaws etc - someone recommended Minecraft as a way to help her 3D understanding. Do you think that would help?

Well it turns out I was wrong and I will happily admit that. I was talking to my daughter's tutor who said the children that she knows who score rather well on NVR all play Roblox or Minecraft.
Looks like I may have to get my dd playing them!

Original poster
elevenduck · 18/06/2023 08:03

@curiousmamma I wonder if that's because they are naturally already good at NVR type activities that they are attracted to Lego / 3D games, or if those games actually have an effect.

OP posts:
Torvi1211 · 18/06/2023 09:02

My DS doesn’t have to do NVR but did click on it when doing atom and got them all correct. He’s not done any prep. He does like Minecraft though. He did used to like Lego but gone off it now. May be something to the theory! :)

curiousmamma · 18/06/2023 10:06

I'm not sure. My daughter has Minecraft too but doesn't actually play on it much but she did do well on the NVR. I was just surprised she said it after it was mentioned on here.

How's everyone getting on?

Original poster
elevenduck · 18/06/2023 10:09

DD had a mock yesterday but got a migraine in the second half (she gets them regularly) and says she tanked it. (It was also her trickier subjects - NVR and Maths so that wouldn't have helped.)

I said it was a learning point because she could have spoken to the invigilators, and these things happen, but she's disheartened anyway.

OP posts:
Torvi1211 · 18/06/2023 12:32

@elevenduck has she been checked for visual stress? My eldest had a lot of headaches and migraines. She still does on occasion but far less. She had a check at the hospital referred by the optician. She has a coloured overlay/reading ruler and it made a big difference to the migraines and headaches.

Original poster
elevenduck · 18/06/2023 12:35

Torvi1211 · 18/06/2023 12:32

@elevenduck has she been checked for visual stress? My eldest had a lot of headaches and migraines. She still does on occasion but far less. She had a check at the hospital referred by the optician. She has a coloured overlay/reading ruler and it made a big difference to the migraines and headaches.

That's interesting. She has had optician tests and all is fine - did your optician pick something up in the eye test or was it just because she had a history of migraines?

DD had gone from having one maybe ever 6 weeks to two a week which is miserable.

OP posts:
Torvi1211 · 18/06/2023 14:17

It was because I mentioned the headaches, migraines and words jumping around. I just thought it was worth a mention. They stopped for a long time and now have come back (but hormonal.) I know I was the same at that age and I actually had coloured lenses in my glasses and it made a big difference.

Migraines are horrible though so I hope they ease for her x

curiousmamma · 18/06/2023 18:56

@elevenduck

I hope she ok now. Migraines are awful especially when they come on suddenly. Like you say it's a good lesson to learn. I should start drilling into my daughter that if anything is wrong in the exam then speak up.

The exam still feels a long way away but I bet it will come round quick. The grammar schools have open evenings this week so we're off for a nosey. Both have / are getting new headteachers so I'm expecting a few changes, whether they be positive or not remains to be seen.

Torvi1211 · 18/06/2023 21:37

I hope the open day goes well. We are going to one in a few weeks. It seems tricky without any guarantees they will get in. I want my DS to be excited about the school but not disappointed if he doesn’t get a place. I guess everyone is in the same boat though. :)

Torvi1211 · 19/06/2023 09:07

When they do the mocks do they get a grade out of 100% my son is a late starter so has his first official mock next month. He’s only done paper ones at home or Atom ones.

Another parent told me children are already getting 95% that they know (unsure if they are trying to put me/him off) they aren’t doing the 11+

I would like him to do as many mocks between now and September as I can do he is as comfortable on the day as possible 🙈 Thank you!

curiousmamma · 19/06/2023 09:50

@Torvi1211

Thanks. I've no idea what to ask at all. I want my dd to like the school but at the same time I don't want her to get her hopes up.

My dd had mocks in all 4 areas last week and we got some feedback the other day. They said for us a kid needs to get around 75% minimum to stand a chance of getting in. They said the average scores were all in the 60s and 70s percent. The tutors said those scores were fine for now but would need to go up a little to be in with a reasonable chance of getting in.
The highest score in my dds mocks was 94%. I only know that as my dd was pulled aside by a teacher who told her she came first (out of almost 300 children for context). They did say there were only a handful of kids who scored in the 80s or 90s so I really don't think it's expected to get scores like that at this time.
During the feedback they said this is the time of year where the see scores start to go up as the parents start doing mocks at home and therefore the kids become much more confident with exam techniques. They did say lots of children lost marks because of how they filled in the answer sheet incorrectly (ours is multiple choice). What's the set up of your exam? Multiple choice or written papers?

Sorry I'm rambling but I wouldn't worry yet as there's still a few months to go until the big day. Are there many mocks you can sigh up to near you? The only one near us is when we're on holiday in the summer.

RudsyFarmer · 19/06/2023 10:15

Argh just lost my long post. I hate this glitchy site sometimes 🤯🤯

condensed version.
Verbal reasoning mini quiz on Atom - very difficult and making me wonder whether it’s worth persevering. Is anyone signing their child up to summer courses. Our entrance exam is October so there’s still time.

Original poster
elevenduck · 19/06/2023 10:30

Torvi1211 · 19/06/2023 09:07

When they do the mocks do they get a grade out of 100% my son is a late starter so has his first official mock next month. He’s only done paper ones at home or Atom ones.

Another parent told me children are already getting 95% that they know (unsure if they are trying to put me/him off) they aren’t doing the 11+

I would like him to do as many mocks between now and September as I can do he is as comfortable on the day as possible 🙈 Thank you!

DD's tutoring company says they need to get about 60% currently to be "on track". Until the migraine paper she's got approximately 70% on mocks but very heavily weighted so her SPAG and VR is excellent and her NVR is very poor.

I imagine each company do things slightly differently.

OP posts:
Torvi1211 · 19/06/2023 12:46

We can do four between now and the exam with his tutor under exam conditions. More if we went to external (but dont think we will.) He has his first next month. I think for my DS it will just be slowing down and taking his time so he reads the question correctly. It is mostly multiple choice.

I guess we will see how he gets on next month 😬🙈 He doesn’t seem phased normally but it’s the longest exam he will have ever done all in one go.

I guess with other parents comments it’s just some of them being curious and some competitive.

I appreciate the responses. It is really hard irl to get people to speak about the eleven plus for some reason.

Original poster
elevenduck · 19/06/2023 16:25

We did open days last October, in order to give her an idea of where she wanted to aim for.

We need to go back, potentially to decide between two of them, but I'm thinking we might wait until she either qualifies for grammar (or doesn't, in which case obviously we won't!) so it's not a case of "look what you could have won".

OP posts:
Testpreo · 19/06/2023 17:07

RudsyFarmer please don't worry if your child does not do so well in mock tests and tests at this stage. My son badly failed some mocks - I never told him. I kept going and he did ok at 11 plus. Some of atom is quite hard and possibly harder than real 11 plus tests. Anyhow I have left it a bit late with my youngest son, have yet to crack on with nvr or proper maths for September exam but am just going to try do lots of work with my youngest between now and the exam.

SamPoodle123 · 19/06/2023 17:43

RudsyFarmer · 19/06/2023 10:15

Argh just lost my long post. I hate this glitchy site sometimes 🤯🤯

condensed version.
Verbal reasoning mini quiz on Atom - very difficult and making me wonder whether it’s worth persevering. Is anyone signing their child up to summer courses. Our entrance exam is October so there’s still time.

I would say it depends how long your dc has been working on it. You still have time, and also what is your dc Math and English like? I think it helps to be strong in Math and English. My dd was strongest in Math, then English and verbal/non verbal were her weakest areas, but still okay I guess. But I was worried about it slightly at one point. She did well in the end and got into all schools she applied to.