11+ 2025 support thread

[AquaPeer]

Hi all,
I really enjoyed reading previous 11 plus support threads and I think we’re probably ready for a new cohort of year 5s start their prep?

so I thought I’d set up one for next year. All welcome!

we are trying for dame Alice Owen. DD currently has group tutoring once a week but we are looking to increase to twice a week before Xmas.

i am trying to get her to do a cgt GL 15 min tests a day very unsuccessfully! This half term is going to be all about embedding routine 😀

look forward to meeting other parents preparing

The HBS exam slot this morning 8-10am only had around 30-40 children, I was expecting masses of children! Pick up coincided with new year 7s arriving, taking photos outside the school- very sweet to see.

Exam was v time pressured, breaks between each paper but for the 4 min NVR there was no time warning so DD didn’t answer last q or have time to make a guess. Overall she is happy with experience, onto the next one!

Just received timings for the St Olave’s test - twins are sitting the exam three hours apart which seems… ill-advised, frankly, in terms of the potential sharing of answers. 🙃 Obviously I’ll do my best, but given that they’re two children being brought into London on the day by one adult and the autistic one is going first… I think it’s going to be challenging. I might have to ban the first testing twin from speaking at all until his brother has been sent in. 😀

Sounds like testing season has well and truly begun and the Mumsnet 11+ children are generally doing well, which is nice! Fingers crossed for all.

Make the most of the most if it, although I doubt they'll remember much.

What is everyone's back up plans ?

Oh wow that's weird, there were definitely hundreds on Tuesday.

Back up plan - I'm going to apply for a governors ' place at St Mary Magdalene and a language aptitude place at Grey Coat Hospital (we won't get in under any other criteria so still a fairly long shot) and otherwise just apply to local schools. The one dd1 is at is dead cert but I'm a bit worried it's on its last legs - it is half empty in years 7 and 8-- so will look at others. Probably Highgate wood is the best option but we'd have to sit on a waiting list for it judging by previous years.

Sorry if that means nothing to non Londoners

Back-up plans

Plan A - Headteacher Appeal. One twin will be diagnosed with ADHD on Monday and that should prove sufficient to trigger the HT appeal process, the other will get a HT appeal because he’s always been that student. I will send all documentation in to support the HT appeal as soon as we have the diagnostic report, just in case we need one.

Plan B - parent appeal.

Plan C - homeschool?! 😬 Sell all we own and move to rural Scotland or Croatia on a digital nomad visa?! Not sure. Not sure I can be rational about back-up plans at the moment but interested to hear what others have in mind!

Your plan C sounds scarily similar to mine.

1. We will try faith schools first as we are practicing Christians

1. We will pack up and move abroad.

Typying that out , I've realised how much the 11 plus is guiding our whole existence 😅

We have an absolute no go school in the area and one I could stomach.

Plans all depend on what happens, really, but the three main scenarios would be:

Plan A: DS gets 121+, we apply for a place at AGS (we're well inside the catchment), all is well.

Plan B: He falls short by 1-2 points; we go to selection review, hopefully in possession of what we're told they look for: a super-supportive statement from the head, a bunch of strong reports from previous years and a result that is strong in maths and verbal but let down by NVR; the panel bumps him up to a pass, all is (eventually) well and off he goes to AGS.

Plan C: He misses the cut by a long way (curse you, NVR) or the review is rejected; we give up on the grammar and he goes to the local upper school. Not the end of the world, he'll be able to walk/cycle there and, as Bucks uppers go, it's not that bad. People from up the road have far worse to deal with. He'll just have to push himself there as, inevitably in a wholly selective system, it's all set up to get as many kids as possible up to the minimum required standard rather than encouraging people to excel.

Hmm so grey coat hospital (one of my fallback plans if you can even call it that - one of the schools we were going to apply to) has finally released its test date and it clashes with Dd's y6 residential. I've asked if there are any alternative dates but not holding out much hope, and there's no way she's missing the trip so I guess that's one option crossed off.

“The tests are designed so that children can complete the tests, to the best of their ability, without practice.” 🤔🤨

All the paperwork for the Buckinghamshire one says it is designed to be done without practice, and also that every primary school in the county needs to run a practice test two days beforehand.

I’ve shown some of the NVR papers to my sister, brother-in- law and uncle. Between us we have 4 Oxbridge degrees (physics, engineering, law) and a
PhD in physics (uncle is a retired physics professor).

There are questions that none of us can answer.

But yeah, a 11 year-old can realistically tackle them with no practice.

🙄

Exactly! We’ve often had guests over and pulled out the practice papers for a laugh… everyone agrees they’re unreasonably tough for a 10 year old!
Yes we do host wild get-togethers at our house if you were wondering 😂

Well our primary school certainly won’t be doing, you would hardly know it even existed as far as they are concerned.

Our position on tutoring has always been that DS doesn't need extra help to get his maths and English skills up to the level required to pass. If he did, I'd question whether he was actually suited to the higher pressure and expectations of a grammar school. What he needs help on is understanding what the questions are asking him to do - which is something various friends and relatives with far greater qualifications than I possess have struggled with, and which his state primary have not made any effort at all to assist with. My mum keeps going on about how she passed her 11+ back in 1964 (often in front of DS, which is driving me crackers) but as she herself has said that was a much more straightforward test of "what is X + Y" and "what is the verb in this sentence" and son. I'm not saying it was "easier", but she didn't sit down on the day and find herself faced with a paper full of question types she had never encountered before.

I think it is the level at which they have to perform that makes it impossible without practice. I can see for myself that both my DDs are equally bright but one has put in much more practice than the other and so is (now) scoring much higher on these tests. But in order to actually get a place at a super selective school she has to score exceptionally well against a field of highly trained kids. I don't think that was the case back in my mum's day. She too is very dismissive of the prep saying my DDs will easily pass the 11+. Erm...

Completely agree.

Remember most of them are 10.

I would love to know how many Bucks DC DON'T have a tutor - I bet it's a minority

I'd modify that to say I'd love to know what proportion of state school children who pass don't have a tutor.

I'm worrying as DD hasn't had a tutor but she has had atom learning since Christmas and lots of revision books and a private mock. I guess if she doesn't pass I'll know that wasn't enough but it still feels like a lot.

Was it for children with SEN? Because that’s expected to have fewer children.

My friend keeps saying the same, and she sounds like a dinosaur. The world has changed and the test is incredibly hard and made into a BIG business.

B.S.

I found this thread too late! My DD is about to sit her exams soon. I’m really upset with myself I don’t feel I have given her enough of a chance. In year 4 she had a tutor that I stopped after a few months as I was told by some mums in school and by the schools themselves that they actively discourage the use of tutors as they want to see child’s natural ability!

I feel I have failed her. We’ve been doing atom learning and practice papers that I found online. Can anyone suggest how I can turn things around? She’s strong in maths and non verbal but English and verbal are her weakest areas. She hates creative writing! I’m rubbish at English myself so can’t help her.

Which schools is she aiming for? That might help for material suggestions for VR and English... don't be hard on yourself - I know many kids who have gotten into grammar schools using Atom alone and no tutors.

We have been doing similar tea and I think DD is in with a decent shot. For creative writing it's about putting smiles, metaphors amand other devices in and having a good ending I think - so quite formulaic rather than truly creative. Dd1 (autism, ADHD) could write to take your breath away at this age but got nowhere near the pass mark as she didn't follow the criteria. Dd2 is more rules based and mathematical so better suited I think