Advice Please

Eleven Plus (11+) in Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Wrekin

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moved
Posts: 3826
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:42 pm
Location: Chelmsford and pleased

Post by moved »

I couldn't find the previous thread, so here is my tutoring book list. They are in date of publication and the * indicates that it is a little easier than some of the others. The list is a good beginning and your local library should be able to supply them.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865
Tom Sawyer Mark Twain 1876
Black Beauty Anna Sewell 1877
Treasure Island RL Stevenson 1883
Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling 1894
* The Call of the Wild Jack London 1903
The Railway Children E Nesbit 1906
Anne of Green Gables Lucy Maud Montgomery 1908
* Peter Pan JM Barrie 1911
The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett 1911
* Dr Dolittle Hugh Lofting 1920
* Ballet Shoes Noel Streatfield 1936
The Family from One-End Street Eve Garnett 1937
* The Hobbit Tolkein 1937
* Various Enid Blyton 1940–1960s
The Black Stallion Walter Farley 1941
* Animal Farm George Orwell 1945
Little White Horse Elizabeth Goodge 1946
Chronicles of Narnia CS Lewis 1950
* 101 Dalmatians Dodie Smith 1956
Tom’s Midnight Garden Philippa Pearce 1958
* Various Roald Dahl 1960s
* Children of Green Knowe Lucy Boston 1961
* Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 1961
* Stig of the Dump Clive King 1963
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase Joan Aiken 1963
* Eildor Alan Garner 1965
Smith Leon Garfield 1967
* Iron Man Ted Hughes 1968
The Wizard of Earthsea Ursula Le Guin 1968
Charlotte Sometimes Penelope Farmer 1969
When Hitler Stole the Pink Rabbit Judith Kerr 1971
The Diddakoi Rumer Godden 1972
Watership Down Richard Adams 1972
Carrie’s War Nina Bawden 1973
* Peppermint Pig Nina Bawden 1975
The Indian in the Cupboard Lynn Reid Banks 1980
* Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian 1981
* Iron Woman Ted Hughes 1993
His Dark Materials Philip Pullman 1995
Sabriel Garth Nix 1995
* Harry Potter series J.K. Rowling 1997
Skellig David Almond 1998
* The Crowstarver Dick King-Smith 1998
* The Kin series Peter Dickinson 1998
* Holes Louis Sachar 2000
* Poltergoose Michael Lawrence 2000
* Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz 2000
The Seeing Stone Kevin Crossley-Holland 2000
The Wind on Fire series William Nicholson 2000
* Witch Child Celia Rees 2000
Journey to the River Sea Eva Ibbotson 2001
The Fire Within Chris d’Lacey 2001
Edge Chronicles series Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell 2001
Tales of the Otori Lian Hearn 2002
* Artemis Fowl series Eoin Colfer 2002
* How to Train your Dragon Series Cressida Cowell 2003
Inkheart Cornelia Funke 2003
* Varjak Paw SF Said 2003
* Wee Free Men series Terry Pratchet 2003
Chronicles of Ancient Darkness Michelle Paver 2004
* I Coriander Sally Gardner 2005
Silverfin Charlie Higson 2005
um
Posts: 2378
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 1:06 pm
Location: Birmingham

Post by um »

mike1880 wrote:I think I have to argue with that, um!

Our son's school got a "satisfactory" from its last Ofsted but sent pretty much a table-full to Camp Hill Girls and about as many again to Five Ways, Handsworth and Camp Hill Boys. (1) Ofsted ratings are currently about processes, not outcomes - about how you measure achievement, not whether you're getting any. (2) If someone is getting level 5s in a mediocre primary that means they're doing very well indeed and have a very good chance of getting into GS (given the caveat that SATS aren't that reliable a predictor for 11+!).

However, I would agree that a child in a so-so city school has much less propsect of getting the basic grounding they need to approach some aspects of the exam.

I also agree that getting a scholarship at an independent would be vanishingly unlikely from a state school (still going to hope for one next year though :wink: ), although a bursary would perhaps be more likely (guessing that there wouldn't be many at prep school who would qualify financially for a bursary).

Don't be put off, BTdad - you haven't got anything to lose by trying.

Mike
Mike -I do have to agree that dcsf results (and the area profile from upmystreet!) says more than Ofsted. You say that your school's Ofsted was satisfactory, but the reality is that it is the area, the children and the results that matter more than (increasingly) volatile Ofsted judgements. If I had a choice between a Satisfactory Primary school in a good area of Solihull and an outstanding school in inner city Birmingham, I would say straight away I'd take the satisfactory school in Solihull! But I agree I should say not to place a huge amount of emphasis on the Ofsted report - unless it says something really serious of course.

By the way, thanks 'moved' for the useful reading list, I'll use this with son no.2 and can see that my eldest has read most of it, there's still a few he could get through (although he refuses to touch Harry Potter!).

ps btdad (baby in arm here) i would say your daughter is a good candidate and has the home support. try freerice.com for vocab building. good luck!
sherry_d
Posts: 2083
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:38 pm
Location: Maidstone

Post by sherry_d »

I really dont know much about the type of test in your area but for vocabulary there is a good list here by patricia

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/pdf/11 ... tricia.pdf and this one for compound words

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/pdf/11 ... tricia.pdf

There is also a current discussion here on one of the indies in Birmingham and the news is quite mixed. Quite a few people seem to have got offers but with no bursaries. http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... highlight=

Would you consider boarding as an option? That way you could also add one or 2 schools further afield as a backup boarding option.

There is also still quite a bit of time to practice for the 11+ But I have heard most people say a tutor once a week will do.. My DD needs much more but if you have a great tutor then it may help. If you get here the right books to use for practise you could in addition to the tutoring also help her at home. Plus I think if you know whats expected then you will be able to monitor if the tutoring she is getting is good whilst there is still time
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