RESULTS DAY 17TH OCTOBER: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Eleven Plus (11+) in Buckinghamshire (Bucks)

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now
HalsGal
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 11:16 am

Re: RESULTS DAY 17TH OCTOBER: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Post by HalsGal »

southbucks3 wrote:
HalsGal wrote:Is that to me southbucks3? :?

We're in county too by the way. Would have posted yesterday after school but too busy getting over the shock with large glasses of wine! :lol:

I thought you posted before that you had a nightmare where your son passed and you got 102?

I may have remembered wrong, I remember laughing.?

Genuine congratulations were being sent honestly. :D
Arrrgh! You're right I did!! Sorry, my brain was dazed and confused this weekend!! :D
lovebooks
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:18 am

Re: RESULTS DAY 17TH OCTOBER: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Post by lovebooks »

Against all odds (Aspergers and youngest in his age group) our son passed. Without revealing the results (I read the forum rules!) I would like to leave the post here as a proof and testimony for all parents of special needs children. Our son visired one of the Bucks GS on an open day in September last year. He loved it and wanted to give it a go, and we were extremely reluctant to put him through the preparation process (he had group tuition) for fear a low score would kill his last bit of confidence. The entire year we lived with the bitter taste of remorse and guilt for making a bad choice. We were told off by the school teacher for even mentioning the school to him. So we decided to see all the other schools available and pretended all the time that we had no hopes for the GS. Slowly talked our son out of a GS... After reading the results on Friday afternoon, our son asked us, in a very reproachful tone why we never believed in him: "You spent all this time making plans for me to go to all the other schools, but never allowed for me getting a passing score You did not trust me, did you!!" This sudden growth in maturity and confidence from a child whose social skills are nearly zero has shocked us as parents, just like the score he got, in fact. We will be forever proud of his results, but also embarrassed for not believing in him. Well done to all those who got the result they wanted and good luck to those who will appeal. All I can say... you never know!
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: RESULTS DAY 17TH OCTOBER: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Post by southbucks3 »

Congratulations to your lovely boy. :D

Rather a lovely surprise than a bitter disappointment, you were doing what most parents automatically do, protecting him, certainly not something to beat yourselves up about. :D
We had no idea our boy had passed, but then again neither had he, so big surprises all round. Your son has confidence in himself which is fab.

I have pm'd you.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: RESULTS DAY 17TH OCTOBER: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Post by mystery »

Very glad your son passed love books despite the teacher thinking he wouldn't. His confidence in himself must always have been pretty high to get to this point still believing he could pass the test and still doing so.

Sb3, congrats to your son too. I have to say though, I would have eaten 50 hats if he failed and written personally to mr Coe at cem and told him he needed to redesign his tests if he had not passed. You have quoted v. High cat scores for your son on here and good nc levels. It would be a travesty if a child like that did not get through a bucks grammar test, and if he didn't, one of the other processes should have put the error right.

Well done everyone. Hope our children are happy at their secondary schools.
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: RESULTS DAY 17TH OCTOBER: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Post by southbucks3 »

Thank you mystery, and for your confidence in my boy....You are fully aware of what a pickle he can be, as we have made this journey together, but in his case raw ability won.
I cannot remember if I properly congratulated your daughter too, if not you know I am thrilled for her....the gl workbook wallpaper worked wonders. :wink:

Sadly his two close friends who were very similar in ability both did not pass, I have to say I think there is an element of luck of the test questions being the right ones for a particular child and relaxing them to the point of absolute comfort whichever way it may turn out.
Last edited by southbucks3 on Tue Oct 21, 2014 7:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
gameon
Posts: 129
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:28 am

Re: RESULTS DAY 17TH OCTOBER: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Post by gameon »

Thank you for sharing this great news lovebooks. Brought tears in my eyes. Congratulations !!!!!
berks_mum
Posts: 939
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2013 4:52 pm

Re: RESULTS DAY 17TH OCTOBER: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Post by berks_mum »

Congratulations to your DD mystery and your DS SB3. Should have done it earlier but I am having an extremely busy time these 2 weeks.
gameon, didn't read about your DS.
lovebooks
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:18 am

Re: RESULTS DAY 17TH OCTOBER: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Post by lovebooks »

Congratulations, everyone, and thank you for your kind comments. It brought tears to my eyes, too. I simply cannot go over the shock! You would - quite rightly - think: Why did you put your son through this if you had no hopes? Well, I had to answer that question many times, believe me. I simply wanted him to get extra work, give him a purpose, a sense of ambition, something to fight for and focus his energy. I wanted him to be in line with the other kids, academically speaking. I got fed up being told he lacks basic knowledge.
I really hope one day he will do the job he dreams he will do (architect). I really hope that your kids, too, become what they want. It is more important to want to become something or somebody rather than hope for a score. It really keeps them focused. It is so easy to slip in the daily gaming routine and ignore genuine learning - valid especially for boys.
Anyways, two schools days have passed, and no mention was made at school about the result. I wonder if they are even interested?! And I do not mean a mention in front of the other children (who might not have passed), a mention from his class teacher, or head, in private, a pat on the shoulder. My son was independently tested (unannounced visit) as part of his statement and scored 18+ (age) on 6 out of 9 categories they tested ( I won't go into details). However, the school insist he is missing some basic knowledge (e.g. about animals and parts of the body?!) and, although he reaches the right result at maths, he cannot explain how he worked it out. Of course he can't, he thinks differently than everyone else and similarly to the other autistic children. You would think that a special needs teacher will know that by now?!
Anyway, the point I wanted to make, if you need results choose the right tutor. I don't think do-it-yourself tests work (unless your child is a born genius or the most hard working child around). School does not help because they are not supposed to train children to pass this exam. So we are left with private tuition. We used group tuition, and that helped. I could not afford 1-to-1, so I cannot comment on whether it would have made a difference. I believe you really need to opt for someone your child trusts and listens to. Little things make a big difference, it is easy for me to see this now, post-event. I remember my son being particularly happy and impressed with a tip his tutor gave him, about where to place your hand on the page and follow the information on the sheet. Such a simple thing, that perhaps helped him speed up.
Well, one over, now on to Son no. 2 who is year 3!!! I believe, in his case, double the tuition (2 years) is a must!!!!
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: RESULTS DAY 17TH OCTOBER: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Post by southbucks3 »

Huge congratulations again to love books and son.

I would however like to point out there are plenty of children in Bucks grammars that did not attend specialist tutor's lessons or have 1:1 and are not genius. The material available for parents and sites like epe make the process far more accessible for those who cannot afford tutors, so please do not be put off practicing with your child at home if you feel they need extra help to pass the test. You really do not need to throw huge amounts of money at tutors for a successful outcome, many work books are very explanatory in themselves and have been well designed for self use.

Most children begin having some form of tutoring (diy,group or 1:1) in year five, prior to that supporting your child with their curriculum based study is important as well as reading together as much as possible, specific 11+ tutoring earlier than the autumn term of year 5 is really not necessary for a child of grammar school ability.

Please also remember your child does not have to be super star bright to be educated in a bucks grammar school, sadly it is no longer the top thirds academically that are selected from an average cohort, but it is still the top fifth, not just one or two high achieving academic stars from each school although it may seem that way some times.
Last edited by southbucks3 on Wed Oct 22, 2014 7:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
rhiane
Posts: 457
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2014 2:03 pm

Re: RESULTS DAY 17TH OCTOBER: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Post by rhiane »

Lovebooks, your posts made me cry, your son (and you!) sound amazing! he will go far :D

I also have a DC in year 3 so will be doing all this again!

I will just mention my DD had no tuition, just me and a few Bond & FFTP books and she passed both the Bucks and the Berks! scoring similar marks to her highly tutored classmates!
In fact 3 of her (tutored) school friends sadly didn't get the qualifying score!

I may (or may not) get a tutor for 1 hr a week for DC2 but that won't be before Y5.

I intend on sticking around but am not the best at talking so I probably won't post much! If there is anything I feel will be of use I'll chip in.
Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now