Colchester County High and Chemsford County High for Girls
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Essex girl
Chelmsford and Colchester Girls
You are very welcome. It's good to be able to help.
One more thing to add - As far as Chelmsford is concerned, they usually have two sittings for the 11+. One AM and one PM. The sitting given depends on your surname, ie A-L morning and M-Z afternoon. The morning session is likely to require you to arrive early (8.30 a.m. or maybe even 8.00 p.m.) and the afternoon session around 1.00 pm. The two session situation may also apply to Colchester but I don't know. I would be interested to know if there is any correlation between time of day taking test and admissions but suspect that there is not.
The Southend and Westcliff grammars generally only have one sitting but you will probably need to arrive at approx 8.00 in the morning.
When applying for any of these schools you can choose which Girls' grammar you wish to sit the test at, for example, if you only wish to apply for Colchester, your daughter could still sit the test at Southend, if that is the nearest school to you.
Lastly, don't let your daughter be put off by the "Prep school crowd". They are usually the only ones in school uniform and I have never been sure whether they wear it so that they look smart representing their schools or purely to intimidate the state school pupils. Whatever the reason, some of the uniforms are most interesting!
One more thing to add - As far as Chelmsford is concerned, they usually have two sittings for the 11+. One AM and one PM. The sitting given depends on your surname, ie A-L morning and M-Z afternoon. The morning session is likely to require you to arrive early (8.30 a.m. or maybe even 8.00 p.m.) and the afternoon session around 1.00 pm. The two session situation may also apply to Colchester but I don't know. I would be interested to know if there is any correlation between time of day taking test and admissions but suspect that there is not.
The Southend and Westcliff grammars generally only have one sitting but you will probably need to arrive at approx 8.00 in the morning.
When applying for any of these schools you can choose which Girls' grammar you wish to sit the test at, for example, if you only wish to apply for Colchester, your daughter could still sit the test at Southend, if that is the nearest school to you.
Lastly, don't let your daughter be put off by the "Prep school crowd". They are usually the only ones in school uniform and I have never been sure whether they wear it so that they look smart representing their schools or purely to intimidate the state school pupils. Whatever the reason, some of the uniforms are most interesting!
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rr504
we received letter from csse over the weekends. in the letter they mentioned that the eraser was not allowed in the VR exam. can somebody tell me the reason behind this. if the child makes a mistake, is s/he allowed to correct? sometimes my daughter is not sure about a question so she may change it again and again and if eraser is not allowed i wonder if she can make the final choice clear. i guess in VR test no 'method marks' will be rewarded. please tell me if i am wrong.
who knows the program of the exam? is it - VR, break, math + english? how long would it be?
any information would be much appreciated.
who knows the program of the exam? is it - VR, break, math + english? how long would it be?
any information would be much appreciated.
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Guest666
rr504, the program is at the top of the page on the original csse booklet that we were given (the one which had an order form for the past papers). It gives the order of the papers and the time for each paper. Can't say precisely now as I'm at work but you should be able to find it in the original CSSE brochure. It's on a left hand page right at the top! I remember the VR was last, I think it's English and Maths, break, VR.rr504 wrote: who knows the program of the exam? is it - VR, break, math + english? how long would it be?
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Essex Girl
Chelmsford and Colchester Girls
Previous post is correct, English, maths break then VR is the order. During the break your child will be allowed to use the toilet and be given a drink. (Whether you get a biscuit with the drink and what quality of biscuit depends on the school!!).
Seriously though, you are not allowed to use erazers on the VR because sometimes they do not entirely rub out what is meant to be rubbed out. If a child has, for example, answered "C" and then rubbed out the "C" and written D, if the C can still be seen in any way, the answer intended can be difficult to distinguish. Your child should clearly cross through any wrong answers and make absolutely certain that it is obvious which answer they are wanting to keep.. Put simply, it need to be totally obvious what answer has been chosen. Crossing out will not lose your child marks. Ambiguity will.
A big tip for anyone taking the Essex exam on Saturday. Past experience has told me that the English is usually extremely difficult. Some children may be put off by the difficulty of the English and may be continuing to worry about it when going into the other papers. Tell your child that it is highly likely that if they found the English really difficult, then so will others. It is all relative. Otherwise, your child may feel that they are the only one to have struggled and feel defeated after only one paper.
The other tip, is to tell your child to take no notice of what other children say during the break. Some will say that the English and maths were really hard, when in fact they found them quite easy and vice versa. Again, experience has shown me that children's perceptions of how they have done in the exam are often far from the truth.
Don't let your child be put off by chit chat amongst other candidates.
Good luck to Essex candidates for Saturday.
Seriously though, you are not allowed to use erazers on the VR because sometimes they do not entirely rub out what is meant to be rubbed out. If a child has, for example, answered "C" and then rubbed out the "C" and written D, if the C can still be seen in any way, the answer intended can be difficult to distinguish. Your child should clearly cross through any wrong answers and make absolutely certain that it is obvious which answer they are wanting to keep.. Put simply, it need to be totally obvious what answer has been chosen. Crossing out will not lose your child marks. Ambiguity will.
A big tip for anyone taking the Essex exam on Saturday. Past experience has told me that the English is usually extremely difficult. Some children may be put off by the difficulty of the English and may be continuing to worry about it when going into the other papers. Tell your child that it is highly likely that if they found the English really difficult, then so will others. It is all relative. Otherwise, your child may feel that they are the only one to have struggled and feel defeated after only one paper.
The other tip, is to tell your child to take no notice of what other children say during the break. Some will say that the English and maths were really hard, when in fact they found them quite easy and vice versa. Again, experience has shown me that children's perceptions of how they have done in the exam are often far from the truth.
Don't let your child be put off by chit chat amongst other candidates.
Good luck to Essex candidates for Saturday.
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Guest666
Re: Chelmsford and Colchester Girls
Thank you!Essex Girl wrote:Good luck to Essex candidates for Saturday.
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Essex mum
My son takes his 11+ in Essex this week, we have the attitude of "what will be, will be", I know he will try his hardest and although we have given every encouragement we have not pushed and pushed. This week he is enjoying a normal week, enjoying the clubs and activities that he would normally enjoy, scouts, football etc. But I was saddened to hear one Mother say to another that she was keeping her daughter away from all her usual activities this week, so they could cram as much last minute work in as possible. Do our children not have enough pressure on them already? If they need that much "pushing and cramming" should they be in a Grammer school anyway? After all, they have to survive once they get there! Why not just treat it as a normal week, they are going to feel such a let down if they don't get their Grammer place, when their parents must want it so much 
. A happy child will do much better on the day! 
. A happy child will do much better on the day! -
Essex girl
Chelmsford and Colchester Girls, etc
Essex mum, I couldn't agree more. I remember one time, in recent years, when a good friend of mine told me that her son's best school friend had come round on the Saturday afternoon of the 11+ (he took the exam at KEGS in the morning) and told my friends son that he was very happy because, in his words, "I haven't been allowed out to play for the past year, with the 11+ coming up". He got in (unfortunately!) but I agree with you, there is absolutely no excuse for treating children in this way. The problem is that the more parents do this kind of thing, the more others are going to feel that they "need" to do the same and the cycle continues on and on.
I was reading a post somewhere on this site where a gentleman was talking about year 6 tests. His son's 11+ was finished and it was on to the next hurdle. His reason being that if his son did not get a grammar school place, then the comp/secondary would set partly according to year 6 test results. I would suggest that one of two things occur in these situations. Either the child will get totally fed up with learning and will not do their best, whichever type of school they go to or they will keep their parents happy by accepting the pressure put upon them and then rebel later down the line or (and I have seen it before) become one of those bright but terribly dull sorts.
The expression "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" should be taken on board a little more. My guess, however, is that it wont be.
Good luck to your son for Saturday.
I was reading a post somewhere on this site where a gentleman was talking about year 6 tests. His son's 11+ was finished and it was on to the next hurdle. His reason being that if his son did not get a grammar school place, then the comp/secondary would set partly according to year 6 test results. I would suggest that one of two things occur in these situations. Either the child will get totally fed up with learning and will not do their best, whichever type of school they go to or they will keep their parents happy by accepting the pressure put upon them and then rebel later down the line or (and I have seen it before) become one of those bright but terribly dull sorts.
The expression "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" should be taken on board a little more. My guess, however, is that it wont be.
Good luck to your son for Saturday.
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Essex mum
Good Luck will be needed I think!
Some of these children have been hard at it for more than a year, there's a girl in my sons school who has given up everything for the past year. Her parents withdrew her from Guides because they wanted her to prepare. My son had a birthday party (or outing actually) a couple of weeks ago and one poor child was not allowed to come because it was a Sunday and the mother said it was the best day of the week to do 11+ work. Mind you, I think most of them are getting the idea from an 11+ tutor who operates in Chelmsford. In order that he agrees to tutor your child for the 11+, you must agree to commit to your child giving up all other activities for the year leading up to the 11+. He boasts fantastic results and swears it is down to his methods of getting the children (who he tutors in large droups) to sit against the clock to see who finishes first and in his words "teaches the child to be competitive". What he does not advertise is that before he agrees to take the children on to be tutored, he makes them sit an assessment paper and only according to their results will he either take them on or dismiss them as he says he does not want to waste his time. In other words he is only tutoring (or coaching) the creme de la creme.
Some of these children have been hard at it for more than a year, there's a girl in my sons school who has given up everything for the past year. Her parents withdrew her from Guides because they wanted her to prepare. My son had a birthday party (or outing actually) a couple of weeks ago and one poor child was not allowed to come because it was a Sunday and the mother said it was the best day of the week to do 11+ work. Mind you, I think most of them are getting the idea from an 11+ tutor who operates in Chelmsford. In order that he agrees to tutor your child for the 11+, you must agree to commit to your child giving up all other activities for the year leading up to the 11+. He boasts fantastic results and swears it is down to his methods of getting the children (who he tutors in large droups) to sit against the clock to see who finishes first and in his words "teaches the child to be competitive". What he does not advertise is that before he agrees to take the children on to be tutored, he makes them sit an assessment paper and only according to their results will he either take them on or dismiss them as he says he does not want to waste his time. In other words he is only tutoring (or coaching) the creme de la creme.
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rr504
luckily we don't live in essex and nobody in my daughter's school talks about 11+.
i don't think keeping the child at home for the whole week will do any good. it'll make the child more nervous. we haven't done any paper this week. i think it's time to go through some of the papers she had done and remind her of the exam techniques. i normally pick her up at 5.30pm from after school club, but i'll do it earlier tomorrow, at 3.30pm, so she will not be too tired.
thanks for all your valuable information regarding the exam and good luck to all the children who sit the exam this saturday.
i don't think keeping the child at home for the whole week will do any good. it'll make the child more nervous. we haven't done any paper this week. i think it's time to go through some of the papers she had done and remind her of the exam techniques. i normally pick her up at 5.30pm from after school club, but i'll do it earlier tomorrow, at 3.30pm, so she will not be too tired.
thanks for all your valuable information regarding the exam and good luck to all the children who sit the exam this saturday.
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Guest
Why do children go to the tests in their prep school uniform? I think it is to show off that they have money (or have the capacity to borrow money). Why do people buy those hideously ugly and dangerous child killers (I mean 4 wheel drive cars), or borrow every bit of money that they can to drive a brand new bmw? Why, because they want to show off.
My children say how fed up they get with children showing off at school and I always say, well don't worry, those sort of people never grow up and carry on showing off all of their life! So you had better get used to them. Most "normal" people just laugh at them anyway.
I sometimes wonder with the prep school uniform, if they think that it gets them extra points - poor silly people.
My children say how fed up they get with children showing off at school and I always say, well don't worry, those sort of people never grow up and carry on showing off all of their life! So you had better get used to them. Most "normal" people just laugh at them anyway.
I sometimes wonder with the prep school uniform, if they think that it gets them extra points - poor silly people.
