11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi everyone

Just thought I would start a thread for those who have children taking the CSSE test in September........ its all come around rather quickly now hasn't it ?
We are trying to continue with some preparation through the holidays, how is everyone else doing ?

I can't believe that three weeks today, it will all be over...
Dd1 is very laid back about it all - unlike her mother!
We have been doing some work over the holidays and need to step things up a bit now for these last weeks.

http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/1363 ... f=mr&lp=15
Having read this story I am not sure why I am bothering, positively scary.

Congratulations to him for his maths result (although will he really make it to a 'top' university? He won't have all his GCSEs at the same sitting at the end of year 11, or all his A levels at the same sitting at the end of year 13 ), but I feel sorry for him, failing to get into CRGS on the strength of his English after all that input. I don't know exactly where his home village is, but at least his parents didn't go down the 'grammar school at any cost' route and send him on a four hour or so round trip every day to join us at the seaside. (Assuming the lad only didn't score highly enough for CRG, rather than fail altogether).

One thing I really don't understand, though, is the father's comment about how he would have been able to have a lucrative City career if only he had been 'prodded' himself? If his academic history was really as reported, he could have turned down the route he apparently wanted, at any stage.

If he was doing that much study every day and still couldn't get into Colchester then Grammar was obviously not the place for him, especially considering that Colchester admitted an extra class this year so marks required would be lower than in previous years.

I'm a bit bemused about the father's need to be so rude about the TV parents. It's one thing to have opinions about their approach to educating their children (although I still think they would be better expressed privately than in a newspaper), but to say that they were cold and didn't love their children is ridiculous and hurtful.

MmeOgg wrote:I'm a bit bemused about the father's need to be so rude about the TV parents. It's one thing to have opinions about their approach to educating their children (although I still think they would be better expressed privately than in a newspaper), but to say that they were cold and didn't love their children is ridiculous and hurtful.

'Appeared rather cold', perhaps. There was one episode where one of the fathers (Giovanni's?) appeared to be responding to negative feedback about his apparent attitude to his child, I think.

As to whether or not they love their children, that one can only speculate on, certainly not know in the absence of one of them actually stating it to camera . My feeling was that however much some of the parents may have been living vicariously through their kids, they probably did actually love them anyway.

Hi everyone! Just joined and found this thread. My DS is sitting on Saturday. Can't believe it's less than a week to go now. I think I'm more stressed out than he is! How are your little ones coping?

Yeah it's just 5 days to go before the big day. Thankfully, my DS sat for another exam this Saturday, which relaxed him quite a bit. Now he thinks he can handle the exam pressure well.

Hi, HomeMum, and welcome!
Dd1 seems fairly calm about it all. I, on the other hand, am a nervous wreck! I was much calmer with ds two years ago, but now the pressure is really on because we can all see how fantastic a grammar school education can be. I am also feeling that "DIY pressure" - what if I haven't done enough?