oooh all the books have gone!!! and reading headteacher!!

Eleven Plus (11+) in Kent

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now
kentmum01
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 4:15 pm

Re: oooh all the books have gone!!! and reading headteacher!

Post by kentmum01 »

i know its so hard to not read in to these things! I thought that about year 5 books too, all my dds are at home hmmm!! i hate looking at the schools not knowing my heart is only half in it x
emma1710
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2010 11:20 am

Re: oooh all the books have gone!!! and reading headteacher!

Post by emma1710 »

i cant beleive how stressful this is, my dc has come home today and told me that, his maths books were missing and 2 other childrens in the class as well, but only his maths was gone the other 2 had there literacy taken as well. My dc says that he was told that he wouldnt have the book for a few days, and that he shouldnt worry about it, his teacher said the HT and DHT needed to take a look at them. Dc said immediatly my book has been sent off for appeal, he knows all about appeals, these kids know far more than we think. What i dont understand is, if this has gone to appeal, why have they only taken his maths book, why not literacy? dose any one know can HT appeal just with maths work? Also last week they sat practise sats can HT uses these results as part of her appeal? Or I'm I just giving my self a headache trying to read the teachers and there actions? 13 more days to go! And they can't come soon enough for me, I getting so anxious about this !
committed
Posts: 139
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 2:46 pm

Re: oooh all the books have gone!!! and reading headteacher!

Post by committed »

A friend of mine (Year 6 teacher) had all her class sit another NFER maths test on Monday as one of her lot was a marginal fail on Maths and they didn't have a bank of supporting evidence - so a really good result in this test would allow them to appeal on the grounds of recent academic improvement (I think there is some official term they use, but can't remember it...)

So, from a reassuring point of view, most schools and HT's will really try to give it their best shot to get marginal fails through if they think that the individual child would do well at a grammar school.
sherry_d
Posts: 2083
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:38 pm
Location: Maidstone

Re: oooh all the books have gone!!! and reading headteacher!

Post by sherry_d »

committed wrote:A friend of mine (Year 6 teacher) had all her class sit another NFER maths test on Monday.
I would really have hated this and dont see the point. Just a disorganised school and letting all the children suffer the consequences and endure another NFER paper. They should have kept year 5 books for this purpose. What would a panel see about a child's work in a NFER paper that some kids would have done a thousand times before? Its quite scary how some HT are clued while other seem clueless about the whole thing. This is what happens when things are done in secrecy. :( I am all for HT appeals but they should be more transparent than all this mind boggling.
Impossible is Nothing.
scarlett
Posts: 3664
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:22 am

Re: oooh all the books have gone!!! and reading headteacher!

Post by scarlett »

This morning , my DS teacher told me that she was a slightly behind in her teaching because she had the 11 plus practice in the first week and then straight after that she had to put together all the childrens work incase it was needed for appeal. That sounds a better way of doing things , to have it all ready at the same time as taking the test , as surely a few weeks can't make much difference in scores ?
committed
Posts: 139
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 2:46 pm

Re: oooh all the books have gone!!! and reading headteacher!

Post by committed »

As mentioned in my post, this teacher did not have a bank of supporting evidence to support this child. What would you rather she do - decide that no appeal is necessary despite scores of 140, 137 and 114 - or try to do her best by this particular child and seek out a strategy that might allow him to access grammar school as a result of his recent academic progress.

On every day of the week, I'd prefer her to get the class to do another NFER test (which they got in separately to ensure the class hadn't seen it before) to allow her to appeal if she could. That shows to me great dedication, support and knowledge.
hdq2907
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2010 8:40 am

Re: oooh all the books have gone!!! and reading headteacher!

Post by hdq2907 »

Xxxxxxxxxxx
Last edited by hdq2907 on Thu Oct 07, 2010 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
tigger2
Posts: 755
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:35 am

Re: oooh all the books have gone!!! and reading headteacher!

Post by tigger2 »

Yes ,I agree that the ht review/appeal issue should be explained to parents . I believe that there should be a standard approach in schools to minimise stress and upset to children by ,for example, removal of everyones books not just a few. If a ht is not emotionally intelligent enough to see that this is best for their pupils then they obviously need guidelines. Our ht has done this and I am really grateful .I would be interested to see how many they put forward and how many they get through. This is not an inconsequential stage of the Kent test process and parents do deserve to know whether or not their child will be well supported. Clearly the quality of the ht review will depend on how good the ht is ,how much and what information they may choose to give to support their application for review. This appears to vary hugely from school to school and that is not fair. I am sure that the vast majority of ht's do really want the best for their pupils and make a fantastic application but it is the lack of transparency that causes parents to worry and doubt the process .I am sure that someone said some way back that when you appeal you get to see all the ht review details so it would be interesting to get an idea of the range/quality of information submitted .
sherry_d
Posts: 2083
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:38 pm
Location: Maidstone

Re: oooh all the books have gone!!! and reading headteacher!

Post by sherry_d »

There is plenty of parking at Maplesden if you are going in the evening as you can also park at MGGS. You will have to drive through Buckland Hill as the access from the Gym is closed for cars. If you are going in the day then you can park at the Gym as parking is normally very full during the school hours.

Tigger2 you have summed it up nicely and my thought exactly. I am even suprised that some schools are using books some NFER papers etc. Surely there should be some something standard for HTs to use. I dont blame the HTs, they are probably just as confused as we are if there are no clear guidelines of what to do from KCC. In my DD's school we didnt get the y5 books end of last term which was the first for us not to. I assumed it was because of SATS but I am now thinking it is probably something to do with HT appeals as they have done very little so far and they had a residential trip last week too.
Last edited by sherry_d on Wed Oct 06, 2010 12:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Impossible is Nothing.
hdq2907
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2010 8:40 am

Re: oooh all the books have gone!!! and reading headteacher!

Post by hdq2907 »

Thanks Sherry. Going tomorrow night. Not long now .........
Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now