Hello, any other year 5's?
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Hello, any other year 5's?
So have only just started giving serious consideration to the kent test, had really hoped it would be abolished by now tbh but there you are. Now feel forced to choose between being a 'pushy mum' and feeling like I'm abandoning ds to the local high school which is, frankly, dire. I would seriously consider home schooling over that.
Anyway ds has dyspraxia which makes things rather complicated. I had, perhaps unfairly, just assumed he'd never be a 'grammar school type'. Whatever one is. But when they do manage to assess him (with extra time and prompt) his scores are at least average and usually above, certainly above average in his class and in top stream for most things it seems. So I feel like I should help him give it a good shot, hopefully without screwing him up in the process!
Luckily an ex teacher friend has offered to tutor weekly from jan and should be able to get practice materials which is fab cos I'm poor! Also he's a cool guy so should be more chilled for ds. And he really knows his stuff on 11+ and child development.
So in the meantime I'm trying to work on tables (nightmare but luckily ds very willing to go along with it, just v slow process) and on getting his speed up by doing timed simple exercises which he thinks is great. Strange child!
I do worry that even if he passes, grammar will be a constant struggle for him. But tbh I think hed get more out of an academic struggle, than a social struggle at a rough school where he won't fit in at all.
So I'm going for it. Who's with me??!!
Anyway ds has dyspraxia which makes things rather complicated. I had, perhaps unfairly, just assumed he'd never be a 'grammar school type'. Whatever one is. But when they do manage to assess him (with extra time and prompt) his scores are at least average and usually above, certainly above average in his class and in top stream for most things it seems. So I feel like I should help him give it a good shot, hopefully without screwing him up in the process!
Luckily an ex teacher friend has offered to tutor weekly from jan and should be able to get practice materials which is fab cos I'm poor! Also he's a cool guy so should be more chilled for ds. And he really knows his stuff on 11+ and child development.
So in the meantime I'm trying to work on tables (nightmare but luckily ds very willing to go along with it, just v slow process) and on getting his speed up by doing timed simple exercises which he thinks is great. Strange child!
I do worry that even if he passes, grammar will be a constant struggle for him. But tbh I think hed get more out of an academic struggle, than a social struggle at a rough school where he won't fit in at all.
So I'm going for it. Who's with me??!!
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pixiedust101
- Posts: 107
- Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:36 pm
Re: Hello, any other year 5's?
Hi
I'm another Y5 mum with a DD who is starting on the whole 11+ treadmill.
It's second time around for me, my other DD took the test two years ago, failed (which TBH what I was really expecting) but has settled in so well at her secondary school. Even though she failed, I am so so pleased with the life lessons she got from doing the 11+, she encountered subjects in maths she had never seen, so when she came to them in Y6, she was already ahead of the game. Also, the actual exam experience was fantastic for her - she was not fazed at all by the Y7 exams she did. She is now in top sets and absolutely flying !
But back to DD2, she is a very bright little girl but who has mobility problems. We are currently waiting a firm diagnosis, but unofficially she has a central cord disorder. Primary school absolutely exhausts her, and she is starting to use her wheelchair for school trips and ocassionally for day to day travel to school. She uses a laptop in the classroom, so I am guessing that we will have to ask for extra time for her - although i am pretty clueless where to start (Kent County I guess!!!). As of yet she is not statemented, but is on School Action Plus - when her final diagnosis comes in, we will look at statementing then. Her teachers have said that selective school would be a good choice for her educationally - I just have to look at the logisitics of it all.
We started her 11+ preparations in September, just by picking up the 10 minute bond tests books. She is working at 10-11+ on verbal and non-verbal and 9-10 at maths and pretty much getting them all right. We are thinking of tutoring her in January, more because I know the answers to the questions, but I just can not explain how I got there!!!
I am keeping things really low key, and have said to DD2 that all the 11+ is a method of finding the right school for her, her elder sister did not get the required mark (or as DD1 puts it herself, completely bombed!) but look how happy she is in her school, it's not about a pass or fail, just an assessment to see where she would be happiest.
Having said that - it's over a year away and I lurk on these forums as though my life would end without them!!!
Pixie
I'm another Y5 mum with a DD who is starting on the whole 11+ treadmill.
It's second time around for me, my other DD took the test two years ago, failed (which TBH what I was really expecting) but has settled in so well at her secondary school. Even though she failed, I am so so pleased with the life lessons she got from doing the 11+, she encountered subjects in maths she had never seen, so when she came to them in Y6, she was already ahead of the game. Also, the actual exam experience was fantastic for her - she was not fazed at all by the Y7 exams she did. She is now in top sets and absolutely flying !
But back to DD2, she is a very bright little girl but who has mobility problems. We are currently waiting a firm diagnosis, but unofficially she has a central cord disorder. Primary school absolutely exhausts her, and she is starting to use her wheelchair for school trips and ocassionally for day to day travel to school. She uses a laptop in the classroom, so I am guessing that we will have to ask for extra time for her - although i am pretty clueless where to start (Kent County I guess!!!). As of yet she is not statemented, but is on School Action Plus - when her final diagnosis comes in, we will look at statementing then. Her teachers have said that selective school would be a good choice for her educationally - I just have to look at the logisitics of it all.
We started her 11+ preparations in September, just by picking up the 10 minute bond tests books. She is working at 10-11+ on verbal and non-verbal and 9-10 at maths and pretty much getting them all right. We are thinking of tutoring her in January, more because I know the answers to the questions, but I just can not explain how I got there!!!
I am keeping things really low key, and have said to DD2 that all the 11+ is a method of finding the right school for her, her elder sister did not get the required mark (or as DD1 puts it herself, completely bombed!) but look how happy she is in her school, it's not about a pass or fail, just an assessment to see where she would be happiest.
Having said that - it's over a year away and I lurk on these forums as though my life would end without them!!!
Pixie
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pixiedust101
- Posts: 107
- Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:36 pm
Re: Hello, any other year 5's?
BTW meant to add that although DD1 failed the Kent (and Bexley) test, in her Y7 tests, she got a 6B for maths, 7A for English and 6A for science !!! And the main reason she got these is because she is comfortable in her comp school, and the lessons go at the right pace for her - she's in the top sets, a place where she has never been before and is absolutely loving it - which in turn is pushing her grades even higher.
Proud mum muchly - this was a kid who was in Remedial classes in Y1 at primary!!
Proud mum muchly - this was a kid who was in Remedial classes in Y1 at primary!! Re: Hello, any other year 5's?
Aww thats great 
thanks for sharing your experience, it's good to hear someone else has survived it and lived to tell a happy tale! I'm really hoping that the tuition will be beneficial whatever the outcome. I'd be more chilled about it all if the local school was a comp (we are in whitstable) but IMO (hope this doesn't offend) it's a dive. My ex went there, I know people there now Inc teachers, and I even took my exams there not so very long ago after being expelled from the Langton 
and all those experiences have made me very worried about it. I'll prob look into Canterbury schools if it comes to that. If he does pass, I'd love Barton court or similar, not a pressure cooker school like mine was. I expect that, like me, you're hoping that a grammar school would have more time for children with difficulties as they wont end up lumped in with those whose problems are social/emotional rather than developmental, iyswim. Sigh.
It'll be good to have others to keep in touch with this year. Sounds like we might have a few similar issues as well, ds has a diagnosis but is not statemented. He just had a new assessment (I wanted it up to date before 11+/secondary) and is also hypermobile, has been referred for some physio, and apparently will be assessed for technology/software to assist him in the classroom... I've always resisted it til now tbh as wanted him to not stand out or be abandoned to illiteracy, but he can now write and spell well, just very slowly and messily! I don't know whether he'll be using that for 11+, but he would get extra time. Although if teacher/tutor really think 11+ is beyond him, he wont be doing it anyway.
Well that's enough wittering for now! I get a bit into forums too so no doubt will be around a bit too! Off to make porridge and walk to school reciting the 8's
thanks for sharing your experience, it's good to hear someone else has survived it and lived to tell a happy tale! I'm really hoping that the tuition will be beneficial whatever the outcome. I'd be more chilled about it all if the local school was a comp (we are in whitstable) but IMO (hope this doesn't offend) it's a dive. My ex went there, I know people there now Inc teachers, and I even took my exams there not so very long ago after being expelled from the Langton and all those experiences have made me very worried about it. I'll prob look into Canterbury schools if it comes to that. If he does pass, I'd love Barton court or similar, not a pressure cooker school like mine was. I expect that, like me, you're hoping that a grammar school would have more time for children with difficulties as they wont end up lumped in with those whose problems are social/emotional rather than developmental, iyswim. Sigh.It'll be good to have others to keep in touch with this year. Sounds like we might have a few similar issues as well, ds has a diagnosis but is not statemented. He just had a new assessment (I wanted it up to date before 11+/secondary) and is also hypermobile, has been referred for some physio, and apparently will be assessed for technology/software to assist him in the classroom... I've always resisted it til now tbh as wanted him to not stand out or be abandoned to illiteracy, but he can now write and spell well, just very slowly and messily! I don't know whether he'll be using that for 11+, but he would get extra time. Although if teacher/tutor really think 11+ is beyond him, he wont be doing it anyway.
Well that's enough wittering for now! I get a bit into forums too so no doubt will be around a bit too! Off to make porridge and walk to school reciting the 8's
Re: Hello, any other year 5's?
What a great a way of looking at the whole process - certainly keeps things in perspectivepixiedust101 wrote:I am keeping things really low key, and have said to DD2 that all the 11+ is a method of finding the right school for her, her elder sister did not get the required mark (or as DD1 puts it herself, completely bombed!) but look how happy she is in her school, it's not about a pass or fail, just an assessment to see where she would be happiest.
Me too!pixiedust101 wrote:Having said that - it's over a year away and I lurk on these forums as though my life would end without them!!!
Pixiedust and Naomij - Good luck to you both and your DCs on your journey. I'm sure we'll meet lots of times on the way.
Re: Hello, any other year 5's?
Count me in with my rather lazy son ( although he is improving ).My elder son has just started grammar and it feels just like yesterday when I was working through those hideous non verbal questions with him. We're doing the bond books at the moment and also general maths/literacy.