11 Plus Exams Forum

Pros: -
DS is bright with a thirst for knowledge but is easily distracted. I really feel he would achieve best in a GS.
The local high school is not very good.

Cons: -
The GS is 10 miles away so there is a long bus journey every day plus his new best mate from school will probably end up living 20 miles away.
The local high school is improving
I really don't know if he has a hope of passing the 11+. We only have a few months to go, he's finding it very hard to concentrate, and we're as far off getting it right as ever.

Can someone please tell me something positive before I throw the towel in

Thanks

Breath into a brown paper bag!

What exactly is giving you this crisis of confidence?

Haze wrote:DS is bright with a thirst for knowledge but is easily distracted. I really feel he would achieve best in a GS.

He's a 9 year old boy!

Haze wrote:I really don't know if he has a hope of passing the 11+

Nobody knows the answer to that.

If you enter for the pre-test you will have a much better idea.

I've sent you a PM

Replied to you PM. Thanks for the encouragement.

DS has said he wants to go on, but I hate to see him struggling so much on something that may get us nowhere and be a waste of time.

Poor lamb

Haze wrote:Replied to you PM. Thanks for the encouragement.

DS has said he wants to go on, but I hate to see him struggling so much on something that may get us nowhere and be a waste of time.

Poor lamb

OK a few things

1. If he does it and doesn't get in he has still benefited. My DD (10) says she is finding it helps her at school already so we're winning.

2. Sometimes she can't concentrate and daydreams and makes silly mistakes too, they all do.

3. They know the work now is not the real exam and they are more likely to be like that with this work than in the exam when they know the chips are down so to speak.

Relax! I wish I could.

We are in the same situation with the local high school that is improving.

May I ask which local high school you are thinking of?

Well, we're in Todmorden, so after the two Grammar schools it leaves us Hobson's choice of Tod High.
It's the only one we'd get offered a place at anyway - we are too far from Calder High, which is over-subscribed anyway.

Since I started this thread we have had good days and bad days, but the good days make it all worthwhile. I'm still a long way from confident of his passing, but he is a little more motivated and we are making progress.

Where abouts are you Optimistic?

Haze wrote:Well, we're in Todmorden, so after the two Grammar schools it leaves us Hobson's choice of Tod High.
It's the only one we'd get offered a place at anyway - we are too far from Calder High, which is over-subscribed anyway.

Since I started this thread we have had good days and bad days, but the good days make it all worthwhile. I'm still a long way from confident of his passing, but he is a little more motivated and we are making progress.

Where abouts are you Optimistic?

We're right over the other side of the borough from you. Our alternative is Hipperholme and Lightcliffe or maybe Brighouse.

Like you we've had good and bad days. Are you doing the prep yourself or with a tutor?

Yes, you're pretty far away from us. I worry, if DS does get in, his best friend will live in Brighouse and we'll spend most of our time driving up and down the valley road!

I'm doing the tutoring myself with the help of everything on the internet. One of DS's teachers at school used to tutor and he has helped get us back on the right track, but I think we'll be there for the pre-test, just to check we're doing it right!

How about you?

Haze wrote:Yes, you're pretty far away from us. I worry, if DS does get in, his best friend will live in Brighouse and we'll spend most of our time driving up and down the valley road!

I'm doing the tutoring myself with the help of everything on the internet. One of DS's teachers at school used to tutor and he has helped get us back on the right track, but I think we'll be there for the pre-test, just to check we're doing it right!

How about you?

A friend of ours does the tutoring and DD wanted to go there so she does. We're going for the pretest but I'm not going to wait for the results before filling in the common preference form, it won't change anything for us and will just be for DD to get an idea of what to expect on the day and so on.

At least with the applications process the way it is we won't be penalised for putting a grammar school first and or second! Are you putting both grammar schools? I think we're only putting one of them

I think we'll go for two, though NHGS will be top preference. If we don't get those, frankly I'm not bothered!

The results for the pretest were very quick and I think it was a similar time frame last year.

If you apply online you can change your preferences at any time right up until the closing date and you get an email early morning on allocation day.

The people opting for the postal allocations had a wait a bit longer depending on the vagaries of the postman.

optimistic - I agree about the pretest. It gives DC an idea about what to expect but it can be overwhelming, so while the pretest is really useful, you still have time to recover if it goes pear shaped on the day.