11 Plus Exams Forum

A little girl I know is in a very stressful situation at home;- her mum has been rushed to hospital several times because her heart keeps giving up. They are still trying to find the cause, so this is hanging over the child. The child is due to take the 11 plus in October. She is a bright little girl, lives in Rugby and might have had a good chance of passing to RHS. I am wondering if she could take the exam later in the year, as she is very tired and distracted by her mum's illmess, quite naturally. Yesterday I noticed while she was practising a paper at ny house, how poorly she was doing compared to a couple of months ago- even her basic four rules maths had gone to pot. The dad is worn out, and I would like to find out some information for the family to help.

Could she postpone taking the exam until things are resolved without prejudice- and if so, for how long? i.e. Without going into the second round of offers?

Appreciate if anyone could answer- I will check out Warwicks but have heard answers to queries can differ according to who picks up the phone and so thought here may be the best place to begin!

You will need to phone the LEA as they are the ones to make the decision. And they would presumably need some sort of proof. At the very least they need to know the situation. I'd advise to phone them a.d ask for their advice in writing.

My daughter did the 11+ last year. I'm sure when all the papers came through these included something saying if your child was not well enough to take the exam then you could get it postponed, but you would need a letter from a doctor. I'm sure the doctor would be able to do that for you in the circumstances.

Poor thing though - my best wishes to her.

Hi Thank you for your replies. The dad has been told by warks that she can postpone but , if she does, will go into the second round of offers.

Is there any certainty that things will improve during the time up until the second round of offers?

best bet would be if some relative or friend could concentrate on helping her with the exam at the normal time .. it may never be a better time.

True. I am helping her- the best bet will be to go on and then if she does fail, consider an appeal with regard to her mother's worrying ill health affecting her concentration- which it does. Things like an exam may not seem important when your mother's possible death stares you in the face. Just remembered a few year's ago, a child had no sleep the night before the exam because of a baby crying all night- they won a place on appealing this fact: fair enough- performance is affected by no sleep.

The important thing is to keep evidence or a diary in case it is needed at appeal. The trouble with things like this is that unless you get on with life she may find the mother's illness is overshadowing GCSEs / A levels etc.. I am sure that everyone will be very supportive of her doing the test.

Of course that is true, but children get used to long term illness and cope...this is more critical than chronic- heart attack type thing- heart stopping- ambulance..rushed to hospital...etc high doses of adrenaline and consequent fear