Why don't all schools do 11plus work?

[penguin]

I remember my local/county newspaper published results by the primary schools


I think it was town and surrounding areas actually

[ginx]

Thanks, everyone, I am going to ask my dd's school then go to Admissions, I have a friend who works in the office and might tell me.

I had never heard of Freedom of Information but will try that if all else fails. I bet you're right, Okanagan, and schools simply don't know.

I'm not sure results are published in local papers, but could try that too. I can see my friend's problem; she wants to find the school here with best results. I really don't know - someone told me our school was good but I thought a local school was "better". I don't know!

[magwich2]

I am not sure that your friend is going to find any great correlation between the 11+ results and the schools attended by successful pupils. For example, one school in Stratford gets quite a few through but has a lot of rough children and some bad bullying when my sisters kids were there, another gets a few through but you might find your DD was pregnant by the end of year 6 (not joking although I wish I was). Best idea in my opinion would be a pleasant looking school and a tutor.

[ginx]

Thanks, magwich2. Somewhat shocked by your comments! Pregnant by year 6! Surely not!

I can recommend two schools, hopefully that will do. One is our school, but some years several pass, some years only a few ... don't know why .. it's not really down to the teachers - or is it? Depends on whether your school teaches vr, non vr, because it wants to get dc through the 11+.

[serendippyty]

Magwich2, you are incredibly negative about the schools in this area and it does surprise me. As somebody who has been in and out of lots of schools in Warwickshire and other counties I think the standards here are very good. I live in Stratford, I cannot think of a single school that I would deem to be truly bad. Some are better than others obviously.

And through my work I also know that instances of children falling pregnant in year 6 are incredibly rare!

[magwich2]

Its not the schools and teachers which are the problem but the incredibly stupid parents of some pupils.

[ginx]

Hope I'm not one of those incredibly stupid parents!

I don't live in your area and have yet to see a year 6 pregnant! Surprised it's possible!

Magwich, I would have imagined schools in Stratford were pretty good? but I am speaking from a tourist's point of view I suppose.

Maybe it's best just to look round the schools and see which seems best suited, happy children, learning, teachers who are not too stressed! and forget checking the results. Most of the schools are ok anyway.

Thanks for advice, everyone.

[ChilledDad]

It would be better if no schools taught for the 11+, and no-one tutored. That way the cream would rise to the top naturally, without dcs being set up for failure when the requirements of a gs is beyond the dcs ability.

As for independent schools coaching, their expectations are higher and they coach for their own exams: very different to the 11+.

[Janeymorris]

I think you will find that state primary's are not allowed to do any 11 plus work during school time, as obviously it is taking time away from all those who have no interest in the 11 plus, and in fact will in some cases make a school less popular for doing so as just as many parents choose a primary for the good education it can give to children at all abilities and not just the clever few. Teachers go into teaching to be rewarded by helping children from all backgrounds, not helping children obtain a secondary school place. Having said that, I know quite a few primary's that offer after school 11 plus clubs, usually paid lessons from an outside tutor. As far as published results, it is of no use unless you get figures for how many children took the test who really wanted a place, and the number of those who got in. Many children take the test just for the experience, and many pass who choose to go elsewhere, and of course let's not forget catchment. So if you find that 3 years ago a primary gained 10 gs places, the next year7 and the next year2 , does that mean its standards are slipping and not a good choice? Not if it just so happened that 1 year all kids were in inner catchment and chose gs as first choice, compared to an equally good year when more kids were in outer catchment or chose to go to independant or other schools. Explains why primary's would not see any sense in opening the door to parent criticism. As a general rule, the top 30% get a gs place, so a guide would be if 30% or more of a year group at a primary get a place it is likely to be a decent primary, but as above, depends on so many factors. I don't really think its anything to do with the primary, just the ability of the child and the parents or tutor.

[Okanagan]

As a general rule, the top 30% get a gs place, so a guide would be if 30% or more of a year group at a primary get a place it is likely to be a decent primary.

For Warwickshire as a whole it's 30% of those who take it, not 30% of all those in primaries - and it varies a lot depending upon which of the grammar schools you are looking at and which area you are in. For the Eastern inner area it's around 50% of those who take it (as evidenced by AQS being just below 300 in recent years) and likely to be higher than that this year with the combined effect of extra places and less candidates. If you look at the intakes of the other Rugby schools last year whose catchment areas correspond to the inner Eastern area - Ashlawn non-selective 226, Avon Valley 224, Bilton 218, Harris 182, total 850, whereas the grammars took 210, of which maybe 3/4 were from the inner area - you will see that even in the areas most generously provided with places the actual number entering the grammars was only about 15% on average (that might be nearer to 20% this year). So any primary getting 30% in is doing very well indeed!