12+
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Pessimistic Appeal Parent
12+
Can anybody out there help me find out about 12+
My son scored 117 in the 11+ and we are appealing (30th Jan), but I wanted to try and find out out the 12+ to help me with "Plan B" if the Appeal is unsuccessful.
The sorts of questions I have are:
Does the 12+ really exist?
Do many people sit it?
Am I right in supposing that competition for entry at 12 is even more fierce, with places extremely few and far between at one's preferred 1st choice school - in our case Royal Latin in Buckingham?
Does anyone in this forum have any experience of 12+ or know of a similar Forum where I could go for advice?
Any help and pointers would be much appreciated.
Many thanks, PAP
My son scored 117 in the 11+ and we are appealing (30th Jan), but I wanted to try and find out out the 12+ to help me with "Plan B" if the Appeal is unsuccessful.
The sorts of questions I have are:
Does the 12+ really exist?
Do many people sit it?
Am I right in supposing that competition for entry at 12 is even more fierce, with places extremely few and far between at one's preferred 1st choice school - in our case Royal Latin in Buckingham?
Does anyone in this forum have any experience of 12+ or know of a similar Forum where I could go for advice?
Any help and pointers would be much appreciated.
Many thanks, PAP
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Guest
Hi
Our daughter got 117 in her 11+ too. She went to the local upper school and we arranged for her to take the 12+ the following April. BCC sent us a pack and wrote to her school to find out her suitability to take the 12+(it's not an automatic entry like the 11+ seems to be, unless you opt out).
Our daughter did 11+ practise papers from Jan onwards and when she did the exam she sailed through with a score of 139! The exam differs in that there is only one paper and you get 5 questions more and 5 mins less to complete it.
The exam is usually held in a local school on a saturday and I have to say it was so stressful. There seemed to be hundreds of children there, some crying. Parents were all tense and some were even shouting out tips/advice as their children went into the exam!
It was a long 45 Mins till the exam was over but then we all went out for lunch and tried to regain a sence of perspective.
What I would say about the 12+ is that there is a lack of info available, even from BCC, they couldn't even tell me when the results were due. We eventually got the results in the middle of June, and then a few weeks later were told that we had a place at our chosen grammar school. It is not definate that you get a place even if you pass, sometimes you go on to a waiting list.
Sorry to waffle but I do feel for you and your family, but I would say go for it. Our daughter is doing great and is not in the bottom or just scaping through- she deserves to be there!
Lots of gook luck!
Our daughter got 117 in her 11+ too. She went to the local upper school and we arranged for her to take the 12+ the following April. BCC sent us a pack and wrote to her school to find out her suitability to take the 12+(it's not an automatic entry like the 11+ seems to be, unless you opt out).
Our daughter did 11+ practise papers from Jan onwards and when she did the exam she sailed through with a score of 139! The exam differs in that there is only one paper and you get 5 questions more and 5 mins less to complete it.
The exam is usually held in a local school on a saturday and I have to say it was so stressful. There seemed to be hundreds of children there, some crying. Parents were all tense and some were even shouting out tips/advice as their children went into the exam!
It was a long 45 Mins till the exam was over but then we all went out for lunch and tried to regain a sence of perspective.
What I would say about the 12+ is that there is a lack of info available, even from BCC, they couldn't even tell me when the results were due. We eventually got the results in the middle of June, and then a few weeks later were told that we had a place at our chosen grammar school. It is not definate that you get a place even if you pass, sometimes you go on to a waiting list.
Sorry to waffle but I do feel for you and your family, but I would say go for it. Our daughter is doing great and is not in the bottom or just scaping through- she deserves to be there!
Lots of gook luck!
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Guest
Hi
We arranged a review of the paper but we didn't go to appeal as we didn't really have any reason to do so.We didn't have any special circumstances such as our daughter being ill, or a pet dying, or anything else which would have effected her perfrmance. I didn't rate our chances and so did not pursue it. Good luck to you and your family if you do appeal, I have heard from friends that they are stressful too.
People may try to put you off appealing or doing 12+, I was told by some that our daughter would struggle if she was "raised above her natural ability"!!! What rubbish, the only real differences between her upper and grammar schools are the better facilities, higher expectations, children who want to learn and great teachers. The schools all have to follow the National Curriculum and she doesn't find the actual work much harder.
Let us know how you get on with the appeal, hopefully you won't need to think about the 12+. However if you do end up going ahead with the 12+ remember that you stand a very good chance of success if your child does lots of practise.
Fingers crossed for you x
We arranged a review of the paper but we didn't go to appeal as we didn't really have any reason to do so.We didn't have any special circumstances such as our daughter being ill, or a pet dying, or anything else which would have effected her perfrmance. I didn't rate our chances and so did not pursue it. Good luck to you and your family if you do appeal, I have heard from friends that they are stressful too.
People may try to put you off appealing or doing 12+, I was told by some that our daughter would struggle if she was "raised above her natural ability"!!! What rubbish, the only real differences between her upper and grammar schools are the better facilities, higher expectations, children who want to learn and great teachers. The schools all have to follow the National Curriculum and she doesn't find the actual work much harder.
Let us know how you get on with the appeal, hopefully you won't need to think about the 12+. However if you do end up going ahead with the 12+ remember that you stand a very good chance of success if your child does lots of practise.
Fingers crossed for you x
