Just have a read if you are worried about 11+ failure at all

[WindowGlass]

LFH et al

Great stories of trying your/their best, getting back up and keeping on going.
So encouraginv.

Education seems to be such a game. And the grounds and rules keep changing!
Maybe that's why sport is so important for children.

I always remember though what one of my bosses once said about work: it's serious, but there are more important things. Isn't "passing" the same? "Failing" rarely has to be the end.

Tests and exams seem to be all about being accepted and recognised, and yet many people go on to achieve much and "succeed" with or without them.
I cherish the schools, the teachers, the parents who instill in children the resilience needed to succeed in whatever they find to do, and see that all these little uns are different and unique and yet valuable. Hope that teachers get that joy to help them on their way too.

[Manana]

Anyway we had a halfway decent back up plan, but it broke my heart that he couldn't go to the same school as his brother and sisters.




I think this is the issue for a lot of people-us included. If you don't have a halfway decent back up plan, the stakes are pretty high.

Fab news for you though-that was lovely to read

[Looking for help]

I wasn't going to post an update on my son, as I worried it sounded boastful, but my husband said I must, in order to say to people whose children did not pass 11+ exams, that academic achievement is not outwith their grasp.

So here I am, the proud mother of a boy whose story is in this thread, and who has now received his IB results and with it his confirmed place at Oxford university this autumn.

We always knew the 11+ result was wrong, but I have to say that this time last year when he was beginning the application process to university I said, please don't go for this, as I was so afraid that this would result in failure again. But lol, here we are.

I am equally proud of all of my four children, three of whom went to grammar but were not Oxbridge material, but tonight I am super excited for my youngest who has just done so well.

I'd say to all of you whose poor children have missed by a couple of marks, just help them as best you can and let them flourish, the world really is their oyster.

And thank you to all of the Eleven Plus Forum, who listened to my whingeing over the years, lately I have been very quiet, but I have had so much help, especially when I felt like I was banging my head on a wall, Etienne and Sally Anne in particular, but many others including Guest 55, Amber, Scary and others.

[mystery]

Excellent. I love real-life stories where teachers or tests assess a child's great potential so badly but there is success nevertheless.

Maybe you should send this thread to Mrs May lest she is despondent that her grammar school plans are probably in tatters and that her strange consultation paper on education last Autumn, which suggested that comprehensives should learn from grammars, needs shredding as it is both offensive and ridiculous.

[um]

Thank you so much for these lovely, inspiring and thoughtful stories, and congratulations to your children

One exam - taken in usually under 2 hours at the age of 10, is definitely always going to be potentially incorrect.
The introduction of separate MC answer sheets makes it even more of a risk - an able child only has to skip one row to wreck their score completely

Your dc has shown that cream always does rise to the top and that's a comforting thought for parents who are just weeks from the 11 Plus exam.
It's a reminder that the best we can do as parents is continue to be positive, loving and supportive to our children, whatever score the envelope brings in autumn.

Parents can work themselves up about GS being the be all and end all; we forget that millions of children have attended non GS schools happily and done well too.
My nephew scored an amazing set of GCSE results from a very poorly performing school in Bradford last year - even we were amazed he'd managed it as barely a third of children there even got 5 Cs. Having parents who believe in you, remain positive, and encourage you, is clearly worth more than a super 11 Plus score in the long run.

[RomfordDad]

in order to say to people whose children did not pass 11+ exams, that academic achievement is not outwith their grasp.

I'm not sure anyone is claiming that, just that it's much harder ...

[Looking for help]

See that is where you are wrong. It really isn't harder.

[RomfordDad]

See that is where you are wrong. It really isn't harder.

Let me cite you: "I have to say it drove me almost mad for a number of years."

[Amber]

It takes a special kind of talent to want to try and spoil a success story with spiky remarks.

Congratulations to your son LFH - I hope you all have a wonderful summer.

[KB]

Great news

For some it might be harder, for others it might be the better fit for all sorts of reasons, for others it may not result in academic excellence ( and no one would know if GS would have done either!) but it may provide skills and experiences that are beneficial in later life.

I'm not sure how much one can extrapolate from a single experience but never the less it demonstrates, as do many other cases, that 'passing' the 11+ or not does not have to determine your future. It's just one event in, hopefully, a long series of life events.