Making the choice to NOT sit the 11+
Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 10:09 pm
*Big Sigh*
After deciding that our child was bright enough, with some encouragement and extra tutoring, to stand up to the competition of sitting the 11+, but with the thought that an indie school might be better for him than our local GS, a spanner has been thrown into the works.
Our DS tutor has suggested that he may be dyslexic (she is a dyslexic assessor), something which we had never considered, and that as things are it is unlikely that the 11+ is attainable. I have been into school and told them of our concerns and they are going to do some testing (we are considering getting privately tested) but the school think that we are putting too much stress on our child and that we should back off (these are my words, not the schools).
Now, as we had not grown up in this area and I like to be organised we had looked around at prospective senior schools when my DS was at the end of Y3 (now in Y4). He decided that he wanted to go to the indie and so we said he had to work for it so that we would then be prepared to pay for it. He has seemed happy with this, although has been struggling with his school work (found out this week after meeting at school). We have since discussed him having additional music lessons as, if only he would practise, he would be brilliant. He adores his new music teacher and things are moving along well.
When reading and looking at entrance exams it seems to me that the papers are along the lines of the 11+ anyway, and lots of parents have said that if they knew then what they know now that they would not have gone down the 11+ route.
So I am considering the following:-
Keep up with the 11+ tuition and aim for the indie, the classes are smaller, approx 10 per class, so would he get better help? or
give up and accept that he will have to go to the local school.
My head is just in such a spin and I know I have time, but I just like to have everything in order so that I know where I am.
After deciding that our child was bright enough, with some encouragement and extra tutoring, to stand up to the competition of sitting the 11+, but with the thought that an indie school might be better for him than our local GS, a spanner has been thrown into the works.
Our DS tutor has suggested that he may be dyslexic (she is a dyslexic assessor), something which we had never considered, and that as things are it is unlikely that the 11+ is attainable. I have been into school and told them of our concerns and they are going to do some testing (we are considering getting privately tested) but the school think that we are putting too much stress on our child and that we should back off (these are my words, not the schools).
Now, as we had not grown up in this area and I like to be organised we had looked around at prospective senior schools when my DS was at the end of Y3 (now in Y4). He decided that he wanted to go to the indie and so we said he had to work for it so that we would then be prepared to pay for it. He has seemed happy with this, although has been struggling with his school work (found out this week after meeting at school). We have since discussed him having additional music lessons as, if only he would practise, he would be brilliant. He adores his new music teacher and things are moving along well.
When reading and looking at entrance exams it seems to me that the papers are along the lines of the 11+ anyway, and lots of parents have said that if they knew then what they know now that they would not have gone down the 11+ route.
So I am considering the following:-
Keep up with the 11+ tuition and aim for the indie, the classes are smaller, approx 10 per class, so would he get better help? or
give up and accept that he will have to go to the local school.
My head is just in such a spin and I know I have time, but I just like to have everything in order so that I know where I am.