Up Against friend's children

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suzanne

Re: Up Against friend's children

Post by suzanne »

and here
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/advice ... xplanation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
countrymum
Posts: 686
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 10:16 am

Re: Up Against friend's children

Post by countrymum »

Thanks for all that, and the links. So bringing it right back to basics, technically a summer born child isn't really at an advantage over my autumn born child? Is it more the case that to make it fair and rather so that the summer born child isn't at a disadvantage over my autumn born one, that the scores are standardised accordingly?

Quote from one the links....

'This is because pupils are, in effect, only being compared with other pupils of the same age as themselves.'

So standardising scores really is the fairest way, for everyone?
Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Re: Up Against friend's children

Post by Manana »

countrymum wrote:
countrymum wrote:Thanks for all that, and the links. So bringing it right back to basics, technically a summer born child isn't really at an advantage over my autumn born child? Is it more the case that to make it fair and rather so that the summer born child isn't at a disadvantage over my autumn born one, that the scores are standardised accordingly?

Quote from one the links....

'This is because pupils are, in effect, only being compared with other pupils of the same age as themselves.'

So standardising scores really is the fairest way, for everyone?
I still read it that if your Autumn born child gets the same mark as a summer child, the summer child will get a better standardised score.

We don't have age standardisation in Essex though!
countrymum
Posts: 686
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 10:16 am

Re: Up Against friend's children

Post by countrymum »

' I still read it that if your Autumn born child gets the same mark as a summer child, the summer child will get a better standardised score.

We don't have age standardisation in Essex though!'


Thanks Manana, I think I see it that ideally she shall have to come away with more marks, so even though for eg the two girls both got exactly the same questions right, a 334 pass mark ( Trafford School ) for a summer birthday may mean a fail for my Autumn born DD?

Apologies if I am making this so much more confusing that it needs to be, just like to be armed with all the facts if that makes any sense.

I don't think I shall ever understand it :roll:
koala
Posts: 91
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2010 7:34 am

Re: Up Against friend's children

Post by koala »

Many parents have so much to worry about when preparing their DC for the exam and I don't think age standardisation should be one of them. Do not worry about it or waste anytime fully understanding it - if it is taken into account in your region, there is nothing you can do about it. Don't let it distract you from your preparation - focus on what you can do something about and make sure your DD is well prepared for the exam. Koala
mad?
Posts: 5621
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 6:27 pm
Location: london

Re: Up Against friend's children

Post by mad? »

countrymum wrote: Thanks Manana, I think I see it that ideally she shall have to come away with more marks, so even though for eg the two girls both got exactly the same questions right, a 334 pass mark ( Trafford School ) for a summer birthday may mean a fail for my Autumn born DD?
Only if the other autumn born children have all scored more highly and the other summer born children not. But don't worry about it!
mad?
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Up Against friend's children

Post by Amber »

Really, don't spend more than one more second thinking about this. That way madness lies :)
From a mum of two summers and one winter baby.


They don't take account of it at all at GCSE....
countrymum
Posts: 686
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 10:16 am

Re: Up Against friend's children

Post by countrymum »

Thanks so much for all the info, I do agree can be a bit of a waste of my energy trying to work the standardisation out, and which is better spent concentrating on just getting her through the exam.

Thanks again
wonderwoman
Posts: 511
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:07 pm

Re: Up Against friend's children

Post by wonderwoman »

I think this link, if I've managed to do it :!: shows that roughly equal numbers of candidates achieve the qualifying score for every birth month. If I haven't got the link sorted it is a sticky in the Lincolnshire section - scores.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r ... xamination" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I wouldn't worry about standardisation.
workhard
Posts: 132
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 4:31 pm

Re: Up Against friend's children

Post by workhard »

Hello Countrymum! You raised two important issues: the 'playground/school gate' 'politics' of selection and age standardisation.

We were the only potential 11+ family and subjected to resentment, anger and partial ostracization, and that's just by the Head! The parents were even worse, one or two shouting at me in the playground! So we just got on with it and guess what happened? The other kids became curious about what our DD was doing, wanted to not miss out and so several other families joined in. And no one was able to do it collaboratively or openly, apart from us, and no family spoke to us directly about it! Information or misinformation did the rounds through our kids! Eventually, only two got offers and, for these, naturally the Head took maximum credit! ... Almost nobody congratulated our DD. ... So I would just work for it and focus exclusively on my child; they will benefit long term from both the prep and your support, whatever happens.

As for the age thing, there is one girl in DD's class born mid-September and another born late August: there is nearly twelve months difference in age between them. But they both got in. .... Overall, there does seem to be a fair spread of birthdays across the three terms so,whatever standardisation was done, their abilities and their hard work were rewarded.

Good luck with it all!

WH
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