Anti 11-plus primary schools/teachers

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Guest55
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Re: Anti 11-plus primary schools/teachers

Post by Guest55 »

You don't have to allow your children to take the level 6 tests! That would stop the school getting the credit ...
MmeOgg
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Re: Anti 11-plus primary schools/teachers

Post by MmeOgg »

Unfortunately the school spoke to DD about her sitting the level 6 SATs before they told us they were planning to enter her for them.They've made a bit of a fuss of her, bigged up how great it will be. She is proud to have picked and would be devastated to be withdrawn. We managed to keep the 11+ fairly stress free and low key, but the SATs stuff seems to be running way ahead of us.
Guest55
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Re: Anti 11-plus primary schools/teachers

Post by Guest55 »

They aren't entered yet .... it means doing two or three papers every day.

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ToadMum
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Re: Anti 11-plus primary schools/teachers

Post by ToadMum »

Guest55 wrote:They aren't entered yet .... it means doing two or three papers every day.

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I have to say that the week's timetable last May didn't bother DS2 in the slightest and he would have been very miffed indeed if we had wanted to stop the school entering him for the Level 6 papers :shock:
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Guest55
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Re: Anti 11-plus primary schools/teachers

Post by Guest55 »

Why? I would not have let my DS do them if they had existed when he was in Year 6.
Amber
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Re: Anti 11-plus primary schools/teachers

Post by Amber »

Guest55 wrote:Why? I would not have let my DS do them if they had existed when he was in Year 6.
It isn't always that easy. I tried to stop the school entering my son when he was in Year 6 - he became reluctant to go to school as it was 'boring SATs practice' every day and I said I'd rather he had extra playtime or Art or cooking or something and didn't want him doing the level 6 stuff. But the staff were under such pressure from a mediocre OFSTED, one of whose criticisms related to stretching able children, and of course the all-important data on my son turned him from a ten year old boy into a potential level 6 candidate. I felt sorry for the teachers who were trying to teach the stuff and were under pressure for the results. They didn't really agree with it either. Also my son started to get embarrassed by the thought of being withdrawn in case other people thought he 'wasn't clever enough'. So even I, a pretty savvy and rather revolutionary mother I guess, backed down and he sat the things. And passed, for what that was worth.
Peridot
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Re: Anti 11-plus primary schools/teachers

Post by Peridot »

Sorry to go against the grain but my DD enjoyed doing the level 6 work as it kept her brain going, and as about 20 of them in her year (one third) were doing it there was good camaraderie. They just worked in their ability groups as usual, and we didn't feel there was any extra pressure. The only area where I felt that our own preparation for the 11 plus had benefited the school's results was in the reading comprehension where she was the only child in the year who achieved level 6. And the school did not coach for the 11 plus but were supportive of our aims, as they were with those preparing for private school entrance exams; we never encountered any antipathy. But we are lucky to live in an area where very few try for grammars as our comprehensives are excellent and most want to stay local.
ToadMum
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Re: Anti 11-plus primary schools/teachers

Post by ToadMum »

Guest55 wrote:Why? I would not have let my DS do them if they had existed when he was in Year 6.
Strange child as he is, he actually likes taking tests :lol: . Other people drag their kids halfway round the country taking 'mocks' or other areas' 11+ exams for practice, or because they wouldn't be able to cope with the stress of being in a room with a bunch of previously unknown others on the day of their own. We just let DS2 spend a couple of extra hours in May putting words and numbers on bits of paper in his own classroom. I'm not sure the school even celebrated his success in any way (that would have been a bit like congratulating him and his two friends for passing the 11+), but he was happy and it doesn't seem to have blighted his progress at secondary school too much; primary Level 6 may not be a 'real' Level 6, but presumably the 7b his English teacher recently awarded a piece of his work stands a better chance of being 'real'?
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Daogroupie
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Re: Anti 11-plus primary schools/teachers

Post by Daogroupie »

I consider myself to be very fortunate to spend part of every day with students who love to learn and are very glad to have the opportunity to sit Level Six Sats. They don't really care about the finer points of actually of who Sats are for or who gets the credit or if they really are Level Six. They have just really enjoyed learning and want to carry on even though they have already secured top ranked places at selective schools.

I think it is really sad that parents who have students who love to learn have to actually defend them because they want to sit challenging tests. Nobody questions the students who spend hours on music or sports training and then want to play in Orchestras, Concerts, Matches and Tournaments. Why is it different when a student who loves English or Maths or both wants to have a go at a challenging test?

I spend a lot of time seeking out Writing and Speaking Competitions in the same way that my dd's music teachers offer them opportunities in Concerts and Festivals.

11 plus students sit the exam and then have to wait a whole year to start the school. It is well known in schools that students who do nothing all Summer go backwards so what about being unchallenged in English and Maths for a whole academic year at school?

Some students win academic places and do not end up in the top sets when they get to secondary school. Learning is a journey, not a means to an end. If you stop off it is harder to get started again.

Level Six Sats gives them a focus at school. I would have been very glad of them for my dds. I hope all students who want to will get the chance to do them, Depressingly I know of students who are in schools who had not actually noticed the dramatic progress they had made and were not given a chance to enter. Top Five at DAO and not allowed to sit Level 6 Sats and kept in the bottom set.

On the original topic I worked with a Y5 teacher who helped his dd prepare for the exams to move to Sixth form at a top private school but announced that he did not approve of selective education, so would not give any help or guidance at all to any parents or students. The first year of Level 6 Sats they did not enter a single candidate despite being an Ofsted Outstanding school and having three students out of the thirty in the class who had won places at both QE and DAO. This was the first time in seven years any student had got into selective schools. They have now lost their Outstanding as a result of failing to make sufficient provision for able students. DG
Amber
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Re: Anti 11-plus primary schools/teachers

Post by Amber »

Daogroupie wrote:I consider myself to be very fortunate to spend part of every day with students who love to learn and are very glad to have the opportunity to sit Level Six Sats. They don't really care about the finer points of actually of who Sats are for or who gets the credit or if they really are Level Six. They have just really enjoyed learning and want to carry on even though they have already secured top ranked places at selective schools.

I think it is really sad that parents who have students who love to learn have to actually defend them because they want to sit challenging tests. Nobody questions the students who spend hours on music or sports training and then want to play in Orchestras, Concerts, Matches and Tournaments. Why is it different when a student who loves English or Maths or both wants to have a go at a challenging test?

I spend a lot of time seeking out Writing and Speaking Competitions in the same way that my dd's music teachers offer them opportunities in Concerts and Festivals....
DG
I do not like the implication from your post that children who don't like taking SATs tests don't enjoy learning. I do not feel that an artificial test at the end of Year 6 ought to 'give them a focus at school' - it is jolly sad if that is what is needed. Children who don't want to take part in competitions - whether it be in music or writing- are not necessarily dullards who don't enjoy learning. They might just be children who have better things to do than compete against other children. One of the most talented young musicians I know point blank refused to take any exams beyond Grade 5 and will not under any circumstances compete in music competitions either. This DC is performing at very high level in a national orchestra. If your children enjoy tests that's great, but don't please suggest that those of us whose children did not relish preparing for these things are somehow inferior parents who are stifling our children's desperate desire to sit them; nor suggest that our children are somehow less able or talented than those who do enjoy them.

Please do not confuse love of learning with love of taking tests or performing in competitions. They are not at all the same thing - and some of us feel the latter play a large part in killing off the former - whether in sport, music or writing.
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