11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi there!
This is just a thought. I don't know if anyone has any views on the following.
My son sat the 11+ today. This is at the end of a difficult and very stressful nine months for us as a family. In January my wife had a heart attack (45!) and was quite seriously ill for some time. She had six months off work. In this time she was diagnosed as having a heart condition. With the help of drugs, time and a rehabilitation programme she has just returned back to work as a teacher.
Common sense dictates that this had an impact on my son in this critical year, pre 11+. He's an only child and clearly found the stress of the situation difficult. My instinct is to inform the grammar school of our circumstances. I'm not sure, however, whether there can be any place for such input at this; the number-crunching stage of the assessment. Clearly, such information might subsequently be used on any subsequent appeal.
Anyway, without sounding as if I'm writing to an Agony Aunt, if you've any thoughts, experiences or observations that would be good - and appreciated.
Andrew



My son took the 11+ today after a frenetic few weeks of 'revision'. Alas, I was less than

Hi Andrew, yes I can seen that your son has had a rough year. When I was at University and there were any mitigating circumstances we were to submit a letter and it would only be opened if your exam results were borderline. I suppose this is similar to the comments which the Headteacher can make if the child is borderline????
Best of wishes to your family and hope your wife is on the road to a full recovery.

Thank you ... I think I owe it to him to put something in writing.
Much appreciated!
A

Hi Andrew,

Sorry to hear about your gruelling year and wishing you all the very best or the future.

It can't harm to write something about your circumstances. Hopefully, it won't be needed anyway. It would probably be most useful of all if your son's primary school felt able to write something, especially if his work fell off a bit following your wife's illness. It may be, however, that this would only happen at appeal stage - not sure, but you could talk to them about it.

Best wishes,

Sara

Thanks Sara - I appreciate your thoughts. My son is a borderline candidate anyway, so I think I need to do all I can to support him.
Have a good week.
Andrew