The clock's ticking.......

[CologneJim]

Time seems to be crawling towards Monday at 4pm. Fortunately my DS seems oblivious and we are certainly not reminding him, but are quite anxious as his parents.

Having said all that we've been to see a number of schools and DS is very happy with the non-selective choices, Mascalls, Hugh Christie and Hayesbrook. On one hand we are pretty relaxed as we know he has done his very best and it won't be the end of the world if he doesn't pass. On the other hand, the Grammars we have looked at are impressive and he'd be really pleased to go to any of them, so we have our fingers crossed.

What does everyone else think??

Roll on Monday and the end of the wait....

[pheasantchick]

I see lot of nervous and stressed year 6 parents around at the moment. The children, however, seem fairly non-plussed!

[neurotic kent mum]

I understand your worry. I am not looking forward to next year!

[katel]

only a few days til my living social experiment finds out whether his mother was right to stick to her minimal preparation guns or not!!

[mystery]

Oh yes please let us know the result, and good luck. I do wish that when it is my turn I will feel I can do that, but I don't think our school circumstances are the same as yours. What preparation did you do in the end Katel, do please tell!

[katel]

Actually, that looks like fun. As a social service I'll tell you absolutely honestly what we did-then you can all see the results of my experiment on Monday!

Ds is 11 in February. He goes to a large very socially mixed OK primary school (last OFSTED "good" after 2 "satisfactorys"). As a governor of the school, I have to say that if it was inspected tomorrow, we would be lucky to get "good" again. He had level 5s in reading and writing at the end of year 5, and a 4A (3 marks off a 5) in Maths. i can't find his CATS scores, but they were very good for verbal and on the good side of average for Maths and NVR.

We are a very middle class family. His sister is already at a grammar school. His parents are both graduates. There are loads of books and stuff at home. Outside school he mostly plays football, although he does learn the electric guitar and the trumpet and likes to read. However he would almost always choose something active outside or the TV over a book. I have to say that I think he is a grammar school type- he enjoys school, loves finding things out and is curious, alert and engaged.

Over the summer I bought 2 packs of practice papers, and he did them all under test conditions. He scored very highly (80-90%) on the verbal reasoning papers. He scored in the 60s for the Verbal reasoning, and 56% on one maths paper, and 78% on the other. We did a little maths practice - I taught him how to do simple algebra because he had no idea at all, and we did quite a lot of tables practice, so he was absolutely secure up to 12x12. I reckon, leaving out the practice papers, we probably spent a total of about 6 hours on actual preparation. I also insisted that he read for at least 45 minutes a day - he usually did more.

Back at school, he did the familiarization papers. He came out of the first day quite confident, but out of the maths pretty shaken.

We shall see. If the system works he should pass - he is in the top 5 or 6 or so in his class, and usually about 15 from his school pass.

[mitasol]

I too have my fingers crossed for you Katel. I think we may all be doomed without your occasional prods!

[wardie]

Time seems to be crawling towards Monday at 4pm. Fortunately my DS seems oblivious and we are certainly not reminding him, but are quite anxious as his parents.

Roll on Monday and the end of the wait....

My DD would have been oblivious except for the over anxious children at school counting the hours until the results. Because of them she knows it is both an e-mail and the time.

I had managed to keep this information from her and gave a vague answer that the results were in the week of the 17th, which satisfied her. She is much more intested in going to Thorpe park in half term.

Good luck everyone for Monday

[scarlett]

Wardie...the same thing happened to my DS ! I didn't want him to know when the results were out either and was always a bit vague ..but the children at school were, as you say, practically counting down and he kept reminding me.In the end I said that I hadn't filled out the email so we would know by letter the next day , so on results day we came straight home and he went off doing his thing..I was slumped over the laptop gasping for breath , alternating between here , my emails, ( you get an heart attack when one pops up and it's Amazon or something) and the KCC website incase they had put in the results online . The email actually came when I was having a wee so that was that ! I'm feeling sick on your behalf...you just want to know, don't you and all day I felt as if I was teetering on the brink of something really big...as if my life ( and DS ! ) could go either way...rather dramatic. I know.

[outofboroughmum]

scarlett mum, you are spot on in that description.

Katel, I wish you and your brilliant son all the best for monday. I am sure the Daily Mail would be excited to interview you so as to show us mums how to do it. I once asked 'what is middle class?'. I think I have my answer now that I have read your post . Once more goodluck. Am a fan if you would not mind a 'commoner' as a fan.