How are we all feeling with 3 months to go??!

Eleven Plus (11+) in Essex

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

How are we all feeling with 3 months to go??!

Post by Manana »

At the moment, I feel like I am the only person in the whole of Essex who hasn't got a tutor for my child and whilst I try to tell myself I am doing a good job; the raised eyebrows and knowing looks of sympathy of mums at the school gates who have tutors do make me wobble from time to time!

I feel we have come on a long way since I first found this forum last March when DS was in Y4. He reads lots more than he ever did and even enjoys it sometimes ;), he does his work with me with (mostly) very little arguing, he's doing well in his papers, scored highly in a recent school-run mock and is a L5 across the board at schoolObviously none of that makes me feel it won't all go horribly wrong between now and then though.

I just wish our catchment secondary school was an 'excellent' one as some people on here are fortunate enough to have which would take the pressure off a bit. Ours keeps having to change its name to shake off past crimes...!

How are the other parents of y5s feeling?
First-timer
Posts: 698
Joined: Wed Sep 23, 2009 1:47 pm
Location: Essex

Re: How are we all feeling with 3 months to go??!

Post by First-timer »

Hi Mañana, my DD is in Y5 and being home tutored too. I would very much like to get the whole thing over with - it's a bit like being six months pregnant! We've been working at home since Y4 (initially as catch-up for poor schooling and later as prep for the 11+) and while I can see a huge improvement in performance, I still have no idea how she'll get on.

Our local comps are a bit of a mixed bag. One is rated as outstanding by Ofsted but the other two have had notices to improve in the not so distant past. We are in the priority admissions area for the outstanding comp but as it's usually oversubscribed, are not certain of securing a place there.

The changes made to the Chelmsford schools' admission policies this year make it more difficult to predict an outcome for DD. We benefit from being within the priority area for ChCHS but are unsure how this will affect applications to the Colchester schools. CoCHS is likely to be our first choice and we simply cannot gauge the sort of mark that will be required this year.

The upside is that we will have our results a lot sooner than in previous years and can apply to six schools instead of four.

Good luck with your prep. It's going to be a busy three months!
Tixylixy
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:22 pm

Re: How are we all feeling with 3 months to go??!

Post by Tixylixy »

Hi both, like you I feel sick to the stomach each time I think about the impeding exams and believe me I think about them every day. In fact , I'm often awake at night agonising about them.

My DS is being tutored and doing quite well but the urgency of time doesn't appear to have dawned on him and with less than 3 months to go, I'm extremely anxious.

What strategies are you both employing to stay calm? I'm trying to rationalise with myself as our local comprehensive is an excellent school but my heart is set on a grammar school.

Any views?

Thanks
laluna
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 7:50 pm

Re: How are we all feeling with 3 months to go??!

Post by laluna »

At the moment I am suprised how chilled I am! This is probably helped by DD taking it all in her stride - she is a laid back young lady. We are very lucky to have two great catchment comprehensives and this, coupled with the fact that there is no certainty, regardless how hard they prepare, has resigned me to feeling what will be will be.

We are taking it seriously, though, (just acquired more maths papers!) and I am just supporting and encouraging as much as I can without pressure.
Colourful-Rainbow
Posts: 70
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 7:07 pm

Re: How are we all feeling with 3 months to go??!

Post by Colourful-Rainbow »

Manana wrote:At the moment, I feel like I am the only person in the whole of Essex who hasn't got a tutor for my child and whilst I try to tell myself I am doing a good job; the raised eyebrows and knowing looks of sympathy of mums at the school gates who have tutors do make me wobble from time to time!

I feel we have come on a long way since I first found this forum last March when DS was in Y4. He reads lots more than he ever did and even enjoys it sometimes ;), he does his work with me with (mostly) very little arguing, he's doing well in his papers, scored highly in a recent school-run mock and is a L5 across the board at schoolObviously none of that makes me feel it won't all go horribly wrong between now and then though.

I just wish our catchment secondary school was an 'excellent' one as some people on here are fortunate enough to have which would take the pressure off a bit. Ours keeps having to change its name to shake off past crimes...!

How are the other parents of y5s feeling?
Don't worry! :) Sometimes the mothers with tutors just really like to express that they have someone who is tutoring their child. I'm sure you're doing a great job! :)
RGA
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 1:02 pm

Re: How are we all feeling with 3 months to go??!

Post by RGA »

I'm feeling a little less optimistic than when I started all this, as my daughter seems to be doing worse over time rather than improving. Maybe she is wearing out a bit although it seems we are doing quite a lot less work than lots of people. She's been attending tutoring classes but they spend a lot of time doing general work or things for other schools' tests that aren't that relevant to us, so I'm going to switch to home tutoring so we can just focus on the Essex exam. We are planning to move anyway, so we have an alternate plan of moving to a nice village with a good state school. I'm really glad we get the scores early so we can start to think about likely outcomes in advance. I do worry though that if my daughter performs badly after all this work, she will find it quite discouraging and feel that hard work doesn't really pay off. I know that we all risk this, does it bother anybody else?
Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Re: How are we all feeling with 3 months to go??!

Post by Manana »

RGA wrote: I do worry though that if my daughter performs badly after all this work, she will find it quite discouraging and feel that hard work doesn't really pay off. I know that we all risk this, does it bother anybody else?
I think this is my main worry as well. DS is somewhat wobbly in his own self-esteem sometimes and I think this would knock it even more. I am trying to sell it as giving him the most choices, but I'm sure the PASS FAIL thing is right up there in his head!
toolate
Posts: 194
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:29 pm

Re: How are we all feeling with 3 months to go??!

Post by toolate »

I guess with the new system, there won't actually be a pass/fail - there will just be a score. And then an application process. I am hoping it might soften the blow as its not all the news in one shot.

We - meanwhile - are falling off a cliff. DS had school exams and we made him focus on these and it seems that he has managed to forget everything learned for 11+ in the meantime. Feel like we are back to square one.....
Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Re: How are we all feeling with 3 months to go??!

Post by Manana »

toolate wrote:I guess with the new system, there won't actually be a pass/fail - there will just be a score. And then an application process.
We had our school meeting regarding the changes a while back and the head teacher said that you will be given your score and are aware of the rough pass mark, so you will still pretty much know if you have passed or failed, so to speak unless you are right on the edge. The problem obviously comes when you have eg 303, 304, 305, 306; she said you won't know if you are ok or not. She said if you got 302 or less, then you will not have passed.
Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Re: How are we all feeling with 3 months to go??!

Post by Manana »

Manana wrote:
toolate wrote:I guess with the new system, there won't actually be a pass/fail - there will just be a score. And then an application process.
We had our school meeting regarding the changes a while back and the head teacher said that you will be given your score and are aware of the rough pass mark, so you will still pretty much know if you have passed or failed, so to speak unless you are right on the edge. The problem obviously comes when you have eg 303, 304, 305, 306; she said you won't know if you are ok or not. She said if you got 302 or less, then you will not have passed.
I'm replying to my own post here, but do others agree with this?

303 has been the pass mark in recent years but how does this work. Will it be the case that 302 will definitely and absolutely fail and there will be no point in putting any grammar schools down on the list??

I did hear that SHBS had a pass mark of 313 a while back. Does anyone know what happened then? If a boy scored 304 and put SHBS first on their list and WHSB second, did they get Westcliff or was their pass mark high as well? How could a pass mark have been higher for one school-was it simply due to v high scores that year or a higher number of applicants?

I don't understand and think my brain is addled; I just want it all to be over!!
Post Reply