Camp Hill Boys

Eleven Plus (11+) in Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Wrekin

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now
TNG
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 10:21 pm

Camp Hill Boys

Post by TNG »

Can anyone give some advice re CHB
Son no2 has done the 11plus and we hope has got enough to get a place at CHB
He is an intelligent little boy but not very self motivated
I worry he will not be as well served by going to CHB and that the strong academic ethos means there is a danger that any child not making constant 100% effort may be 'cast adrift'
Am I just worrying unnecessarily?
diseyp
Posts: 47
Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2013 8:07 am

Re: Camp Hill Boys

Post by diseyp »

In my experience (with a similarly intelligent but un-motivated child) grammar schools will not let pupils drift as they need everyone to put in their best to contribute towards their results in the league tables - better to be in a well structured learning environment where they are surrounded by competition than somewhere else where they can slip under the net ... I think intelligent kids who get in to GS without a lot of tutoring take a while to develop a desire and understanding of how to study whereas kids who have worked hard to get in already have a good grasp of the skills they will need.
sbarnes
Posts: 583
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:30 pm

Re: Camp Hill Boys

Post by sbarnes »

In my experience I am hands on with my child at grammar, there is a motivated child lurking in the inner core but not surfaced just yet.

I keep an eye on progress and assist as and when required. My own personal view is that school offers the skeleton and child has to add the organs and skin through external resources whether it be books, net or the net.
mike1880
Posts: 2563
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Re: Camp Hill Boys

Post by mike1880 »

I empathise, we have an unmotivated son as well. We have always felt that he would do the absolute bare minimum no matter what school he went to, but hoped that at CH the bare minimum would at least be quite a high standard. It's fair to say that our son has not exceeded our expectations so far, and we will find out this summer what that translates to in GCSE terms.

Rest assured, the school will not "cast him adrift". They will do what they can and they won't give up on him.

However, there are some aspects of the education process that the school could do better. There are some pretty uninspiring teachers there (in the science department there are a LOT of uninspiring teachers there) who do nothing to bring their subject to life. CH gets very strong results in science, but I don't think their success is due to the quality of the science teaching. If you think your son might want to pursue a science-oriented career I would recommend that you think about sending him somewhere else where the teachers might be better equipped to find some spark of enthusiasm within him.

Mike
sbarnes
Posts: 583
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:30 pm

Re: Camp Hill Boys

Post by sbarnes »

How do they get excellent science results if it's not through the uninspiring teachers?
sbarnes
Posts: 583
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:30 pm

Re: Camp Hill Boys

Post by sbarnes »

How do they get excellent science results if it's not through the uninspiring teachers?
Bob1892
Posts: 1186
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2013 10:14 am

Re: Camp Hill Boys

Post by Bob1892 »

mike1880 wrote:I empathise, we have an unmotivated son as well. We have always felt that he would do the absolute bare minimum no matter what school he went to, but hoped that at CH the bare minimum would at least be quite a high standard. It's fair to say that our son has not exceeded our expectations so far, and we will find out this summer what that translates to in GCSE terms.

Rest assured, the school will not "cast him adrift". They will do what they can and they won't give up on him.

However, there are some aspects of the education process that the school could do better. There are some pretty uninspiring teachers there (in the science department there are a LOT of uninspiring teachers there) who do nothing to bring their subject to life. CH gets very strong results in science, but I don't think their success is due to the quality of the science teaching. If you think your son might want to pursue a science-oriented career I would recommend that you think about sending him somewhere else where the teachers might be better equipped to find some spark of enthusiasm within him.

Mike
I have heard this on several occasions about CHB - no coincidence then.
sbarnes
Posts: 583
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:30 pm

Re: Camp Hill Boys

Post by sbarnes »

Maybe my son has been fortunate but he has had great science teachers in his first few years there. He also watches plenty if science based programs at home
HappyRobot
Posts: 227
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 12:02 am

Re: Camp Hill Boys

Post by HappyRobot »

we also have an unmotivated ds and decided against chb last year

even though the school may not let him slip through the net and gets outstanding academic results, we believed that he would have tried his best to hide and in a class of 31, that seems to be easier to do.

If the other dc are bright and vying for attention or ready to give answers that would suit him fine, but we believe he is better off in a smaller class and somewhere he will have to make more effort.
Last edited by HappyRobot on Tue Oct 29, 2013 8:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.
zha
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2007 7:05 pm

Re: Camp Hill Boys

Post by zha »

mike1880 wrote:I empathise, we have an unmotivated son as well. We have always felt that he would do the absolute bare minimum no matter what school he went to, but hoped that at CH the bare minimum would at least be quite a high standard. It's fair to say that our son has not exceeded our expectations so far, and we will find out this summer what that translates to in GCSE terms.

Rest assured, the school will not "cast him adrift". They will do what they can and they won't give up on him.

However, there are some aspects of the education process that the school could do better. There are some pretty uninspiring teachers there (in the science department there are a LOT of uninspiring teachers there) who do nothing to bring their subject to life. CH gets very strong results in science, but I don't think their success is due to the quality of the science teaching. If you think your son might want to pursue a science-oriented career I would recommend that you think about sending him somewhere else where the teachers might be better equipped to find some spark of enthusiasm within him.

Mike

I have heard similar stories from a disillusioned mother of a boy at CH. She says that many of the boys are tutored at home (often with 2 or 3 tutors) and parents have to go over the day's lessons and teach what the teachers have left out!
Last edited by zha on Tue Oct 29, 2013 9:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Post Reply