Urgent Advice - VERY Sorry Long!
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It's not too late.
We were totally undecided whether to enter our son into the 11+ until very late - he only started the Bond book things in August before exams and even then, he was on holiday overseas for all of August!
His practice scores were very poor right up to the exams and we took a load of pressure off by just asking him to go in, relax and do it for the experience more than anything else.
You do need to ensure that your daughter focuses during study times though and you probably need to weigh in and help where you can.
Final advice is to look at exam technique. One of the easest ways to do better. Get them to be disciplined about timing on questions.
Hope it all goes well.
We were totally undecided whether to enter our son into the 11+ until very late - he only started the Bond book things in August before exams and even then, he was on holiday overseas for all of August!
His practice scores were very poor right up to the exams and we took a load of pressure off by just asking him to go in, relax and do it for the experience more than anything else.
You do need to ensure that your daughter focuses during study times though and you probably need to weigh in and help where you can.
Final advice is to look at exam technique. One of the easest ways to do better. Get them to be disciplined about timing on questions.
Hope it all goes well.
Hi
Just to reassure you that I have personal knowledge of 2 children who moved school in year 5, settled in really quickly & had huge leap in confidence. Both got place at Essex super-selective.
Keep an eye on the 'Kip' tutoring - it doesn't suit everyone & may not be your best use of time.
Don't panic & think you haven't enough time - work out a programme of work & then just move on steadily! Tere are statistics that for 'normal' children (ie without SLDs like mine) there is steep increase in marks on VR tests at the beginning but after about 5 practices (I think thats the correct figure) the rate of improvement levels off. So you don't need huge amounts of practice once DC has got the hang of the different types of questions.
I wouldn't look at tests yet as it wont help confidence. Start working together through different question types first.
If you are worried about basic Maths questions then use some Sats books to wizz through & find the shaky bits. Sort them out first before you try the practice tests. There are onlya few real practice tests available so you dont want to 'waste' them by giving them before DC is ready.
Encourage her to read classic literature to strengthen vocabulary - an electronic thesauras is handy for looking up words they dont know while making it fun.
The past papers will give you an idea of the types of passages they have to tackle - not easy I'm afraid.
I have 3 of my own who were successful in Essex 11plus but this far before hand they weren't getting anywhere near the scores needed
As far as NC levels are concerned alot of children who get to the Essex super-selectives (Chelmsford & Colchester) will be getting level 5s by end year 5. If you daughter hasn't had a good time at schoolk recently then she might not hit these levels early summer (when most schools assess levels) but she still has plenty of time.
I would suggest that you have a programme over the school summer holidays though -not to the exclusion of fun! but this a time when many children do slip & its important with the exam in November to keep the momentum going. Even an hour a day or a couple of half days a week can make a huge difference over the 6 weeks.
As others have said - please don't feel guilty. Its so hard to keep track of exactly what is going on with our children in school. At least you picked up on it and have taken action promptly.
Once your DD is happy at school I bet you'll see a huge leap forward
Just to reassure you that I have personal knowledge of 2 children who moved school in year 5, settled in really quickly & had huge leap in confidence. Both got place at Essex super-selective.
Keep an eye on the 'Kip' tutoring - it doesn't suit everyone & may not be your best use of time.
Don't panic & think you haven't enough time - work out a programme of work & then just move on steadily! Tere are statistics that for 'normal' children (ie without SLDs like mine) there is steep increase in marks on VR tests at the beginning but after about 5 practices (I think thats the correct figure) the rate of improvement levels off. So you don't need huge amounts of practice once DC has got the hang of the different types of questions.
I wouldn't look at tests yet as it wont help confidence. Start working together through different question types first.
If you are worried about basic Maths questions then use some Sats books to wizz through & find the shaky bits. Sort them out first before you try the practice tests. There are onlya few real practice tests available so you dont want to 'waste' them by giving them before DC is ready.
Encourage her to read classic literature to strengthen vocabulary - an electronic thesauras is handy for looking up words they dont know while making it fun.
The past papers will give you an idea of the types of passages they have to tackle - not easy I'm afraid.
I have 3 of my own who were successful in Essex 11plus but this far before hand they weren't getting anywhere near the scores needed
As far as NC levels are concerned alot of children who get to the Essex super-selectives (Chelmsford & Colchester) will be getting level 5s by end year 5. If you daughter hasn't had a good time at schoolk recently then she might not hit these levels early summer (when most schools assess levels) but she still has plenty of time.
I would suggest that you have a programme over the school summer holidays though -not to the exclusion of fun! but this a time when many children do slip & its important with the exam in November to keep the momentum going. Even an hour a day or a couple of half days a week can make a huge difference over the 6 weeks.
As others have said - please don't feel guilty. Its so hard to keep track of exactly what is going on with our children in school. At least you picked up on it and have taken action promptly.
Once your DD is happy at school I bet you'll see a huge leap forward
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First-timer
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Hi Jessmum,
It's really not too late. I decided to go down the 11+ route late in the day and DS has been offered a place at CRGS. I tutored him myself and I do believe that many parents would be able to organise and implement a study programme themselves.
Little and often is a good approach. The Bond 10 minute tests are really useful as you can slot them in on days where you don't have time for much else. You need to acquaint yourself with the Essex format so that you don't waste time on things that aren't covered eg the Bond english tests contain a lot of material you can safely ignore.
It's really not too late. I decided to go down the 11+ route late in the day and DS has been offered a place at CRGS. I tutored him myself and I do believe that many parents would be able to organise and implement a study programme themselves.
Little and often is a good approach. The Bond 10 minute tests are really useful as you can slot them in on days where you don't have time for much else. You need to acquaint yourself with the Essex format so that you don't waste time on things that aren't covered eg the Bond english tests contain a lot of material you can safely ignore.
Last edited by First-timer on Tue Nov 23, 2010 2:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hi Jessmum
Last summer, we started doing Bond Level 4, DS was all over the place in Maths, to an outsider I am sure that it would have looked like a lost cause! However, we went right back to basics - made sure that he was really hot on times tables, then went onto long multiplication, long division, Fractions, percentages, simple equations etc etc. Over 2 - 3 months we covered the whole math's sylabus, as well as keeping English and VR ticking over. DS is quite capable, and was at 4B at the end of yr5, the school wasn't really interested that there were huge gaps in his understanding as he was never likely to fail SATs in Yr 6.
Having spent the past 3 years working away from home, we decided to relocate last summer - this did involve DS changing schools, however, it also meant that both my wife and I were able to help DS during the week. What a difference it made: firstly the school was much more supportive - they made a real effort for the more able pupils, secondly we worked really hard in the evenings - every evening. DS is no different to other 10 / 11 year olds, he is not too keen on working, however, we found that he really enjoyed spending 1 to 1 time with us (2 younger siblings!), and he was really motivated to succeed. Last week we found out that he passed the 11+ by a fair margin
My advice is: no it is not too late - not by a long way. You and your daughter will have to work hard, depending on the amount to cover, I would advise you to work through the summer hols - not too much though, but a little most days.
Finally, if you have a good comp, put it at the top of your list, with the GS as the second choice. The work will not be wasted, your DD will be in a much better position wherever she goes
Last summer, we started doing Bond Level 4, DS was all over the place in Maths, to an outsider I am sure that it would have looked like a lost cause! However, we went right back to basics - made sure that he was really hot on times tables, then went onto long multiplication, long division, Fractions, percentages, simple equations etc etc. Over 2 - 3 months we covered the whole math's sylabus, as well as keeping English and VR ticking over. DS is quite capable, and was at 4B at the end of yr5, the school wasn't really interested that there were huge gaps in his understanding as he was never likely to fail SATs in Yr 6.
Having spent the past 3 years working away from home, we decided to relocate last summer - this did involve DS changing schools, however, it also meant that both my wife and I were able to help DS during the week. What a difference it made: firstly the school was much more supportive - they made a real effort for the more able pupils, secondly we worked really hard in the evenings - every evening. DS is no different to other 10 / 11 year olds, he is not too keen on working, however, we found that he really enjoyed spending 1 to 1 time with us (2 younger siblings!), and he was really motivated to succeed. Last week we found out that he passed the 11+ by a fair margin
My advice is: no it is not too late - not by a long way. You and your daughter will have to work hard, depending on the amount to cover, I would advise you to work through the summer hols - not too much though, but a little most days.
Finally, if you have a good comp, put it at the top of your list, with the GS as the second choice. The work will not be wasted, your DD will be in a much better position wherever she goes
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hermanmunster
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Not a good idea if you want her to go to the GS. The offers are made in the order on the list so if DD passes the 11 plus and it reads:mattsurf wrote:
Finally, if you have a good comp, put it at the top of your list, with the GS as the second choice. The work will not be wasted, your DD will be in a much better position wherever she goes
1) Comp
2) GS -
she will probably get the comp and the GS will not be offered
The OP said that the Comp is the first choice, however, due to catchment they need the GS as a fall back position. If the GS is put as first choice then DD will only be offered the GS if she passes the 11+ and will face a 55 mile daily commutehermanmunster wrote:Not a good idea if you want her to go to the GS. The offers are made in the order on the list so if DD passes the 11 plus and it reads:mattsurf wrote:
Finally, if you have a good comp, put it at the top of your list, with the GS as the second choice. The work will not be wasted, your DD will be in a much better position wherever she goes
1) Comp
2) GS -
she will probably get the comp and the GS will not be offered
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hermanmunster
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- Location: The Seaside
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Chelmsford mum
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Herman is right in the sense that if you place the grammar first then you will be allocated it even if you would have got your comp, should you get a qualifying score.
I don't know which grammar the Op is going to put first but Chelmsford and Colchester are super selectives, so no catchment and Southend/ Westcliff would be out of catchment for her.
So all in all....always should put schools in order of your real prefernece.
I don't know which grammar the Op is going to put first but Chelmsford and Colchester are super selectives, so no catchment and Southend/ Westcliff would be out of catchment for her.
So all in all....always should put schools in order of your real prefernece.
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hermanmunster
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Chelmsford mum
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hermanmunster wrote:yes because of the superselective result doesn't happen then it won't affect the chance of getting the local school
I am tired and have had 3 glasses of dry white Doctor (2 if you use large glasses 
)... 
So please excuse if being very dim. In this area you don't know if you have made the top 120 until allocations day so if you name the ss grammar first and get in, you will squander your comp place.
Is that what you meant...
