Changes for 2015 entry.

[optimisticmom]

Hello peeps

Just wanted to say this....

Don't give up! the more people that drop out, the better it is for many others. We're all in this together says HSM, lol!

I trully feel devasted because like most, we had strategy in VR and Math. To add creative writing to the equation sounds like the need for paracetamol!! but it can be done. As already said, there is formula for most things under the sun, we just have to find it and use it double speed!

My dd is in year 9 at CCHS and change came during her 2010 exam! It hit them all like a tsunami and many still survived. It was due to come sooner than later as we are clearly moving towards tutor proof exams.

We shall gather strength and continue to post helpful info. If we fall by the wayside now, we will never know if our dc would have made it! I feel for my son because I know the stuff he is made of but try is what we will do for the next ten months. This change will benefit some and have an adverse effect on some but carry on we must! ..........to be honest, I am really just trying to convince myself too!

Optimisticmom

[talea51]

Will these changes not further disadvantage the children they are supposed to be helping? It looks like there will now be an element of non-VR and there will still be some VR. These will not be taught in most state schools. It will be the children who attend private schools and/or have parents who push their children outside of school who will still get places. In my opinion a change in the test is not enough to help disadvantaged children. It is the same schools over and over again who have the highest pass rates, all of which are in affluent areas. The schools in deprived areas get very few passes. Why is this? Is it because learning begins at home from an early age and requires support from parents once at school and middle class parents are more likely to do this? Is it because the schools in the more deprived areas are failing to do enough for their pupils? The statistics on children who are on FSM who go on to university are shocking. The whole system requires a major change to help less fortunate children. A change in the test won't make any difference for the very children it is trying to help.

I think that remains to be seen.

I agree with you though, more needs to be done to help bright children from disdavantaged backgrounds access outstanding education. All the points you raise are very valid and I, for one, don't have the answers. Obviously one doesn't need to pay for a tutor, one can DIY but this presupposes that a child's parent(s) can and are willing to do this. I imagine there must be a number of very bright children who have parents who, for a multitude of reasons, are unable to adequately prepare them for the 11+. The current system is horribly elitist and there has to be a better way, I just don't know what it is.

Maybe it would be better if all state primaries educated their children for the 11+, and if all children were entered into the 11+. Maybe, the 11+ test should be more like an aptitude test and less a test of knowledge? Maybe there should be more grammar schools and more grammar school places?

I honestly don't know because every solution has it's own disadvantages.

[Alexandra]

My view is these new selection tests are not about testing intelligence but about testing how well the kids are being taught in primary school. Not so good if your child attends a failing school, great if your child attends an independent school being taught in very small groups

[Alexandra]

Just to add the government last year took out writing as part of the SATs and left it to be teacher assessed as it was so subjective to mark and a huge difference in marking was found. As a year 6 teacher and now head of english in a secondary school, the differences between teacher marking of writing is huge even though schools spend a lot of time training teachers and trying to 'standardized' the mark. Unless the same person marks all the writing in the 11 plus, a 'proper' standard won't be found -there WILL be differences, however subtle, between each marker of the test, and lets face it, one mark can be the difference of getting in or not getting in

[seriousmum]

So glad I had my boy before my girl. Former hates latter loves

What difference do you think these changes will make? I'm panicking now. I felt under enough pressure to get DS2 through after getting DS1 through as it was!

I'm being totally thick (My excuse is I'm not well haha) is there still going to be a VR paper?

MacPac

Just checked the website again and they've updated it further. From what I can gather the VR will be incorporated into the English paper. Creative writing is now going to be part of the test. This is what concerns me most as my DS hates creative writing and all the mums of boys I talk to say the same.

Heading off to get different books..... Haha

[sleeplessinhalstead]

I have only spotted this post today, relieved I don't have to go through this again until 2017entry (3rd and last one!).

DD3 is currently in Yr 3 and her class get a 100 word challenge every week so at least we've made a start!

From the timings mentioned the creative writing must be fairly short but mystified as to how it will be marked consistently.

[Moatmum]

I have just read this announcement on the CSSE website and like many others I am quite surprised they have made the decision less than a year before many children will sit the exam. I suspect many parents will have already made a good start with VR techniques.

Just wondering if there is any evidence out there to suggest that the CSSE will introduce age standardisation to bring the test in line with other counties and of course the Chelmsford CEM ?

[Hopefuldad]

More changes, i am just glad I have no more to do.

Maybe a controversial point but, from my 2 , the younger performed slightly better than the elder. So I find it strange when people go on about age standardisation. When they start year 7 they don't get "setted" according to age, so why have that process

[Daogroupie]

You have forty weeks before the exam. Even if your dc just wrote one story every week they would learn something every time. Students can make outstanding progress in creative writing in a short period of time. I think this is the right decision by CSSE, it is being able to write that prepares them for success at Secondary school, not CEM. What actually are students learning from CEM papers? HBS does not make the decision on CEM papers, it just uses them to reduce the numbers, DAO and QE do not use them at all. I doubt there is a private school in the country that does not use creative writing to select their intake. QE used Creative Writing to select from the waiting list when they had spaces for Year 8. When I hear parents talking about what their students have learned from 11 plus prep it is all about English and Maths. Nobody says, "Oh that CEM paper was amazing, they learned so much from it." I have been very underwhelmed by CEM papers and applaud CSSE's decision to ignore them and go for Creative Writing which will actually add value for Year 7. DG

[talea51]

You have forty weeks before the exam. Even if your dc just wrote one story every week they would learn something every time. Students can make outstanding progress in creative writing in a short period of time. I think this is the right decision by CSSE, it is being able to write that prepares them for success at Secondary school, not CEM. What actually are students learning from CEM papers? HBS does not make the decision on CEM papers, it just uses them to reduce the numbers, DAO and QE do not use them at all. I doubt there is a private school in the country that does not use creative writing to select their intake. QE used Creative Writing to select from the waiting list when they had spaces for Year 8. When I hear parents talking about what their students have learned from 11 plus prep it is all about English and Maths. Nobody says, "Oh that CEM paper was amazing, they learned so much from it." I have been very underwhelmed by CEM papers and applaud CSSE's decision to ignore them and go for Creative Writing which will actually add value for Year 7. DG

I couldn't agree more. Our local private schools also use creative writing in their selective tests. I think the only thing my dd learnt from CEM was what real time pressure feels like, seriously when will you ever have 25 seconds or less to answer a question? Perhaps the vocab revision we did for CEM was useful to her but actually she learnt much more in preparing for the CSSE tests.