Less than 1 month to go !

[bluebat]

MountainDweller - the thing is I actually think my daughter would do better at the test than me! Just can't do those picture ones!

[Stressed?Moi?]

I know from experience that, with all the frantic preparations, it feels like a huge anticlimax once the test is over. Its a very strange feeling as the preparation is such an major part of your life (perhaps the only part!) for such a long time. Plan something for afterwards too - for you and your DC's. Good luck to you all - the careful preparation will stand them in good stead, will be thinking of you

Thanks scaredycat. This is my second time of going through this nightmare! So true what you say - regardless of result, by the end of the process our dc's will have the advantage of experiencing discipline and hard work to help them to achieve what they want. Also, to have been through a high pressure exam. By the time they get to GCSEs and beyond they won't be nearly as phased.

[capers123]

I know, I just don't get it. If someone doesn't think their child will pass the exam, how do they think they will cope when they get to the school. Barmy.

I don't know if the identity swapping has happened in Gloucestershire, but it certainly has happened in other areas. The photo ID will allow the schools to check that the same person starts the following year as took the exam. For instance, they could send in big brother from Y7 who passed last year to take the exam at a different school where they didn't know him.

Some people will do anything to get their child into a Grammar, because they think they are better schools than the comps. What they fail to grasp is that while they may or may not be 'better' for a bright child, they are certainly not better for the average or below average child.

At appeals we occasionally see these parents, desperate to avoid their local comp (which may actually have a very good reputation) because they have the mistaken belief that a 'school with good results because it's selective' is actually a 'school that can get much higher exam results out of average children'.