11 Plus Exams Forum

I know that at Ribston, dd's are placed in classes with their old classmates. I seem to remember that HSFG split them up. I'm just wondering what happens at STR please.

My son only went up with one lad from his school and they put them in the same tutor group

This may depend on how many children go their from one school. My DS went to Crypt along with 8 others from his school. They were split between 4 classes, but fortunately they had at least 1 other DS in their class:).

Was sometime ago now for us but they asked DS1 if he would like to be with his primary classmate. DS2 was the only sitter in his year.

STR generally keeps them together, DS has about 12 from the same Indie in his class and is with the only boy from his school. They soon make friends though across the classes. DS was describing the friendship groups as sporty - lots and lots of friends, geeks and weirdos who both have less friends. He describes himself as a weirdo but he has made a few good friends.

I have no idea where most of the boys in my son's class went to school before and I am not sure he does. He elected to stay with the one who went from his primary. They no longer have much to do with each other. I wouldn't give this a moment's thought unless you are very unhappy about him being with a particular boy.

Ditto the bus, fwiw. They cope.

Made me smile, MedievalBabe. Gives me hope that my DS will find his place as a would-be sporty, geeky weirdo.

Was talking to a friend with year 7 DC tho. The friendships that appeared good at primary quickly went sour when it appeared that DC was quiet, a bit shy and not cool enough for the image. What worked in the small pond where that DC was useful to the friends clearly didn't translate into the bigger school. Very sad but demonstrates that moving up with friends isn't necessarily the best thing.

It took all of Y7 for DS to start to make real friends, he has said he wishes he was in another tutor group as he feels that is where he would fit better. But he mixes with other classes in sport, languages and DT and next year, Y9, they are really mixed up. Don't worry too much as they will make friends, it might take time and may not be the ones they were with at primary school.

Thanks for the replies all; very interesting. Ds will be moving with 3 other boys, one of whom is a pain (not saying it is ALL his fault though!). I can see merits in both splitting them up and keeping them together but on balance, not that it matters, I think splitting up is the best way so that they are encouraged to make new friends. As has been said, they make new friends anyway so it's no big deal in the long run. Ds is sporty and loves chess, and the film club at STR is appealing to him (he can be pretty lazy too, so sitting in front of a screen a few times will suit him!).

we have four going from our school to STRS.....what if it's my DS that's the pain

The DC I was talking about earlier is at local comp but I'm sure the situation translates to GS. My DS moved to primary with a lot of friends from pre school but as soon as he got to reception he joined a different group. He did play with the others again as time went on but I would quite like him to get into new friendship groups as well next year. His closest friends aren't moving on with him but hopefully will keep in touch.

It's hard being a mum. Broke my heart in the early days when he used to say he didn't hav anyone to play with but I always found if we carried on talking long enough he was actually playing with someone.