11 Plus Exams Forum

So my DD sat & passed the 11+. We're waiting for our allocation on 1 March. However other than school homework & reading we haven't really done anything since the exam. Should we be?

Neither of mine did! School ramp up for SATs from now, and tbh, I think anything else is overkill. We are, after all, talking about 10/11 year olds who, if they have had to. E tutored for the 11+, have already lost a significant amount of their childhood.

No more to be done, just enjoy the last few months of primary before the hard work of secondary kicks in.

DD really enjoyed the end of Y6 as we 'un-schooled'. She did all the things you can't so easily do in a classroom and we home-educated for the last term. Did blue badge walks of Brunel engineering in London, visited historical sites and did re-enactments and story writing. Did 'real maths' (how much does it cost to print a colour page from our printer, if we replace the bulb above the shower how much weight is distributed to each leg of the stool if I stand on it, etc), stayed up late to do star-gazing, tried out new sports and clubs. Appreciate you can still do this at weekends but for us it was so lovely to be able to do more and at a pace that meant we could really do it in-depth, relaxed and often at less busy times for places like museums.

General message is that even if still in school, have some fun!

It is worth finding out how your school set on key subjects like maths though. We knew DD's school didn't set until Y8, based on exams at end of Y7 so if she was a little bit slow off the mark (which it turns out she wasn't) in the first few weeks it wouldn't do any long term harm.

DD didn’t do anymore stuff and her primary was quite relaxed about SATs at the time.

Certainly didn’t hurt her either.

We shan't be doing any extra work, school/home work should suffice for Sats. DD was tutored for the 11plus exam and as KCG said a 'significant amount of childhood' was spent on it.

We are just going to let her enjoy what's left of primary school. The extra work done for the 11plus exam is paying off now;year 6 is smooth sailing!

PettswoodFiona wrote:DD really enjoyed the end of Y6 as we 'un-schooled'. She did all the things you can't so easily do in a classroom and we home-educated for the last term. Did blue badge walks of Brunel engineering in London, visited historical sites and did re-enactments and story writing. Did 'real maths' (how much does it cost to print a colour page from our printer, if we replace the bulb above the shower how much weight is distributed to each leg of the stool if I stand on it, etc), stayed up late to do star-gazing, tried out new sports and clubs. Appreciate you can still do this at weekends but for us it was so lovely to be able to do more and at a pace that meant we could really do it in-depth, relaxed and often at less busy times for places like museums.

General message is that even if still in school, have some fun!

It is worth finding out how your school set on key subjects like maths though. We knew DD's school didn't set until Y8, based on exams at end of Y7 so if she was a little bit slow off the mark (which it turns out she wasn't) in the first few weeks it wouldn't do any long term harm.

Your DC must have had a lot of fun. Interesting ideas!

I told my kids (and tell my tutees) that they can sit back and relax for year 6, they have done all their work in advance, enjoy the last year of primary, and don't stress about SATs as they have already done a SATs level exam.

My dd was offered intense SATs prep after school groups, and I did go in and apologise to her teacher and say she wouldn't be doing them, as she had done all the extra study for 11+. The teacher smiled and said - she doesn't actually need them, don't worry.

After doing absolutely nothing to help 11+ sitters prep for the test lol the state schools will go full out now on SAtS prep as let's face it, that's what matters to them. I'd do nothing other than any homework & generally encouraging reading. They'll have enough stress in school leading up to SAtS.

Watermelon Your post made me laugh! DDs primary school has just shouted about how well their pupils did in last years SATS & how wonderful they were...when as parents we know full well that a number of the class were tutored for the 11+ and that's probably the reason why! It comes back to what gets measured gets done!