Oh this treacherous wait for the exam results! This is worse than watching paint dry!!! My DH keeps telling me to stop thinking about it, forget it until October, but I can’t! Never have I wanted time to go by faster than I do now!! This is my first 11+ experience and I have two more kids in line - don’t know how I will cope with this 2 more times!!

Same here Birdbridge - my DS is the first of 3. At the moment I think I'd rather not know - ignorance is bliss! I'm worried about how we'll tell him if he hasn't done very well.

Think yourself lucky that you weren’t a parent 30 years ago... you never got a result then, just had to put down the schools and hope you had passed... and March is a long time!! Of course under the last version the wait was only a week or two.. when DS1 did his we had his results though on the Friday following the test.. just about 150 hours...

I have the opposite problem
dd is number 3 and the older two passed. Now wondering what will happen if she doesn't, and how I can make sure she doesn't feel stupid.

If it is any consolation, the first few days are the hardest and then life tends to take over!

We are in similar position except this is number 4

For those who’ve danced this jig before, do the emails always come after 3.30pm on results day? How did you share your child’s results with them - read the email together, or not? We’ve been very clear that he could only do his best (and he says he did) so I’m sure he’ll take his result in his stride, but of course it’s something to worry about so here I am.

I have always said, and I’ll say again, that I would wholeheartedly recommend you as the parent to read the results first, without the child knowing. That way you can prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for their emotions when they hear their results. If they have not passed, you have already had time to hide your disappointment so that you can positively support them straight away.

I have friends who allowed their children to open their results.
I could never have done that.
I would have needed a few minutes to get over the disappointment of the fact that dd wasn't going to go to the school where I had always thought she'd be so happy. I'd have needed a few minutes to get my face to fit with the "well done" that I'd have said...

Thanks both - that’s the approach I was leaning towards, having told him that his results arrive late on Friday afternoon. At least I can have either choices or alternatives prepared, he’s quite pragmatic and I think just wants to have at least an idea where he’ll be going for secondary rather than being faced with the current options (the only thing he’s certain of just now is that he will not go to our local secondary!)

Completely echo those above...