11 Plus Exams Forum

My DD is in year 4 so will sit 11 plus in september 2012 who decides if she will sit the 11 plus is it the parents or do the teachers have a say?
She is a bit better than average but not at the top of the class and isnt great at spelling but is improving had a bad teacher last yr which didnt help
Do you really need to be a high flyer to get into grammar school or is a good average ok
We are in East kent
Thank you

It is the parents who apply for their child to sit the Kent Test. Whereabouts in East Kent are you?

Parents! Teachers can advise but you make the final decision (and many ignore the advice of their teachers).

yoyo123 wrote:It is the parents who apply for their child to sit the Kent Test. Whereabouts in East Kent are you?

Im just outside Canterbury

The grammars in this part of Kent are not super-selective like the west of Kent. If you pass the Kent test you are usually given a place. Check the catchment area cut-off for some of the Canterbury schools though.

If your daughter wants to try then go for it. Have a look at the format of the test at the top of this section.

Hi Elliecricket,

My ds1 passed the kent test in 2010 and my ds2 is also due to take it in 2012......have you seen our 2012 thread for those of us who have children who will take the 11 plus then ?

There is still lots of time for your dd to improve on spelling etc.There are lots of info on this site re 11 plus prep, reading lists etc to help....so you are in the right place !

I was told right up to the month before my ds1 wouldn't pass the 11 plus...but he scored very highly and is now level 5 for everything at school.I knew he was bright even if he didn't seem particularly academic and the teachers are now making comments about ds2 perhaps not making the grade......but I know he is bright and his potential just needs to be unlocked so I will be ignoring the teachers this time round as well !!

Good for you Scarlett for going with your instinct. Teachers aren't always right.....

Thanks Doodles. I just think that we measure our childs abilities by how many spellings they get right etc, when our children are actually inherently quite bright. I have had despondent views about my son right from preschool....because he didn't want to learn the " look and say " words that were in vogue when he was 2....yes 2.....and preferred hiding trucks in the sandpit...I was told he " wasn't great shakes " !!!!! but he could build lego star wars models from random bricks and without a manual from the age of 4....

Yep teachers aren't always right, but a lot think they are, and they can make you feel extremely guilty for not agreeing with them!! I used to teach many moons ago, and I realised quite quickly how easy it is to judge a child quite incorrectly. But I was seeing children sit GCSE and A level so, unlike primary school teachers, I rapidly saw an external measure of a child to compare with my own guesswork.

I think you have to keep on reminding yourself that most of what is taught in schools these days is "skills" - skills do not require rocket scientist IQs to master - just different levels of practice by different children. Also different children and different teachers have different learning and teaching styles. And some year in primary there might not be a good fit between the two so what the teacher tries to cover goes in one end of your child and out the other (so to speak) but in other years it might stick really well.

Unless your child's teacher is an expert in doing and interpreting cognitive ability tests and the sorts of IQ measures tha an Ed Psych would run, I can't see that they could categorically say whether your child could pass the 11+ or not. And even then, they couldn't be 100% accurate as the Kent test is not a pure test of ability or IQ.

Maybe when a teacher says "your child will not pass" they are really meaning "your child will not pass if you rely on this school alone" so they are doing us a favour by saying that, as it gives you the hint you need to do something else over and above school.