11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi
Am after some opinions please. My daughter is in year 5 and her last assessments she had at the end of last term put her at a 4B accross the board. She is in the higher sets within her class but quite a few of the children are level 5's. Do you think that level 4's would be unlikely to get through the 11plus test? I have been doing work with her at home since sep last year and she's ok with English, vr and non vr but struggles a bit with the maths, we are currently working on the bond 9-10 books for maths. Any opinions would be welcome. Thanks on advance

There is really no such thing as the 11 plus in terms of standards required to win a place. A mark that would get you a place in one region would have you 400 plus on the waiting list in another. Which schools are you interested in? You need to be focusing on the details of their format. DG

Thanks for the reply, I am new to the 11plus system so am not too clued up! I am looking at Highworth grammar school in Ashford, Kent so DD will hopefully be sitting the kent test. From what I understand this is similar to the GL assessments papers so have been also going through these although not sure how accurate that is.

i agree its nothing to do with numbers and levels. go for it nothing to lose and everything to gain

Probably best to post in Kent but it has gone rather quiet! The exam this September is in some way different from previously so we are all in the dark. There was a KCC press release several months ago which said that the provider would still be GL and that there will be two papers in one morning (date is now on the KCC website). One paper is attainment in maths and literacy, and other paper is reasoning. They are both multi-choice. There will also be a writing task which is only looked at in the case of a borderline fail.

Another press release was promised in May. Whether this will tell us anything more we don't know. What do you mean by last term when you say she was 4b across the board? And how did the teacher measure this?

Kent says that in the past they were told by teachers that the majority of children who pass the Kent test were level 5 by the end of year 5. ( I presume they mean in maths and reading - writing is as long as a piece of string and not particularly relevant to a multi-choice test).

As DAO said I wouldn't get too hung up on what school says as the test isn't the same. I don't think at this stage it's possible to do anything better than get your child ready to have a good stab at GL familiarisation papers. But who knows.

Mods, can you move this post to the Kent region. There will be lots of experts in your region who will be able to help you. CGP papers are very close to GL papers as are First Past the Post. You can get them next day delivery from the Forum shop. I think you should certainly have a go at the eleven plus as there are quite a few spaces available in Kent. DG

Moved to Kent

Thank you all for the replies, The children are set what the teachers call a "Termly test" in maths, reading and literacy at the end of each term and we get the results of these sent home as a level which for dd was 4B in Maths, Literacy and also reading.
I will have a look at the Kcc website
I had not heard of the CGP papers but will have a look at these too, thanks again

Do you mean three times a year and 4b before Christmas? Have you got the before Easter result yet? If the tests are QCA optional tests or old SATs papers perhaps you could ask for more details of the results - where the weaknesses are? It may help you focus if you are going to do some extra, or it might just be worth completely ignoring and just go about getting ready for the GL familiarisation papers in whatever way you see fit?

Thanks mystery. The 4B was the results before Xmas, DD is doing the Easter ones this week. To be honest I have no idea what papers or tests they use but will look into it. I'm sure at a previous parents evening I was given a maths one who had been printed from Wigan schools online but have no idea what that's on par with tbh!

4b before Christmas of year 5 is very respectable as it is the expected level for end of year 6. It should get you off to a better start than a lower level.