New here - any advice greatly appreciated.
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Hi Twinkles
I pay £20 per hour and my daughter goes once a week for 1 hour. She absolutely loves the whole idea of one to one tuition with )))) and gets a lot from each session. This rate is what is charged by )))) for primary school children. I think it goes up for older ones.
I know of a few others having tutoring and it appears that our tutor is quite good value.
)))) was recommended by a friend who was using her for a son who was planning on taking the Tonbridge School Entrance at, I think, 13.
[/color]Tutor name edited by Moderator - Alfie will pm you.
I pay £20 per hour and my daughter goes once a week for 1 hour. She absolutely loves the whole idea of one to one tuition with )))) and gets a lot from each session. This rate is what is charged by )))) for primary school children. I think it goes up for older ones.
I know of a few others having tutoring and it appears that our tutor is quite good value.
)))) was recommended by a friend who was using her for a son who was planning on taking the Tonbridge School Entrance at, I think, 13.
[/color]Tutor name edited by Moderator - Alfie will pm you.
Alfie
Alfie2 - you've hit the nail on the head! You have to do what's RIGHT for YOUR child. All children are different. What works for one may not for another. I'm sure BexleyMum would agree.
Good luck - it sounds like you are doing all the right things. My son will also be doing the 11+ later in the year (September I suppose) so we'll be in the same 'boat'.
Good luck - it sounds like you are doing all the right things. My son will also be doing the 11+ later in the year (September I suppose) so we'll be in the same 'boat'.
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Bexley Mum 2
- Posts: 851
- Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:55 pm
- Location: Bexley
Oh yes, I wasn't specifically advising to keep multiple choice papers to the end. I was just advising not to use the NFER practice papers up straightaway at the beginning. This applies particularly to the maths, as I think a child currently only one-third through Year 5, and not confident in maths, could find them very hard and offputting. Better to make sure that one has worked through the syllabus material first. But don't leave the NFER type questions until too late as that could be equally confidence knocking.
As well as the point about not failing the 11+, just not getting high enough score, another v. important point is for child to understand that in the real paper they will not get everything right, and they will meet questions that they cannot do. Part of the preparation is being prepared for this! Some children who have been used to getting nearly everything right on Bond assessment papers etc can start to panic in the exams (particularly the maths) when they come across questions they can't do. Best to do a guess, move on fast, and come back to the question at the end if time.
One can get a pass in Kent with as many as 50% of the answers wrong (varies from year to year of course)
As well as the point about not failing the 11+, just not getting high enough score, another v. important point is for child to understand that in the real paper they will not get everything right, and they will meet questions that they cannot do. Part of the preparation is being prepared for this! Some children who have been used to getting nearly everything right on Bond assessment papers etc can start to panic in the exams (particularly the maths) when they come across questions they can't do. Best to do a guess, move on fast, and come back to the question at the end if time.
One can get a pass in Kent with as many as 50% of the answers wrong (varies from year to year of course)
Advice
First of all - good luck!
Second - keep your nerve.
Agree that the choice of to tutor or not can be emotive, but YOU know your child - emotionally academically, etc etc Only a parent can make the most informed choice.
My advice is do your research - understand what is meant by all the 11plus blurb. You will be 'expected' to reach pass 70% pass mark on any test papers, but this is standardised according to age to reflect a pass mark out of 140. Kent use an aggregate score for the 3 tests,. The target this year was to get 360 or over on a standard score, although a score above 114 on any individual paper is a pass.
Also please remember six months can make a HUGE difference at this age in terms of maturity, plus they have not covered the syllabus at this stage of year 5. We found our DS (currently Y6) advanced so much in a short space of time, his own maturity helped. Our job I feel was really to keep his mind relaxed and off the 11plus . I also agree (an opinion not shared by fellow class parents) that kids get enough HW from school, so really did not expect 'more' during school nights, and concious that weekends he needed to relax.
I did notice DS never read so much leading up to 11plus - just to keep his mind relaxed.
Also talk to the class teacher, they suffer from 11plus fatigue with us parents I'm sure but keep focussed on what areas they think you can help your DS with. DON't apologise for considering grammar schools for a borderline child - I'm sure I read that borderline children can benefit the MOST from a grammar education.
And 1 final bit of advice, is discuss ALL school options with your child. When we went to see local schools, we were pleasently surprised. All my hubby and my own preconceptons on 'bad' schools' were dispelled in 90% of cases. It helps the nerves to not think 11plus is the be all and end all.
Second - keep your nerve.
Agree that the choice of to tutor or not can be emotive, but YOU know your child - emotionally academically, etc etc Only a parent can make the most informed choice.
My advice is do your research - understand what is meant by all the 11plus blurb. You will be 'expected' to reach pass 70% pass mark on any test papers, but this is standardised according to age to reflect a pass mark out of 140. Kent use an aggregate score for the 3 tests,. The target this year was to get 360 or over on a standard score, although a score above 114 on any individual paper is a pass.
Also please remember six months can make a HUGE difference at this age in terms of maturity, plus they have not covered the syllabus at this stage of year 5. We found our DS (currently Y6) advanced so much in a short space of time, his own maturity helped. Our job I feel was really to keep his mind relaxed and off the 11plus . I also agree (an opinion not shared by fellow class parents) that kids get enough HW from school, so really did not expect 'more' during school nights, and concious that weekends he needed to relax.
I did notice DS never read so much leading up to 11plus - just to keep his mind relaxed.
Also talk to the class teacher, they suffer from 11plus fatigue with us parents I'm sure but keep focussed on what areas they think you can help your DS with. DON't apologise for considering grammar schools for a borderline child - I'm sure I read that borderline children can benefit the MOST from a grammar education.
And 1 final bit of advice, is discuss ALL school options with your child. When we went to see local schools, we were pleasently surprised. All my hubby and my own preconceptons on 'bad' schools' were dispelled in 90% of cases. It helps the nerves to not think 11plus is the be all and end all.
Thanks
Thanks for your advice onedown01.
I have asked to see his teacher as I understand some of the other parents have been given their children's CAT results already, even though we were all told in October that they wouldn't be given out till end Feb/March. So hopefully I will have a better idea of his strengths and weaknesses sooner rather than later!
As you say 6 months can make a big difference, so I'm not sure exactly how accurate the CAT results will be as they were done in September so nearly five months ago.
My son certainly does need time at weekends just to chill he seems to get tired easily unlike a lot of other kids who I hear do this, that and other club/activity every w'end!!!
Do you mind me asking if you come from Kent, if so what area?
I have asked to see his teacher as I understand some of the other parents have been given their children's CAT results already, even though we were all told in October that they wouldn't be given out till end Feb/March. So hopefully I will have a better idea of his strengths and weaknesses sooner rather than later!
As you say 6 months can make a big difference, so I'm not sure exactly how accurate the CAT results will be as they were done in September so nearly five months ago.
My son certainly does need time at weekends just to chill he seems to get tired easily unlike a lot of other kids who I hear do this, that and other club/activity every w'end!!!
Do you mind me asking if you come from Kent, if so what area?
you can help a lot by getting your child up to speed with mental arithmetic teh 4 operations, addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. Quick recall of tables and which numbers add up to 10, 20 100 etc will be of great use. Being familiar with fractions and their decimal equivalents , also factors and multiples of a number. There are loads of good games on the net.
personally I disagree about not starting them on multiple choice from teh beginning. The exam is in multiple choice format and the sooner they become familiar with that the better.
personally I disagree about not starting them on multiple choice from teh beginning. The exam is in multiple choice format and the sooner they become familiar with that the better.