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Eleven Plus (11+) in Wirral

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Hopeful Den

Practice papers

Post by Hopeful Den »

Just to update this thread.
I was considering having a word with my son's teacher about the Bond papers as she has started to set the papers as homework-kids have to time themselves and we can check the papers but not tell them if it's right or wrong. On the first two he's been getting about 82% which I feel is ok at this at this stage because he's only just started. The good news is he came home from school this week and said his teacher had made them do a different paper which had more sorts of questions on it that was harder. Marked out of 100 he got 80 but admitted he didn't read some of the questions properly and could have scored higher. So he's getting there and I know he will improve so I'm still Hopeful Den! From all of this I now know his strengths and weaknesses. He finds all of the questions involving calculations, codes and word and number patterns easy but his vocabulary lets him down a bit because he doesn't always know the meanings or recognises the word he needs to find. We need to work on his spelling too-I was pleased in a way because these are things I can help him with-with the assistance of the resources on your site of course. He has no problem with time but will obviously need to slow up a bit to read the questions properly.
I'm going to remind the other parents again about this site and get a good forum going this year.
Happy-mum
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:54 am

Post by Happy-mum »

Hi Newbie But Stressed,

I've sent you one pm as I need some advice, but for some reason its still in my outbox and not reaching you. Pls. let me know if you've received it or not.

thanks,
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Dear Hopeful Den

Re Vocab, have you seen my list of important words for VR and compound words? See following link towards the bottom of the page.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/revisi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... wnload.php

Patricia
Appeal Mum
Posts: 2049
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:29 pm
Location: Wirral

Post by Appeal Mum »

Hi There Happy-mum,

Nice to see somebody else from Wirral posting!

If your message is still in your outbox it means it hasn't been picked up yet.
NBS still pops her head in and I'm sure once she spots your message she will respond.

Take Care.

AM
Pensby

Post by Pensby »

Dear Helpful Den
Does your child really get 11+ papers for homework?My sons school consider 11+ a dirty word and it is NEVER discussed in school at all,the parents and teachers just don't talk about it.When my daughter passed her exam 2 years ago only 9 out a year of 55 passed!My son is going to do his this year and again no one else mentions it all.If schools have such different policies you wonder how fair a system it is! We will do all we can to help our son by tutoring him ourselves but it would be great if we had the help and encouragement of the school like you do!
Anyway great to see posts on Wirral board will have to look more often now
Pensby
HopefulDen
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2007 1:02 pm
Location: Birkenhead

useful words

Post by HopefulDen »

Thanks Patricia
I downloaded the words a while ago and they are very very useful
I've made little cards out of them and we are working our way through. I show him the word and he looks up the meaning in the dictionary. Then he draws a picture of his choice that illustrates the action or word-this really help him to remember. We just do about 3 a day and you can take them anywhere for odd spare moments. I felt pleased the other day because one of the questions in his homework test was "fill in the missing letters to make a word". He did this easily because it was "intoxicated" and he remembered the picture he'd drawn on the card of his Dad next to a bottle of beer! (I must point out that of course his Dad is not intoxicated on a reguilar basis.). I'm cutting out the cards for the compound word game as peryour suggestion-I'll let you know how he gets on.
Den
Denise J
HopefulDen
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2007 1:02 pm
Location: Birkenhead

11+homework

Post by HopefulDen »

The homework difference is proabbly because my son attends a small independent primary school and it's in their best interests to ensure the pupils pass to make sure they attract new pupils. I think this is particularly so this year because their pass rate has dropped over the past 2 years and I think questions have been asked!
The year 6 teacher swapped to year 5 after Easter and she does the 11+ preparation with them. The teachers swap back again in October to prepare them for Sats.
We've struggled to send him to this school purposely so he would have a chance at 11+ so all of this is very very important to us as it is for everyone else. Ironically we can't afford a tutor because of the school fees but we are hoping it won't be necessary if we do some work with him as I know he is very capable.We are determined not to let my son feel pressured and make sure we prepare him in a structured way and so far he's enjoying himself with it all. We have another son lower down in the school who is very bright so it looks like both myself and my husband will have to continue to drive cars that look like they are from from the scrap yard for the next 5 years. Ulimately though nothing is guaranteed in life and even if he doesn't pass we feel we've given them a good start and they'll be ok whatever school they eventually go to. They just need the confidence in themselves to go for it.
Denise J
Pensby

Post by Pensby »

Hiya Den
Good luck to your son,I hope he passes, I wish my son could go to a better school independent or otherwise, but as you say we do the best we can.
We are using the CD's on this site as practice and my son is doing okay has had a few goes and got 90%,I like your idea for the vocab words (in your ealier post),like you our son struggles with the vocab.
Anyway I will keep posting and looking for new advise /ideas .We self tutored our daughter and she passed fine, she is at West Kirby and says some kids who were tutored too much struggle and hate the pressure.

thanks for quick reply!
Pensby
Mike
Posts: 625
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:29 pm

Post by Mike »

Hi Pensby

Some teachers think that the 11+ should be sat with a level playing field. The most level platforms are either for none of the children to have 11+ tuition at all or that every child should have the same amount of preparation.

Some headteachers disagree entirely with the 11+ selection process and even though they are employed by the LEA to best prepare children for future education they prefer to follow their own political ideologies and therefore deny access to grammar schools for some of their more able students. There justification for this is that they think able children will perform equally well in a comprehensive school.

Parents across the Wirral should be made aware of the political divide between headteachers who support the 11+ selection process and those who do not.

Myself and others are quite happy to give our time and advice freely to any parent who is preparing a child for the 11+ on the Wirral or anywhere else in the country.

Regards

Mike
Pensby

Post by Pensby »

Dear Mike,
Thanks for your help and advice,our son seems to be doing okay at the moment using word lists and cd roms.The hardest part is that his peers all seem to happy to go to local comp and with no encouragement from school otherwise, we have warned him he may be alone if he passes!
Since our daughter is happy at West Kirby we feel that Caldy would be best for him,he is as doing well in school especially at maths,he complains of being bored all the time!(he scored 141 in the last maths CAT test he did)
If we could have moved him to a better primary school with a more encoraging staff we would have,but since thats not an option we will do all the work ourselves!
Thanks again will keep checking back!
PS Do you have any idea when the exam is this year our sons b'day is 29 Nov and he would love to know if the exam is then!

regards Pensby
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