Essay for Sutton G

JASMINE · Post by **JASMINE** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 2:35 pm

Hi mad,

Yes, I agree with you I don't think the books are essential and I will not bother with them - besides I think my ds has much to be getting on with. I don't think he will appreciate any more work.

You mentioned uniform shop, is this for new school - how exciting!
shame their at extortionate prices though.

Post by **mad?** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 2:39 pm

Hi Jasmine

Yes, it was for the new school and I must be getting sad as well as mad becasue it was really exciting! A bit of a rite of passage and now I finally feel it's happening! I got the minimum of everything and plan to doorstep the second hand uniform sale at the start of term.

surreymum · Post by **surreymum** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:38 pm

Hi

Glad I didn't notice the recommended reading list last year. I can confidently say that neither of my two youngest boys has read a single book on this list. Now if it was Alex Rider-we've read every single one, the awful Chris Ryan books and those horrid Cherub books and the dreaded Darren Shan, all cricket magazines and the Radio Times!

Eldest ds avid reader, but mostly sci fi. One of the other 2 reads the books above and the other one pretends to read them.

The headmaster feels that English is very important and essential for all other things and if you don't pass it they don't let you compensate-so even if your son does not read widely, get him using wide vocab and work on English skills, metaphors, punctuation etc.

JASMINE · Post by **JASMINE** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:27 pm

Hi

My ds is exactly like one of your boys, surreymum he pretends to read the reason being he is too lazy. I don't think he has ever finished a book
because he gets bored and he is far to lazy to ever find out what happened. His work does suffer because of his vocab and I have tried on numerous occasions tried with magazines but he definitely not a book bod. I have even bought him cricket mags because he loves cricket but he much rather be playing it than reading it.

Oh well I'll keep trying you never know

sports taxi · Post by **sports taxi** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:18 pm

I've read this thread with interest. My son took the test this year and has a place. I would say that he is a typical boy... awful handwriting, terrible spelling and the ability to change tense several times in one paragraph! So don't panic. I too looked at the sample essays with complete horror...but then I calmed down when I realised that none of his friends could produce such an essay either.
There is a comprehension section to the english paper so all is not lost. I thinks that the essay subjects are quite clever- at least the boys can't pre-prepare a fab essay to role out.
On the tutor front, I did it myself with the aid of the sample papers that you buy....an some bribery to be co-operative (PC games etc). Good luck! and a final PS. I would recommend doing either the Sutton Mock test or the Wallington entrance test...a great experience and certainly helps focus the lettle treasures.

melinda · Post by **melinda** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:29 pm

I'm not so sure about the mock test at sutton. It was meant to give some experience of taking a test in a large group of children/school hall etc and then my son did all his entrance tests in small classrooms. Plus he failed it so I was a little worried (but didn't tell him the results)

My tutor thought it was a big money making exercise. maybe some kids get something out of it, I don't know.

surreymum · Post by **surreymum** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:47 pm

I think it is useful for the experience of lining up with your see through pencil case seeing lots of other scared kids and sitting under exam conditions in a new environment. There is no English and have to do NVR which is not useful for boys sitting only the Sutton exams. I told my boys in advance I would not tell them their test results-just as well as one of them bombed the maths, just 1 week before the Wallington exam.

Our tutor thought it had been fairly accurate for the children she had tutored, but wasn't for us.

I would do it again if we had to do the 11+ exam again (thank god we don't

) as I don't think the kids can imagine what it is going to be like going to a strange school for a test.

It is a good money spinner for the PTA, but I think has definite value for the kids too

JASMINE · Post by **JASMINE** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:40 pm

Hi,

My son did the mock test 2 weeks ago, I was and still am in two minds about it. There was no English test involved so not really like the real thing but I thought it would help him to see exam conditions beforehand.

I could see other kids in line falling to bits and that made me nervous, I felt like it was me going for the exam. My son was fine, the opposite actually too relaxed as usual.

He came out of the test saying it was easy. That worried me alittle because another boy in my son's class came out saying he found it difficult ( he normally gets top marks in class).

Not going to stress about the marks but just focus on the main exams.

Post by **mad?** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:50 pm

My DD did the mock test in the Spetember before Dec/Jan exams. Ifound it hideous (parents pucsing, children sobbing etc) but since that was exactly what it was like on the day at Tiffin (actually Tiffin was much much worse) I'm glad we did it. As for DD, she seemed a bit phased at first and then elated that she wasn't crying so I think it gave her a confidence boost and also prepared her for what was to come in terms of turning up to do a test at a strange place surrounded by a load of crazy stressed people. My view was better to get the panic over at Sutton mock than on the actual day. I agree it's a money spinner for the PTA but good luck to them!