Tough week in Jan2017

[Daogroupie]

Thank you. That is very interesting information. How very sensible of them to avoid all the clashes. DG

[mad?]

I can only suggest to parents that only make your DD sit the exam if you are really serious about that school. Your DDs will only be 10 years old then and there's only so much that they can cope with. There's absolutely no need to make her sit a particular school just because her best friend is sitting it or just to see how many offers she gets. Please be realistic and practical especially with distances between school and home and always remember that a child that wants to do well will do well regardless of what school he/she ends up in.

Very sound advice.

[fairyelephant]

The consortium was a real blessing for girls in North London simply reducing the number of exams they had to sit. Now they are in the same boat as the boys and this may turn out to be a blessing of a different kind - focussing minds on which schools are appropriate for your DC and slight variations in exam that mean the schools can look for whatever they think is important. I remember feeling very sorry for DS when he sat an exam every day for three days at the age of 10.5 with another one after the weekend, the year before DD just had two consortium exams separated by a week, less stressful but slip up and you lose more options from one exam.