Passing 11 plus entrance test - but one borderline/low sat
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2017 12:28 am
My dd passed the entrance test for grammar school last Sept, I do not know the exact score but was strongly advised she would be suitable for grammar school. Previous friends children who got this advise were scoring 85 to 90% in the tests.
She is really good at Maths, and I am not worried about the sats for this, she is predicted an easy level 6. However, english has always been her weakest subject. She is fantastic at reading, but she is struggling with spelling and grammar. Over the last couple of years, when I have gone to see her teachers and have said about it, they have stated that she is improving and getting better. They have predicted her to be at a level 5 for sats, but want her to try level 6 work as well.
I have been testing her for the pass few weeks with SPAG practice papers, and according to my calculations with the answers she gets correct, she will basically just scrape through with a pass level that the government recommends. I think that is a level 4b, or sometimes on the tests, she fails and doesn't get the pass score of over 100. She gets between 40 to 46-47 questions correct out of 70.
What I am concerned and slightly confused about is, I cannot understand why the school thinks she is so much higher than she appears to be. If she fails her SPAG sats test, will the grammar school tell her she is not capable and remove her after they have offered her a place. They expect children to be working at level 5's, although they do state that they do take a small proportion of children at level 4, if they have shown ability through their 11 plus scores.
I am fairly sure that she will be offered a place within the next couple of weeks, and her teacher says she will be able to cope at grammar school. But I am worried if she fails the SPAG sats tests, will she really struggle or will the school help her to improve. I am trying to help her with her grammar and spelling as much as I can, but she can't seem to do certain spellings and just spells the words as they sound. Also, she can produce some good descriptive, creative writing ( she has a good imagination), but ask her to identify what category a certain word is, in a sentence, she does not have a clue i.e. progressive tenses, pronouns etc , and just looks blank and says she hasn't been taught some of it.
I would just like some advise, if she will be OK at grammar school, or would it be worth me paying to get her some extra lessons in English to help her understand more and maybe catch up a bit.
She is really good at Maths, and I am not worried about the sats for this, she is predicted an easy level 6. However, english has always been her weakest subject. She is fantastic at reading, but she is struggling with spelling and grammar. Over the last couple of years, when I have gone to see her teachers and have said about it, they have stated that she is improving and getting better. They have predicted her to be at a level 5 for sats, but want her to try level 6 work as well.
I have been testing her for the pass few weeks with SPAG practice papers, and according to my calculations with the answers she gets correct, she will basically just scrape through with a pass level that the government recommends. I think that is a level 4b, or sometimes on the tests, she fails and doesn't get the pass score of over 100. She gets between 40 to 46-47 questions correct out of 70.
What I am concerned and slightly confused about is, I cannot understand why the school thinks she is so much higher than she appears to be. If she fails her SPAG sats test, will the grammar school tell her she is not capable and remove her after they have offered her a place. They expect children to be working at level 5's, although they do state that they do take a small proportion of children at level 4, if they have shown ability through their 11 plus scores.
I am fairly sure that she will be offered a place within the next couple of weeks, and her teacher says she will be able to cope at grammar school. But I am worried if she fails the SPAG sats tests, will she really struggle or will the school help her to improve. I am trying to help her with her grammar and spelling as much as I can, but she can't seem to do certain spellings and just spells the words as they sound. Also, she can produce some good descriptive, creative writing ( she has a good imagination), but ask her to identify what category a certain word is, in a sentence, she does not have a clue i.e. progressive tenses, pronouns etc , and just looks blank and says she hasn't been taught some of it.
I would just like some advise, if she will be OK at grammar school, or would it be worth me paying to get her some extra lessons in English to help her understand more and maybe catch up a bit.