Stationery

Consult our experts on 11 Plus appeals or any other type of school appeal

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Post Reply
11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now
streathammum
Posts: 1252
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2016 6:02 pm

Re: Stationery

Post by streathammum »

Because if it were true that having a central rubber rather than a rubber per child was the best approach for the children (to save all that unnecessary (!) rubbing out), they would have had the same arrangement at all the test centres.
Mumofgirls
Posts: 114
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2018 1:44 pm

Re: Stationery

Post by Mumofgirls »

streathammum wrote:Because if it were true that having a central rubber rather than a rubber per child was the best approach for the children (to save all that unnecessary (!) rubbing out), they would have had the same arrangement at all the test centres.
Yes exactly, what a ridiculous argument.
snow white
Posts: 39
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2018 11:52 am

Re: Stationery

Post by snow white »

My DS sat the exam at SGGS on Sat am and they were provided with a rubber each.
I would understand it if all children were treated the same, but think those that didn’t have a rubber are disadvantaged IMO, if they are using valuable time waiting for assistance.

How odd and very frustrating x
Mumofgirls
Posts: 114
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2018 1:44 pm

Re: Stationery

Post by Mumofgirls »

snow white wrote:My DS sat the exam at SGGS on Sat am and they were provided with a rubber each.
I would understand it if all children were treated the same, but think those that didn’t have a rubber are disadvantaged IMO, if they are using valuable time waiting for assistance.

How odd and very frustrating x
Thank you for sharing that, ergo not in the least bit consistent as the reply states.
Zoot
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2018 5:29 pm

Re: Stationery

Post by Zoot »

I suspect that this set up is a result of the LA seeking to save time on inspecting pencil cases (which is understandable) but then not having sufficient budget to supply the equipment. I can well believe that the budget is that tight.

I was prepared for differing scenarios on the day relating to my daughters composure and ability and I had a realistic understanding that she may achieve the aim or not. I did not expect council penny pinching to cause a situation where results are not robustly comparable.
Mumofgirls
Posts: 114
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2018 1:44 pm

Re: Stationery

Post by Mumofgirls »

Has anyone else received a reply yet from Warwickshire council?
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Stationery

Post by Amber »

I think the very fact that the policy varies across schools gives you a rock solid argument for saying that some children were disadvantaged. Whether it was those at the school who had them, who according to the council probably spent the whole time rubbing their answers out, or those who didn't have them, and spent the whole time waiting for a rubber, is something which I suppose could only be proven by someone inspecting all the sheets. Either way, it is wrong to vary the policy between venues.

As an aside, don't you just love the 'official speak' which pervades every interaction with council bodies/businesses these days? 'Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback..'; 'we hope this reassures you'. Patronising b*llsh*t frankly.
Manon
Posts: 74
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 12:29 pm

Re: Stationery

Post by Manon »

Mumofgirls, my friend received this reply late on Thursday afternoon. They seem to have added an extra sentence to paragraph two and an extra paragraph between that and your paragraph number three.

Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback about the 11+ testing that was carried out on the weekend of 8th and 9th September.

However, please let me confirm that it is not stipulated in either your 11+ invitation letter or the online 2019 entry 11+ Familiarisation paper that a rubber will be provided to each child, only that they will have access to a rubber, if this is required at any point during the test. We did not allocate one rubber per child at any of the testing venues this year.

From an operational point of view, there was not an intention to allocate one rubber per child at any of the testing venues this year. If any venue did opt to allocate one rubber per child during any part of the test then I would have to investigate this further and question why this was so, as this was not a requirement and all venues were explicitly instructed that there would not be one rubber allocated per child.


Part of the reason for taking the decision not to allocate a rubber to each individual child is related to the very quick pace of the 11+ test that is used in Warwickshire. We want the children to utilise every second of the time available to them, and so did not want to encourage children to spend unnecessary amounts of time rubbing out any mistakes if a rubber was freely available.

A sufficient amount of rubbers were made available at every venue so that one would be accessible to any child as and when they needed it. If required, they would only have needed to raise their hand and an invigilator would have assisted them. This would not have prevented them from carrying on answering other questions whilst they were waiting to be assisted.

Additionally, please also let me reassure you that there is no expectation that the children will finish every question within the test papers, and this is not required in order to obtain the required academic standard to be considered for a place at a Warwickshire grammar school.

I hope the above information reassures you that the 11+ testing process has been carried out consistently but if you do wish to escalate this matter then you can make a formal complaint online, through our website: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/complaints" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.


It's ridiculous. Quite clearly, the testing process has not been carried out consistently! Even if it had been carried out consistently in Warwickshire - which it wasn't - bearing in mind that Birmingham sit the same exam and you can elect to share results, it has been confirmed on the Birmingham threads that Birmingham candidates were each provided with two pencils and a rubber.

I would argue that not providing each child with a rubber could never be consistent anyway - if you were tested in one of the small classrooms, you were ever likely to receive your rubber from the invigilator quicker than if you were sitting the back of the main hall for example, or what if all the available rubbers were already being used etc etc.

It's a very badly thought through policy, if it was ever actually a policy at all until after the event - or until they realised how much it was going to cost them to provide everyone with a rubber.

I would suggest comparing this year's instructions to last year's, if you can – the online entry will be easy to check but you’ll need to find someone who still has last year’s invitation letter to see if they read the same. It’s a pretty major change in policy which should have been made very clear. As someone else said, the rule with CEM is to expect the unexpected – but that’s in term of test content, not availability of rubbers!

As well as a formal complaint, I also suggested to my friend a couple of Freedom of Information Act requests:

a) The records (meeting minutes etc) of the decision not to provide a rubber for each child on their desk and the reason for that decision. Their response suggests it was an intentional change in policy rather than a mess up they’re now seeking to justify or due to finance issues. I’m certainly not convinced by the argument they have given and can't imagine that anyone who is familiar with the pressures of CEM 11+ and/or 10/11 year old children would be either.

b) A copy of the instructions to the invigilators.

The point is that, far from you being reassured that the testing process was carried out consistently, the test was conducted in inherently unfair way – whatever their policy decision and instructions, it was administered in a different way for some children than others.
sportsforall
Posts: 259
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2016 11:02 am

Re: Stationery

Post by sportsforall »

My DDs sat the 11+ in 2016 and 2017, the WCC test held at LSS.

In 2016 they took their own stationery in a clear plastic bag. In 2017 they were not allowed their own stationery but were all allocated pencils and erasers. Just background info, no idea if useful or not.
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Stationery

Post by Sally-Anne »

A box of 45 pencil erasers, suitable for school use, costs £2.20 (exc. VAT):

https://www.caboodle.co.uk/office-suppl ... gI04_D_BwE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's £22.22 per thousand children. And they will last at least 10 years if used only for the 11+ tests.

I'm speechless ...
Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now