Holiday abroad before 11+ exams

[Guest55]

DG is a tutor not a teacher ie makes her living from preparing children for 11+ exams! If she said 'Go away and don't bother' its akin to turkeys voting for Christmas.

Please consider the mental health of your children -

[Yamin151]

Everybody is, no one is taking daogroupie's opinion as gospel, people are clearly coming down on the side of making the best decision for their children on a case by case basis, with due and overriding consideration for their mental health, as you rightly say. Everyone is clear that daogroupie is a tutor. I would hope that in spite of that he or she also has some consideration for childrens mental health and would not suggest anyone ignore that.

[tiffinboys]

Can I say that both G55 and DG have given their opinion in absolute good faith and without any personal consideration; and that many of us have benefited from their advise and would like to thank them for their time and devotion to help others.

[Guest55]

I would like to think so Yamin151 but every post she makes encourages more and more tutoring and 'ramps up' the hysteria.

An obsession with passing the 11+ is not healthy for anyone - there are other great schools out there.

[Rob Clark]

Everyone is clear that daogroupie is a tutor

Actually, I didn't know that until this thread and as you can see I have been around a few years (DD now Y12!).

Of course that doesn't invalidate her opinion, but it does mean that she has a vested interest and is not a neutral party on a thread such as this.

[Peridot]

It's just so awful that people are so frightened by this ramped-up eleven plus hysteria that they deny their children a proper holiday. A holiday is supposed to be a holiday, without any work. I will say again: we took my DD away for a lovely, activity-filled family holiday, and she came back refreshed, stimulated and happy, with no detriment to her brain or her ability to cope with the 11 plus. She did of course start prep again at the beginning of September and I didn't notice any detrimental effects. If anything she was sharper-witted because she'd had a break. She also took part in a dance/drama summer school, learning new dance steps, drama skills and song words which I think, aside from the fact that she really enjoyed it, had a beneficial and stimulating effect on her brain. By the way we did this with full approval of the tutor we were using who felt having a break from practice papers and stimulating her brain in other ways was a great idea.

[copella]

Clearly no one wants their child to become overly stressed by the process. Parents have to make decisions which are in their children's best interest and weigh up how necessary some of their plans are. My ds plays allot of sport and during the winter/ spring cross over with the football and rugby seasons not over and delayed matches plus the beginning of the cricket season there were times when there was no 11 plus prep. His friends and others decided to stop all sports that year, something which really would have upset him. Our compensation was to keep it up little and often whenever we could.

Parents know what other things are impacting on their children's lives and sometimes the holidays are the only time to get some decent prep done. I would rather we did 10 mins a day over the holidays than stopped all sports for a whole year which seems very harsh to me.

[Yamin151]

I'm very glad to say that whilst this forum was a mine of useful information and advice, I did always see it as parents with a very hig interest (including myself) and as such it can never be entirely balanced. There are certainly many other good schools out there and we took trouble to ensure our sons knew that. Think it all worked out pretty well, and we were always sure not to restrict our opinion gathering, if needed, to this website.

[Yamin151]

Everyone is clear that daogroupie is a tutor

Actually, I didn't know that until this thread and as you can see I have been around a few years (DD now Y12!).

Of course that doesn't invalidate her opinion, but it does mean that she has a vested interest and is not a neutral party on a thread such as this.

I only meant that as a result of this thread, everyone knows daogroupie is a tutor, and it didn't mean that every piece of advice she gives needs to come with a stated vested interest.

[Guest55]

You are very sensible to do that Yamin151 but some posters display a hysteria I find unhealthy. A 'Grammar school or bust' syndrome ... and not just ANY GS but top of the league tables for that year. This leads to mad journeys half-way across the country - we see these posts every year - clearly the need for a particular GS outweighs sensible judgement at times.