11 Plus Exams Forum

How do top grammars, which unlike indies, are not allowed to interview, or to decide not to interview based on worrying recommendation letters from preps, deal with difficult boys? Our prep told a family to try for grammars as they were not able to give a good revommendation letter for their son that nearly got expelled. Sure enough he didn't get any interview at indies but passed the QE exam and was offered a place at Tiffin. Will he get sorted? I am hoping his naughtiness and unruly behaviour was because he was so bored and this will improve with the fast pace of grammar school, but there were other bright boys who didn't misbehaved IYSWIM.

He might find in a large grammar full of all types of children that he is a very small fish in a very large pond and his behaviour, if it is at all due to showing off, may be pointless there. If he has issues with learning or home life then I hope the school will work with the parents. But it has to be said that in a state school with lots of pupils, unless there are issues that need to be dealt with, unruly behaviour is usually stamped on with detentions etc and intolerance and hopefully he will learn.
If there are other issues then the parents will hopefully tell the school.

That's encouraging actually, there is definitely a cockiness and a showing off aspect in his behaviour, and he might find his match and put in his place quickly. I do hope so anyway.

They might nit be able to sort the behaviour, whatever it is, but a good school with very few pooly behaved chikdren should be able to prevent it affecting the learning of others.

As in all schools there will be a process at Tiffin to deal with behavioral issues. He will have to work hard too, and hopefully this will help nip it in the bud. If the boy cannot get himself sorted he will start to be excluded and eventually expelled. It's happened before at Tiffin. They are good at dealing with unacceptable behaviour.

Good to read Peridot.

A child's behavioural record is not allowed to be considered as part of the admissions process for any state school. Indeed, it cannot even form part of the consideration for admissions to state 6th forms. However that does not mean bad behaviour will be tolerated once a child is a pupil of that school. As with all schools, Tiffins has a behavioural policy with a range of sanctions ultimately culminating in permanent exclusion. A state school may not have the ability to weed out potentially badly behaved children at the admissions stage but that does not mean that they have to tolerate them any more than a private school would.

Whilst it is a shame that better behaved classmates missed out, perhaps being in a fast paced and disciplined environment will actually benefit this boy at least as much if not more than them. Even if that isn’t the case, he must be very bright and have done very well indeed to have been offered a place at the school and that is all the school ask for in terms of admissions.

Just to back up what Loopyloo has said. Sometimes very bright children who had not been getting enough intellectual/academic/exercise stimulation can be extremely attention seeking and difficult at school. They often do settle down once they have their needs met.

If there was the perfect entrance test which measured iq only there would be way more of this kind of child at selective schools.