11 Plus Exams Forum

This program really highlighted the importance of not stressing out your children; over tutoring and then not passing can leave a child devastated. I think this is a good reminder for us all. The 11+ is not the be all and end all (I think I need to keep reminding myself this too)

Definitely agree about the clips for the next episode.

StowMum

I also noted the use of pass/fail is not mentioned in the letter - it's ADULTS that use it.

Did anyone see the interview in the morning on BBC1 of one of the 4 candidates featured?

I watched this with DD and DS, both at Grammar School.

DD said the Grammar school ethos of the girls all helping each other so they all do well is what she loves about her school. It is very different at DS's school; very competitive where boys rarely help each other and there is lots of 'banter' about academic ability/inability.

I was at the parent paying £300 a month for tutoring and working for £8 an hour. We were all hoping she would be deemed 'selective', but it just shows you cannot buy a Grammar School place. The new 'tutor-proof' tests must be working as the only child featured who was deemed 'selective' had not had formal tutoring but worked at home with a parent and a few books (just like we did). Mum looked like she had her hands full with a baby and a little one.

In Essex, Head Teachers get the Grammar School results the day before they are released in October and the school allocations the day before they go out to parents in March.

In Kingston, schools don’t get 11 plus results at all, rather state primaries and some 13plus prep schools discourage 11plus tests.

Heads do get school allocation information a week before parents.

Blitz wrote: I was at the parent paying £300 a month for tutoring and working for £8 an hour. We were all hoping she would be deemed 'selective', but it just shows you cannot buy a Grammar School place. The new 'tutor-proof' tests must be working as the only child featured who was deemed 'selective' had not had formal tutoring but worked at home with a parent and a few books (just like we did). Mum looked like she had her hands full with a baby and a little one.

I recently met someone who worked on the design of the CEM tests and she was quite open about the fact that, several years ago, the novelty of the test made it harder to tutor to but that is very definitely no longer the case.

The mum paying £300 pm for tuition was a tragedy though I feel that Joanita is probably a very, very capable child but unfortunately the test doesn't standardise for domestic environments, such as having a parent with a poor command of English, noisy siblings and cousins running riot and a crying baby sleeping in the bed below, leaving the candidate with little sleep the night before the exam. As adults, most of us know how difficult it is to perform anywhere near our best when a 2 month old baby has been crying all night. Much as I wanted Joanita to succeed, as soon as I saw her bedroom, I had serious doubts about her being classified as "selective". More than any of the others on the program, she did throw into sharp relief the gross unfairness of the system. A system my children are benefitting from.

BTW, I'm quite certain this thread belongs in the General, General 11+ Topics part of the forum.

I think there are also several threads - could they be combined or some locked?

kenyancowgirl wrote:I don’t disagree....but the program was showing Heads/schools getting RESULTS in October. That does not happen here. That is different to the south of the country. That is worthy of note, is what Ricky was saying.

Thanks - that is exactly what I meant when I mentioned results in October rather than allocatons/offers in March.

There are variants in different regions (e.g. headteacher appeals don't happen in my region) and I am interested to watch/read about those differences. My husband keeps telling me to get a life!

DH and I started watching this with significant interest as we are about to embark on the 11 plus journey for the very first time, not knowing what to expect and whether it is the right path for us. We went to school in different countries and knew nothing of the system in the UK until our DCs started school. Ever since we started researching the secondary school system not too long ago we have been beating ourselves over why on earth we didn't know about grammar schools to live in one of London's selective boroughs so as to give our DCs a better chance of getting into these prestigious schools.
I finished the episode feeling in a way "lucky" that we don't live there to have all the stresses that people are having.
DH, an avid political reader himself, pointed out that the program was made by left-wing BBC so it obviously portrayed grammar schools in such a dramatic way.
We realise that the argument is divided by personal interest, people whose children passed the test support the system and whose didn't oppose it. Being politically correct or not doesn't matter.
So we can't take a position until our children get through the tests.

sandy09 wrote:DH and I started watching this with significant interest as we are about to embark on the 11 plus journey for the very first time, not knowing what to expect and whether it is the right path for us. We went to school in different countries and knew nothing of the system in the UK until our DCs started school. Ever since we started researching the secondary school system not too long ago we have been beating ourselves over why on earth we didn't know about grammar schools to live in one of London's selective boroughs so as to give our DCs a better chance of getting into these prestigious schools.
I finished the episode feeling in a way "lucky" that we don't live there to have all the stresses that people are having.
DH, an avid political reader himself, pointed out that the program was made by left-wing BBC so it obviously portrayed grammar schools in such a dramatic way.
We realise that the argument is divided by personal interest, people whose children passed the test support the system and whose didn't oppose it. Being politically correct or not doesn't matter.
So we can't take a position until our children get through the tests.

It's not that clear a divide. There are plenty of us with children in grammar schools in fully selective areas who don't support the system. Where I live there isn't a comprehensive option so we're in the system, whether our children sit the test or we opt them out, in which case they attend a secondary modern - in the system. If I lived 10 miles to the west, my children would have attended the Outstanding comprehensive in the neighbouring county.