Hi,

We received the information today, regarding our daughter’s grammar test next Saturday.

There was a statement in the letter saying something along the lines of, “We will do our best to sit your child in the same room as other children from her school.”

Now, I appreciate and understand why they have done this, but I wish they would not have organised it specifically this way. I would have preferred my daughter to be in a room with children she doesn’t know, or if they had just arranged it in alphabetical order and then she ends up wherever her name dictates.

When I first read the letter I thought it was a good thing, but knowing how easily distracted she can get and dare I say it, slightly giggly and silly (from her Mum, not me), I think it might cause an unnecessary distraction for her.

Should I enquire about whether this can be changed, or just leave it and accept what will be will be?

Thanks
J

Seriously, just leave the organisers to get on with it. It would be a different matter if you had applied for, and had agreed, special seating arrangements because of a genuine disability and had now been told that the school didn't intend to honour those arrangements, but 'Please can you rearrange your seating plan because my DD might get the giggles if she is sitting in the same room as other DC from her school'? No.

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

Is your dd motivated to secure a place at the school that she is sitting the test for?

Is she aware that she is in a competition for a place and if she focuses on looking at her friends instead of the test paper in front of her then her friends are likely to do better than her and they may well be going to the school without her.

If you seriously think your dd might actually behave like this in an exam then you need to sit her down and have a talk with her about her.

I have never heard of a parent being worried that their dc might try and muck about in the exam with their friends before.

She will not be able to do this or she will be disqualified from the exam.

She should not even look at them, let alone try and have a "giggle" with them during the exam.

If she disrupts other students she will be removed from the room. There will be no second chance, no warning, she will just be taken out.

Last year three students were removed from the exam room in one of our local exams and not returned.

They probably blamed their parents for not telling them how to behave in a exam.

Make sure your dd is very clear about how to behave. DD

Following.... I have some concerns about how my DS might behave in the exam room although that’s mainly because of his SEN. We will be having ongoing chats about this like DG suggests.

Some students do laugh when they are nervous but the issue is communicating with students in the exam room when they are under exam conditions.

As soon as the exams start then they need to put their head down and get on with it and not try and communicate with anyone else in the room.

All of these schools have more applicants than they want so it is no problem getting rid of a few, they won't be missed.

Absolutely have the talk so they understand how to behave in an exam room. DG

This is what I meant really. I know how my daughter can act in situations where she is nervous and she can sometimes try and hide these nerves by being silly. She has only just turned 10 after all, so I don't expect her to have full control of her emotions just yet - maybe by 11 she will though

As for her "mucking about" during the exam, I'm not sure where in my post I said, or even inferred this, but this is not the case. I expect her to be well behaved, as she is the majority of the time and she would certainly not distract other children and this is the reason why I haven't talked to her about this, as I don't believe I needed to.

I was just thinking about whether it would be better for her to be in a room with children she knew or didn't know. Before I got the letter, I probably would have said with children she knew, but thinking about it, I'm not so sure.

I will certainly mention to her that she must concentrate on her work and not pay attention to anything else in the room, whatever it might be, but I probably would have done this the night before anyway, as like many of the other children, she hasn't done anything like this before.

Just a topic to debate, not a big deal really, perhaps I should worry more about her maths skills.

Thanks for your replies.

J