Hi all

I'm thinking ahead for my youngest to take her 11 plus next September and am wondering what people do about summer holidays and whether you consciously decide not to have one to have the 6 weeks to focus on the 11 plus or whether you think it's a good idea to take a break for a couple of weeks and if so do you consciously choose the beginning, middle or the end of the holidays!!


When I say have the 6 weeks to focus, I don't mean 24/7 lol!


Maybe I'm just over thinking it and it doesn't really make a difference either way, I'm just interested if anyone else thinks about this!

Thanks.

Definitely have a holiday. Everyone needs a break, especially a 10 year old. I would say give them a complete break, but we aren't in a super selective area so you may feel differently. We were able to keep it very low key over the summer, just kept it ticking over really (also the 11 plus was at the end of September/beginning of October in our area then). I think a child would feel under a lot of pressure if the whole family missed out on a holday because of the 11 plus. What if they then didn't qualify, in spite of having no holday?

Go on holiday. We did. The break was needed by all of us. We had a pre planned family reunion so there was no debate, they only happen every 4 years.

If you are really worried about losing previous study time take a couple of 10 min test books, to do at in-between times. (airports, flights, waiting for everyone to get up and be ready.) but don’t let it take over family time.

Definitely.

Take a break right in the middle so you can work hard at the start looking forward to the holiday and then come back refreshed for the final push.

Also if possible plan something for October half term break to look forward to and as a reward for all the hard work. DG

We booked a 2 week holiday but we did 20 mins each morning straight after breakfast then had the whole day to just play and have fun. It was the last 2 weeks of the summer hols so I didn’t want to let things go. But when we came back my son had a school residential the week before the exam and so had a complete break. I think this stopped any cramming at the end.....little and often was my motto. I know a few mums who were spending hours at a time pouring over books with their children in tears! My method worked out well for us but I guess it depends on the child.

Have a break. We took some books with us for the "muuuuuum I'm borrrrrred" moments in the same way you'd take puzzle books but nothing was forced

Good advice, thank you. Makes sense to have a good break etc - I'll definitely take a couple of books if we go away. Thanks all

We do the same... though our date is thankfully Feb 29th

Ours is also a leap year but in August. Involves Brits, Germans, Swiss and now a couple of Swedes, so location varies too.

We took a two week holiday at the end of a July/beginning of August but I must admit that the rest of the holiday we did around an hour a day. It seemed counterintuitive to stop working eight weeks before the test after a year of prep!