After 11+ exam

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loobylou
Posts: 2032
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 5:04 pm

Re: After 11+ exam

Post by loobylou »

Year 6 was a largely fun year for my DD. It's true that in terms of maths and English she had covered the curriculum before that year.
But they did lots of very enjoyable things as well as the SATs.
I personally think "supporting them" at home looks different once they're at secondary school but it's still very necessary. I don't get involved in nagging about homework or overseeing any of the academic stuff (unless I'm asked which occasionally happens with my younger child).
But support at this age is: asking about friendship groups, checking phones and social media, finding out what they're learning and loving, finding out what they're hating, encouraging them etc.
There's a big change from primary to secondary school in terms of the parenting dynamic but my experience is that they need you just as much but differently.
RedDevil66
Posts: 104
Joined: Tue May 22, 2018 8:23 am

Re: After 11+ exam

Post by RedDevil66 »

kenyancowgirl wrote:Any parent who thinks a child will be receiving all their education from the school and they can dust their hands off and go and focus on something else, may need to think again!!

School - any school - is a 3 way process and requires the parents, child and school staff to work together - the staff may deliver the formal education but the parent needs to ensure the child is where they shold be when they should be and is doing what is expected of them - and not support the child ad infinitum, whether they are right or wrong - I'm sorry but for example, if your child has homework, it's their homwork to do to their best ability (not the parents) - but it is up to the parent to make sure they do it - I have seen parents tell teachers that they don't believe in homework - that may be so - but if your child is given it - that isn't your call!

In GS there are children every year who struggle - and I mean really struggle - either they have plateaued in their learning or were early achievers or, may have been tutored heavily to get in. But every year there are children that all the kids know are in the wrong place for them - if that is your child - help them - it may be they need to move school - our sons have both lost very good friends at 6th form as they did not make the grade - most of them were identified failry early on that they were unlikely to make the grade, so always knew they needed to look elsewhere - but quite likely could have been very happy at the top of another school. If a child needs to be continually tutored in a GS then I would absolutely suggest that is not the school for them.
Superb post. So accurate! Sadly that's my son's cousin's experience right now in Westcliff. He's also been bullied by pupils for having a stammer. Once this was by a teacher who thought he was deliberately trying to be funny and shouted at him. Can you imagine what this did to an already sensitive child?
Sparklecat
Posts: 281
Joined: Fri May 02, 2014 6:16 pm

Re: After 11+ exam

Post by Sparklecat »

In year 6 the school focused on lower borderline children for SATs. And the end of year play seemed to dominate daily life. But after the intensity of the 11+, I was glad for her to ease off a bit. Even bunked off a couple of days for educational days out.

Year 7 was a huge adjustment. Not so much academically, as the reality of 100+ new girls vying for position. There were tears, days off sick, and trips to student support. A younger primary friend who has just started the same school is going through exactly the same struggles. The only surprise was the lack of homework; turns out she and others do it on lunch break to keep evenings free.

Year 8 and she is fully integrated into school life. Has her own little group of niche friends. The work is still of an appropriate level, without being too hard. She is now joining social and hobby groups and talks positively about her day at dinner time. A huge improvement from a year ago.
scooby doo
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2017 6:35 pm

Re: After 11+ exam

Post by scooby doo »

Both of my DD's did the CSSE 11+ (2016 and 2017).

Both found year 6 quite boring and couldn't wait to leave. No extra tuition given. Visited some museums and different places and they also read most days.

What they both found most daunting in year 7 at Grammar, and I think this would have been the same for any secondary school, was the responsibility of making sure they had everything they needed to take each day and ensuring that they had completed their homework on time.

By year 8, all fine, both love learning, love their friends, go to clubs and are thriving.
Leighmum2019
Posts: 155
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 11:33 am

Re: After 11+ exam

Post by Leighmum2019 »

Different counties will present different views but we are in Essex and DD has recently started year 7 at Westcliff.

Year 6 was a long year for us - we got 11plus results in October when we knew we were pretty much guaranteed a place at our school of choice so the wait until March for confirmation and then September for her to start dragged.

It was a revision year in terms of maths and English but luckily we have a well rounded curriculum so she had plenty else to learn about and experience plus the school residential. Last term after SATs was all about preparing and practising the end of year production and homework was set around ‘life skills’ for example one week she had to learn a household task she’d never done before. She also started going out after school to the park with friends. I can only speak for our situation but taking her out of school for year 6 or even the last term would have seemed cruel and certainly not in her interest.

There’s no such thing as a wasted year in my opinion and after a full on year 5 it was nice for her to take her foot off a little; it hasn’t affected her ability to jump into year 7 with both feet and a lot of enthusiasm!
ToadMum
Posts: 11970
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: After 11+ exam

Post by ToadMum »

scooby doo wrote:Both of my DD's did the CSSE 11+ (2016 and 2017).

Both found year 6 quite boring and couldn't wait to leave. No extra tuition given. Visited some museums and different places and they also read most days.

What they both found most daunting in year 7 at Grammar, and I think this would have been the same for any secondary school, was the responsibility of making sure they had everything they needed to take each day and ensuring that they had completed their homework on time.

By year 8, all fine, both love learning, love their friends, go to clubs and are thriving.
Yes, it is the same in most, if not all, secondary schools - and in some comprehensives, quite severe punishment is meted out for what might appear to be really very minor lapses.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Sparklecat
Posts: 281
Joined: Fri May 02, 2014 6:16 pm

Re: After 11+ exam

Post by Sparklecat »

After always being praised for excellent work, she was surprised to get a detention for forgetting a book. We did a laminated A4 checklist near the front door, with everything from bag to keys to canteen card.
jearund
Posts: 254
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2018 1:52 pm

Re: After 11+ exam

Post by jearund »

I echo a lot of what has been already said. DD has just started Year 8 at her grammar school. She had a year of group tuition at a tuition centre in Year 5 to prepare her for the exam and we stopped that immediately afterwards. We made sure she did her Year 6 homework but put no other pressure on her - and she was pretty good at getting on with it after the previous year of hard work! She got Greater Depth SATS scores as you would expect for someone going to a GS.
She didn't revise particularly hard for her end of Year 7 exams but still got decent marks, so she's obviously keeping up fine. She could have excelled if she'd put in more effort though so we're now working on that as she won't get away with coasting further up the school!
DS has just sat the test and we are waiting for the results. He was getting quite stressed by the end and we stopped all revision a week before the test to give him a break. Our concern is that he is going to find Year 6 quite boring academically. He got extremely high Year 5 test scores and covered all the Year 6 (and some Year 7) maths and English at his tuition centre - in the end they had him doing some maths with the GCSE group just for the challenge! But I've mentioned this to his teacher, who seems great and whose own child started at GS this year so knows the drill!
I do feel that he will have lost his edge by Year 7 as without tuition he no longer be pushed to achieve higher levels, but assuming he gets a GS place I'm happy he'll be pushed there, so Year 6 is where he gets to take his foot off the pedal and enjoy being one of the oldest in the school - there's a residential to look forward to next year so it's not all about academic achievement. Next school year it will be all change and lots of homework so he might as well enjoy this year without pressure. As for SATS, he could pass those now so there's no pressure from us with those!
Just hoping desperately he gets a place to make all his hard work worth it! You can probably tell from the amount of times I've used the word "pressure" that I feel quite bad for having put him through this...
I strongly agree with the comments here that you should not have to continue to tutor your child after the 11+ - if they can't keep up without that then I would question whether they are at the right school. Subject-specific help at GCSE- level is a different matter but I feel they shouldn't need tutoring in Year 6, 7, 8 etc.
Hope that doesn't come across as hypocritical having put both DC through a year of 11+ tutoring, but as others have said, it's to give bright children a fair chance in a highly competitive environment where a lot of the stuff in the test (VR, NVR and Year 6 maths and English) hasn't even been taught at school by the time they take the test.
SofiaCerano
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2018 9:57 pm

Re: After 11+ exam

Post by SofiaCerano »

My DD has just started year 7 at her grammar. We all enjoyed a stress free year 6. She
Didn’t get a lot of homework until the run up to the SATs, and even that was far less stressful than the 11+ and entrance exams. As others have said they get a lot of fun things in year 6, plays, residentials and my DD was tuck shop manager.

High school has been the making of her though. She’s gone from being very shy to making lots of new friends and joining lunch time and after school activities.
mandeepsandhar
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Oct 04, 2019 8:27 pm

Re: After 11+ exam

Post by mandeepsandhar »

Has anyone else received their childs results via email today?
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