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Where do I start

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 8:01 pm
by Sarah999
Moving to Tonbridge for Sept 2008 and want to prepare son for 11+ but no idea where to start? Do most people get tutors or work with their children or do schools help by sending home anything?

Do I have to apply to the Seconday schools or will the Primary schools advice at the right time?

Have tried a few Bond assessement (Nelson Thornes) papers with him and he has found his age easy and done them in 5/10min instead of 30mins but not sure if they are considered easy.

Thanks Sarah

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 8:23 pm
by essex-mum18
Hi, Sarah999

If you post the thread in the kent region, there may be more answers to your questions.

Re: Where do I start

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 9:37 pm
by Sam's Mum
Sarah999 wrote:Moving to Tonbridge for Sept 2008 and want to prepare son for 11+ but no idea where to start? Do most people get tutors or work with their children or do schools help by sending home anything?


The first thing to consider is that the date of the Kent test may be brought forward to September this year - an announcement regarding this is due in May - if this happens (and the general concensus is that it will) this will obviously have an affect on the date that children have to be entered for the 11+. When are you moving?

The schools will not prepare the children for the 11+ other than one lot of practice papers a few days before the actual tests. Whether you get a tutor or not is up to you. Lots of people do but not everyone. Need to bear in mind that 3 of the 5 grammar schools local to this area take children based on their rank scores and the cut off scores for these schools is VERY HIGH.
Do I have to apply to the Seconday schools or will the Primary schools advice at the right time?
You don't have to apply directly to the Secondary Schools. In previous years the primary schools sent out large booklets listing all the schools and their admission criteria together with the forms to state your preferences and everything was handled through the primary schools. If they move the tests to September you will have the 11+ results before you have to submit your preferences but I imagine that the forms will still go through your primary school.
Have tried a few Bond assessement (Nelson Thornes) papers with him and he has found his age easy and done them in 5/10min instead of 30mins but not sure if they are considered easy.
There are some more advanced Bond books if he's finding these too easy. I don't know much about the relative levels of difficulty but I'm sure that someone else will be able to advise you on this.

Hope this helps.

Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 11:09 am
by Sarah999
Thanks for replys. Have posted in Kent area. But am starting to panic he is in a french state school at the min and will go into year5 in Sept will they give any credit for good french?

Sarah

Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 11:28 am
by Sam's Mum
Hi Sarah

If he's in a French school it may be worth considering a tutor if only to check that he has covered the maths topics required as the curriculum in French schools could be considerably different.

You will definitely need to check out the arrangements for entering children for the 11+ - It's possible that they will need to be entered before the end of year 5 if they decide to bring the test forward to September. There will no doubt be more information about this when an announcement is made in May.

With regards to French, I don't think he will get any extra credit for this but he'll certainly have a head start with the language when he starts secondary school.

I'm sure you'll get lots of help from the Kent section. There are loads of people on there who know a lot more than I do.

Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:56 pm
by Sam's Mum
Sorry Sarah

I've just realised that your son's going into Yr 5 - I was thinking it was Yr 6 - so disregard most of my previous post - you've got plenty of time. :oops: