My advice!
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My advice!
Having experienced the process this year, my advice is:
1. apply online as it has been absolute agony for those parents who applied by post waiting for the results when everyone else had theirs the day before
2. if maths is a weak point, get some extra maths lessons sorted out as this seems to be the area that has let some bright pupils down this year
3. don't pin all your hopes on the super selectives unless your child is extraordinarily clever. I don't think it is easy to get those marks between 410-420!
4. have a back up plan in case your child isn't assessed suitable for grammar and see the back up in a positive light so that it isn't devastating if your child doesn't receive the marks you wanted.
5. Don't mention the word "11+" if at all possible and stay relaxed about the process so that the stress doesn't transfer to your children. We had some very bright children in the class that almost couldn't do the exam as they had been so psyched up with good luck cards, mascots etc. Just treat exam day as a normal day at school!
Good luck!
1. apply online as it has been absolute agony for those parents who applied by post waiting for the results when everyone else had theirs the day before
2. if maths is a weak point, get some extra maths lessons sorted out as this seems to be the area that has let some bright pupils down this year
3. don't pin all your hopes on the super selectives unless your child is extraordinarily clever. I don't think it is easy to get those marks between 410-420!
4. have a back up plan in case your child isn't assessed suitable for grammar and see the back up in a positive light so that it isn't devastating if your child doesn't receive the marks you wanted.
5. Don't mention the word "11+" if at all possible and stay relaxed about the process so that the stress doesn't transfer to your children. We had some very bright children in the class that almost couldn't do the exam as they had been so psyched up with good luck cards, mascots etc. Just treat exam day as a normal day at school!
Good luck!
I like Number 4 especially -
inkypinkyponky
- Posts: 1864
- Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 1:41 pm
- Location: Gravesend, Kent
Good tips, Hamster, especially no 5, keeping things low key.
DD1, now year 10 at Grammar, had no tuition and got very high pass mark, but we had tried to be laid back by saying to her that doing the 11+ was just a way to help us parents decide what school would be best for her at secondary stage. (The day she did 11+ I actually forgot to wish her good luck because I had 3 month old son at time, who'd screamed for 5 hours the night before. I only got only 4 minutes sleep between 7.26am and the alarm going off at 7.30, and could barely stagger to school and back before collapsing with exhaustion. Needless to say, husband was completely comatose all night!)
Other parents I know kept going on and on at their children (and to other parents!) how bright they were and about the childs 'right' to go to Grammar. Unfortunately those children were 'bright' within the family only, but not compared to the whole cohort. Therefore many tears in the March, in the old days, when you only knew if your child had passed by what school they'd been allocated. Sadly, many parents still compare their children to others at their school only, and forget that the top 25% of able children are taken from the whole cohort within the county.
DD2, now yr 8, at other end of academic scale with learning and vision problems who couldn't even spell eleven , let alone take 11+!
DD1, now year 10 at Grammar, had no tuition and got very high pass mark, but we had tried to be laid back by saying to her that doing the 11+ was just a way to help us parents decide what school would be best for her at secondary stage. (The day she did 11+ I actually forgot to wish her good luck because I had 3 month old son at time, who'd screamed for 5 hours the night before. I only got only 4 minutes sleep between 7.26am and the alarm going off at 7.30, and could barely stagger to school and back before collapsing with exhaustion. Needless to say, husband was completely comatose all night!)
Other parents I know kept going on and on at their children (and to other parents!) how bright they were and about the childs 'right' to go to Grammar. Unfortunately those children were 'bright' within the family only, but not compared to the whole cohort. Therefore many tears in the March, in the old days, when you only knew if your child had passed by what school they'd been allocated. Sadly, many parents still compare their children to others at their school only, and forget that the top 25% of able children are taken from the whole cohort within the county.
DD2, now yr 8, at other end of academic scale with learning and vision problems who couldn't even spell eleven , let alone take 11+!
A very important point.inkypinkyponky wrote: Sadly, many parents still compare their children to others at their school only,
Someone told me a funny story this morning about their daughter who was the top of her class at primary school, got full marks for the 11+, got all A*s at GCSE, As for A level and it wasn't until she got to Uni that she saw there were people cleverer than her and was totally shocked.
At my DD's school, they are a clever lot this year so that those in the middle maths sets have also passed the 11+.
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rosered100
