1 mark off Tommies

Eleven Plus (11+) in Gloucestershire (Glos)

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confusedrow
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:17 pm

1 mark off Tommies

Post by confusedrow »

My son took the test after minimal coaching. Did well in the four practise tests - 85-95%. Took the test and was a bit spaced out during the first test. Got 101 in first and 108 in second. So one mark behind as 209 over all. We did not put any other schools down as distance is an issue. Does anyone know what 109 at Tommies would relate to at other schools? Is it worth appealing?
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Post by Amber »

209 at Tommies is about 113 at Crypt and 213 at Pates. The pass mark for Crypt is 107.5.
confusedrow
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:17 pm

Post by confusedrow »

Thanks for that. It will be comforting for my son to know that he would have passed at Crypt even though we cannot send him there as it is really a bad journey. It is beyond me why they cannot look at the whole lot of children who took the same test on the same day in all the schools and standardise them by that. At least then we would have some idea of how they did
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Post by Amber »

The whole system is just ghastly - it feels really overboiled to me - so very much pressure on our little people and anything but a level playing field with some children coached almost from birth and some sitting the test cold. I hope your son is OK - tell him there's at least one more like him. We have been congratulating ours on passing his 11+ in what must have been the hardest year yet as more children have taken it than ever before. Your little boy should hold his head high and tell everyone he passed, but just missed out on Tommies, which is what ours is going to say. Well done him!
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Post by capers123 »

Every few years the system seems to get changed, mainly for the better but some always loose out. So the 'inicative results' you've just had helps the majority have less stress but gives the 'passed but not yet in' just as much, if not more uncertainity than before. I was there last year!

The only answer is a fully comp system which may well not help most grammar children. I know about that as well as my school turned from grammar to comp at the end of my 3rd year- but we were kept fully streamed in our old classes with most of the same teachers.
Capers
confusedrow
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:17 pm

Post by confusedrow »

I told my son and he was a bit upset as felt that he had failed. I told him that he had passed for Crypt but would not be able to go there as too far and he told me that he never wanted to go to a Grammar anyway! He played rugby after I told him, had a stunning game and is as happy as Larry this afternoon.
confusedrow
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:17 pm

Post by confusedrow »

capers123 wrote:Every few years the system seems to get changed, mainly for the better but some always loose out. So the 'inicative results' you've just had helps the majority have less stress but gives the 'passed but not yet in' just as much, if not more uncertainity than before. I was there last year!

The only answer is a fully comp system which may well not help most grammar children. I know about that as well as my school turned from grammar to comp at the end of my 3rd year- but we were kept fully streamed in our old classes with most of the same teachers.
Or we could go back to the old system where there are far more Grammar schools and the top 25% or so of all kids go to them. In a recent reading test - (Suffolk scale which tests words in context, not just word barking) - my son scored a reading age of 16 and a predicted SATs score of level 5A+. It puts him in the 98th centile. Who are these kids that are brighter!!! I am pretty sure that in my day of Grammar eduacation, he would have been in there easily. :(
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Post by Amber »

Who are these kids that are brighter!!!

They are not necessarily brighter (what is bright, anyway?); they may just better prepared, possibly because they have been pushed and coached when your lad was out playing rugby and mine was up a tree or making something out of wood. What is the better way to spend a childhood? Good luck to you both!
slackmum
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2009 10:21 pm

Post by slackmum »

I would suggest that it is probably not worth appealing as my son did get a qualifying score and our letter stated that 250 boys reached that standard this year, I believe there are only 120 places available.

Also DS got 238 at Tommies and 126.5 at Crypt hope that helps you to see what he would have scored there.
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Post by Amber »

[quote="slackmum"]I would suggest that it is probably not worth appealing as my son did get a qualifying score and our letter stated that 250 boys reached that standard this year, I believe there are only 120 places available.

True, but of course many of the boys who qualified for Tommy's will end up at one of the other grammars. Also, an appeal is not the same as a place taken from the waiting list of children who did reach a qualifying score - it is another process entirely, undertaken once the places have been allocated in March. See appeals thread for more on this.
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