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Eleven Plus (11+) in Surrey (Sutton, Kingston and Wandsworth)

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silverkaylah
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:02 pm

Hi everyone

Post by silverkaylah »

Hi

Just wanted to say hello to everybody as I anticipate using this site loads over the coming months.

I have a daughter in year 5 who is currently being tutored with the view to sitting the Wallington and Nonsuch tests in September.

I do have current concerns as even though she is in the top groups for maths and english at her primary school, the school has recently had a poor ofsted report and has been placed in speacial measures. I am hoping that the tutor will be doing enough to see her through.

Can anyone advise me on which would be the best papers to buy so that I can help her out inbetween tutor sessions?

Many thanks
whathappened
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2010 11:26 am
Location: surrey

Post by whathappened »

Hi, am in the same position as you,daughter sitting same exams.i was really worried as my dd is not in top set maths however she does ok with her tutor so i have decided to go ahead anyway.
look forward to speaking to you over the coming months and hope we can support each other through our journeys.
best wishes
Diamondsr4ever
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 4:03 pm
Location: Surrey

Post by Diamondsr4ever »

Hi there
My daughter also in year 5 and looking to sit the nonsuch exam too! Not sure about Wallington Girls as it's that much further away from us than Nonsuch. She currently has a tutor as well and I am using this site for revision and advice. Would be nice to get to know other parents who are going through the same experience together!
Plum
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2009 10:26 am

Post by Plum »

Hi

Welcome to the Surrey Forum!

You will find lots of material recommended on this site for Maths, VR etc. For maths, we used Schofield & Sims, which I thought were very good. Your DDs will need to be finished book 5 and possibly onto book 6 by they time they take the tests (this is what my DS's tutor told me) and for VR we used Bond and Susan Daughtry.

For papers (not that you need them yet), there are some good ones on this site or you can google 11+ papers and you will find a lot more. I also had DS do some SATS papers. It's all good practice for working to set times.

Good luck - you're in for a long journey ahead!
Plum
abr
Posts: 52
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:10 am

Post by abr »

Hi everyone !! I am on the same boat too !! My DD is in year 5 currently and will be sitting for Wallington and Nonsuch !! Looking forward to more and more discussions in the coming months.

Thankyou Plum for the useful tips !!
Plum, I have a doubt about Bond. Though we had been using Bond for NVR, Maths, we stopped using them for VR(did only until 9-10 level) after learning it covers lot more extra types than needed. Do you think doing the Bond VR assessment books would give my DC an advantage ?
Thankyou !!
whathappened
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2010 11:26 am
Location: surrey

Post by whathappened »

Hi all, thank you for the great advise plum,just off to wh smiths to get the books you mentioned.our tutor uses susan doughtry (i really struggle with some of the pairs of letters) i see you have been through this process before,are you going through it again? do you think susan doughtry are very similar to what we can expect at the real tests?
i feel happy to be amongst you all at this time,i am sure i am going to be firing some really daft questions at you over the coming months.
plum,it is really nice of you to offer advise to us first timers,thank you.
silverkaylah
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:02 pm

Post by silverkaylah »

Many thanks for the recommendations Plum, good to get advice from someone who has been through the process.

Glad to see that I am not the only newbie here :) .

My DD has her weekly session with her tutor this afternoon, I'm going to check which books she is using with her and then visit Smiths next week. I am also going to ask the tutor about increasing the sessions to 2 a week after easter as I've realised that the tests for both Wallington and Nonsuch will be sat in September and not November.
Do you think this will be a good idea or a bit too much pressure for a 10 year old??
Nxx
Posts: 89
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:53 pm

Post by Nxx »

Hello 2011 Team. :D :D

Great advise from Plum.
We also used the Stephen Curran Books for Maths, Books 1-6.
Some of the topics in there DS did not need but he would often read them on his own as he enjoyed too! :D :D

For VR we completed the Bond 11-plus papers, plus Susan D, Alpha Series, IPS and B.Walsh.

My DS was tutored once a week for one hr, but then in June we stopped completely and I took over.
Depends on the child, but twice a week may not be necessary, they may burn out. :shock:
Shaftsbury1
Posts: 214
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 4:32 pm

Post by Shaftsbury1 »

Hello to all the 2011 parents!

I just thought i should say make sure you know the exact format of the tests.Even the english test could be multi-choice!
For example,the vr and nvr tests for tiffin are set by the nfer/gl assessment ,which means that the ips 21 types of vr are relevant and in multiple-choice! Ae guide to nvr is highly recommended as well!

I wasted alot of money on papers that were not relevant at all!

I don't know what the format for nonsuch or wally girls is,but i would advise you check.And i hope someone comes along to help you with that.

Also although i absolutely love WHsmiths,imho, i found it very difficult to find books there--their system can be quite haphazard (and i think people mess up their shelves).Waterstones are alot more organized and often have 3 for 2 on 11+.I am also a great fan of amazon.(Mods-feel free to edit if i have crossed the advertising rules! :oops: :D )

Oh and before i go,plum maybe you could make a 'sticky' for wallington.
And nxx,how about doing Wilsons? (i hope that doesn't sound bossy? :oops: )
Plum
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2009 10:26 am

Post by Plum »

Hi S1
Yes - very bossy! :lol: :lol: :lol:

I was actually thinking of doing a sticky for WCGS (if I can remember that far back), I will try and do it this weekend if I get a chance.

With regards to the other posts - you will need to find out what exactly the girls' exams consist of (as Shaftsbury said). You will find lots of usual info on this site but bare in mind that exams can and do change (if only occasionally), a good place to start are the schools' websites.

Definitely recommend Amazon, I think I got all of DS's books from there. I started DS off on the Bond, to give a broad a practice as possible then switched to the SD books - I thought the papers one was good. Wally Boys set all their own papers but I think Wally Girls VR is set by NFER so you may want to stick with them. Sometimes a bit of variety can help keep them interested though. Also, I don't think they test for English (unlike the boys' schools), only maths & VR (don't know about NVR).

silverkaylah - bearing in mind that your DD will probably get homework from her tutor, I personally would be reluctant to up it to twice a week as you don't want her to burn out but I also think that you need to decide what is best. I think it helped that we tried really hard to keep a balance with the extra work and other activities and school work. DS carried on with his after school activities and there were some weeks when he would get very tired and we just cut right back on the homework for that week. I would rather he did less but do it well than a lot that wasn't very good. We had a very understanding tutor who knew not to push him too hard. My DS went to his tutor once a week for about a year and had a break for all the holidays except the last summer one (his tutor did take a month off in June though). Also, we avoided doing any papers until the summer hols before the exams, although he did do quite a few during the hols to work on his timings.

The other thing i would recommend though, is having your DDs sit the Sutton Grammar mock test (you'll find details on their w/s). It gives the DCs the experience of sitting an exam and lets them know what to expect so hopefully the real deal won't be too daunting for them.

Hope this helps a bit - more experienced with the boys exams but will have a DD sitting for Wally Girls in a couple of years (gulp!)

Px
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