Just starting out... is it too late??

[MumLincs]

Well...following a surprisingly good parents evening we have been told to let our son go for Grammar. He is a late starter (August birthday), but the teacher reckons the rate at which he is catching up makes Grammar a possibility. Bit of a shock (a nice one), but now we have VR & NVR books on order to start home tutoring. I hope we have enough time and I feel everything is a bit rushed. Will be using the forum when needed - probably quite a lot!!! Any words of encouragement or handy tips welcomed..

[Alex]

Not too late at all MumLincs Welcome. Have a look at the stickies at the top of the section for the information about the tests and the recommended practice materials. Any questions, we'll all try to help.
I think this is about the right time to start for a fairly relaxed lead up to the tests. Any longer risks boredom and burn out but too short a time can be a lot of pressure for children and parents alike.

[Stocky]

Agree totally with Alex - definitely definitely not too late and pretty much a perfect time. Draw yourself a plan based on the number of weeks from now til September and keep on this forum because its fab!

[ourmaminhavana]

In my (limited!) experience Lincs Mum, people in this county tend to be less 'psyched up' and spend less time preparing than in some other parts of the country. FWIW I started tutoring my DS in the May before the exams and his fellow classmates began around the same time. I know parents can be cagey about the amount of preparation that their offspring has done, but I honestly don't know anyone here who has spent, for example, a year working towards it.
Good luck! I'm sure you'll find a great deal of help and useful information on this terrific site!
Which school are you aiming for?

[MumLincs]

Thank you for all the reassuring posts!
We are out of catchment for both Caistor Grammar and Queen Elizabeths Gainsborough. Caistor is nigh on impossible to get in if out of catchment, (scores of 90% plus required), but QE is a possibility since we are only just out of the area. I have started tutoring my son with VR and at the moment a pass seems a loooong way off. However, I keep reminding myself that it really is an alien concept to him right now and practice can only make it better!
We are currently at the stage of finding out the best way of tackling it - once a week at the weekends, (didn't go very well yesterday with little brother out playing football and him stuck in with me!), or bite-sized chunks throughout the week (We try that this week!). I do feel like the villain of the piece as he already does Kumon maths and english every day, and there just aren't enough hours in the week. Its a real balancing act.

I have yet to start him on the NVR. Any comments on whether to do VR and NVR in the same lesson or to split them?

Thanks again, its lovely to be able to speak freely about the 11+, try doing it at the school gate and its almost taboo!!

[Alex]

I always reckoned that bribery and corruption worked best when practising! It's just more fun to do it together with a packet of chocolate buttons between you and the promise of some small outing or treat every now and again in recognition of the effort they are putting in. My lot did best with little chunks and fairly often but I think you need to find just what works best for you as a family. You have plenty of time so you can get VR on the way before doing NVR, but don't neglect it or leave it too late. Sometimes when a child is strong on one but not the other it can be more encouraging to be doing both. There are fewer techniques and types of questions to learn for NVR too (and also fewer practice papers available). However, I would not mix them in the same session - too much like hard work!

There is a sticky at the top about distances and other entry statistics for QE Gainsborough. I reckon Stocky is probably the real expert on Gainsborough now - she got quite a bit of information together about admission patterns in the last few years.

Caistor is not impossible. People can and do get in from out of area. I don't have the cut-off mark for the past few years but I think it generally hovers around a Standardised score of 245+. Some of the others on the forum may have some more specific and up to date info on scores required. As they only test VR with two different sorts of papers it obviously helps if your child's strengths lie in VR.

[Nervous as hell]

Something I would recmnd is working on timinngs and although the books are really helpful dont just focus on one brand of book .
Bond are good but i do recommend NFER.
And with maths they tend to set questions at year7 prhaps 8 students

[Floss]

Just wanted to say my daughter is in her 3rd year at Caistor Grammar and we're out of catchment and she didnt get 90% so it can be done
We started preparing for the September exam around May.

[binka]

DD only started practicing in the summer holidays for the 11+ and passed. She's not super bright either, but she did practice for 30mins every day in the holidays. Most other kids started a bit earlier. I know a couple of Yr 5 parents who are only now starting to think about tutoring, making enquiries. This is for Gainsborough.

[Jetster]

I started gathering information round about this time last year but my son didn't do his first paper until about June time. He did a few and wasn't really scoring too well, he then had the summer holidays off, we didn't do anything but then concentrated on it again once September came. He prob did about 4 papers each week for the 2-3 weeks and started scoring much higher than he had before the summer hols.

Good luck!