How Do You Know?

Eleven Plus (11+) in Gloucestershire (Glos)

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MountainDweller
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 4:31 pm

How Do You Know?

Post by MountainDweller »

Hi Everyone

I suspect this is a 'How long is a piece of string?' type question but here goes...!

How do we know it is worth going down the 11+ route with our DS?

DS is in yr 5, born late August (12 hours later and he would be in yr 4 now.....very irritating). The school won't comment if he would be suitable for the 11+ (or where he is in the class). They will say he is a 'bright lad', and we can suss out from interrogation of him and from some sneaky looking over the shoulder at parents evening he is top 6 in maths and English (class of 30). He has a tendency to day dream, but I suspect that is the fact he is very young.

Is there somewhere we could get him assessed? The potential changes to the exam could be a good thing for him (I think), but we'd still need to start looking at VR as it is currently a completely foreign concept to him (although I have showed him a couple of questions and he seems to understand them). We haven't started any sort of preparation yet, and I will be doing the tutoring myself. :shock: :cry:

I know only we can now our son, and whether he would suit GS...but to be honest he'd fit in anywhere (very sociable chap who plays a lot of sport), so it's a case of deciding whether it's worth a punt!

Any nuggets of wisdom would be much appreciated!

(To make it even more difficult we have a very good secondary school very close by whose results are on the up every year)
stroudydad
Posts: 2246
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:25 pm

Re: How Do You Know?

Post by stroudydad »

You have any CAT results yet? They are usually the best indicator, most schools do a Cat test at the start of year 5.
DC17C
Posts: 1197
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:34 pm

Re: How Do You Know?

Post by DC17C »

I would guess that level 3 at the end of KS1 would be an indicator and then likely be level 4 by end of yr 4. Reading wide selection of books and enjoying reading. School reports having positive comments perhaps indicating working level higher than expected for age. Some schools do NFER CATs at the start of year 5.Scores above 115 would typically suggest GS ability. These are all things that may be helpful in the case of an appeal.
stroudydad
Posts: 2246
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:25 pm

Re: How Do You Know?

Post by stroudydad »

MountainDweller wrote: The school won't comment if he would be suitable for the 11+ (or where he is in the class). They will say he is a 'bright lad', and we can suss out from interrogation of him and from some sneaky looking over the shoulder at parents evening he is top 6 in maths and English (class of 30). He has a tendency to day dream, but I suspect that is the fact he is very young.
This sound very like our DC's Primary, you aren't in Stroud are you?
MountainDweller
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 4:31 pm

Re: How Do You Know?

Post by MountainDweller »

Thank you both for the reply.

No one has mentioned CATs....I may pop into school and ask about them.

Nothing in the school reports about levels....so that's something I'll chase too.

I think he could do it, but not sure he has the commitment for it....I feel an electric cattle prod may be the way forward.

StroudyDad....Haha, yes, one of the outlying villages. The 'we don't pigeonhole children' consensus is starting to send me slightly mad!
steppemum
Posts: 480
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 9:27 am

Re: How Do You Know?

Post by steppemum »

The school will know his national curriculum levels. In our school they are sent home to parents. You should ask for them to tell you where he is.
As a guide, our ds has just passed 11+, he is year 6, he is just getting level 5. (started the year at level 4a) He is an avid reader, knows his times tables very well, and is in top group in the class, but in many ways isn't an academic type, and certainly not a Pates top 120 type.

One thing struck me from your post. You are talking about Verbal Reasoning, but the test in sept 2014 is not a VR test, it is being changed and they have not yet announced what the new test will be.

To be honest we have gone down this route because we don't feel the the local comps where we are really have that extra umph that gives kids the expectation and aspiration that they can achieve. We visited the only grammar accessible to us and just felt that as a school it would really suit ds.

Why don't you visit your local comp and grammar? We visited several schools in year 5 and it gave us a much better idea of what was out there. I am not convinced grammars are always the best, but I am convinced that a school that suits your ds is worth he effort.
cotswold43
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 10:30 am

Re: How Do You Know?

Post by cotswold43 »

I wouldn't worry too much about his age. We have a DD who is late August and just did very well in the tests - GS in 2014 of her choice. It's much more to do with how they are doing themselves at school. As others have said the tests are changing so it may well be more of an all round which quite frankly should help us all. The VR test can be quite restrictive on its own. The CAT test results should help. A discussion with their teacher/headteacher could also help. The grading if high 4 or 5 would indicate a GS position is very possible. Each grade is split into a number of subdivisions so it goes something like 4c, 4b, 4a, 5c, 5b, 5a, 6c etc... with 6c being higher than 5a. There are also + grades as under these are points scores. Anyway, I digress - talk to the school and see if you can find out the levels, that may help.

One final thing - when a child is young they can overreact to papers. Our DD didn't cope well with the harder 1st paper and it knocked her score down significantly (as I know it did many others). It may be my reading of the situation but other older children in her school didn't seem to be so fazed by this. For our next DC we'll be ensuring they know to jump the tough stuff and return, nothing worse than knowing your child didn't even get close to finishing - oh what might have been otherwise...
RedVelvet
Posts: 546
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 2:06 pm

Re: How Do You Know?

Post by RedVelvet »

I've recently asked about this, CATs in year 5 are no longer required in schools, our school no longer uses them. They did test VR, And NVR at the end of year 4 and this has given some guide for us.

We aren't given levels each year but are told if our child is in-line with/below/or above the level expected for their age.

You could have them assessed independently, when we had one once ran last year we went to see a well known tuition centre, they were very honest with where the children were academically. However your best bet is the schhol, just be careful how you word things...

Also there has been no formal announcement of the test changing yet, we're keeping our options open.
stroudydad
Posts: 2246
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:25 pm

Re: How Do You Know?

Post by stroudydad »

For our next DC we'll be ensuring they know to jump the tough stuff and return, nothing worse than knowing your child didn't even get close to finishing - oh what might have been otherwise...
IF the test changes to CEM this won't be relevant as each section is timed individually.
cotswold43
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 10:30 am

Re: How Do You Know?

Post by cotswold43 »

stroudydad wrote:
For our next DC we'll be ensuring they know to jump the tough stuff and return, nothing worse than knowing your child didn't even get close to finishing - oh what might have been otherwise...
IF the test changes to CEM this won't be relevant as each section is timed individually.
I think it still will. Unless you break down timing to an individual question or very small subset then there will always be more and less difficult questions within a test. The point I was making is that perhaps it's best to gain early confidence by doing the "easier" questions and then returning to the more difficult. Bird in the hand and all of that :)
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