King Edwards - 2015 CEM lessons learned

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Petitpois
Posts: 1440
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:44 am

King Edwards - 2015 CEM lessons learned

Post by Petitpois »

1) Find the right level - we did stuff well beyond Y5 curriculum, but probably a waste of time.
2) Speed and ability to think under time pressure is critical and is entirely tutor-able. Do not forget this.
3) Do not listen to Bozo teachers in state schools. In fact don't even both telling them what your doing.
4) Re 3, bear in mind most state schools will not help. If you have an able child they won't stretch and challenge.
5) Do not listen to other Bozo teachers claiming that hot housing kids will not do any good. They should fess up and ask why it is that that many independent schools have 50%+ success rates at entrance to GS whilst many state schools barely register 1 or 2. Why??? Fundamentally un-democratic and unjust. The lip service job of lowering scores for pupil premium kids, do not do for me. I prefer a level playing field, but tell what is expected and give us a decent chance against those with more economic and cultural capital to hand.
6) Do listen very very carefully to your child, they have to want to do it!
7) Assess your child carefully. MY 1st DC had a great Y2 teacher and thus was fully able to do timetables 1-12 by end of year 2.
8) Same school, Different teacher with our current Y4 daughter - oh don't worry Dear Parent - they only need to be able to do 2,5,10 etc by end of Y3. Listen to than rubbish and your setting your child up to fail. My current year 4 DD still cannot do all timetables yet (has to think about 7 and 9). ****** disgrace - we have a plan in place to address, but this is the basis of so much else that if you find yourself in this position take responsibility yourself and get it sorted.
9) Year four teacher scared living day lights out of our child with threats about reading. Spoke to Head who said she would do some professional development. Spoke to another parent at Handsworth on Saturday and she said her daughter had same teacher in Y5 and they had spent all of last year with complaints and problems. Nothing like leaving incompetent teachers in place to wreck kids chances eh!!
10) Better still - Teaching assistant at same school, overhears my DD and friend discussing 11+ and tells them all to not bother as they have no chance, because kids from this school never pass - :evil: - just gob smacking
11) Don't underestimate the impact of other kids. She said to me that the other kids would call her lame for winning a medal at maths. In contrast, her cousins who attended Prestigious GS in North West, could not get their heads around that. That would have been applauded and aspired to at their Private 7-11 school.

Overall if your in a state school, Keep quiet. Focus on what you need to and play the system (and hope)

Top five things to do

1) Regular (weekly timed tests)
2) Read Read Read some more. Intensively From start of year 4.
3) Build up speed
4) Go through exam technique
5) Don't listen to so much of the nonsense out there.

Felt so sad on Saturday that approx 9 out of 10 of the parents - would be looking at plan B in a few weeks time.

Is it overly political to just want a good state school, where I know my kids have a better than 50% chance of getting five good GCSE's and I don't have to pay a fortune for a property near by or take the lottery of the 11+

As with so many other parents - if I could have got her through I would have loved it, just frustrated that despite some pretty hard effort, there have been so many other tangible and intangible barriers, that just would not have hindered her if I had the resources to send to private school.
WindowGlass
Posts: 163
Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2013 12:59 pm
Location: West Midlands

Re: King Edwards - 2015 CEM lessons learned

Post by WindowGlass »

A pretty good post I thought.
sbarnes
Posts: 583
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:30 pm

Re: King Edwards - 2015 CEM lessons learned

Post by sbarnes »

brings back memories from 4 or 5 years ago...its all a blur now. roll on gcse's

Can agree more; teachers and schools don't give 2 hoots about 11+ exams; no help or preparation or even a good luck with the exams little Johnny, why is that?
Bob1892
Posts: 1186
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2013 10:14 am

Re: King Edwards - 2015 CEM lessons learned

Post by Bob1892 »

Petitpois wrote:1) Find the right level - we did stuff well beyond Y5 curriculum, but probably a waste of time.
2) Speed and ability to think under time pressure is critical and is entirely tutor-able. Do not forget this.
3) Do not listen to Bozo teachers in state schools. In fact don't even both telling them what your doing.
4) Re 3, bear in mind most state schools will not help. If you have an able child they won't stretch and challenge.
5) Do not listen to other Bozo teachers claiming that hot housing kids will not do any good. They should fess up and ask why it is that that many independent schools have 50%+ success rates at entrance to GS whilst many state schools barely register 1 or 2. Why??? Fundamentally un-democratic and unjust. The lip service job of lowering scores for pupil premium kids, do not do for me. I prefer a level playing field, but tell what is expected and give us a decent chance against those with more economic and cultural capital to hand.
6) Do listen very very carefully to your child, they have to want to do it!
7) Assess your child carefully. MY 1st DC had a great Y2 teacher and thus was fully able to do timetables 1-12 by end of year 2.
8) Same school, Different teacher with our current Y4 daughter - oh don't worry Dear Parent - they only need to be able to do 2,5,10 etc by end of Y3. Listen to than rubbish and your setting your child up to fail. My current year 4 DD still cannot do all timetables yet (has to think about 7 and 9). ****** disgrace - we have a plan in place to address, but this is the basis of so much else that if you find yourself in this position take responsibility yourself and get it sorted.
9) Year four teacher scared living day lights out of our child with threats about reading. Spoke to Head who said she would do some professional development. Spoke to another parent at Handsworth on Saturday and she said her daughter had same teacher in Y5 and they had spent all of last year with complaints and problems. Nothing like leaving incompetent teachers in place to wreck kids chances eh!!
10) Better still - Teaching assistant at same school, overhears my DD and friend discussing 11+ and tells them all to not bother as they have no chance, because kids from this school never pass - :evil: - just gob smacking
11) Don't underestimate the impact of other kids. She said to me that the other kids would call her lame for winning a medal at maths. In contrast, her cousins who attended Prestigious GS in North West, could not get their heads around that. That would have been applauded and aspired to at their Private 7-11 school.

Overall if your in a state school, Keep quiet. Focus on what you need to and play the system (and hope)

Top five things to do

1) Regular (weekly timed tests)
2) Read Read Read some more. Intensively From start of year 4.
3) Build up speed
4) Go through exam technique
5) Don't listen to so much of the nonsense out there.

Felt so sad on Saturday that approx 9 out of 10 of the parents - would be looking at plan B in a few weeks time.

Is it overly political to just want a good state school, where I know my kids have a better than 50% chance of getting five good GCSE's and I don't have to pay a fortune for a property near by or take the lottery of the 11+

As with so many other parents - if I could have got her through I would have loved it, just frustrated that despite some pretty hard effort, there have been so many other tangible and intangible barriers, that just would not have hindered her if I had the resources to send to private school.
If you've gone by this then your dc has great chance - your strategy is what only 20% of the cohort would have done.
What school are you aiming for if you don't mind me asking?
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: King Edwards - 2015 CEM lessons learned

Post by kenyancowgirl »

Actually, I find this post extremely offensive. I am going to stand up for the Guest55s of this world and all the other remarkable teachers out there. And most are far from Bozo. I admire the amount of political red tape they have to contend with every day - and parents who think it is acceptable to be rude, regardless of how hard they work. I am going to try and put a bit of balance to this thread.

As a post that assumes it is providing wisdom to future generations, I think you need to check yourself. You are un-necessarily rude and offensive to state school teachers - don't forget, GS are state schools too, and most of them are lauded by the majority of parents- and not all primary school teachers are as bad as you are making out. I do find that teachers are humans, though, and tend to relate to parents in the way they are treated themselves. Be polite and friendly, even when making a complaint and I find they treat you the same way back. Certainly, in the 4 years that I was involved (not as a teacher) in a local state school, without exception, the children that were identified, before the 11+, as being the ones the staff felt were most likely to get a place at GS, did. No surprises - good staff do know the level of child required - often parents kid themselves as to the ability of their children and put unnecessary pressure on them - yes they may get in to a particular school, but are they going to have the enjoyable and fruitful education experience, or will they always be struggling to keep up? Time will tell. You certainly don't need to do weekly timed tests, or necessarily work intensively - unless your child is really very behind, or of lower ability - at which point there may be more appropriate schools to target.

This post implies that independent schools are the bees knees - that is simply untrue - there are good bad and indifferent ones - to presume otherwise is mis-information.

Oh, and another of my pet hates....you're ("you are", as in "if you're in a state school"), your ("belonging to you", as in "your car"). Grammar is so very important, I'm sure you would agree.
Happyface
Posts: 73
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:06 am

Re: King Edwards - 2015 CEM lessons learned

Post by Happyface »

A big majority of state schools r very good at 1 thing: putting all their efforts into wasting kids precious academic time; no individual attention & how best to keep behind. no, they don't do it on purpose, but that's exactly they end up doing!! No progress!!! useless feedback to parents: they can very comfortably tell a parent (not me btw) that your child hasn't moved from a level for last 2 terms.
EXCUSE me!! I think it's your (school's) job to make sure that EVERY child get the opportunity to progress as every single child has this right on their school.

cross posted
Bob1892
Posts: 1186
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2013 10:14 am

Re: King Edwards - 2015 CEM lessons learned

Post by Bob1892 »

kenyancowgirl wrote:Actually, I find this post extremely offensive. I am going to stand up for the Guest55s of this world and all the other remarkable teachers out there. And most are far from Bozo. I admire the amount of political red tape they have to contend with every day - and parents who think it is acceptable to be rude, regardless of how hard they work. I am going to try and put a bit of balance to this thread.

As a post that assumes it is providing wisdom to future generations, I think you need to check yourself. You are un-necessarily rude and offensive to state school teachers - don't forget, GS are state schools too, and most of them are lauded by the majority of parents- and not all primary school teachers are as bad as you are making out. I do find that teachers are humans, though, and tend to relate to parents in the way they are treated themselves. Be polite and friendly, even when making a complaint and I find they treat you the same way back. Certainly, in the 4 years that I was involved (not as a teacher) in a local state school, without exception, the children that were identified, before the 11+, as being the ones the staff felt were most likely to get a place at GS, did. No surprises - good staff do know the level of child required - often parents kid themselves as to the ability of their children and put unnecessary pressure on them - yes they may get in to a particular school, but are they going to have the enjoyable and fruitful education experience, or will they always be struggling to keep up? Time will tell. You certainly don't need to do weekly timed tests, or necessarily work intensively - unless your child is really very behind, or of lower ability - at which point there may be more appropriate schools to target.

This post implies that independent schools are the bees knees - that is simply untrue - there are good bad and indifferent ones - to presume otherwise is mis-information.

Oh, and another of my pet hates....you're ("you are", as in "if you're in a state school"), your ("belonging to you", as in "your car"). Grammar is so very important, I'm sure you would agree.
Oh dear, I hope I haven't offended you kcg! :shock:
MSD
Posts: 1731
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:08 pm

Re: King Edwards - 2015 CEM lessons learned

Post by MSD »

CowGirl - The purpose of this forum is allow posters to express their views freely without people judging them. You seem to be finding everything offensive! And are you here to judge parents on their grammar skills?

Let me tell you both my sons attended a state school primary and I personally thought the majority of teachers were useless and didn't have a clue. Both of them were in the top set top table but no thanks to the school - it was down to us putting the hours in. And that is the truth - there are some excellent teachers around but you will also find some absolutely useless ones.

MSD
Petitpois
Posts: 1440
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:44 am

Re: King Edwards - 2015 CEM lessons learned

Post by Petitpois »

My DD cousin scored 9 A* and 1 AS level this summer. Probably in the top 3% of all kids taking GCSE's this summer. These were achieved at State Grammar.

The private 7-11 school she attended fully supported the 11+ and worked tirelessly to ensure she passed.

We made a bad judgement call and hit many barriers. I hope that is enough to show regardless of state or private if you get good teachers and follow the right strategy success will come.

We made wrong call, and have been fighting an up hill battle since.

I would have much rather known in advance what I was up against, rather than fighting through over the last 18 months. I implore CEM to publish past papers and give examples of what is required, to level the playing field.

Do I believe in selection? yes. Do I mind losing a fair contest? no. Is it a level playing field? no. I don't mind it not being level, just give me the info and tools to give me a fair crack at levelling.
Midlandsmom
Posts: 275
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:25 pm

Re: King Edwards - 2015 CEM lessons learned

Post by Midlandsmom »

I can't quite make my mind up what I think about this. Apart from that it seems so sad that your experiences of state primary seems to be very negative. I am not the easiest person to please, but can honestly say that I love my childrens' state primary, teachers, management, level of support and challenge, and maybe we were just lucky (or chose well) but even had an offer of support with any tutoring homework in school time by the class teacher. I hope your child does well in the exam. Bizarrely, in an ideal world I would consider myself to be 'against' selective education, but agree that all things are not equal and as parents we all just try to do our best for our own children.
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