How Bright?

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Lou82
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2015 8:40 pm

How Bright?

Post by Lou82 »

Hi all,

I'm a newbie to posting but have been lurking for a long time. Have been waiting until people received their results before posting. We will be hopefully taking exam next year.

My daughter is born on 31st August so is the very youngest in Year 5. She has always been gifted and talented at our local school and has always excelled in everything.

My question is... we live in a very inner city area (Stechford/Yardley) and my daughter goes to a large primary where only 10% achieve level 5 in Year 6. Basically, am I stupid to even follow this route for my child? We are not eligible for PP and I would DIY tutor. I am educated to degree level and really want to believe we could do this. My daughter absolutely fell in love with Handsworth girls at Open Evening this year and the local comp didn't even compare in her view.

Currently we are doing the CGP books for age 8-9 which she loves doing. But I basically wanted to know from those who have been successful if you think we can do it even from our lower achieving school? As my daughter is naturally bright... will that be enough with my input? Thanks in advance.
booellesmum
Posts: 611
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 7:44 am

Re: How Bright?

Post by booellesmum »

Hi, go for it. You have nothing to lose. My 2 are both August birthdays and made it to Scgsg - one by the skin of her teeth last year mind you, lol.
The 11+ bore little resemblance to what they were taught in school, even though went to a decent primary. If nothing else the practise will help for year 6 and SATs. Good luck.

Ps. Use this forum for help with what to practise. Speed is a major factor, and need to practise shading in answers on separate sheet and not getting out of sync!
Last edited by booellesmum on Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Turtlegirl
Posts: 521
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:54 pm

Re: How Bright?

Post by Turtlegirl »

Our school was also very low achieving. Inner city Sandwell. My daughter is now Year 10 at KEVIHS after scoring 221 in the exam and with a birthday on 1st August. Your daughter is definitely able to do it. I've seen other naturally bright kids from our school get grammar places without outside tuition. Go for it!
quasimodo
Posts: 3854
Joined: Sun Sep 07, 2014 2:47 pm

Re: How Bright?

Post by quasimodo »

Of course you can do it many others do up and down the country.You have won half the battle by having the ambition.You will never know until you try.Go for it :) :)
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

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

Re: How Bright?

Post by Petitpois »

Yes you can, but

There is a reason why 10% of kids at that school only get level 5, so look carefully at that and the myriad of reasons that are causing that. Your not in a bubble and the language being used everyday byDD's peers has to be fought against. My DD's come home regularly and ask is Dutty (slang for dirty a real word) or chimbley a correct way of say Chimney.

Whether you think I am a snob for raising that or not, I know of no bond tests or CEM tests that would look for antonyms or synonyms of these slang words, but they are the sort of stuff that DD is having to sift through every day. So teach them to aspire to correct English not the language of the street and love reading regardless of what peers want to do.

Not surprisingly DD gets called all sorts, because of a steadfast refusal to partake. Part of the journey though innit! :lol:

I would look now for a tutor especially for NVR.

Reading and vocab are key to success as is speed.

I personally liked bond + schofield and sims.

I would strongly recommend you do a bond placement test as soon as possible

Guard ferociously against parents and the kids who are only interested in a race to the bottom of the pile. They are out there.

Take great great care with any tutors, many are of them are mad, a few are brilliant
nervousmom
Posts: 1687
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:38 am
Location: Warwickshire

Re: How Bright?

Post by nervousmom »

Go for it, you have nothing to lose but everything to gain.

Reading is very important - I've just posted this on another thread

Read, read, read, then read some more.

Start her reading now. Keep a little note book to hand and get her to write in and words she comes across that she doesn't understand. When she's finished reading, look up the word/words in a dictionary and then get her to write a sentence using said words.

My daughter attended the Shirley based masterclass throughout year 5. Each week they were given a list of 5 words and their meanings to learn. After 8 weeks they were given a 'definitions' test based on these 40 words, so needed to know meaning and spelling. Overall there were approx 150 words she learnt. Not much in the scheme of things, but still extra words she didnt know before.

So maybe, with the words she writes down, you could collate them in the above way and test her on them occasionally.

Here are some of the books my daughter read over the last few months - sorry dont know authors on most of them!

Mallory Towers series - 6 books - Enid Blyton - plus a further 6 follow on books written by some else writing as Enid Blyton.
St Claire's series - Enid Blyton
Various Jaqueline Wilson books
Charlotte's Webb
The Borrowers
The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe - C S Lewis
The Secret Garden
Tom's Midnight Garden
Danny Champion of the World - Roald Dahl
Matilda - Roald Dahl

Other suggested books that she didnt get round to reading

Holes
Harry potter & the philosophers stone
Wind in the willows
Goodnight Mr Tom

Can't think of any more at the moment, but hopefully this will help.
Green Girl
Posts: 49
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 11:11 am

Re: How Bright?

Post by Green Girl »

Completely agree about the reading. I'd recommend that as well as her reading to herself and writing down vocab she doesn't understand that you read to her. When you read choose some more challenging books that she might struggle with on her own. This worked really well with my daughter in terms of improved comprehension and increasing vocab.
gingerly67
Posts: 69
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2015 8:45 pm

Re: How Bright?

Post by gingerly67 »

I would echo what the others have said: definitely go for it! I was extremely nervous at the start of year 5, knowing on the one hand that my son is naturally very bright but also that he attends a very average state primary where he sticks out a bit for being 'geeky'. I'd heard such horror stories about average-ability kids being 'overtutored' and 'elbowing out' brighter kids. I'm self-employed, not well off and certainly couldn't afford a tutor! But I am well educated and my son was keen to work towards the test. I can honestly say we both really enjoyed the prep work (around half an hour most days thr'out Y5) - it was 'me and him' time and I found little and often worked really well. I found the CGP CEM books and Schofield and Sims progress papers (English and Maths) brilliant and just challenging enough, and really appreciated the brilliant advice on this forum, especially re. vocabulary learning, which is the key to doing well in the test. From April onwards we worked on speed (or slowing down in order to avoid careless mistakes...) which is the other crucial skill. It does take time away from your other home responsibilities (and in my case freelance work - feeling poorer than ever now!) but was definitely worth it in terms of the progress he made during the year and the end result which was a high score in the Warks test and a place at his preferred grammar school.
ABJ
Posts: 65
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2015 8:54 am

Re: How Bright?

Post by ABJ »

If you really want to give your dc fairer chance you will have to provide her all the right gears...
All those who recommend you for diy or says 11+ exam is non - tutoring free is nothing but a complete misleading statement.

There was an article in Birmingham Mail couple of years back stating half the entrants were from prep schools, others good lots from good comps in the city but majority of them are heavily tutored.
Just few cases on this forums who keep boasting that their Dc got 300000 marks in exams by just reading books and following their diy skills take their advise with a pinch of salt.

You don't want sitting next year with the result in hand and thinking wish you had given your Dc all the necessary outside support.
Unless you are a teacher yourself and know exactly how cem works and got the experience of past cem papers honestly speaking you are taking a chance.
Good luck !!!
Lou82
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2015 8:40 pm

Re: How Bright?

Post by Lou82 »

Thanks for all the replies so far... can't believe how many people read and replied already!

I have bee told by many that we wont stand a chance without a tutor. I do pay for extra curricular activities so am not majorly adverse to tutoring, but was hoping not to go down this route. Yes, we are not well off and so could do without it, and I do really enjoy sitting with my child and going through all the things we need to learn.

My daughter absolutely loves the NVR activities as these are new to her and is so enthusiastic about them. She would do this all of our study time if she could!

My main worry is that we are punching above our weight. I run a children's sports club which hosts many children from Sutton and surrounding areas, some of which are independent school attendees... their results this week have been very high, 250+ which has increased my doubts. After speaking to these parents though they have assured me that although their children were tutored, they did most of the work themselves at home.
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