The 11 Plus Exam Blog

Eleven Plus Worries

2008-05-16T20:39:00.001Z

It is sometime rather disturbing to hear an adult tell a child, who is about a take an examination, not to worry. Children do have worries. Very few of our Eleven Plus children will be able to approach the examination without some concerns.

Lots of children are told: “Don’t worry; you can only do your best.” It may be far more useful to the child to be given some help in controlling their worries.

Encourage the Eleven Plus child to talk about the worries that are `in the mind’.

Adults can’t brush the worries aside because they are very real to a child. We have to try to listen and understand.

Simply be aware of your child as the examination approaches. You will need to pay attention if anything out of the ordinary happens more regularly. If your child has the occasional headache, for example, then you will need to stay alert - but not over-react. If the headaches persist, or recur regularly, then you have had a warning sign.

One thing that we can be certain about is that too much of the same can lead to boredom. If you offer too many papers that are similar you could inadvertently be guiding your child towards switching off. If you go on and on about the virtues of passing the Eleven Plus then you could be triggering a worry attack.

Lots of friends, family, exercise and a healthy diet must help. Above all don’t demand that your child takes on your own concerns about the future.

House Prices and the Eleven Plus

2008-05-15T16:58:00.001Z

There was a lot of traffic today on the River Thames. Our offices are in a modern industrial park overlooking the Thames.

Back in 1086 Gravesend was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The Domesday Book is a fundamental part of English heritage – and is unique in mediaeval history.

The book was a record of a key period in England’s history. It was recorded by careful lettering by eleventh century scribes.

It was written in an abbreviated form of Latin.

ST KEW. 5h but it paid tax for 2h. Land for 22 ploughs, 8 slaves, 59 villages and 26 smallholders with 20 ploughs & 4h. Formally 60s; value now 40s.

It looks as if all those years ago men and women were struggling with the tax man. It does appear that the value of the estate was somewhat diminished – having dropped from 60s to 40s. The gloom and doom of today’s house price and land fluctuations had roots a long time ago!

I am sure that having access to the records would intrigue and stretch our present day Eleven Plus children.

Today’s Eleven Plus children could be asked: Place the following in order of value to society:

Ipod, television, braces on the teeth or a mobile phone

In the time of the Domesday Book a child could have been asked to place the following in order of value.

Corn fed pig, beehive, wheat or fish.

Instead of answering a collection of trumped up and (sometimes) rather point less questions, surely the Eleven Plus should be demanding thoughtful answers from our children?

Question 1

Under what circumstances can a man owe tax on 5h but only actually pay for 2h? (Off shore funds?)

Question 2

When and why is it justified to keep slaves?

Question 3

If the price of our house and land drops by 50%, who should be to blame?

Fifty Years of the Eleven Plus

2008-05-14T19:04:00.000Z

We live in an age of unprecedented change.

The Eleven Plus examinations were conceived over fifty years ago. The questions must have changed – but the answers have probably stayed the same. It is now time for parents to band together and demand a style of Eleven Plus examination that takes into account the present and the future.

After the war there were mobile laundries. Grateful housewives carried their laundry out in baskets and delivered them to the touring wash house. Today we have automatic washing and spin drying machines that can deliver a non iron shirt in minutes.

Some women were still wearing their hair in a `Vingle’. This was a special hairstyle developed during the war so that women could wear their hair short. There were four V shaped partings – hence the V-ingle. Today a Vingle is to do with the Virtual world and Mingling. In other words online dating: “Fancy a little Vingling?”

Then there were classes of fifty children – with one dedicated teacher in charge. The whole class were taught at the same speed – but we must surmise that the children learnt at different speeds. Fifty years on the wheel is turning a full circle. The new Academies are returning to large classes taught by a `Super Teacher’. A Super Teacher is a teacher with the sole job of preparing inspiring lessons and delivering them to receptive children.

To pass the current Eleven Plus children still need to:

Learn their tables
Read enlightening books
Work through examples
Listen to advice from parents.

Today’s children have extra weapons to help them fight the `Eleven Plus Fight’:

The internet
Mobile technology
Downloadable papers
Ninety six television channels
Access to holidays all over the world.

Some problems must still be the same:

Some children will not read willingly
Some parents will still: “Hope for the best.”
The examination comes too early for some and too late for others
Some papers are hard and some appear to be easy.

Some questions from mothers to children will always be the same:

“How was it today?”
“Did you remember to check your work over?”
“How did the other children in your class find the papers?”
“Did your teacher say anything about the examination?”

We need to ask parents with children approaching the Eleven Plus years three or four key questions:

Is there time for a change in the format of the Eleven Plus?

What would you like to include in the examination?

Should parents have a say in the content of the examination or should parents `leave it to the experts’?

Eleven Plus Rewards and Punishments

2008-05-13T19:26:00.000Z

Way back in 1911 Thorndike stated his `Law of Effect’. In this law he argued that if you keep saying no then it was likely that value of `no’ was diminished. A child or an adult would little by little eliminate the negative effect of no.

He also stated that a positive `spin’ on events would in turn become satisfiers or reinforcers.

We are now in 2008. How much can we believe his ideas?

If we look at young offenders and prison then we know that while a custodial sentence does tend to stop a person repeating the same crime – but it does not necessarily turn a person away from crime.

The great Thorndike would have loved the present Eleven Plus arguments.

Argument One – How we mark

We have teachers who persist in putting a cross beside answers that are incorrect. Other teachers only mark the correct work. They never every put a cross on any work. If something is wrong, the correct answer is written beside the mistake and then explained in detail.

Should a parent, when marking an Eleven Plus paper, just mark the correct answers?

Argument Two – Following up a paper

Your child has just completed an Eleven Plus paper – under pressure and under a time limit – and you want to mark the work.

Should you go through the paper example by example – directly after your child has completes the paper?

Should you mark enough of the paper to establish one or two errors and then go through those – while your child could still be a little fatigued?

Argument Three – The Level of the work

Should you start with easy work and build up in little steps so that your child feels good and positive about the Eleven Plus?

Should you mix easy work with challenging work to try to keep stimulating and provoking?

Argument Four – To Enter or not to Enter

The school have said that your child is not Eleven Plus material. Should you enter to `Give your child a chance’, or should you try to find the best available local school?

In the whole discussion parents and teachers today are almost universally united about how to deal with undesirable behaviour: “Oh! Leave it out!”

To some children working on an Eleven Plus course must, at times, be a frustrating and unpleasant experience. The same work to other children would, in turn, be a delight and a highly satisfactory experience.

Some verbal reasoning questions involve work on antonyms. Is then the opposite of reward a punishment, or are there several shades of grey?

Eleven PLus Imitation

2008-05-12T17:56:00.001Z

We often hear the words: “He walks just like his father.”

Picture the scene. The family is walking down to the beach. All the family are carrying light ruck sacks. The sun is shining. There is a light breeze. The family are trudging through the dunes. Dad is in front. He is leaning slightly forward while his arms are behind his back. The favoured `Eleven Plus’ son is walking behind his father. “Like father, like son.” The son is also leaning forward, with his hands behind his back.

We expect a child to learn from parents. Parents with lots of book in the house are more likely to develop a child who loves reading – but this is not always the case. Some mothers will report that they never read unless they are on holiday. “I am just too busy to read.” Some children don’t like the idea of reading when they are on holiday.

We often reward children for imitating good behaviour. We are much less sympathetic with less fortunate children who do not have good role models. A teacher would be able to describe a good class at school as a group of children who all follow the class leader and try to produce good work.

We don’t expect adults to imitate their contemporaries. We expect an adult to be self reliant and demonstrate independent judgement. Some of our Eleven Plus children have the ability to think for themselves. Some would be genuinely surprised to hear that they walked in a similar fashion to their father.

If you want your child to be independent – then allow some freedom.

If you want your child to read – then ….

Time for the Eleven Plus

2008-05-11T18:01:00.003Z

Dear Mum

One of my friends asked me at school on Friday why I wanted to do the Eleven Plus examinations. All of my friends are going bowling on Saturday morning. I know I have to do my Eleven Plus work. I started wondering why I wanted to do the Eleven Plus. I know that you and Dad really want me to pass – but sometimes I am not so sure.

Your son

William

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Dear William

We want you to do as well as you can. For the rest of your life you will find that there are advantages in passing the Eleven Plus examination.

1. You will be able to say that you passed the Eleven Plus. This means that you were able to do better than other children of your age in a competitive examination.

2. You will be able to win a place in a grammar school. Grammar school boys usually do well in examinations and should be able to win places in good universities.

3. You will be able to study in a pleasant atmosphere. The other boys will want to study. There should be very little messing around in the classroom.

Just keep doing your best. There is plenty of time for bowling.

Love Mum

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Dear Mum

1. I know you are right. I really like doing the Eleven Plus work when I am sitting doing the work. I just don’t like to have to give up time when my friends are having fun.

2. The books and papers we are doing are boring. They are all the same. I just keep doing verbal reasoning and non verbal reasoning papers. I wish I could do something else.

Your son

William

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Dear Son

There are some disadvantages to the Eleven Plus.

1. You will leave a good many of your friends behind. I know you will make new friends in the grammar school, but the boys you grew up with will be your friends for ever.

2. You may prefer to be top of the `other’ school rather than have to keep working hard at grammar.

3. The grammar school you want to go to does not play football. They only play rugby. You will have to play your football out of school.

Your Dad

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Dear Dad

Thank you very much. I don’t really believe everything you have said. But thank you for trying. I know that you really do want me to go to grammar and you were only trying to be fair.

I will tell my friends that I can go almost any time except on a Saturday morning.

Thanks Mum. Thanks Dad.

Your son

William.

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Stimulating Eleven Plus Work

2008-05-10T20:25:00.001Z

Years ago scientists discovered how to affect behaviour.

The scientists found that they could stimulate a part of an animal’s brain with a weak electric current. It would have caused a big outcry all those years ago if the electrodes had been attached to the child’s brain.

The hypothesis was that an animal could stimulate itself by pressing a lever. Rats, cats and monkeys all learnt to press a bar for instant gratification. The current went into the hypothalamus – and, in time, the animals preferred to press the lever than eat.

It might make it easier for some parents if they had access to an `Eleven Plus Lever’. We don’t want the lever to be pressed all the time – only when work is to be done.

I am sure some highly enterprising person will come up with the carefully named `Eleven Plus Work Machine’. It will be sold only through the internet – and delivery will be guaranteed within two weeks.

Image the excitement. The parcel arrives through the front door. The whole family gather round to watch the unwrapping and assembly. (It only needs batteries. Really easy!)

The proud Eleven Plus child places his or her hand on the lever.

The lights are lowered,

The family fall silent.

Mum proudly opens the Eleven Plus Verbal Reasoning paper to the right place.

Everyone takes a deep breath.

The question is read,

The lever is pressed.

Anxious looks flash round the room.

The answer is selected.

The hypothalamus throbs.

Loud cheers engulf the candidate.

Mum leans to dad: “Best money we every spent.”

Another satisfied customer!

On Monday the teacher asks: “What is that on the side of your head?”

Eleven Plus Courses

2008-05-09T20:57:00.001Z

Parents encounter a wide variety of choices in their lives. How they prepare their child for the Eleven Plus must count alongside moving house as being a highly stressful series of events.

Some parents will want their child to be prepared in a series of small steps – getting everything right and being rewarded with considerable positive feedback.

Other parents will want the much vaunted rifle shot approach. Here the problem is identified and the solution is supplied.

Some will want the shot gun to be used. This is lots of little pellets of information flung at their child in the hope that some of it sticks.

There could even be parents who would advocate a dart of information being thrown at their child. Here it would be `nice’ if a treble 20 could be thrown – but a dart any where on the board would be a bonus.

It may be a chastening experience for some teachers and parents if children could be empowered to write their own criteria for a good and fair Eleven Plus examination.

Children, especially eleven year olds, may opt for an Eleven Plus course with a heavy emphasis on how to conduct an argument.

Other children may opt for problem solving to be an integral part of the course. Some eleven plus exercises have nothing at all to do with solving a problem.

I wonder if some children would vote for a system where parents were sent on a `Pre Eleven Plus Course’ where the adults involved in the preparation were guided through a `Managing Change’ course. Part of `Managing Change’ would need to be full appreciation of the social dynamics of the effect of Eleven Plus preparation has on the whole family.

Eleven Plus Potential

2008-05-08T18:52:00.001Z

When parents are working with their children towards the Eleven Plus they are striving to try to deliver true potential.

They hope that the Eleven Plus material will be carefully selected and well structured. They also hope that their child will receive attention directed towards specific difficulties.

To deliver a cheerful, interested and enthusiastic child on the day of the examination, parents will need to be knowledgeable, committed and ambitious.

If parents use boring and repetitive material they run the risk of reinforcing that study needs to be boring and repetitive. Parents will want their child to prepare for examinations at his or her own pace. Some children, however, will react to boring exercises by rushing through the work. Others will drag the work out until the work is distinguished by a pace that is undeniably slow and undemanding.

If the Eleven Plus child is sometimes un-cooperative then a penalty may be regarded as rank injustice. Some parents may be inclined to listen and wait for a different occasion. An unwilling child may not feel like showing `true potential’.

Language and the Eleven Plus

2008-05-07T21:23:00.001Z

It must be very difficult for a bright and able child to do well in the Eleven Plus examinations if there is a problem with language skills.

Parents have to be able to communicate with their children regarding thoughts and ideas as well as life in general, their behaviour, relationships and general daily occurrences. This broad tapestry involves language and communication. In addition to this parents have to supply specific help with Eleven Plus work.

Teachers or tutors need to be able to teach specialised Eleven Plus topics, much of this enrichment and extension work demands a high level of language skills.

Working through Eleven Plus papers must be demanding and frustrating to the bright child with poor language skills.

Try teaching your Eleven Plus child a new and different type of non verbal reasoning exercise – without the use of words. In other words conduct the lesson with no verbal clues. You would also need to avoid grunts and groans.

Developing a series of simple lists can help some parents to assist their child with acquiring language skills.

There was once an old fashioned way of teaching vocabulary – this is the list of ten words in a little book. The words have to be checked in a dictionary, learnt and then applied in a sentence. Boring, boring!

Parents can make lists for themselves. Develop a selection of alternative words and phrases that you could use in everyday life with your child.

The problem is that making lists of rules and key words may not be the quickest and most effective method of helping a child. Progress will be through a combination of encouraging reading, engaging your child in stimulating conversation, supporting work done at school and at home, being realistic about expectations – as well as trying to develop language skills.

11+ Questions

2008-05-06T21:01:00.001Z

When you and your child approach a verbal reasoning paper you should be able to share a whole range of strategies. We sometimes meet questions like this:

April, Beatrice, Candice, Daisy and Elizabeth are all in the same class at school. April and Elizabeth are tall. Candice, Daisy and Elizabeth love mathematics. The others do not love mathematics. April and Candice prefer art – but the others like music.

Which of the tall girls love mathematics?

Your child may first try some form of simultaneous scanning – this is where the question is read and re-read - and then one idea after the other is tried systematically.

“Oh yes, I remember we did this last week. We had a similar question. I drew a table.”

Your child could remember how the two of you worked through a similar problem and then go on to try to apply a similar set of rules.

A different approach could be a form of successive scanning. Here your child comes up with one theory after another.

“There are only two tall girls so it must be either April or Elizabeth.”

A third type of approach is where you try to train your child to focus on the question and change one variable at a time. Your child may come up with a similar answer – but the route to the solution would be very different to the two types mentioned earlier,

Finally there is the gambler. This is the child who holds onto two different ideas and tries to follow both lines of thought simultaneously.

It is likely that at one time or another, during the approach to the Eleven Plus, you and your child will adopt one or more of these four strategies in solving some of the more complex eleven plus questions.

Eleven Plus Skills

2008-05-05T20:47:00.001Z

You answered those questions very skilfully.”

These words suggest that a good level of performance has been reached

“That is an important skill that you have acquired.”

. The word skill in this context suggests a high level of competence.

To learn to pass a driving test we need to develop a series of skills that build up towards competence as a driver. At the end of test the driving examiner could say: “You drove skilfully. Sign here for your licence.”

In order to pass the Eleven Plus your child will need to learn a set of new skills. Some of the skills will be acquired through step by step effort. This could be, for example, learning to work through code questions in verbal reasoning. To answer code questions skilfully in the actual examination your child will need to feel confident about a range of code questions.

You know when your child has reached this level – because that is when everything looks easy. A faint smile will appear on your child’s face. The working out of the codes will be done smoothly and confidently.

Parents often worry about the passing of time in an Eleven Plus examination. When your child is working skilfully then he or she may give the impression of being unhurried and totally in command.

It takes a lot of skill on the part of parent to speak pleasantly to their child when there is concern about the amount of work that needs to be done before an examination. It is so easy to deliver a lecture on the need to do well and go to a good school. It is also easy to feel frustrated when you think that you have a valid point of view – and your child persists in arguing.

If there is a vigorous and heated exchange of ideas between you and your child the words you would really like to hear are: “You handled that skilfully. Well done.” (Even mums and dads need some praise every now and then.)

Learning to Pass the Eleven Plus.

2008-05-04T18:53:00.001Z

I wonder just how much learning actually takes place in the Eleven Plus year. By the time a child has reached 10 years old a lot of learning will have taken place outside of school.

A child will learn to walk and talk without the benefit of trained teachers. (Unless his or her parents were teachers.)

At some stage parents will do their best to prepare their child to learn to ride a bike without the benefit of stabilisers. Some parents will simply pick up a spanner and remove the stabilisers – and then encourage the child to try to ride. Other parents will hold the saddle and run behind their child. And a still different set of parents will wait until their child is ready to learn to ride without the benefit of stabilisers.

As a child approaches the Eleven Plus examinations his or her learning of mathematics is a mosaic of little bits learnt at home and at school. Some of the mathematics will have been learnt almost incidentally. Other processes in mathematics will have been learnt `at the mother’s knee’. At school a teacher will have taught a largely planned set of lessons aimed at the child acquiring knowledge.

Yesterday I worked with a bright ten year old Year 5 girl who was learning to divide fractions. She picked up the need to change the sign and invert the fraction. She understood the need to change any mixed number to an improper fraction. She hesitated, however, over cancelling with the fractions – instead of simply multiply the numerators and denominators and then bringing the answer to lowest terms.

There is little likelihood of a question on division of fraction with mixed numbers appearing in an Eleven Plus paper. Our girl had completed a few revision examples on multiplication of fractions, she then read through the division of fractions examples and tried to put the information she had acquired into practice.

In this case learning was the interaction between the child and the learning tools she had available to her. We added a different element when we marked her answers – and then started showing her where she had gone wrong. In reflection she may have remembered how to do division of fractions better if we had not intervened.

Some children will learn best by sitting in a `verbal reasoning group’, listening to the teacher. Other children will benefit most from a `one to one’ tutorial session and yet other children race ahead when they are working with their parents. We can, however, wonder if the children exposed to `rote learning’ will be able to solve problems as confidently in the actual examination.

A few years ago I worked with a pair of twins who could have passed the Eleven Plus examination a year early. They had `learned’ everything they needed to know – so our task was to try to stretch and develop them. The girls revelled in complex questions. They didn’t compete with each other and they were extraordinarily modest. I am not sure what they learned in the actual Eleven Plus year – but they did demonstrate an extraordinary ability to absorb new information.

In the Eleven Plus a pass is a pass. Is there a case for A* passes?

Just Before the Eleven Plus

2008-05-03T14:48:00.003Z

There was a famous ruling by the Court of Appeal in 1914 in Rex v. Hulton, 1914. The case was about how a phrase or literary competition could be considered a contest of skill.

A series of set phrases were given by the editors of the major newspapers of the time. The contestants had to think of an art remark, phrase or expression.

Some examples follow:

Way to talk …………….. away with talk

On Sundays …………… pot the roast.

The suggestions on how to do well in were published. Some suggestions include:

• Studying winning lines from various competitions

• Keeping away from obvious answers

• Print answers if the handwriting is not neat.

• If a word or phase has a double meaning – then enclose the words in inverted commas.

• Underline or mark words that should be used for emphasis.

My wife …………… She can’t contradict that.

• Use your dictionary for phrase-making. Take the chief word and look up possible synonyms.

Useful ideas like these may have been the forerunner instruction that parents offer their children just before the Eleven Plus examinations.

When you attempting multiple choice papers:

Eliminate the obviously incorrect answers

Work neatly and carefully

Be careful that you read the question – and answer what you have asked to answer – nout what you think should be in the question.

Avoid humour in your answers – the examiner may not think it as funny as you do.

Above all don’t try to be smart and snappy in your answers. Stick to the task.

Eleven Plus Vocabulary

2008-05-02T18:40:00.001Z

Ask any Eleven Plus child about these words – and admire the acquisition of their new vocabulary.

Broadband
Fibre Optic Cable
Cyberspace
Spam
Phlishing
Virus
Worms
Spyware
Botnet
Firewall
Anti-virus
Pop-up Blocker
Privacy manager

Back in 1439 Gutenberg developed his printing press – and this led to books and a whole different method of communication. Educated people must have fallen with pleasure on the books and very quickly come up with a whole new vocabulary.

Illustrations
Back Cover
Frontispiece
Binding
Printing Press
Contents
Paper

These words are now so much part of our daily life that we accept these words without question.

There is another collection of terms that has emerged as the years have gone by:

Ed (Editor)
Dj (Dust Jacket)
Op (Out of Print)

An Eleven Plus exercise could contain words like binding, contents, illustrations.

Many parents, however, would consider it to be unfair; however, to include words like firewall, phlishing and botnet in an Eleven Plus exercise.

I wonder if one day we will see an exercise like:

Group these words into the correct category:

Contents, Dj, worms, binding, cyber space and Op.

The Eleven Plus and University

2008-05-01T16:56:00.002Z

How do children think of these things?

I was peacefully passing a bright eleven year old when she asked me why the angles at the centre of a rhombus met at a right angle.

She had drawn two different kites and she said that they did not `look’ as if the angles at the centre of the rhombus met at a true right angle.

To tell the truth I did not really know. The only thing I could think of was that we could possibly use Pythagoras to find the answer.

All this took place in seconds. She drew a kite – on graph paper. We measured the length of the sides. We did two quick Pythagoras calculations – and surmised that the other side of the rhombus would be the same.

I was content with the work that we had done together and walked off to find her next piece of work. When I turned back, she (our pupil) had engaged a one of our very bright ‘A’ level assistants to verify our findings. It wasn’t that she thought we had made errors – she wanted to find out if there were any circumstances when the rule would not hold true.

This discussion then began to involve the teacher in charge of the room and two more assistants. We then began discussing where in an `A’ level mathematics syllabus we had to prove theorems.

The whole series of events took just a few quick fire seconds.

When the girl is at the interview for her place in the mathematics department at her chosen university she may be confronted by a similar question by the interviewer.

We can just hope that she argues as good a case as she did with us today. What a lucky grammar school she will attend. Just think of the pleasure her `A’ level teachers will have as they work with her. Think too of the university lecturer being able to go home at the end of a long day and being able to say: “Well, I had a bright one today!”

Eleven Plus Costs

2008-04-30T17:47:00.002Z

A few words on behalf of all the children who have been offered a bribe – and all those who are contemplating a bribe.

I have sat in on discussions between mothers and fathers and their children.

“I will do an Eleven Plus paper every night between now and the examinations if you give me £100.00 towards my iphone. I already have £50.00 but the phone costs £169.00.”

“Did you really say every night? Do you mean every night without an argument? I am not sure you will stick to your side of the bargain.”

“All right, all right. If you pay me £12.00 a week I will save the money. If I don’t do the paper you will not have to pay me.”

“I don’t know if that going to work. I can see you giving up.”

“Mum, I just want to be financially independent. “ I want to save for my phone and then buy the phone I want.”

“The last time you had any money, you spent it immediately. If I give you £12.00 a week, how do I know you won’t waste the money straight away?”

“I am going to cut down on unnecessary spending. The last time I spent money was when we were on holiday. I wanted to but presents for all the family. You always blame me for spending money but I was buying presents for Grandma and Grandpa.”

“Yes, but you had to borrow from your dad – and did you pay him back?”

“I am going to get rid of my addition. I have an idea. What about giving me £10.00 a week and then a pay rise after six weeks if I don’t spend any money?”

“I will have to ask your mother.”

“I will have to ask your father.”

“You always say that don’t you?”

Eleven Plus Points of View

2008-04-29T17:01:00.001Z

Some battles between Eleven Plus children and their parents bring to mind the forces that developed our world.

180 million years ago the fragmentation of a super continent began a rift between Africa and America.

65 million years ago South America had completely separated from Africa, India had drifted northwards and Australia was on its own.

Much more recently India collided with Asia – and the crash resulted in the Himalayas.

Millions of years ahead East Africa will separate from Africa and Australia will drift northwards.

A heated discussion between a mother and child about work could bring two immovable objects into collision.

Heated discussions between parents and children pass over. Family rifts heal. Children and parents hug and make up.

Work, in time gets done.

Child’s Point Of View

“It is unfair to blame me for not working when you want me to work.”

“You keep on trying to make me work – but I don’t like working from those books. They are boring.”

Parent’s Point Of View

“I have to keep repeating myself. We have gone over this ground again and again. You need to do your Eleven Plus work before you do anything else.”

“We have set days and times for you to work. You know what you have to do. Why do you argue so much?”

Etc and Investors in People

2008-04-28T16:48:00.002Z

There are many facets to Investors in People.

Investors in people help us to communicate with our staff and for our staff to communicate with our customers.

We are pleased to recognise that our staff are people - and that our customers are people too. Some of our customers are parents. Some customers are the relations who pay the bills. It is possible, however, that our most important customer is each individual child.

If you have any comments to make about where you and your child fit into the circle, you are very welcome to telephone, email or text us. (text 07860 717539)

The Sweet Music of the Eleven Plus

2008-04-27T17:22:00.001Z

It would take a very special kind of child who could walk out onto a stage and give a concert without doing a lot of practice.

Preparing for the Eleven Plus examinations is like learning to play a musical instrument.

Your child can attend master classes in musical theory and learn all about the length and pitch of a note. Your child could learn to distinguish the power of a semibreve – and be fully conversant with the fact that a semibreve is the longest note – and is twice as long as a minim.

You could sit night after night with an array of tuning forks – and try to develop your child’s perfect pitch.

You could conduct learned discussions on the range of notes in the piccolo and the tuba.

But your child could not walk out onto the stage and play a piano concerto if he or she had never heard or played one before. It takes considerable practice to be able to apply theory to practice. Your child could pass Grade 5 in theory but would still be unable to execute a trumpet fanfare with learning to play the trumpet.

So it is with the Eleven Plus. We all know and hear about some children who are so naturally gifted that they can pass an Eleven Plus examination with very little work. The rest of the children have to do some work.

Passing an examination is not about learning a few tips.

You are trying to help your child acquire the necessary study skills that will carry him or her through the SATs, GCSE and `A’ level examinations in the years ahead. Working towards the Eleven Plus does not’ however, need to rely on the drudgery of working through paper after paper.

You want your child to be able to appreciate and savour the journey. You want your child to be excited and interested in working towards the examinations.

At the end of all your hard work you want your child to be up there on the stage receiving the congratulations of the teachers and fellow pupils because he or she has passed the Eleven Plus. You want to feel good about yourself too.

The Dewey Decimal System and the Eleven Plus

2008-04-26T20:30:00.001Z

Most libraries number books under the Dewey Decimal classification. Under this system, each book is given a class number from 000 to 999. Since this number indicates a class more than one book can have the same number.

All the 999 classes divide up into ten sections. Education is within Social Sciences.

`Social Sciences’ is numbered from 300 to 399.

Education falls within 370 and 379.

The number for information on schools is 371.

Anyone can walk into a library and head straight for 371. Schools and their activities come under 371. The number for Schools and the internet is 371. School Teaching is 371.

Some of your children will any way have some smattering of the Dewey Decimal system – because some school libraries do organise their books in this method,

The next time you take your child to the library take a few moments to share the excitement of rediscovering the Dewey Decimal system together.

Eleven Plus Chance

2008-04-25T16:46:00.000Z

Adam Smith is on the `other’ side of the Twenty Pounds bank note. Adam Smith (1723-1790) wrote about how wealth was created.

Each bank note has a serial number:

AH28 412833

BE69 010440

AE22 754912

AK64 482001

Pure and unworldly Eleven Plus child will possibly have never played the game, loved by so many gamblers, of guessing the next number. Adult Number 1 holds up a £20.00 bank note, with the number hidden. Relatives, friends and acquaintances have to guess whether the £20.00 note in their pocket will be higher, lower or remarkably similar. The winner, naturally, takes the pot.

Before this is condemned as an Eleven Plus activity we need to look at the advantages.

We need to look at odds. What are the odds that our note will be higher than the other note?

We need to pay our way. Once the roll of £20.00 notes has dried up we need to look at other activities. We can’t play if the money has run out.

We need to look at the personality of the person we are playing against. How likely is our opponent to keep a straight face?

We need to devise sets of rules. We can use the whole number. We can choose only the final two numbers. We can select only the first letter after the letters at the beginning of the series.

We can experience the excitement of winning.

We can feel the dread of losing.

All of these emotions are part of the Eleven Plus.

When parents start working with their child on a course of Eleven Plus lessons they are taking a bit of a gamble. Has their child the ability? Are the books they have chosen the right ones. Are their friends giving them the correct advice? Will a tutor be any good? Can the family co-operate? Is Dad really that good at mathematics?

I am sure the same thrill can be obtained by passing over five and ten pound notes. It is likely, however, that to take chance after chance with a twenty pound note in a game will help to focus the mind.

And this is fact what parents want to happen. They don’t want to tear up and throw away their money. Parents want their child to focus and concentrate fiercely – when the time is ripe.

So keep the money safe. Try to guide your child towards building excitement and interest. After all you really want to take away any aspect of chance in your child’s Eleven Plus preparations.

Eleven Plus Choices

2008-04-24T18:24:00.002Z

I met a girl today who has turned down the chance of attending her local grammar school so that she can follow a different range of subjects at her local academy.

The academy specialises in sport, business and technology.

Her grammar school has a special interest in science.

She explained that she didn’t mind science but she really wanted to do business studies.

Naturally I asked why – and she replied, very pragmatically, that she thought there was more money in business than in science.

Her local academy has a very bright and highly motivated girl arriving in September!

The grammar school has another place to offer.

Every one is a winner.

Eleven Plus Common Sense

2008-04-23T20:13:00.001Z

A leaflet about the Chelsea Flower Show has appeared or emerged on the kitchen table. This year the show is between the 20 – 24th of May.

Few of us will actually manage to obtain a ticket but full reporting will, no doubt, be on television. We will share the show with earnest and worthy television announcers presenting us with a mixture of gossip, reporting and information. Well known growers from all around the world will be tempting us with an explosion of colours and fragrances.

We won’t, however, be bludgeoned with all that many Latin names. Plants are named first for their genus. This is essentially the surname of the plant. The species give a further subdivision. Of course there are sub species of species. So the radish, much loved by the Egyptians and Ancient Greeks is called: Raphanus sativus.

The radish is first of all a plant. It is then a vascular plant – which means that it has tissues which carry food around the plant. The radish then comes from a family of seed plants. Further down it is a flowering plant. The radish is one of the mustard family – and then – and only then - can it be named as a genus: Raphanus. Later on the word sativus is added – and this means cultivated.

If only we could teach some of our Eleven Plus children to tackle a question in a step by step manner.

Take the question:

Anna, who wanted to go to grammar school, will be eleven on Friday the 27th of June 2008. She would like to have a few friends to her party. Why was the party not set on a Friday?

To select the correct answer from a range of multiple choices our Eleven Plus child will need to read the question – at least twice. He or she should then eliminate the answers that are obviously wrong. The detective work will then need to start.

First of all the question is from the family of Verbal Reasoning. The question, however, does not easily make sense.

The Latin Name? Verbalosa Nonsensensica.

If you can’t find a radish at the Chelsea Flower Show you may possibly be able to meet an Eleven Plus expert who will be able to explain to you that there are some questions that simply need a smattering of common sense.

Your Family and the Eleven Plus

2008-04-22T19:48:00.000Z

It could be interesting to try to follow the family tree of all who have attempted the Eleven Plus examination in your family.

Of course you would start with the rest of your children. Then look at both parents – and their siblings. Look too at their children. A form of a pattern should be emerging.

Now look at the parents of all the adults. This will add to the drama.

You need now to abandon any hope of serious Eleven Plus research and continue with tracing your ancestry. Try adding the collateral lines from a distant forebear by adding the whole of the rest of the family.

While you are doing this mammoth research ask for any details of education. Degrees? Awards? Professional Development?

You may need to look for clues in any family documents. Church and family gravestones are often sources of information.

Print out the whole tree. Use a highlighter to pick out key points. Explain to your child the research you have done. Explain why you did the research.

When your child turns to you to ask why, you have the evidence to say:

There has been no one with a degree in our side of the family. You are going to be the first.

Look – all of our side of the family have been to university. You can not break the line.

You will be the sixth one in our family to try the eleven plus. You can not let us down.

If you pass the Eleven Plus – well and good. If not we won’t mind and will do our best to try to find a place for you in a good school.

It will depend on your aspirations and your background to determine which answer you think will be most appropriate for your child.