Stringing an Eleven Plus Child Along

The words `The Eleven Plus Stairs to Success’ have a solid yet imaginative feel. It is easy to imagine the impatient and eager eleven plus candidate springing lithely from stair to stair aiming at success and triumph.

Staircases are made by carpenters who measure, cut and fit together component parts with great precision. A staircase is not a piece of elaborate joinery – but it works!

A stair is made of three elements:

Treads
Risers
Stringers

The supports on the edge of the stairs are the stringers. The top edge of a string is made parallel to the lower edge.

Steps are often made from two boards – one being horizontal and the other vertical.

The strings often have vertical and horizontal grooves into which the risers and the treads are secured.

Wear and tear can overcome a staircase – in the same way that too much pressure can overcome an eleven plus child.

One interpretation of the word stringer is that a stringer prepares copy for newspapers – but this is not a regular job as a stringer works freelance. A theory is that a stringer is someone who is anxious about being strung along by an editor.

Eleven plus parents want their children to keep climbing towards the examination. They want their child to climb firmly and securely towards the goal. But few eleven plus parents would want to place their children under too much pressure so that their child beings to feel pressured.