Eleven Plus Music

One of the best features of the Eleven Plus examination is the amount of human interaction that is generated. There is interaction within a family, sometimes between the school and parents and at other times, possibly, with an outside agency such as a tutor.

How your eleven plus child behaves towards the eleven plus may be coloured by your perception of the eleven plus.

“Oh – the eleven plus is a walk in the park.”

“None of our family has been to grammar school. We really want our child to have the opportunity.”

Shakespeare, when he was writing `As You Like It’ back in 1600 may have been writing about the eleven plus.

All the world’s a stage,

An all the men and women merely players:

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts.

Shakespeare does, however, spoil the illusion when a little later on he talks about the school boy creeping unwillingly to school with a shining morning face.

Some eleven plus children may find the process of preparing for the examination to be a measured and organised trip – others, however, may feel that their lives are rather chaotic.

It seems that some parents appear to work on the premise that the more information they are able to gather about their child, the more secure they feel. Other parents seem to have the luxury of complete confidence in their children’s preparations. “We just do the best we can.”

A `dyad’ is a pair in Greek. The word can be applied to an atom or even an element. In eleven plus terms the word could possibly be used in terms of face to face interaction. The eleven plus parent and the eleven plus child have to adjust their own behaviour in response to the intentions and preferences of the other. When parents are working with their child they have to take into account their child’s emotions and thoughts. Both parties also have to take into account each other’s expectations.

“Let us work on this together,” may be music to your child’s ears.