Seventh Eleven Plus Heaven

Very bright children are often called gifted. A child with and outstanding aptitude could be called talented. Children with Intelligence Quotients of more than 120 are placed in the superior class.

Exceptional children are usually above average in most characteristics. These children could be good at reading – often with wide interests and deep interests. This could be very useful when engaged in some of the more mundane verbal reasoning questions. Some very bright children prefer to be challenged – while others may adopt a more chameleon like approach where they do not like to show off their superior skills.

Some eleven plus parents may feel that their child is not achieving his or her full potential at school and at home. Endless eleven plus exercises may, however, have become boring – leaving the bright child frustrated and unfulfilled.

We must take it for granted that considerable research was done, fifty years ago, into the nature of ability and the type of children who would best benefit from an eleven plus education and thereby entry into a desired grammar school. A Psychologist called Marquis, back in 1948, indentified six steps in scientific research – which came, for a time, to represent all that was good in methodology in child psychology.

Step 1
You formulate the problem. What is the eleven plus and what does my child need to do to pass the examination?

Step 2
You review your child’s knowledge. This is where you look at what you can and can not do academically.

Step 3
You make some preliminary observations. How many children from the school have passed, are there any good tutors around, does my child even need a tutor. What books and materials do I need?

Step 4
You form a hypothesis. If I follow a series of planned steps my child should, and will, pass the eleven plus.

Step 5
You verify the hypothesis. “How is my child doing at school? Is the tutor really helping? Is there more that I should be doing?

Step 6
This is the exciting part – here you are offered the opportunity of saying: “See – our child did pass the Eleven Plus.”

It would be wonderfully convenient to be able to offer a seventh step.

Step 7
“Bright eleven plus children are likely to have bright eleven plus parents. Discuss.”