Eleven Plus Pain

“It will be all right on the day.”

“If the wind blows from the right quarter she should pass her eleven plus.”


What about the old adage: “A pilot flies by the seat of his pants.”

Space Scientist Dr Hubert Stughold wanted to test this theory. He injected his buttocks with anaesthetic novocaine until his posterior was numb.

He hitched a ride with a pilot who specialised in acrobatics. The pilot offered a full range of flying tricks.

Dr Stughold returned to earth feeling rather ill. He went on to maintain that a pilot’s pants are a most valuable tool.”

Health warning: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. It would be a sad day for the history of eleven plus preparation if a parent tried a similar experiment to see if they could encourage their child to sit still during the course of an eleven plus paper.

It probably will be all right on the day of your child does the right amount of preparation.

Eleven Plus Diets

Geri Halliwell, in her account `Just for the Record’, explained how she prepared for Brits – where it was likely that she would be offered an award. She had done all the preparation, written and recorded the song she hoped would win and seen the fruits of her labours selling and selling.

She then had the problem of the lead up to the Brits. She had been on the Atkins diet where she had eaten little but turkey slices. She really wanted to look slim so she then went on a three day fast of maple syrup and water.

She was in the process of shooting a new video where she had to learn to tap dance and perfect a pole dance routine. Her body rebelled and she woke up one night to eat and eat piles of cookies.

As your daughter approaches the eleven plus examination don’t suddenly change the routine and expect her to behave in a new and unrehearsed manner.

Keep the doing odd sections of questions.

Don’t worry about full papers in the last few days before the examination – unless your daughter has not done any at all.

Offer a diet that she enjoys – and no sudden changes.

Maintain a relaxed attitude to exercise.

Geri made it in the end – and we hope your daughter does too!

An Eleven Plus Winner

We heard this week about a wonderful girl who has won a place in a local grammar school. She is still with us and works with immense dedication and concentration. The family always thought that they would earn a place in the end. Good luck to the girl and her family.

The European golf is on this weekend – and like thousands others we have tickets for Sunday. It is sure to be a wonderful occasion. The weather will be good and the golf will be fascinating.

I was there, with my daughter Bridget, on the day Greg Norman did so well in the Open at Sandwich some years ago.

Faldo and Langer were playing fantastic golf. Faldo hit four birdies – while Langer and Norman each managed seven birdies. I can remember the Norman’s eighteenth hole as if it was yesterday. The `Shark’ hit a fantastic drive that landed up right in the middle of the fairway – about two hundred yards from the hole. He then took a four iron out of his bag. There was complete silence. He swung easily and landed up about 15 feet from the hole.

We all crowded forward. He putted. The crowd cheered and cheered. Faldo was beaten at a time when he was the best player in the world. You will recall Faldo’s incredible achievements from all his victories – but Greg Norman, the Shark, won on the day.

At the time Greg Norman had played the best final round ever to win the Open. He had the lowest ever winning score. The Sandwich links course was highly demanding. He beat Langer and Faldo.

When Greg Norman won in such a dramatic manner the whole golfing world was in awe. No one thought he was arrogant. He did not claim to have mastered the course. He paid respect to the demanding conditions and the quality of the competition.

When the girl reaches grammar school she won’t be arrogant. She knows that she has beaten other good girls. She will respect the traditions of the grammar school and we can fully expect her to do her best. Golfers often maintain that the feeling they get when they hit a sweet four iron is comparable to any other sensation in the world. Norman must have felt good as he walked up to the final green. I bet our girl will feel wonderful as she steps inside the grammar school on the first day of the new school year.

Thinking and the Eleven Plus

A study done in the USA back in 1931 suggested that the best time to teach reading was when a child had reached a mental age of six and a half years. This lead to the concept of `reading readiness’. Along with this age was the feeling that if a child was taught to read before six and a half, than the child would suffer lasting harm.

It was thought that it was possible to teach children to read before six and half – but that it was not genuine reading – it was called `barking at print’ - where a child worked from memory and understood little of what he or she was reading.

The age of transition to senior school was worked out by a study, over fifty years ago, which suggested that a child would be ready to leave junior school at around the age of eleven.

We could call this age, for the sake of argument, `Readiness for the Eleven Plus’.

To help a child to be ready for the eleven plus we can do many different activities from working on reading vocabulary to helping a child understand how pie charts work.

If a child is not ready to pass the eleven plus on the day of the examination, do we use the term `barking at examinations’?

Or do we call the eleven plus examination `barking mad’ because it relies so heavily on a child being able to remember facts and methods – and requires little original thought?

Eleven Plus Independence

One of the early thinkers about education and the development of young children was a man called Piaget. He was born in 1896. Some of his ideas may still be relevant to today’s eleven plus.

He used two main methods in his research.

One was to record everything said by children.

The other was set a number of standard questions to the children. The situations had to be contrived so to have some degree of conformity.

A typical Eleven Plus Conversation

“No, I don’t think that I understand. I am still not sure why the area of a triangle is half the base times the height.”

“Look at a rectangle. The area of a rectangle is base time height. Your triangle will be half the size of the rectangle.”

A typical Eleven Plus Contrived Situation

Find the area of a triangle of base 12cm and height 14cm.

Piaget set tasks that were not only foreign to school work – but excluded any form of readiness on the part of the child to give an expected answer.

Piaget used the example of a child being asked: “Why does the sun not fall?” He wanted to force the child to think on new and inaccessible problems.

If only Eleven Plus questions could be independent from knowledge, experience and learning.

Eleven Plus Cramming

On the BBC website there is a remarkably cheerful discussion on last minute cramming. Naturally all parents will have different views on last minute learning. Some will swear by it and others will recount horror stories.

John Hand was studying for an A Level Italian examination and looked at the value of last minute study. He reviewed work by a Mr. O'Brian who has written books on how to pass examinations.

Perhaps parents can do a similar exercise with their eleven plus children

1. Read the information - and try to commit it to memory.

To find 10%, divide by 10.

2. Go over the same information again 24 hours later.

To find 10% divide by 10

3. Revise it a week later.

To find 10% divide by 10.

4. Return to the same topic after a month.

To find 10% divide by 10.

Of course you may need to revise how to divide by 10 as you go along - but the repetition should help to consolidate what has to be remembered.

Light at the end of the Eleven Plus Tunnel

Children who are writing the eleven plus examination are likely to come from a wide range of neighbourhood communities. Some children will come from large detached houses and others, just a few miles away, from flats and `two up two downs’.

Sometimes we hear of only five or six children from a school trying to pass eleven plus examinations. In other schools well over thirty children my sit the examination.

After the results, in eleven plus areas, children transfer to different types of school. In non eleven plus areas children could go to comprehensives or the new academies. The larger comprehensives could serve children from wide areas.

We hear of bright children who are able to dominate whole classes of primary school children. Their behaviour at school can take be unpleasant and bullying. Some children will reject any idea of a `contract’ between teacher, parent and child. They will ignore regulations on behaviour and social manners. Some of these children may even boast or exhibit a `could not care less’ attitude – which could be a major departure from what we like to think of as an acceptable code of behaviour.

The other children in the class have to learn to live with unpleasant behaviour in the class and at school. Outside of school there may be little contact unless the unwholesome child lives `down the road’.

Parents can complain to the school about extreme bad behaviour – and the school can promise to do all they can to try to avert and monitor problems. Imagine sitting down to dinner every evening while one person is dominating and rude. This could upset your digestion! Think of your child having to sit on a table at school with a child who is disruptive and anti authority.

The consequence of close proximity to a child who has little respect for others is that children’s education can be affected. Being forceful and rude is not the domain of the ill educated child who lacks social graces.

Should we feel sorry for the bright rude child? It can not always be the fault of the community or the parents. Some children are just unpleasant.

The strictures of the eleven plus examination can not make an unpleasant child into a conforming and loving member of the community. Sometimes, however, the interest from a teacher or tutor – drawn from non school environment - will discover a child who behaves and acts very differently.

The school bully may also be a member of a karate group – and listen carefully and respectfully to the teacher – and enjoy the company of other like minded children. The change of behaviour and attitude may be no more than a comprehension of status. The child’s status at school may be determined a need to dominate and control – yet the same child may be perfectly happy to accept a situation where he or she understands and accepts limits of control.

Some parents must long for the Year 6 class to break up and the children disband. It is very likely, however, for there to light at the end of the tunnel. The primary school top dog will become a lowly member of the grammar school. Peace on earth!

Eleven Plus Job Aspirations

Is there any recent research about the job aspirations of grammar school children?

It does seem likely that a grammar school child will have had a number of years of `indoctrination’ about the value of university and the chances of developing a satisfying career.

It is likely that a child who does not want to go to university will be reasonably content with a job that is `just down the road’.

An eleven plus child from a leafy suburb may have to leave home to go to university whereas a child looking for a local job may choose to stay at home. Some university undergraduates, however, choose to stay at home because of increasing costs of tuition and accommodation fees.

Do grammar school children every build their job aspiration in university courses? Of course some must. An A level student who sets out to become an economist may find a university place to read economics.

What we do know is that there are likely to be a number of changes of career. Gone are the day when a young person could take a civil service examination – and then have a job for life.

The next time you ask your child what he or she would like to do after school and university – you could consider pointing out many graduates have at least three changes of career. You could follow this by saying that at eleven years old there is plenty of time.

The Eleven Plus and the Middle Set

There must be a wide difference in the attitude of schools towards the eleven plus. We know of one school `down our way’ where the head teacher has arranged for children from the class to attend two afternoons a week, after school, for eleven plus preparation. This is, we understand, is a service provided by the state school and there is no charge.

Other schools are not geared in any way towards the eleven plus. The Local Authority may have issued instructions to schools that there should be no help with eleven plus preparation. The children who do pass the eleven plus, and go to grammar school, will have achieved their ambition through help from their parents and, possibly, tutors. Naturally all children who do gain entrance to a grammar school will have that invaluable ingredient – ability.

At one time there was much discussion about the value of children being taught in `homogeneous’ classes. Some schools preferred a `heterogeneous’ ability class. Some children today explain that they are in `Set 1’ or `Top Set’. Other children are in `Middle Set’. Some parents seem to refer to their child being in a `mixed ability’ class.

It is likely that some schools who do work actively towards the eleven plus will have parents who want their children to go to grammar school. It would be very sad to think that schools who do not `push’ towards the eleven plus feel that their children are not of grammar school standard and therefore are not helped towards passing the examination.

Putting children in groups, or sets, or streams is a form of a self justifying process. We had a girl last year who spent her whole mathematics career at primary school in the `middle’ stream. We worked on eleven plus and Level 5 mathematics – and in spite of this the girl stayed obdurately in the middle stream. The middle stream worked on helping children climb from level three to level four. The school were preoccupied with ensuring as many children as possible achieved level four.

When the girl came on an eleven plus course with us she met other children from a wide range of schools – and mathematics ability groups. She coped remarkably well and met every mathematics challenge with sanguine inner confidence. She passed the eleven plus with a place in grammar school. She will easily achieve Level Five in her mathematics. She is, however, still in the middle set.

Flipping and an Eleven Plus Answer

A little bit of history. The Robbins Report of 1963 noted: “The numbers who are capable of benefiting from higher education are function not only of heredity but also a host of other influences varying with standards of educational provision, family incomes and attitudes and the education received by previous generations.” I still have my copy of the Robins Report and it is interesting to look back at some of the statements made in the report.

The Spens Report of 1938 was the trigger for much of the reorganisation on which the 1944 Education Act was based. The Spens Report felt that Intellectual development during childhood appears to progress as if it were governed by a single central factor usually known as general intelligence. Our psychological witnesses assured us that it can be measured approximately by means of intelligence tests. It is possible, with a few exceptions, to predict with some degree of accuracy the ultimate level of a child’s intellectual powers.”

It was on the basis of the Spens Report that much of the early Eleven Plus techniques were developed.

In today’s world, many years on from the 1938, it is hard to believe that some of the present verbal reasoning questions still survive.

We know that education must be vastly different from what it was sixty years ago.

We know that society has changed considerably.

One factor is remarkably similar – in 1945 Britain was poor because of the war effort. In 2009 Britain is again poor. This in itself should not be enough reason to maintain the belief that some types of reasoning question, which date back 60 years, will select children accurately – much less find the `ultimate level of a child’s intellectual powers’.

One other area we can take into consideration is that of the `education received by previous generations’ (Robbins 1963). We know that today’s parliament is made up of M.P.s from widely different backgrounds. Some even have moats and others modest second homes. It is not clear, however, how many M.P.s have claimed for the education of their children. As the slow drip of `transparency’ takes place it must only be time when we will hear of an M.P. who has not been able to prepare his or her child for grammar school and will blame parliamentary rules.

For the rest of us without free access to tax payers’ money (our money) we simply have to rely on the education we received – and hope that we know enough to be able to answer some of the more mundane and even fruitless questions. After all when we look through an eleven plus paper – and see some of the questions – we must question the relevance of some questions. Our children will not be able to say in the examination:

“I am sorry and I will answer that question again. I have the feeling that it was well within the parliamentary laws to select Option B. I know that the right answer was Option A – but I was told, in a written letter, by my tutor, who worked part time as an M.P., with a second home near mine, that eleven plus children can flip an option in the middle of an eleven plus test.”

Bond and Etc

An exciting moment in our lives!

Today we announce a significant new partnership between the Bond arm of Nelson Thornes and the Extra Tuition Centre. Bond is the leading provider of books and materials for the Eleven Plus. The Extra Tuition Centre provides lessons and courses for children. Bond’s decision to work with the Extra Tuition Centre is a reflection on both parties determination to provide the best possible learning platform for children.

A key element of the partnership is the provision of bundled Bond papers to compliment the Eleven Plus Courses offered by the Extra Tuition Centre.

Bond’s marketing director, Claire Johnstone, said “Bond books have been widely respected and much loved by parents for many years. All of us at Bond are committed to providing the best possible support to parents and children in the lead up to the Eleven Plus.”

The Extra Tuition Centre offers regionalised intensive three day courses in a number of Eleven Plus locations. The courses cover the key topics – and are tailor made to accommodate the requirements of particular grammar schools. Parents are able to book a course secure in the knowledge that the work their children will do will be relevant.

Mrs Bridget Busfield, from the Extra Tuition Centre, who has organised thousands of Eleven Plus holiday courses for children said, “Children often come on a course and are excited to learn just how well they can do – and want to carry their new confidence into tackling new books, papers and exercises. The link with Bond enables us to provide a service that will allow children to approach the examination with increased confidence.”

The Eleven Plus and Guessing

There was a guessing game played across playgrounds in Brian called `Stars’. The actual name may change from time to time and location to location but the nature of the game does not change.

One girl crosses the playground and yells out the initials of a famous person, for example, S.C. - now every X Factor fan will know those initials. As soon as one thinks she knows what the initials stand for, she runs across the playground, touches hands, and runs back again. On her return she shouts out the name she has thought of. If he guess is right she changes places across the road. If the guess is wrong she has run for reason at all.

Sometimes a number of girls will be racing each other – and everyone will have thought of the wrong name.

There are obviously a wide number of variations on this game. Ask your daughter to recount to you a similar game.

Then use the opportunity to explain that the game is similar to working on a multiple choice exercise.

You are given a little clue.

You run a round and make some guesses.

All around you are running too.

If you get it wrong you have to try again.

Suggest to your daughter that she should think through the multiple choice options before making her choice. Suggest that she should eliminate answers that simply can not fit.

If she does not seem to take this on board – why not read a question to her. Give her a clue – and if she makes a mistake she then must run round the house. She may learn, very practically, to think twice!

The Eleven Plus and the Stars

Has anyone ever seen an eleven plus child who moved slowly? Surely a bright and active brain will lead to a bright and active child?

Watch your child in a variety of situations.

Working on an eleven plus paper
You may see some or even a combination of the activities including great concentration, rapid eye movements, a steady shifting of limbs and a display of co-ordination and ability. You may even feel that your child looks to be intelligent and able.


Listening to your explanation of an error
The head, sometimes, shakes from side to side. There are involuntary movements of the limbs – almost as if your child is trying to escape. You may see a broad smile and even receive a well earned `high five’ if you offer a worthy explanation.


Talking about the Eleven Plus to a much loved grand mother
A calm relaxed body, slow and evenly modulated speech and striking evidence of a general desire to please.

In other words your eleven plus child will surely, and confidently, adapt to a variety of situations. The behaviour will be like that of a chameleon – along with mood swings and displays of attitude.

Even while your child is working confidently through an `easy’ eleven plus paper you will see familiar little work habits. For some it could be eating hair, other will make little grimaces on demanding questions; some will throw an episodic tantrum which could blow over as quickly as it emerged. Your child will be experiencing a riot of emotions – ranging from relief that the paper appears to be reasonable, to content in answering a question correctly and then to frustration when an answer appear to be elusive.

Back in 1796 an astronomer at the Greenwich Observatory dismissed his assistant because there seemed to be a purposeful delay of a second every time the cross-hair in a telescope fastened onto a star. The poor assistant’s reactions were simply slower than the astronomer.

If your child is one second out on each eleven plus question – then that should not make much difference over a whole paper. Spending a minute on each question could, however, affect the result.

When your child enters the examination room there is little that you can do affect the end result. Helping your child to relax, read questions carefully and adopt a measured cadence to answering questions could help.

Scraping the Eleven Plus

There is no way of knowing of this is a true story. It all took place a long time ago.

Hadrian went one day to the public baths, and saw an old soldier, well known to him, scraping himself with a potsherd for want of a flesh brush.

The emperor sent him a sum of money.

The next day Hadrian found the bath crowded with soldiers scraping themselves with potsherds. He said: “Scrape on gentlemen, but you’ll not scrape acquaintance with me.”

We must all wish for a new emperor who will want to take a fresh look at the eleven plus. The emperor will not be satisfied with questions like:

Spot the odd word out:

Strode, clambered, sailed, journeyed, and swam.

It is easy to see that the odd one out is journey – because it is a less specific word that the others.

It is also easy to see that a less able child may have some difficulty in unravelling the conundrum – but a question like this can mean the difference between a grammar school pass and fail.

The problem is that many years ago some erudite scholar announced that `spot the odd one out’ could offer a fair test of ability. Writer after writer, tutor after tutor, parent after parent and child after child have all perpetuated this travesty.

Why should we continue to scrape acquaintance with these heirlooms or antiques of early eleven plus tests?

Intelligence and the Eleven Plus

I know the following comments show a complete lack of academic sensibility - but the article in today's Times is illuminating. The heading is :"How to make your child more intelligent." I have not yet read the book by Richard Nisbett `Intelligence and how to get it' and have only read the article. I know I should read the whole book before commenting - and will naturally do this in time.

There is a quote in this article about James Flynn who has collated scores on I.Q. tests from all over the world. This quote by Flynn is from the article - and once again I have nor read the source.

`Our ancestors intelligence was anchored in everyday reality. We differ from them in that we can use use abstraction and logic and the hypothetical.' In an IQ test, he says, we might be asked what rabbits and and dogs have in common. `The correct answer is that they are both mammal, assumes that it is important thing about the world is to classify it in terms of categories of science. To an American in 1900, that would be absurdly trivial.'

Present day verbal reasoning tests continue to throw up excruciating types of questions that are rooted in the perception of ability and the needs of the eleven plus of fifty years ago.

I have argued over many of the last thousand blogs that there is a need to change the present eleven plus. My credentials are not those of professors or academics - but those of a practicing eleven plus tutor. I have prepared programs for around 600 children a year for the last three years - and many more children over the past years.

Some types of verbal reasoning question are not relevant to today's children. It is very difficult to see how some questions can meaningfully select eleven plus children for today's world.

The whole concept of selection and the eleven plus needs a review that embraces not only the needs of the grammar schools - but the intellectual makeup of today's children.

Jealousy and the Eleven Plus

As the eldest child of the family enters the eleven plus year these is often a shift within the family. All concerned are aware that the eleven year old needs considerable attention. The problem is that that not all the family feel that this is fair.

We remember the section in Othello (Act 3 Scene 3) where Iago tries to upset Othello and says:

“O beware my lord of jealousy,
It is the green eyed monster which does
Mock the meat it feeds on.”

The youngest could aggrieved that so much attention is being offered to the eldest – when for long it has been the preserve of the youngest to garner as much attention as possible. (The eleven year old eldest would call the youngest a little pest.) The youngest is always jealous of the privileges awarded to the eldest.

All middle children would feel resentful that they did not have the privileges of the eldest or the attention offered to the youngest. The middle child would also be burdened with those unloved Eleven Plus words: “It will be your turn soon.”

The only child will feel that there is simply too much pressure – and that too much is expected of him (or her) in the lead up to the eleven plus. There is no one to divert the attention of the parents. It is all very well remembering that the first born children go on to become astronauts, captains of industry and members of parliament. This does not help the eleven year to feel less jealous of children who are allowed more play time and contact with other children.

All parents can do is to try to keep the balance.

That green eyed monster does not go away simply because the child is in the eleven plus year. Jealousy does not remember the adult stating: “I treat all my children exactly the same way.”

How many second of third children are given the already used eleven plus papers?

The very prestige of being an eleven plus candidate is onerous enough without illicit manifestations of jealousy.

The Eleven Plus and The Bride

How can parents prepare their children for the `ordeal’ of the eleven plus examination? In the first place a large number of eleven plus children will actually look forward to the examination. They will be confident that they have been able to do most of the questions on the papers. Some children will relish the idea of being stretched and having to confront difficult and puzzling questions.

There will still be some children, however, who will creep towards the examinations feeling fearful and apprehensive. These children may, in part, have been conditioned by their parents:

“William is not good at examinations. He just goes to pieces.”

“You wait until you get into the examination. You won’t be able to do anything. You must do some papers now.”

“I was always good at examinations. Look what I have achieved. You just don’t care. All the rest of the family have done well. You must try harder.”

After all the work on selection and practice papers is simply a rehearsal for the real event. Think of a bride preparing for her wedding. She is changing clothes to go to the final walk through the evening before the wedding. Her mother and friends are gathered around helping with final fittings.

“Marriages just don’t last these days. I’ll give this one just three months.”

“Yes, your bum does look fat in your wedding dress. Never mind no will notice the extra two stone.”

“Just wait until the honeymoon is over. You will regret this for the rest of your life. You know he only loves football.”

The bride and the eleven plus child have a few things in common. They don’t need to know what they can’t do they need to know what they can do.

They need to be built up with kind and timely words – and not feel unloved and denigrated.

Somehow the eleven plus child and the bride need to feel that what ever has gone before, what ever errors have been made, what ever preparation has been missed – that they have done the best they can.

The Eleven Plus and Leisure

If you were not preoccupied with helping your child towards the eleven plus, what could you, and THE CANDIDATE, do with all this extra time?

You will have been monitoring your child very carefully over the past months – trying to make sure that you do not force your own anxiety onto your child. You may have a pretty fair idea of what your child thinks about doing a paper on a sunny afternoon – but may be less sure of what goes through your child’s mind last thing at night and first thing in the morning.

The other area where you have no control of the pre eleven plus situation is when your child is with his or her peers at school. You don’t really know exactly what the class bully may or may not have said to your child about the eleven plus.

We may possibly have heard of some children who have reverted to bed wetting or stealing or extreme rudeness. The eleven plus examination in itself can not realistically have caused concern in a child. A more likely trigger could be how the eleven plus is handled by family, school and peers.

Parents have to temper their ambition for their child with a just assessment of what their child can achieve.

This call for a balance must carry across into sports and leisure activities. A child who wants his way all the time will not easily gain entry to the `inner circle’. Likewise a child who is a complete namby-pamby will only find play mates when he, of she, has learnt to stand on his or her own feet.

Eleven Plus Day Dreams

What happens when your child appears to be day dreaming instead of knuckling down to do a paper?

When a child is very young, and has not had the opportunity to build a comprehensive construct of the world, then he or she may slip into a make believe world. In early day dreams it does not really matter that make believe can be far removed from fact.

When we watch a young child play we can see games that seem to be verging on fantasy. Some children grow into adults – and fantasy still plays a large part in their lives. The advent of technology has opened up the opportunities for games and delving into fantasy land where stimulation is part of a computer generated game.

An old fashioned theory is that boys prefer adventure and girls romance – but this may not be true of all of our eleven plus boys and girls. It is far more likely that our bright eleven plus children have matured to such an extent that they are able to appreciate the relationship between fantasy and the real world.

What does play a big part in make believe is the desire for ambitious success that is largely unattainable. This may or may not be a large part of the fantasy world of the eleven plus.

Fantasy One
A child dreaming of passing the eleven plus, making the parents happy, bringing glory to the school and `going to grammar’.

Fantasy Two
A mother dreaming of having two children at grammar school. The dream would enter the world of fantasy because the second child is far more likely to be a famous golfer than a studious academic.

Fantasy Three
A grand parent dreaming of winning the National Lottery and being able to give the family lots of money so that the children can move to a large house near to the grammar school and being able to provide the grand children with every eleven plus opportunity.

Fantasy Four
A school teacher hoping that the extra input from all the eleven plus work will help her pupil to reach Level 5 in the SATs.

If your child does seem to drift off into a day dream – all you can hope it is the right one hard work, no answering back, lots of papers, passing, grammar, university, family and support for you when you are old and infirm. (Don’t interrupt the day dream in case you break the chain. After all, `It could be you that is left out of the dream!’)

Eleven Plus Humour

Blog1205
I met a boy over the weekend – and had seen him on several previous occasions. We had talked about work and his aspiration but nothing in his make up prepared me for the stream of jokes that something in our conversation undammed. I think he found a very weak remark on my part a licence to tell jokes.

He started with a standard joke:

A blind man went into a shop,
Picked his dog up by the tail and
Swung it around his head.
“Can I help you?” asked the assistant.
“No thanks,” said the blind man, “I’m just looking around.”

We know that we should not laugh at disability – especially visual impairment.

We know too that we should not laugh at the idea of dog being thrown around.

Not all people with a disability can laugh at themselves.

So why did he chuckle at his own joke? Why did a different eleven plus child (a very bright girl sitting near by) immediately question the need for a dog to be mistreated?

The boy, not yet characterised as a comedian, then told a different joke.

“Why did the old lady cover her
mouth with her hands when she
sneezed?

To catch her false teeth.

This joke too pokes fun at age and disability.

By the girl had returned to her work and did not even look up.

In the space of two school boy jokes we uncovered laughter at:

Age
Disability
Cruelty to animals

The ability to recall jokes is not an important element of any eleven plus course – and some may find the jokes distasteful. The ability to recall and tell a joke, with good timing, is a rare skill. I wonder if the telling jokes or being a comedian is the domain of the more able. Certainly the comedians we see on the television obviously have a team of gifted comedy writers behind them but they often also have the rare skill of being able to laugh at them selves.

Eleven Plus Expense Claims

I have read five different newspapers and listened to as many news casts as possible - to try to find the first reference to a subject dear to all of our hearts.

We know that various members of the cabinet and the shadow cabinet have been `outed’. We believe that there are further revelations yet to come. Perhaps one day there will be full accountability – and clear evidence.

Of course it is obvious what the search has been about.

We all want to be the first to find the first evidence that Members of Parliament have been claiming expenses for the eleven plus.

INVOICE

To Preparation of said child for the Eleven Plus:

1. Selected selection Eleven plus Books 34.98
2. Tutor 678.65
3, Stress and counselling for parents 345.89

By now you will see that the devil lies in the detail. By itemising the pence column the claim will gain authenticity.

Please tell all of us if you do hear anything on this subject.

Eleven Plus and Parents

When parents are working with their children they may sometimes feel a little touch of impatience. If they, as an adult, give a perfectly logical explanation, why can’t their child understand straight away?

What parents need to remember is that the most difficult time to learn anything – especially learn how to solve a problem – is the first time. Learning to solve problem usually demands a greater effort than solving problems of the same type later on.

This is why children are given an explanation and then offered examples to consolidate the learning experience. Parents have built a library of experiences in solving problems – and they draw on this library when faced with eleven plus questions. A parent can therefore appear to be very able – and sound highly intelligent – to their eleven year old child.

The levelling out time comes when a completely new type of problem is thrown up by an eleven plus paper. It is impossible to simply generalise about all parents and all eleven plus children – but some children may be able to solve some problems faster than their parents.

It is well documented that some intellectual facilities start declining from the age of around 25. The premise is that some intellectual activities require considerable brain tissue – and if the activity is not repeated on a regular basis – then that element of the brain begins to wither and diminish. (It just begins to fade away!)

So when your child is sitting in the eleven plus examination room, and you have done all you can to help your child solve as wide a range of problems as possible, then you can reflect on the fact that your child is relying on two main elements of ability. The first is the intelligence that has been inherited from you. The second is the relevant experiences that have been offered to pathways of the cerebrum. So what your child has inherited from you is the capacity to learn to absorb new eleven plus experiences – what you can then offer to your child is a multitude of relevant experiences.

If all this can be accepted as reasonable then to pass the eleven plus a child needs innate potential and a well developed eleven plus brain.

To help their child pass the eleven plus a parent needs innate ability, lots of experience – and a strong desire to learn. Good luck!

Eleven Plus Flexibility

Those of us who are heavily involved with very bright eleven plus children will meet some children whose ability, in some way, exceeds our own. As an eleven plus teacher or tutor we may not be as bright as some of our pupils in some areas – but as an adult we have the benefit of experience, maturity and professional training.

As teachers we sometimes need to be very flexible when dealing with able children. Last year a mother commented that her daughter’s friends all had one to one tutors – and that her daughter was the only one on her class with us. In the actual examination our little girl gained full marks (140) on the mathematics and the two reasoning tests (verbal and non verbal reasoning). We needed to be flexible at teachers as this little girl was able to work at twice the speed of any of our other eleven plus children.

The Philosophy of the Eleven Plus

There was a time when it was considered to be sensible to allow bright children to be accelerated. For some children this meant jumping a year. A few other children were allowed, or even encouraged, to gain greater depth in a subject.

The trend today is for the school to feel that the junior teacher has sufficient resources to be able to cater for a wide range of children. Ideally class sizes should be smaller so that teachers do have time to be able to cater for the needs of the more able.

The old Greek philosopher Socrates had the right idea – he worked, sometimes, with small groups and employed a question and answer technique to encourage and develop thought and reasoning. It is a bit difficult to see how his approach would work with some verbal reasoning questions. If only the eleven plus required a child to be forced to think and reason – instead of being able to answer a fairly narrow range of questions.

If the scope of the eleven plus was broadened then it seem likely that the role of some eleven plus teachers would then need to change. The eleven plus teacher would then not need to dispense facts – but try to stimulate activity and thought.

Suppose, for example, a crucial element of the eleven plus was to encourage children to slow down and think before uttering or submitting an answer. Questions would need to be phrased in ways where thought – and common sense – were examined. Children would then be encouraged to dig for truth – and then make up their minds before stating a conclusion.

In time the grammar schools must benefit from children who had spent their junior school days in research and discussion – rather than as passive recipients of facts and methods of working out various verbal reasoning questions. No wonder some bright children find the whole eleven plus experience rather tedious.

At the school open day the head teacher will encourage the precocious piano playing ten year old to offer a piece for the attention of the visitors to the school. Parents and teachers will all applaud talent – and live for a moment in reflected glory.

Parts of some eleven plus verbal; reasoning papers, however, do not even seem or pretend to require superior language skills. Some questions can be answered with a simple mechanical application of `rules’. It seems, therefore, necessary to change the philosophy of the eleven plus before attempting to re-educate teachers, children and parents.

The Soft Approach to the Eleven Plus

A little, very bright, eight years old wrote a story using a much loved technique. Her mum then asked what she needed to do to help her daughter to pass the eleven plus. This brought to mind the writing style adopted by the girl. To help your child to pass the eleven plus you need to think SOFT.

S
School

Keep in close contact, when possible, with you child’s class teacher.

Try to have some continuous communication with the Head Teacher.

O
Other Parents

Learn from parents who have children who have passed through the eleven plus experience.

Talk and listen to your contemporaries. From them you will learn the latest techniques and ideas.

F
Family

Engage your family in the process – don’t try to slay all the dragons by your self.

Ask and even demand support and help. It is vital not to feel isolated.

T
Tutor

If you have a tutor then communicate. Offer your ideas and describe what you would like to happen.

If you have decided to go without a tutor – then trust your instincts and don’t panic towards the end. Above all do not berate yourself wonder if you did the right thing by not employing a tutor.

The Eleven Plus and Power

Why do people in authority keep trying to change the education system? It is easy to see why regulations like school uniform and wearing jewellery or make up to school become important. After all, authority must not be challenged. If there is opposition to a rule, then it is a very natural reaction to fight back. Problems can escalate until there is only a stern recourse to draconian measures. But why do ministers of education want to change the whole premise of schooling?

The new academies that are springing up to educate children at senior school level could soon be joined by junior school academies. Part of the idea must be `if it is broke then fix it’. It could also be a strong instinct within people in power to want to `leave a mark’.

It is conceivable that some of our eleven plus children are being educated in school where authority and regulations are being challenged on a daily basis. Other children could be affected by changes with the classroom – as well as within the school.

One thing is for sure – that our education system will never become ossified. Change in education is inevitable. The contents and regulation of Eleven Plus, however, do not seem to have changed much over recent years.

Back in 1971 a learned educationalist called Illich argued that: “School prepares for the alienating institutionalisation of life by teaching the need to be taught.”

It is not hard to see how the very nature and composition of the eleven plus examination appears to lean towards selecting children that do conform and children that want to wear uniforms. What about children who do rebel? Some of these children may miss all the advantages of a grammar school education. After all if a child passes an eleven plus examination, it is likely that some form of preparation must have taken place. (We all know, however, of stories of some children who never open an eleven plus paper and still pass the examination.)

It is conceivable to suppose that some children who come from uneasy home backgrounds are more prone to rebellion that children from stable back grounds. These then are the children that grammar schools should try to find.

If any `leader’ wants to leave a legacy – why not try to find the children from poor backgrounds who do not have all the advantages offered to more privileged children? When the inevitable political upset arrives and the education `leader’ ispassed to obscurity – or the back benches – surely a worth while epitaph would be:

“The educator of the poor and disenfranchised.”

Eleven Plus Ability

There are ultimately only two ways that a child can pass the eleven plus. The first is through innate ability and the other is by working on eleven plus materials.

Some Eleven Plus questions seem to require immense innate ability. Other questions can be answered by children with widely different abilities - if they are trained and taught.

If a small selection of eleven plus questions require abundant ability – then it is likely that these questions will be more difficult to learn by rote or practice. If, however, the question requires a rare skill then those types of questions must be very attractive to parents of very able children.

I wonder if it follows that questions that are extremely hard for most of the eleven plus population will help to select children who will do very well in the eleven plus – and thus go onto enjoy lives of great prestige, high salaries and ample leisure.

If this does follow then the next time you meet a hard question with your child, don’t rail against the eleven plus system – but think positively of money, power and flights of fancy. Above all hope and pray that the reward is worthy of the sacrifice.

Eleven Plus Perspective

Parents will naturally be concerned about their children as the Eleven Plus examinations approach. A lot of family conversations will revolve around the candidate including health matters as well as intellectual, educational and social development. Some families even become more child centered than usual. Every single piece of progress in eleven plus terms is analysed and discussed. The `will he pass’ and the `what if’ scenarios are revisited ad nauseam.

Some families even find that the eleven plus dominates key times of the year. School holidays, for example, are no longer the domain of a happy carefree family – because there is always the spectre of another family who are staying at home working on eleven plus exercises.

Perspective is a key issue in eleven plus years. It is a very important examination for one member of the family – but there could be other children in the family. Parents have to make time for the whole family. Along with eleven plus work there still needs to be visits of the dentist, the special interests of other members of the family – and quality time to be a family unit.

Eleven plus children do need some activities that are not too directly related to the eleven plus. Some parents may encourage dance, other swimming, while some may even teach their child to play cards. After all, playing snap requires concentration – and ability to anticipate. Poker, however, is demanding in a different way. Five card stud, for example, brings any number of eleven plus skills into action – not the least of which – are counting, recognising odds and learning to look emotionless under pressure. Some parents, however, may prefer trips to museums and art galleries.

Eleven plus parents will take for granted that their child shows talent in diverse area like art or music. Some children may prefer to show interest, and ability, in drama or sport. These, however, all take time away from eleven plus papers.

We can’t, however, simply rely on long walks or cycle rides to give the eleven plus child enough physical stimulation. There has to be something more. Excessive reliance of sport to relieve anxiety and stress has, however, to be tempered. We all remember the words of Dolly Parton:

“I bought all those Jane Fonda videos. I love to sit and eat cookies and watch `em.”

Eleven Plus Potential

A man called George B. Leonard remarked once that:

“Teachers are overworked and underpaid. True it is an exacting and exhausting business, this damming up of the flood of human potentialities.”

A bald statement of this nature tells us nothing about the context of his rather unjust words. After all potential is what the eleven plus examination is all about. The potential to pass a competitive examination, the potential to enjoy a grammar school education, the potential to enjoy a challenging university education and the potential to live a happy and fulfilled life.

We do have many advantages when preparing a child for the eleven plus – with the opportunity of unleashing potential. Take the case of a man who wants to reach the other side of the river. He has to build a boat, equip the boat with sails or oars, navigate the current and find a safe landing point.

To achieve this adventure the man had to understand gravity, motion and friction. If a teacher can help a child to understand these three cornerstones – then surely the child has the tools to cope with many aspects of carving out a wholesome life? The child needs to know how to apply the laws of the eleven plus – with out having to understand each and every law in full.

We use an example like this on one of our eleven plus courses. The children are set the problem:

Two guards have to transport three prisoners to the other side of the river. No prisoner can be left on his own without a guard. How do the guards achieve their task?

The solution of course does not involve currents, gravity and friction – but does require a logical approach to solving the problem. We once saw an eleven plus girl solve the problem on the second reading – and give an exquisite and apposite answer.

Her parents and teachers at school had obviously given her every opportunity to release the flood of her potential. What a lucky girl!

An Open Eleven PLus Letter

Dear Eleven Pluser

Thank you for coming to your lesson today. You worked really hard and it was pleasure to see you solving problems in such an enthusiastic manner. You found the verbal reasoning really easy.

Those mathematics examples on Pie Charts are difficult – but you coped very well. I liked the way you asked for help when you did not understand.

I know that you don’t always feel like working at home on your eleven plus papers with your mother.

You can argue about clothes, food, bed time and make up – but not about work.

Work is something you just have to do.

Pick a fight about anything at all in the world but leave eleven plus work out of it.

Don’t argue before you do your eleven plus work because your work will suffer. Save all your feelings for afterwards.

Good luck – and talk to someone. Don’t bottle everything up. You must talk – especially to your mother who loves you very much. Your mother just wants to help you to do the best you can.

Once again – good luck.

The Eleven Plus and Travel

Up until a few days ago a job in the travel industry would have offered a wonderful opportunity to one of our eleven plus children.

Of course bight and able young people would have the opportunity of being fast tracked through the system. Just think of your child having a career where he or she could swop the weather of Britain for a life of travel and glamour. Your much loved would not need to go to university for a `degree’ in tourism as there are many relevant but different routes into a life of freedom and travel.

Your child’s personality may be drawn by the travel agency side of travel- where you talk about ravel instead of doing it. (A bit like us teachers who are sometimes characterised by being people who teach because we can’t do any thing else.)

A tour guide is a very different sort of job that might appeal to some. You could warn your child that there is a range of tour guides – from those helping pensioners on a cruise down the Rhine to guiding adventurous folk who are trekking through the Andes. You may prefer, however, for your child to be a tour rep for Club 16 to 30 – and thus gain access to clearing up after unfortunates to lazing on the beach.

Of course most parents would like their child to go to Oxford, come up with a bright travel related idea, raise a few million seed money to start the project off – and then sell the concept for millions and millions.

We need to feel sorry for all those caught up in the present swine flu saga. Perhaps one of our young people will go on to discover a vaccine that will help to prevent pandemics. After all it is the poor and the vulnerable who are most often caught up in any disasters.

Eleven Plus English

When we look at the some of the written work some bright children do in the writing exercise it is difficult to understand just why the study of syntax and language structure has been out of fashion for so long.

Planning of stories seems to be taught in Year 6 with the SATs approaching. Of course children are taught to plan written work in nearly all the juniors school years – but it does seem that a number of children only learn to apply the principles on planning when they reach Year 6. We some times see beautifully planned work, neatly set out and executed confidently – and think to our selves `lucky children’.

There must be a case for formal teaching of sentences, phrases and punctuation. These are the very bed rock on any written work. The case for learning the names of parts of speech does not seem, at first glance, to be so strong. It is very useful, however, to be able to discuss the embellishment of a sentence if the words in the sentence can be described using the right terms. After all an adjective is an adjective – and not a pronoun.

Converting reported speech into direct speech does have a certain grandeur. Some children really enjoy understanding that direct speech consists of the exact words used by a speaker – and is usually put inside inverted commas. Indirect speech, or reported speech, is often expressed using the past tense. “Come inside children, it is raining!” screamed the teacher can be changed in many ways. Verbs become past tense, pronouns are turned to the third person, and words denoting close proximity are altered to remote locations. Almost all the eleven plus children we have worked with love the `rules’ and the formality of the exercise.

We are always impressed when children are able to use the figures of speech. We had an eleven plus girl in earlier this week who was able to discuss – and use – similies and metaphors. (We sometimes see GCSE children who struggle to remember the difference.)

I recall learning, in Latin, classes about `phrases in apposition’ – and often think of this when using commas in sentences. One of our `A’ level assistants, who helps with teaching the eleven plus children, explained on Tuesday that she was going to do a joint law degree with Spanish and Mandarin. She felt that these two languages would ensure a stellar career. It is reasonably easy to imagine a Spanish lecturer discussing `phrases in apposition’ – but I am not so sure of the Mandarin’s team use of commas.

1000 Eleven Plus Blogs

This is just to say thank you very much to all this blog’s readers. This is blog number one thousand. A milestone in my life!

The blog has had readers from around seventy countries. We have a steady stream of `returners’ and the blog has been read by literally thousands of people. It looks as if the eleven plus examination is a subject that interests many more than those actively involved.

I am most grateful to the children because they supply the unending source of ideas for the blog. I am very seldom at a loss as to what to write about.

I hope all parents and children achieve their dreams over the coming months and years.

Best wishes

An Eleven Plus Recipe

There must be some correlation between the ability of the teacher or tutor and your child’s ability to pass the eleven plus. Surely, however, you don’t need a gifted teacher in order to work with a very bright child. This would preclude many of us from feeling that we can help the children in our care.

We know that tests of ability, like verbal reasoning tests, do not necessarily mange to select children from very poor homes. Factors such as language and opportunity must come into play.

Every time a teacher is asked the question: “But will my child pass the eleven plus?”, then the teacher has to think of many factors:

Home back ground
Physical abilities
Emotional status
Social development
Interests

The key twin factors of ability and desire to pass the examination will no doubt flash through a teacher’s mind. If the child is not bright enough there is little chance of passing the examination. If the child is, however, bright enough then the teacher will think of the work that lies ahead, the co-operation from all those at home, how much pressure will be put on the child and if the child is mature enough to cope with the demands of a challenging course of study.

So if you want your child to become a doctor you know from the start that you expect, and hope, that your child may be more able than some of his or her teachers and tutors.

Your child will need innate ability.

You child must be prepared to work harder than most other children.

Your child must also be realistic.

Some parents will be looking for these traits early on in their child’s life. Extreme concentration playing with Thomas the Tank Engine will not, however, act as a golden sign that your child will, one day, become a physician of note. Ordinary children can concentrate, if interested, for long periods.

Learning to read at two years old could act as a significant sign. There must, however, be many serving doctors who did not read at two.

Your child may be very willing to work, for a long period of sustained time, through a full eleven plus paper – but also can not act as a sign that your child will become a doctor.

So we have a rare recipe for eleven plus success: a bright, hardworking child with concerned and supportive parents and dedicated teachers. If you are on this journey – take heart many others have gone before.

Eleven Plus Profile

Eleven Plus children do not follow identical paths towards the eleven plus. The children will be offered a wide range of inputs from their parents, different schooling and will work through a variety of eleven plus papers. How then do the children land up with the same eleven plus scores?

To come towards an answer we can look at a rather generalised picture of an eleven plus child.

It is possible that the child is aware that university is an option. The parents will have done their job and commented on future prospects.

It is likely that he or she will read widely from a wide range of books, magazines and periodicals.

Some eleven plus candidates will have had hobbies and interests that could be categorised as academic in nature.

He or she may be eager to express an opinion on everything under the sun. Some of the conclusions may actually be telling and worth listening to.

Very often, but not always, the eleven plus child will be good at sports – and be able to participate in a wide range of activities from athletics and swimming to the more individual sports of golf or trampoline.

His or her parents will come from many different economic levels. The one common element will be the interest they will take in the education of their child.

Not all children will show all these attributes. It must help if the children embrace at least a few!

Eleven Plus Good and Evil

During the period of teacher training would be teachers are encouraged to develop their education and attitude towards children. Almost invariably their attention is directed towards Rousseau who is often considered to be one of the early seminal philosophers of education. My Everyman edition of Emile goes back to 1966.

Emile evoked such strong feelings, back in 1762, that the book was banned and consigned to flames. For the next eight years Rousseau led the life of a fugitive – hiding from authority.

At the beginning of Emile he wrote: “God makes all things good, man meddles with them and they become evil.” He wrote about how a boy called Emile was to be educated. He then went onto to write about Sophy – the girl who Emile was to marry.

How many parents of eleven plus children will recognise this passage in their own daughters? “A woman’s judgement develops sooner than a man’s; being on the defensive from her childhood up, and entrusted with a treasure so hard to keep, she is earlier acquainted with good and evil. Sophy is precocious by temperament in everything, and her judgment is more formed than that of most girls of her age. There is nothing strange in that, maturity is not always reached at the same stage.”

He could have been writing about a number of eleven plus girls with these worthy attributes:

Precocious
Good judgment
Understand the difference between good and evil
Mature

Sadly Rousseau was not able to write about how Sophy was able to cope with verbal reasoning questions.

It is likely that Rousseau would have wondered at the need for questions that eleven plus children have to take for granted.

Take the following numbers in a `What comes next’ series:

9 5 8 4 7 3 ___

It is easy to see that a successful eleven plus candidate needs ability, interest, staying power and aptitude. Having good judgment and being mature are surely bonuses. It does seem likely, however, that it is possible to pass the eleven plus without really having the ability to distinguish clearly between good and evil. Would this be a more valuable asset in a grammar school girl?

Eleven Plus Evidence

Blog2504
What can you do if your child seems to have dyslexic tendencies and is struggling with some eleven plus work? You know your child and you believe in his or her ability. You feel that your child could cope in a grammar school environment – with some support of some kind.

You know that `The Authorities Behind the Eleven Plus’ do not go out of their way to help children with one sort of learning problem or another. You have heard stories how parents, in the appeal situation, have had their pleas for clemency and justice rejected.

Some of you may even have spoken to your child’s school who have intimated: “If he / she manages to pass the examination then he / she would find the work very demanding.” This is the polite way, used by some teachers, of saying that first of all there is only a slim chance of your child passing and secondly that your child may not be able to cope with the pace and complexity of the work at grammar school.

It is very unlikely that the spectre of dyslexia will suddenly come up in year five – because most parents will have had some inkling that all is not well – but the content of eleven plus work can provide a wake up call and thus trigger a reaction. Some parents have found that working through verbal and non verbal reasoning questions shows when their child can nor read the question confidently. Other children show that they can not absorb what the question is asking. Other children demonstrate reversals, difficulty with the order of letters within a word or a tendency to substitute letters or shapes.

It is essential that as soon as your instincts are alerted that you drive into action. Ask for straight forward answers from the school. Do not allow any obfuscation. You may be remarkably fortunate and have contact with a sympathetic and knowledgeable teacher. Treasure the input that you are offered – and listen with both ears!

Seek professional advice from outside. An educational psychologist should be able to answer most of your questions about the nature of the `dyslexia’ and the ability of your child.

Talk to your child and try to understand where he or she is experiencing difficulty. You may find that some of the discussion appears to be incongruous and inconsequential – but you may gather gems that will offer some insight.

Eleven Plus Verbal Reasoning

Verbal reasoning questions are designed to examine different types of ability. The answers, however, do not always jump off the page. Sometimes the brain needs to reflect and think before delivering the right answer. Two types of questions spring to mind – those dealing with anagrams and those with relationships.

At least when you, and your child, are working through eleven plus verbal reasoning papers, and you reach the section on anagrams you feel you know where you are. An anagram is where the letters of the word are mixed up. People who work on crosswords love anagrams. Writers of eleven plus tests and selection papers love anagrams too. It can’t take much time to write an anagram question. It can, sometimes, take lots of time to work one out!

Sorting out the anagram sometimes needs a combination of imagination and stealth.

What is the odd one out?

Deed level madam toot owc

Answer: The word cow as it is not a palindrome.

Concerned parents and teachers would then react positively at this point and take time out of the eleven plus paper to ask their child to think of a few more palindromes. This allows a sense of freshness and realism to the lesson.

Of course someone in the family will come up with:

Rats are to live as evil is to … (star)

Eleven plus tests also rely on relationships. Most relationships appear to deal with words rather than numbers. Sometimes the test writer will try to add a little twist.

The questions could start with:

Man is to foot and horse is to …. (hoof).

And then develop to:

Eskimo is to igloo as Swiss is to …. (Chalet)

Keep reminding your bright, alive and active child that a brilliant answer to the wrong question does not offer any marks! You could add that when doing multiple choice questions it is essential to select at least one of the choices.

The Eleven Plus in Ireland.

This is a different view on the Eleven Plus.

Eleven Plus Concerns

Where do the bright children who pass the eleven plus come from? We must imagine that bright well educated parents will have bright well educated children. To take this a little further the parents of bright children are likely to be employed in occupations at a professional or highly successful business level.

It could be thought that successful parents will be more likely to have a higher percentage of children passing the eleven plus - but this can not be universally true. There will be more children passing from ordinary families – simply because there must be far more ordinary families.

If children who come from all walks of life then who do some bright children appear to fail the eleven when they have been given every opportunity by their parents? Some very able children may not be all that good at social relationships. Other children may choose not to take advantage of all that has been offered to them. Some children will want to pass the eleven plus – and others won’t.

Some parents will continue to worry that they have given every advantage to their children. There will also be some parents who will continually look for signs of how well their children will do in the examination.

Parents’ concerns will include:

Did the teacher at school actually understand that we want our child to pass the eleven plus?

Have we offered our child enough stimulation and praise?

Should we have done something much earlier about an apparent lack of interest in reading?

Are we pressing too hard?

Do we force an argument or do we allow a continual clash of wills?

Is our child feeling insecure because we are putting too much pressure?

An eleven plus child does not need lots of money or all the latest gadgets – what will help most of all is stable and caring home environment.

The Caring Side of the Eleven PLus

What makes an eleven plus child happy? Answering 34 out of 50 questions correctly on a paper? Playing sport confidently? Having the company of true friends? Enjoying minimal pressure from parents? Being offered, and accepting, a well balanced education at school? The prospect of a good job?

It is possible that some children will be really happy when they can use their talents to help others. After all look at the number of adults we see go into the `caring’ professions. Some adults feel fulfilled by helping others –so why should we think that children do not have the same feelings.

How are the examiners who set the eleven plus examinations going to find children who have a strong desire to build a better society? It must be argued that the eleven plus exists to select children for a grammar school education. We hope that eleven plus preparation encourages children to extend them selves academically, physically and socially.

The present eleven plus examination is not designed to find children who feel empathy and a conscious desire to help others less fortunate. These talents are, however, surely nurtured within the grammar school by a wide variety of well meaning initiatives.

Perhaps some of the answer lies in the old saying: “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.”

Parents can help to nurture a spirit of giving – not only money but time. Some eleven plus children live a bewildering life full of lessons, sport, study and after school activities. How on earth will these children, who have so much to offer, be able to find time to think of others?

Some families are already living the challenge. Perhaps they could share their experiences with the rest of us.

Eleven Plus Changes

Bright children are constantly urged to work hard and do their best. Some parents and some teachers will extol the opportunities that arise with a place in a grammar school. Children with exceptional talent should enjoy this interest because it means that their talents are appreciated and not wasted.

One of the reasons for entry to grammar school that some parents must quote would be the chance to develop highly valuable economic skills. In other words grammar school plus university equals well paid and successful job.

We know that important demands placed on children as they work towards the eleven plus. Eleven plus children are expected and even willed to climb to academic heights well above those reached at school. Of course not all children manage to pass the eleven plus through no real fault of their own. Ability and opportunity must play a significant part.

How could we do a better job and provide a broader and more comprehensive pre eleven plus education? We know that a verbal reasoning test is a significant tool in the eleven plus examination. Many of the questions, however, are remarkably similar to those produced over fifty years ago. This in itself does not prove that the questions are inappropriate – but it does suggest that the view of education and ability espoused all those years ago still has a place in our society today.

We can be sure that verbal reasoning tests are still valid and important – but the tests and the questions only cover a small selection of the talents and ability often shown in really bright children. A ten year old child with Grade 6 in music will probably do well on verbal reasoning papers – but entrance to grammar school does not recognise this. Exceptional talent with a cricket bat will not open up a grammar school place – but the grammar school should be able to profit if the child is able to pass the entrance test.

We want creative and imaginative children. Surely these are skills and talents that are more important in the long run than an ability to pass a multiple choice test?

Quality Eleven Plus Work

Many children will be returning to school after the end of the spring term. The children are now starting the summer term. For a number of eleven plus children the next few months will prove difficult to cope with.

Some parents are going to have to be very careful that they do not over stress their children. Other parents will try to continue to maintain a steady balance between work, school and play.

These few months are really a golden opportunity for parents to work with their children. Now that the Key Stage 3 SATS have disappeared the next `big’ examination (after the KS2 SATS) will be the GCSEs. Some parents may find that they prefer to work with a ten to eleven year old rather than when their child is sixteen.

.Try to work on what is called `time wasting indecision’. Plan out what and when your child will work. (No T.V., for example, until after homework and eleven plus work.)

Try to help you child to understand the value of work on homework or an assignment as soon as possible – rather that leaving everything until the last minute.

Build eleven plus work up to be `quality time’ and not a drag or a bore.

A hard lesson for some eleven plus children is to understand the need to work on unpopular exercises – not just the bits that are enjoyable.

An Eleven Plus Balance

There is a strong argument to encourage some eleven plus children to lead a balanced life. The eleven plus examination is a means to an end – and not an end in itself.

We all know the saying: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

A further twist on this story could be:

Willie built a Guillotine

Willie built a Guillotine
Tried it out on sister Jean.
Said Mother as she got the mop:
“These messy games have got to stop!”

Effective Eleven Plus Preparation

James Callaghan, in a famous speech at Ruskin College in Oxford in 1976, talked about `complaints from industry that new recruits from schools sometimes did not have the basic tools to do the job required’.

It is very difficult to assess performance when trying to compare the present with the past. Various politicians have continued to grapple with the problem. We have similar problems with trying to understand the present condition value of the current eleven plus examinations.

Children from rural communities, for example, may have different life experiences to children drawn from a densely populated urban sprawl. One group of children may be `street smart’ while other children may be thought of, by some, as rural plod hoppers. Wherever the children are drawn from, we know that in order to pass the eleven plus we need confident and competent children. Being exam savvy plays a bit part in success in eleven plus examinations.

Parents have to try to work out how much work has to be done by the candidate - and the rest of the family. Parents also have to make continuous judgements on the effectiveness of the school and the tutor – if indeed one is involved.

Children also have to play a part in the decision making. They have to work out how much effort needs to be put into examination preparation. Children also need to be able to feel they can talk about how effective their teachers are at school – and how useful the eleven plus tutor is.

All parents, schools and tutors can do is try to give their charges the best possible opportunity, and the correct tools, to do as well possible in the eleven plus.

The Eleven Plus Examination

It is very hard for parents to work out just how effective the eleven plus examination is at selecting the right children for grammar school. Parents can judge just about everything else but they can not judge effectiveness of the actual examination.

The results of the eleven plus are most often offered to parents in the form of pass and fail. Sometimes some parents are told the rank order of their children – but for the most parents have to believe in the veracity and integrity of the examination.

The eleven plus examination exists in many forms. Some, for example, require mathematics, others don’t. Essentially the examination is trying to find children who would benefit from a grammar school education. A successful eleven plus examination would be one that produced good results - with selected children enjoying a successful grammar school career.

The eleven plus would not be a good examination if all it did was test how well children had committed facts to memory. It would also be a poor examination if gave too much away in the question. The eleven plus examination would only be really effective if it produced results that were in line with the purpose of the examination.

Some opponents of the eleven plus examination feel that while the eleven plus might be an effective examination in selecting children – the actual idea of the examination is not sound. This argument could be justified on moral grounds – in that part of the design of examination was to find poor children who were bright. There is also a political argument against the eleven plus – a Labour government swept away most of the grammar school – but no recent government has had either the courage or the will to challenge the place of grammar schools in society.

An eleven plus examination that went against the will of the majority of the people would be indefensible. It is likely, however, that there would be some considerable outcry if a future government decided to abolish the remaining grammar schools.

The Eleven Plus and Behaviour

Good news for bright children who want to work hard.

Parents will be hit by severe penalties if their children misbehave.

Eleven Plus Fees

Grammar schools were established years ago by bishops wanting to have development centres for their priests. In Saxon England much of the teaching in the grammar schools was in Latin.

The rise of medieval universities led the foundation and expansion of grammar schools. Where else would the universities find the able scholars? Allied to this was the desire of private benefactors to found schools to promote academic and secular learning.

During the seventeenth century the grammar schools developed on different lines to
`day schools.’ Grammar schools, however, began to go into a form of decline. The Taunton Commission (1864 – 7) found that many schools were needed reforming – and suggested that power for running many of the schools should be removed from the patronage of the bishops. Of course Church Schools remain today.

Education in those days, just as today, had to be paid for – so there was often a division between children who paid fees and the `free’ scholars.

One of the arguments today against grammar schools is that parents who can afford fees can help their children to pass by paying for books, materials and tutors – and so the children from poorer families continue to lose out. Parents with money can send their children to `good’ schools. Some parents can even move into `good’ areas where their children could have a better chance of entry to grammar schools.

Eleven Plus Leisure

There are some parents who like to think that their child needs to maintain a relentless drive towards the eleven plus. They encourage their child to do some daily work towards the eleven plus – but want their child to use the time working through paper after paper. Working through papers is an important part of eleven plus preparation – but it is not the only activity to take into account.

Some where in the mix of reading, learning definitions, going to school and attending various after school activities some parents may care to consider the place of leisure time. Almost every one will have a different view of leisure. To some families leisure is a family picnic on a weekend, to others walking the dog is a key component in family life. Other families will look upon a regular visit to the cinema and of course there is sport.

In an ideal world a child studying towards an academic education needs to be offered a full range of athletic, dramatic, artistic and other activities. The child, and the circumstances of the family, will determine the take up. (Apart from walking the dog round the block, almost everything else takes money!)

When the child reaches grammar school he or she will expect a full range of facilities from playing fields to sports halls and music rooms to art studios. These are all the range of activities which the grammar school child will expect to benefit from.

To be able to enjoy leisure pre eleven plus children need leisure time. This could mean fewer papers – but may lead to more directed work.

Abraham Lincoln gave us a good reason to make the most of our time.

I did keep a grocery, and I did sell cotton, candles and cigars and sometimes whiskey, but I remember in those days Mr Douglas was one of my best customers. Many a time I have stood on one side of the counter and sold whiskey to Mr Douglas on the other side, but the difference between us now is this: I have left my side of the counter, but Mr Douglas still sticks to his as tenaciously as ever.

Eleven Plus Independence

Some parents are often concerned about the amount of liberty and freedom they should offer their eleven plus children. This is a thorny question and teachers and parents are alike in worrying if too much or too little freedom is allowed. If the eleven plus child is to do well in the examination – and act independently, and without fear or recrimination – then parents and children need to know where they stand.

If the parents try too hard to control their children then they may find that their well behaved and mannerly child suddenly shows signs of rebellion. If the parents push too hard to control and `manage’ independence they may find that they can not predict how their children will react in the examination.

We clearly remember one extremely bright girl who did not want to go to an all girls school and failed her eleven plus abysmally. She wanted to go to a mixed grammar school in a different local authority. Her results in this second examination were so high that she ended up in the top 180 out of around 4000 children who took the examination. In other words she put her foot down and was fully prepared to take a chance. If she had not been in the top 180 – she would not have been offered a grammar school place.

The parents who have made their children too dependent during the approach to the eleven plus may reap the reward of unexpected results. If the parent has controlled the approach to the examination with strict rules of conduct, careful attention to detail and never allowing their child to make a mistake, they may find that their child has not had the opportunity to think for themselves.

As the examination grows closer some parents may have to try to cut the chains that bind their child and allow a slow growth into independence.

The Scope of the Eleven Plus

During the Second World War was necessary to train older men and women in skilled trades so that younger workers could be released for more specialised tasks. Experimental and occupational psychologists were used to investigate the factors involved in the acquisition of skills in various jobs.

It is not hard to think that when parents are learning new eleven plus skills with their children, there must be occasions when their child picks up a new skill faster than the parent.

The work of the psychologist during the war was to try to work how machinery and equipment could be designed to allow for human limitation – and so to minimise accidents or errors.

Some of the publishers of present eleven plus material do not appear to have thought successfully about the role of training parents to work through eleven plus papers with their children. Some parents, for example, may need more than the answer before they can help their child.

Some publishers do, however, seem to making grounds in their use of the internet to disseminate help and information. The problem is that the eleven plus has been around for many years – with remarkably little alteration in the scope and extent of the questions. Indeed there must be some parents and possibly some grandparents who sat the eleven plus years ago and are now working with their children.

There has been very little new and exciting in the world of the eleven plus. One school of thought could be: “If it ain’t broke – don’t try to fix it.” The eleven plus is obviously doing it job and is selecting the right kind of children for grammar schools.

What happens if there are children who can not pass the eleven plus – but could make excellent use of the academic education offered by grammar schools?

We could be pessimistic about the eleven plus but in truth most bright children love and thrive on the rigors of the present eleven plus. After all it is all we have at the moment.

Eleven Plus Mistakes

Some children, when faced with a problem, will immediately ask their parents, or their teacher, for help. It is very tempting to supply the answer. Some parents and teachers will be inclined to say. `Why not try that line there?’ instead of allowing the child to make a mistake or find the solution.

If your child solves the problem then he or she is more likely to remember how to solve a similar problem.

Most parents will have discovered, over the years, that their children think differently to them. The way a child thinks is often very different to how an adult thinks.

There is no one single best way to solve a problem. Your child may suggest a way of solving a problem that is wrong to you. As an adult, and parent, it is sometimes hard to back down while your every instinct is to maintain that the adult way is the best way.

If you have time, the race towards the eleven plus should slow down for a moment, sometimes, to allow a discussion on different methods of solving the problem. It is only when you child keeps fumbling for an answer that you will need to put your foot down and use those most useful words in a parent’s vocabulary: “Because I say so!”

Again – if you have time – you will naturally want to lead your child to understand your position on solving problems. Your child may feel threatened and overwhelmed if you point mistakes out – after all it may be better for your child to discover that he or she has made a mistake – than to be told that a mistake has been made.

Eleven Plus Schools

When Labour came to power in 1964 there was a diverse collection of policies on education. The composition of schools was as follows:

Modern 3906
Grammar 1298
Technical 186
Bilateral and Multilateral 69
Comprehensive 195
Other secondary 240

There were also 240 all age schools.

A lot of parents today would be a lot happier if there were still 1298 grammar schools!

Eleven Plus Advantages

The London School Board in 1870 decided to have infant, junior and secondary schools. In time this thinking led to a desire for some form of selection to allow children to be educated in a senior school which best suited their capabilities. Of course selection led to the eleven plus and it was this examination that tried to find children who would benefit from an academic education.

Junior schools then had to alter the work they did with their children to allow as many as possible enjoy the opportunity of attending a grammar school. The narrowing of the curriculum did not suit everyone – and, in time, there was a general revolt against changes in the junior school and the whole idea of grammar schools. There are now around one hundred and sixty grammar schools left in England.

We know that throughout the eighteenth century the curriculum of the grammar schools revolved around classics. The study of Latin and Greek do not, however, play so large a part in grammar schools today. A learned man called Dean Gaisford, and was a professor at Oxford nearly one hundred and seventy years ago, made the case for grammar schools when he wrote:

The advantages of a classical education are twofold – it enables us to look down with contempt on those who have not shared its advantages, and also fits us for places of emolument not only in this world, but in that which is to come.

We know that the word emolument comes from Latin – and is to do with the fees or wages of work. It is fun to think of all our precious little eleven plus children working as hard as possible to pass their eleven plus so that they can earn lots of money! (I hope they pass some to their parents in time to come!)

We hope too that these potential grammar school children do not look down on lesser mortals who do not pass the examination – or who are not offered the opportunity of sitting the eleven plus.

Eleven PLus Answers

Teachers sometimes use the technique of `Open Ended Sentences’ to gain information about what their children think about themselves, their parents and the eleven plus.

After school I will

Parents should always

I admire a person who

My younger brothers and sisters

My older brothers and sisters

My mother should

I would like my father to

When my aunts and uncles speak to me they always

I think that the eleven plus

I do enjoy studying

I hate

Above all I wish

Once you have encouraged your child to write down the answers, seal them without looking and then answer the questions yourself. I wonder just how far alike some of the answers really are.

Eleven Plus Goals

The eleven plus examination was devised to select candidates for grammar schools. In 1906 more places were offered to children in secondary schools. After 1944 it was decided to have different types of schools – and hence the need for selection.

When the supply of places in the more favoured educational establishments exceeded the demands of the candidates, then a selection device was needed.

The examination system has grown and grown – from `O’ level examinations – which changed into the more favoured GCSEs. `A’ levels and the International Baccalaureate (I.B.) are used, in part, for selection for places in university and colleges. Along the way we have had Key Stage 1 and 2 SATs examinations – and we used to have Key Stage 3 SATs. In among this huge logistical exercise we have children trying to win places in private and grammar schools. The Common Entrance, for example, is a highly competitive examination at the age of thirteen.

At the top end of the secondary school teachers try as hard as possible to help their children to earn good grades – this allowing, in some cases, entry to favoured seats of higher learning. But sixth form courses are not intended to be `preparation for degree courses’. Indeed if one day some minister decided to abolish the GCSE, the sixth form would need to bear the brunt of children being challenged by a number of subjects – as in the I.B.

A large number of primary teachers feel that KS2 SATs tests should not be used to test the width and balance of a school – and some teachers also feel that a system of grading of schools should be abandoned because league tables simply can not sum up the whole ethos and spirit of schools. Personalised learning and continuous assessment are the present `buzz words’.

In eleven plus terms there is a real justification for keeping the examination. Quite simply the eleven plus provides motivation for learning and encourages competition.

There must be always be some objections to an examination system that is inseparable from being competitive. One strong point is nearly always made – that competition is not good for children of primary school age.

The goal of winning a place in a grammar school cannot be transferred to a child who wants a place in a comprehensive school. The child who is set on a comprehensive will need to work equally as hard as a child aspiring towards grammar – but the emphasis and the syllabus will need to be different.

Until a better system is found the eleven plus remains the best method of ensuring the right children have the chance of a grammar school education. Naturally are some children who miss out a place completely unfairly. Until teachers are involved in selection and a system of continuous assessment is introduced, the eleven plus will need to stay in its present state.

Eleven Plus Boys

Boys, when they are approaching the eleven plus examinations, sometimes find themselves under pressure. History has given us a picture of boys from different cultures growing up accepting initiation and a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood. The boy has to become a man.

A boy often is expected to show manliness by being more rough and ready and more adventurous than girls. At the same time some boys are taught to be polite, clean and are expected to show some delicacy of taste and manners.

We hope that pre eleven plus boys will not demonstrate signs of delinquency and conflict. The occasional rebellion over completing an eleven plus paper is not, however, quite the same as throwing a stone through a window.

Some mothers will encourage their eleven year old sons to be independent and tolerant - after all these are essential parts of the make up of a balanced adult. Other mothers will emphasise the need for their son to work hard at school and maintain the family name.

An eleven year old boy, even a very bright one, will try to assert himself in a bewildering variety of ways – depending on the circumstances within the family. If a boy feels, for example, that he is subject to an injustice he may react in a very different manner to how he behaves when he has to submit to the will of the family.

The comforting thing is that very few true eleven plus boys feel the need to descend into juvenile anarchy.

We had an eleven plus boy with us some time ago. It was clear that he would pass his eleven plus. He was often off hand with our teachers. He would pass our receptionist on his way into and out of lessons without acknowledging her cheery greeting. His fights with his mother after lessons were legendry. There was little give and take. He had the ability to endure a whole lesson without a smile – and never offered a please or thank you. He simply demanded.

One day a much younger child sat beside him in the lesson. His whole demeanour changed. His voice and look became gentle. He offered advice, comfort and suggestions along with a ready and winning smile. The younger child blossomed and looked for approval. We had worked with the older boy for some months and he had never given any of us an inch.

There was some trigger in his personality to protect and succour. He did not need to be taught to be manly and pleasant. These traits were within him. The nature and breadth of formal eleven work simply did not allow him the opportunity to display his ability to be friendly and co-operative. We wondered if he was very resentful about having to work towards the eleven plus. It could be that because he was so bright that he could cope with much of the work at school – but he met new and different work as he laboured towards the eleven plus.

Was there a happy ending?

It is difficult to know. Was it our place to ask him why his behaviour changed so much? I am not so sure.