11plus Grammar School Exams
......A first hand account of a survivor
The 11plus Grammar school selective entry process an alien, unfathomable journey for anybody privileged enough to have evaded the torturous process of wearing multiple hats; teacher at home, motivator, working parent, cook, enforcer. Bringing a whole new perspective, dimension to the term multitasking. Any exams, specially of the old fashioned, traditional type, aimed at young boy minds, aka stubborn, distracted, “much rather be playing video games”, brains, not too dissimilar to yoking an unwilling horse or buffalo to a cart. Both tugging away in opposite directions, at least in the early stages.
The joys of Maths and Non Verbal Reasoning
How best to convince a 10-year-old, that doing a maths paper every day, just one, not ten, and reading a book was all in his interest, and little bit mine as well. And some evenings, the maths paper in lieu of bedtime reading. The joys of sitting in bed working away at a Maths paper, decidedly more fun, than swotting away at nonverbal reasoning. There is clearly nothing as mind bogglingly torturous, as the process of trying, failing miserably at making sense of a nonverbal reasoning puzzle. All these squiggly, odd shapes, identical to each other, trying to figure out the accurate mirror reflection, akin to water torture. To deal with this torment, the boy and I, watched videos on Facebook…so many mirthful, hilarious moments of two-minute joys, on science, cooking, music, and comedy sketches. There is no doubt in my mind that getting through the exams would have been impossible without these mini–FB videos.
Passing the exams, with enough marks, to be worthy of consideration for atleast one grammar school, ideally every single one in the locality, making all the difference…. a veritable paradise, haven; beckoning away, the prospect of a good education without the prospect of slaving away for the rest of one’s mortal life just to pay the school fees, that is if one didn’t go down the independent school route. And I’m not suggesting for one minute, that not getting into a grammar school, settling for a non-fee-paying school is the end of the world. Plenty of good comprehensive schools around, churning well balanced individuals around.
School Parent Groups
But the exam process every bit as tedious as getting ready for a prolonged battle, a siege, with many families, starting the grind three years prior to the actual event; hoarding of resources, activities curtailed, weekends spent swotting away, bemoaning, comparing notes, toting up the number of notches gained at school on extra-curricular activities, spending extortionate amounts on exam gurus promising miraculous results, and at the end of this trek, therapy to destress from the hive of activity. The medieval paradise of Sutton, fortunate and blessed to contain three boys grammar schools in its immediate vicinity, making it a hot spot for all varieties of medieval activities. School parent groups turning overnight into a snake and ladders venture, with parents, tripping over each other, to hoard information, only the useful kind. Taking pot shots, knife throwing…..mandatory.