I have noticed amongst my friends and clients that there are several different attitudes towards the 11+ ….
‘Sheepdog’ this is the mum who researches the books and courses, interviews the 11+ tutors and has signed up her child in Year 4. This mum is on a mission to pass and everything is geared towards it with thorough researching of the schools. This mum will consider moving if it means her child will get into the right school for them.The 11+ is their project and this summer is crucial preparation time.
‘Labrador’ this mum is pretty laid back. She would like her child to take the exam and signs up for 11+ tuition. She will get some practice papers and check out the schools but is fairly relaxed and has back up options that are OK. She’s encouraging with her child and takes an interest but she isn’t on a mission and her child knows this so may not be 100% committed to the tuition.
‘Jack Russell’ this mum is sometimes on the case of the 11+ child but mostly leaves it up to the tutor and the school to do all the work because she doesn’t want to put pressure on her child. Then suddenly she jumps up and barks at her child because she realises that she hasn’t taken much interest lately. Her attitude is pretty inconsistent and her child doesn’t really know how important the 11+ is so he too wavers in his commitment.
‘Rescue Dog’ this mum is signed up for her child to take the 11+ but reckons they can manage without tuition and so she buys the practice books and goes through them from time to time with her 11+ child. She would like her child to pass but hey ho there are other good schools and there’s maybe the option to go Private.
You may or may not identify yourself as one of the above and there is certainly no ONE way to be. The point of the above is simply to make you aware that how you feel about the 11+ will affect how your child feels about it. Now you may disagree with me and point out that you don’t show your feelings to your child. Let me tell you right now that you are like cling film to your child. Your child knows precisely how you feel and how important the 11+ is to you.
To find out more about how you can support your 11+ child and learn useful tips on how to tackle the different types of questions depending on what sort of learner your child is (Visual, auditory or kinaesthetic) read my book Passing the 11+ with NLP
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