11 Plus News
Many news articles appear in the press relating to selective entry at 11 plus and education in general.
These articles have been selected as being relevant to parents of children aged 9 to 13 who are interested in what is happening across the UK. Contributions and comments are welcome, please write to enquires@planetbofa.com.
If you would particularly like to see the News for Northern Ireland, go to 11 plus News for Northern Ireland.
If you would like to see the News for England only, go to 11 plus News for England.
TV REVIEW: Big School Lottery
Leicester Mercury - Sept 8, 2010
Some parents, like Alison, are hiring a tutor to coach their child through 11-plus tests, others are prepared to move house to get in. ...
TV Review: This Is England '86 and The Big School Lottery
The Guardian - Sept 8, 2010
Ethan wants to go to a grammar school, too, so he's been doing some practice 11-plus exams. "They're quite hard to understand unless you get teached ...
The Big School Lottery
BBC iplayer - Sept 8, 2010
The Big School Lottery is a 3-part series which offers an insight into one of the most important and stressful decisions a family can make - which secondary school to send their child to. With unprecedented and exclusive access, the series follows for a full year Birmingham Education Authority, which is the largest in Europe, as it allocates its school places. And it follows a group of children - and their parents – from across Birmingham as they go through the process and make the move from primary to secondary school.
Teaching unions attack pressures of the Kent Test
Kent News - Aug 28, 2010
Previously known as the 11-plus, the exam selects what type of secondary education children go into. But the system, which has been scrapped in most other ...
Summer cramming for Kent 11 plus criticised by NUT
BBC News - Aug 16, 2010
Last-minute coaching for children to get them through the 11 plus in Kent is being criticised by a teaching union. Thousands of children across the county ...
Exam success for Coventry 11 year-olds
Coventry Telegraph - Aug 5, 2010
Figures released by Coventry City Council Key reveal key stage 2 pupils across the city have improved in their 11 plus exam results this year and made ...
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 50 YEARS
Express.co.uk - Jul 31, 2010
They are suffering from a shortage of places because children from neighbouring counties are being entered for the 11 plus exam, taking up places which ...
Education letters
The Guardian - Jul 26, 2010
Eleven-plus lessons Too often, the 11-plus exam becomes such a focus for political debate that the voices of children get lost. So I very much enjoyed Janet ...
Futures College boss: Talents are overshadowed by class
Essex Echo - 6 July 2010
Mr Baker said Westcliff High is working with Southend primary schools to try to encourage more disadvantaged children to take the 11-plus by letting them ...
Caitriona Ruane rejects any suggestion she should quit
Belfast Telegraph - 3 July 2010
Despite 67 schools setting their own entrance exams this year and already planning for similar tests next year, the minister also insisted that “the 11-plus ...
Heads defend entry policies
thisiskent.co.uk - 2 July 2010
She added her school offered the vast majority of its Year Seven places to grammar-assessed students living within the 11-plus area of Kent, ...
When failure is not an option
Telegraph.co.uk - 2 July 2010
Given the amount of effort required to lick your child into shape for the ferociously competitive entrance exams, usually at 11-plus, action, and plenty of ...
Schools interested in academy status named
Teachers TV - 25 Jun 2010
Of the 1500 schools on the list, 92 are grammar schools, which select on the basis of academic ability demonstrated in the 11-plus exam. ...
Mika and Destini score top places
Barbados Advocate - 8 Jun 2010
Twenty-six students from Hill Top set the “Eleven-Plus” this year, of which Destini and her friends Rachael Lewis and Shay Martin are the only three who ...
Revealed: experts' verdict on selection impasse
Belfast Telegraph - Jun 4, 2010
... SDLP and Alliance Party — who have been meeting weekly since last October to try to agree on what should replace the 11-plus exam. ...
Coalition pledge on 'slimmed down' national curriculum
Telegraph.co.uk - May 25, 2010
... become academies – retaining their right to select by ability – although the new government insisted there would be no further expansion of the 11-plus. ...
MLAs get 11-plus stalemate plan
BBC News - May 20, 2010
A report on how to resolve the impasse over the 11-plus has been received by a cross-party group of assembly members. The MLAs commissioned a number of ...
Grammar schools boom under Labour despite party's opposition
Daily Mail - May 14, 2010
And they will pile pressure on David Cameron who ruled out a return to the 11-plus in 2007, declaring that he was determined to 'move on from a sterile ...
Agonising wait for 11-plus results will soon be over
Guernsey Press and Star - May 14, 2010
Year 6 pupils begin the 11-plus process in the autumn and finish it in February but have to wait until May for the results. ABOUT 500 11-year-olds will find ...
group to hold more entrance exams
BBC News - May 12, 2010
The 11-plus transfer test ended in 2008 after Education Minister Caitriona Ruane introduced regulation abolishing academic selection. ...
Gerry Adams on Talkback
BBC News - May 4, 2010
1233 Stephen calls to raise the 11-plus. he says SF removes choice through the abolition of the 11-plus. Mr Adams says NI was the only part of western ...
Election candidates answer the big questions
Manchester Evening News - May 4, 2010
On education I would encourage the creation of new grammar schools but make the 11-plus vocational as well as academic. "The issue of whether you have ...
Conservative Wycombe candidate Steve Baker apologises over leaflet claim
Bucks Free Press - May 3, 2010
Candidate Andrew Lomas has said he wants the system scrapped but the party's manifesto while ruling out a 'return to the 11-plus' does not pledge to close ...
Northern Ireland parties inch towards an agreed transfer solution
Belfast Telegraph - May 3, 2010
... political leaders to sort out the school transfer crisis amid a long-running stalemate over the best replacement for the now abolished 11-Plus. ...
General Election 2010: Eton head calls for assisted places revival
Telegraph.co.uk - Julie Henry - May 2, 2010
... he abandoned the Conservative Party's traditional support for more grammar schools and the Tories have tried to avoid any mention of the 11-plus since. ...
Our Gothic towers inspire state school pupils, says Eton head
This is London - Apr 30, 2010
Many pupils at state comprehensives in the area have a low opinion of their own abilities after failing the 11-plus entrance exam for local grammar schools. ...
Schools and housing spark election debate
thisiskent.co.uk - Apr 30, 2010
But Labour candidate Gareth Siddorn, who is not in favour of the 11 plus system, said the question over the rights and wrongs of the selection process was a ...
Labour's Daniel Griffiths Responds to Ten Questions Posed by Tonbridge People ...
Tonbridge People - Apr 24, 2010
?CAN YOU GUARANTEE A GRAMMAR SCHOOL PLACE FOR EVERY CHILD WHO PASSES THE 11 PLUS? First, the day-to-day running of the local education system is matter for ...
Six questions to put to the Sinn Fein and SDLP
Belfast Telegraph - Apr 23, 2010
... on Westminster but Margaret Ritchie is planning to be an MP and MLA. 6 Is the SDLP for or against Caitriona Ruane's policy on abolishing the 11-plus?
Constituency profile: South Down
Belfast Telegraph - Apr 23, 2010
Also, Ruane is not well liked within the Catholic middle classes because of her stance and handling on the 11-plus and she needs such voters on her side,” ...
UKIP's Victor Webb answers your questions
Tunbridge Wells People - Apr 22, 2010
VW: UKIP will not return to a pass/fail 11 plus test but will introduce a comprehensive test to assess merit across a wide range of academic and non ...
General Election 2010: the Tories have a fortnight to save themselves from ...
Telegraph.co.uk - Apr 22, 2010
Bring back Grammar schools,and the 11 plus. As non of these will be implemented by Cameroon, my vote goes to the English Democrates. ...
Party fails memory test on selection
Belfast Telegraph - Apr 21, 2010
What is the SDLP's position on the issue of selection of primary school pupils at 11-Plus? The SDLP used to be counted among those who are opposed to ...
Schools fail to agree joint transfer exam
Belfast Telegraph - Apr 21, 2010
These papers were more in the style of the old 11-plus exams. There was a fee for the AQE tests while the PPTC tests were free. A joint statement was issued ...
Lib Dem Liz Simpson Responds to Ten Questions Posed By Tonbridge People - what ...
Tonbridge People - Apr 21, 2010
Can you guarantee a grammar school place close to home for every child who passes the 11 plus? I assume that this question relates to the difficulty some ...
What do Tonbridge People want to ask the candidates: Replies from Steve Dawe ...
Tonbridge People - Apr 14, 2010
? Q Can you guarantee a grammar school place for every child who passes the 11 plus? 1. Grammar school places: No. The Green Party supports the full ...
Decision time looms for grammar entrance test
Belfast Telegraph - Apr 14, 2010
These papers were more in the style of the old 11-plus exams. There was a fee for the AQE tests while the tests on offer within the Catholic school sector ...
Cameron wants a nation of volunteers. I'm not convinced
The Guardian (blog) - Apr 12, 2010
... electing county health boards; putting matron in charge on the ward; including non-academic skills in the 11-plus; cutting out red tape, especially EU ...
UKIP launches manifesto
ePolitix - Apr 13, 2010
New grammar schools would be built, but the "stigma of failure" attached to 11 plus tests would be removed by including non academic exams as well as ...
No narrowing of the great education divide
The Guardian - Apr 12, 2010
? But read the report through and it is clear that schools which use the 11-plus test are still the worst offenders (after the private schools, which aren't ...
Top comprehensives 'more exclusive than grammar schools'
Telegraph.co.uk - Apr 12, 2010
The study suggested that grammars – which select pupils on the basis of the 11-plus entrance exam – were more transparent as they identified pupils “with ...
Northern Ireland Education Minister Pledges To Work With Unions To Ensure Best ...
eGov monitor - Apr 9, 2010
“Education professionals and teaching unions have for many years called for the ending of academic selection and the 11 plus. ...
Ten Questions From Tonbridge People to our Election Candidates: Watch this ...
Tonbridge People - Apr 9, 2010
Can you guarantee a grammar school place close to home for every child who passes the 11 plus? 2. What will you do to improve our hospitals? 3. ...
Northern Ireland vote could shape election outcome
The Guardian - Apr 7, 2010
Although Ruane has a high profile, she has alienated many middle-class Catholics over her abolition of the 11-plus transfer test. ...
Teachers fear 'selection at 14'
BBC News - Angela Harrison - Apr 4, 2010
"Those who failed the 11-plus scrambled for a place at technical schools to avoid being shipped off to secondary moderns. "Comprehensive schools offer a ...
Dagenham school pupils are top of the class
Barking and Dagenham Post - Mar 24, 2010
Irene Irpogho and Danielle Wilson won places at Brentwood School after acing their 11 plus exams and were then awarded their scholarships. ...
Wirral's grammar school leaders call for entry test results to be released ...
Liverpool Daily Post - Mar 23, 2010
If there is no risk in taking the 11-plus test, then you may widen the choice of those looking to reach the standard.” Mike Twist, deputy headteacher at ...
Why Live In Tunbridge Wells?
Tunbridge Wells People - Mar 21, 2010
Many people also choose Tunbridge Wells for the eleven plus and its selection of grammar schools. But how many of us are happy once we've made the ...
'Failing' grammar school is out of special measures
Manchester Evening News - Mar 17, 2010
Grammar schools traditionally score high marks as they select the brightest pupils, with 11-plus exams determining entry. Parent Charlie Rodger said he was ...
School crisis 'down to the government'
thisiskent.co.uk - Mar 17, 2010
This year's nightmare has seen 114 Kent pupils left without a grammar school place despite passing the 11-plus. The full extent of how many are from ...
Class war making parents feel guilty about private schooling, say heads
This is London - Mar 16, 2010
Many parents pay for prep schools to help train their children to pass the 11-plus exam and win places in state grammars. There were fears that government ...
Caitriona Ruane attacks private transfer test tutoring
BBC News - Mar 12, 2010
Under direct rule the government took the decision to end the 11-plus test in Northern Ireland, however political bargaining led to a deal which did not ban ...
School places farce hits twins
thisiskent.co.uk - Mar 7, 2010
Despite sailing through their 11-Plus exams, Isobel and Milly Money, 10, have not been given a grammar school place and have instead won places at the ...
No turns on the Sinn Fein devolution train
BBC News - Mar 6, 2010
... put it: "Is Sir Reg Empey really saying that he is threatening the political institutions because Caitriona Ruane won't reintroduce the 11 plus. ...
'No evidence' of 11-plus cheating
Ilford Recorder 24 - Mar 6, 2010
Council chiefs have ruled there is no evidence of cheating in this year's controversial 11-plus exams as schoolchildren discover whether they got their ...
Academy head says 'don't just write us off'
thisiskent.co.uk - Mar 5, 2010
THE head of The Skinners' Kent Academy this week called on parents to "open their minds" after 114 youngsters who passed the 11-plus failed to get a place ...
Catholic school plans to be released later this month
Ulster Herald - Mar 4, 2010
The all-ability schools are also aimed at removing the necessity for 11-plus tests. Late last year, a similar review for the Fermanagh area recommended the ...
Kent children and parents discover secondary school places
Kent Online - Mar 2, 2010
The eight most popular schools were all non-selective, with Homewood School in Tenterden top of the list. KCC said about 100 children who passed the 11-plus had not at this stage been offered a grammar school place.
Grammar schools are here to stay – Robinson
Belfast Newsletter - Mar 2, 2010
But although he was not being dogmatic about what method should replace the old 11-plus, he insisted that Northern Ireland needs more "elite" high achievers ...
DUP bid over Hillsborough deal branded 'bizarre'
Belfast Telegraph - Mar 2, 2010
The party has said it will not back the devolution of policing and justice powers unless substantial progress is made on resolving the 11 plus stalemate in ...
School choice –an overrated concept
The Guardian - Mar 2, 2010
Grammars can select pupils based on 11-plus exams, faith schools can choose from the relevant religious backgrounds, and specialist schools can select 10% ...
DUP leader attacks plans for Catholic schools
BBC News - Mar 1, 2010
He said the replacement of the 11-plus with involved multiple exams "hardly seemed to be an educational advancement" and that he favoured computer adaptive ...
Why 'one-size-fits-all' schools will not work
Belfast Telegraph - Mar 1, 2010
He notes that it did not surprise him when research by Professor Gardner and Dr Cowan demonstrated major reliability problems in the 11-plus. ...
Pupils in England told their secondary school places
BBC News - Feb 23, 2010
This is the first year when there is no official 11-plus entrance test, although some schools are implementing their own tests. In Wales parents give their ...
One in six pupils to lose out in school place chase
Daily Mail - Feb 26, 2010
Wallington County Grammar, in Sutton, Surrey, which attracted nearly 14 applications per place, said the 11-plus sessions had to be organised with 'military ...
Fewer re-marks in new transfer tests
BBC News - Feb 24, 2010
The figure is significantly lower than the number who applied to have the last 11-plus test re-marked. One hundred and fifteen pupils, about 1.6% of who sat ...
Education: the high fly, the rest sink. And no one acts
Times Online - Feb 23, 2010
In Britain any debate on selection is cut off at the knees before it starts: “11 plus,” “a return to old-style grammars” and “writing off as failures” is ...
Grammar is important
Telegraph.co.uk - ?Feb 19, 2010
... and which are usually a mixture of standard 11-plus tests (verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, maths) and the school's own set papers. ...
NO More State Sponsored Testing Of 10 Year Olds In Northern Ireland Says ...
eGov monitor - Feb 17, 2010
The Minister was responding to a call for the return of the State sponsored 11 plus transfer test. Minister Ruane said: “The last state sponsored 11 plus ...
Nick Seaton: Support grows for more grammar schools
Yorkshire Post - Feb 16, 2010
Two years ago, Kent had 1232 applicants from outside the county, who freely volunteered to take the 11-plus for a place in one or other of Kent's grammar ...
Parents' concern at admissions hurdles
Derry Today - Feb 16, 2010
“We have always been subscribed and it has never been the case that an A grade assures a place at Lumen Christi - even with the 11 Plus. ...
Academic selection is out of date - Daithi McKay
Ballymoney Times - Feb 16, 2010
Post primary schools on a daily basis prove why there is no justifiable requirement for the 11 plus, they provide a first class education and produce pupils ...
Ulster Unionists demand deal on 11-plus before backing power sharing
The Guardian - Feb 12, 2010
Sinn Féin minister Catriona Ruane, middle, abolished the 11-plus test in Northern Ireland but the UUP is demanding a consensus on primary school testing. ...
Education experts call for temporary transfer test
BBC News - Feb 12, 2010
... than through the education minister, Caitriona Ruane. The 11-plus ended in 2008 after the Ms Ruane introduced regulation abolishing academic selection.
Police probe 11-plus exams 'cheating'
Ilford Recorder 24 - Feb 12, 2010
The 11-plus is a selective exam enabling pupils to get into the borough's two grammar schools, Ilford County High and Woodford County High. ...
Councils to map way forward for youth development
Barbados Advocate - Feb 11, 2010
One current need is for an after school programme to aid students gearing up for the 11 Plus Examination with homework and already the Councils are seeking ...
Body releases transfer exam marks
BBC News - Feb 11, 2010
Last year, almost 6000 pupils who sat the last 11-plus exam were awarded A grades. That was about 25% of the total year group, including those who did not ...
Voters favour more grammar schools, says survey
BBC News - Feb 10, 2010
But these schools remain popular with parents, many of whom coach their children intensively to pass the 11-plus that determines whether or not they get a ...
Grammar schools 'should be expanded'
Telegraph.co.uk - Feb 9, 2010
In recent years, private tutors have also recorded a huge upsurge in demand for extra tuition to help get children through the 11-plus entrance exam. ...
Parents set to consult schools on exam results
Belfast Newsletter - Feb 8, 2010
THE parents of children who took 11-plus replacement tests will this week consult with primary schools about the next stage for their children transferring ...
Primary pupils get transfer results
U.TV - Feb 6, 2010
Schools set their own entrance tests after the 11-plus was abolished in 2008 without political consensus for an alternative. The transfer tests went ahead ...
Northern Ireland test breaks new educational ground
BBC News - Maggie Taggart - Feb 6, 2010
Although Primary 7 children have done the 11-plus exams in the past, this is the first time that independent entrance exams will determine ...
What the papers say
BBC News - Jan 31, 2010
The Irish News says primary school principals are threatening to withdraw all support for unofficial 11 plus tests over what they call "crazy demands" being ...
Inequality in Britain isn't down to class but brains
Telegraph.co.uk - Alasdair Palmer - Jan 30, 2010
I'm one of those hard-up working class kids who passed the 11 plus lo these many years ago, and after many more years of bringing up a family, I returned to ...
Deadlock in Northern Ireland
The Guardian - Jan 29, 2010
The selection procedures between primary and post-primary schools have been deregulated in the name of abolishing the standardised 11-plus examination, ...
Louth school defends proposal to scrap catchment area
Grimsby Telegraph - Jan 28, 2010
After hearing a number of parents object to the proposal, James Lascelles told Louth town councillors he wanted the top 120 scoring pupils ikn the 11-plus ...
South Belfast's newest MLA pedals into action
Belfast Telegraph - Pauline Reynolds - Jan 27, 2010
“The time has come to produce an alternative and stand for something more then simply being against the 11 plus,” he said. Turning to the work front, ...
Bruce Anderson: Education is no place for idealism or egalitarianism
Independent - ?Jan 25, 2010?
Confronted by the life-chance dividing line of the 11-plus, millions of families underwent the same anxieties as my taxi-driver. In retrospect, the 1944 Act ...
The Northerner: Sky falls on chicken licker
The Guardian (blog) - Jan 21, 2010
Education there, this week at least, is concerned with tweaks to the 11-plus exam which for 90%-plus of the country is ancient history. ...
Editor's Viewpoint: Ruane's Reforms are not working
Belfast Telegraph - Jan 20, 2010
She has abolished the 11-plus selection test, but has been unable to get Executive or Assembly approval for her replacement policy. ...
Transfer chaos may run for a decade
Belfast Telegraph - Jan 18, 2010
... confirmed that there are currently no talks taking place between the DUP and his party on the thorny issue of agreeing on a replacement for the 11-plus. ...
Poor schools fuelling boom in private tuition
Telegraph.co.uk - Jan 17, 2010
There is now so much difference between the best grammar schools and the worst comprehensives that parents are tutoring for the 11-plus from an earlier age. ...
Anxious parents fuel boom in tutors
Times Online - Jack Grimston - Jan 16, 2010
“There is now such a difference between the best grammar schools and the worst comprehensives that parents are tutoring for the 11-plus from an earlier age. ...
More schools reach GCSE target
BBC News - Jan 13, 2010
The highest scoring school was Invicta Grammar School in Maidstone, Kent. Its pupils averaged 764.5 points apiece, compared with the 214.9 at St Peter's.
Grammar schools, selection, and tips for those private school interviews...
Times Online (blog) - Jan 6, 2010
There's a huge deficit between the 11-plus test and what contemporary neuroscience is saying about the developing brain (which they couldn't understand). ...
Why British children are pushed too hard
Times Online - ?Jan 4, 2010
The need to stay “on target” for that 11-plus, even in Africa, was paramount. In return, the school said that it would keep Jessie's place open for her ...
