Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request Who remembers the 11+?

The 11+ was a school exam in the late 50's. You took this exam
at age 11. If you failed this exam you finished school at 15.
If you passed, you went on to Grammar school at 15. How archaic
was that, your future decided at age 11. As you can tell by my spelling I failed the exam.

Wirral still has grammar schools and the 11 plus is still in place.

I'd like to know how the system works. I was bright in my junior school days but I was never invited to sit the exam.

Many kids considerably cleverer than myself were robbed of the chance of quality secondary education.

My memory of the 11+ was you took it in the final primary year, pass it and your secondary education, starting after the summer holidays, was at a grammar school, fail it (I never got my bike) and you went on to an ordinary secondary school.

I didn't pass the 11+ and went to Hemmy but at the end of the second year was offered a place at the BI with 2 other lads.
Don't remember a 13+ exam or was it a result of doing well in the yearly school exms.

I failed the 11+ at Prenton primary and went to Woodchurch Secondary Modern.

PB.

I passed the 11+ at Well Lane in 1948 and also passed the entrance exam for Birkenhead School where I started in September of the same year.
Four years later I dropped out and left before taking my exams.

So is anyone in favour of the 11+ still or not.

11+ still in place, rules changed a lot though.

Optional now, you choose 3 secondary schools for your child and if a Grammar School is number 1 choice your child sit's the 11+, if they fail to make the grade they are given option 2 as there preffered option (hope that makes sense).

Kids dont choose, my eldest who is 15 never sat the 11+, the head at her primary said she was border line and may just sneak in, we decided as parents her best option was to be in top sets at a secondary school rather than bottom sets at Grammar, I feel we made the correct call as she has been predicted c or higher in all her GCSE's and many of them are A's.

Sue I love the new way, we all now some kids would never make the grade and secondary normal education is better for them. Many more options for parents you no longer get preffered for distance as secondary schools specialise in say Dance/Drama or Sport etc etc so much better system for parents and kids enjoy school more as it's based on what they like most.

Hi, I left school at age 15 with no qualifications, I now employ 9 graduates with less eloquence and a lack of grammatical correctness inherent in your post. Life's what you make it.

K

I was the first person in my family to pass it. I was the first to go to University too. Always made me giggle when family would try to be all la-dee-da about their kids and then asked Mum what I was doing and she'd say "Oh she's at Cambridge University". Such a giggle to see them all silenced as they thought I'd never amount to much

I studied at oxford, but with british rail's timetable I still missed my connection.

Joking aside, i passed my 11+ and went to Wirral Grammar

Later on I did study Astrophysics at Hatfield college, Durham University

Nomad

I failed the 11+ (by a whisker, my parents discovered after) and went to Prenton Sec. and on to college for FE. Happy with my lot in life thankyou. Both my sons went to Uni. and have done very well for themselves. THAT'S the important thing in my book.

I work at a school that preps kids for the 11+.
My youngest went there and it wasn't for him but, most kids pass and don't look back!
It just depends on the individual, some will strive on their own and others need that little push!

Because of the number of kids that are specifically tutored for the 11+ (either privately or within the school), the standard is quite high. Very few would pass without this specific tutoring.

Quite a lot of kids could answer the questions but the time constraint makes it very difficult to answer enough questions unless you can quickly assess the style of question, the tutoring short-cuts the need to analyse each question enabling the answer to be obtained a lot faster.