Do you think we really need the 11+? The old 11+ (and the New Examination) just succeeds in getting students nervous about doing examinations at too young an age. 

I really think we should do away with it because when I was doing it I was nervous and I didn’t get a very good mark and it made me feel a little downhearted. It made me feel that no-one would be proud of me because of my result. We could put it up to 14 years old and do it instead of the KS3 Examinations. Students could decide the type of education that best suits them at 14.

The idea that students can only go to a certain school if they don’t do well makes the children feel like they are not good enough because they didn’t get in to a certain school . This makes some pupils feel that they are better than others and it belittles the Childs confidence. This is why we don’t really need it, so that everyone feels equally valued. A lot of people want to get rid of the Selection Examination and I agree with them. It shouldn’t matter at eleven what grade you get because even though I got a D, I am now at Magherafelt High School and I am doing well and enjoying myself a lot.

There is a new 11+ out and you have to go to school on a Saturday to do it because they got rid of the other one. I did the 11+ too. I was all nervous that Saturday morning in February.  I knew I would get a D and I did I wasn’t upset because my mum had explained to me that she didn’t really care what I got because she just wanted me to do the 11+ for practice for my real GCSE exams and KS3s. I think that it puts the younger children under a lot of pressure to do well and get a good mark. It makes them very stressed.  Is selection at eleven very fair?  Many students do not develop their full potential until they are slightly older.  I also think that the selection process is putting a lot of pressure and responsibility on a child too early. 

Selection at eleven damages a Childs confidence because if they get a bad mark they lose confidence and faith in themselves.   In conclusion, I believe that selection at eleven is not a good idea and I further believe that they should have got rid of it a long time ago and that they should never bring it back again.  They should replace it with a fairer system, possibly with one that considers the educational choices that a student is faced with at the end of KS3. 

By Jennifer (Year 8)

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