Did you fail your 11+ exam?

Blackcat3

Well I failed….but I now have a doctorate from Oxford…..

?

No I passed with flying colours and was in the A stream of a grammar school, not many girls in class. Went on to university. My sister failed and she felt awful was not helped by grandmother saying she was the beauty and I was the brains Which upset the both of us.

I object to the 11+. I think that it tests only certain aspects of intelligence - namely quick-thinking and the ability to make a decision of something being right or wrong, i.e. black and white thinking - no shades of grey. There are other exams that are similar - including the civil service ones. In my opinion, the greatest minds are often not those that can quickly respond to a yes or no answer but who consider all possibilities and then weigh up the options. That gets you nowhere in an 11+-style exam. To my mind, it also accounts for the fact that many of our leaders in this country are not as good as they should be at thinking around problems and coming up with solutions. So, if you failed your 11+, I suspect you are just more creative than most and actually more intelligent in a rounded sense than those who passed (although some of those who passed may be good at both). Our educational system fails so many creative, talented and thoughtful children. One day, perhaps, we will become sufficiently 'developed' as humans and educationalists to recognise this and our society will be so much the better for it.

Amazingly I passed. No-one, including myself, expected me to. So I had the wonderful experience of going to an excellent grammar school with an inspiring head mistress.

I sat the first part of the 11+ but was ill after appendicitis for the second , apparently I had done well enough in the first part to pass
I think it was just the second or third year of its inception
I went a convent school as a day pupil , my cousins were all boarders and too posh to speak to me !

I passed, but 60 years later I still feel for the girl in my form who turned over 2 pages of the question paper by mistake, and didn’t realise until it was too late.
She ended up at the very worst school, that nobody chose to go to.

That story was my Awful Warning to dds before any exam - check, check and check again!

I failed it, mum was mortified as I had always been in the top 3 in my class all through primary school. She was so confident I'd pass that she had bought the uniform for the girls grammar school. Obviously that was taken back to the outfitters...

Another problem was she'd been in denial, even had a stewards enquiry to find out I'd 'only just' failed. She then decided it'd be better for me to be in the top stream at the comp than drag along at the bottom at the grammar school. Such confidence in me!
The late call to realisation meant that there was no uniform left at the outfitters in my size, (average 11 year old girl) so I started Comp school in a Navy skirt( bought from M and S or BHS) so defo non regulation- Mum wrote a note to explain why) and my brothers tie- he'd just left the school in the July as I started in the September.

Not the best start! Yet I sat my O levels, then transferred to the VI Form at the co-ed grammar school, passed my A levels, went to uni, did my degree, and ultimately had a long career in teaching- finally retiring as a long serving DHT- I didn't want to become a HT- although thought as an odd decision it was because most HT posts were none teaching and it was the children which kept me going especially during the Gove years , but that's another story!

In later years when I discussed this with Mum she conveniently couldn't remember any of it and only Dad ever told me he was proud of my achievements.

Never took it, it had been abolished in my area. My mother was called into the school after my brother took it as he was a border line pass. The head persuaded my mother that he should go to a secondary modern as it's better to be a big fish in a small pond. I read recently that the children of professional people were more likely to get a place with borderline results at the time. Can you imagine a doctor or MP accepting that?

I didn’t even sit mine, I was of the mindset that I would only fail so I would rather not try.
I didn’t have any encouragement off my parents but I remember the headmaster taking me into his office gently telling me I should try but I was stubborn and didn’t
It was only after I married and raised my family I gained qualifications and went on to have a good career.

I passed and went to grammer school.
I found out years later how nasty some other mothers had been to my mother, saying that "I only got in" because my brother was already at that school!
One of the sons did well as even though he went to the local secondary modern, joined HMRC when he left school at 16 and worked his way up.
The other lad turned out to be the most nasty, bitter, spiteful person (he wasn't actually that bright at primary) who, when his parents got into difficulty years later, completely disowned them, changed his name and moved away, never to be seen again!

Yes, and went to a grammar school which I hated. My secondary school days were a nightmare. I was miserable, lonely and bullied. So bad that my parents took me out before I got any qualifications so it was all pointless.

Germanshepherdsmum

No, I got a good pass as I had first choice in my school of which of the three (all girls) local grammar schools I attended.

I too passed my 11+ and got into my first choice of grammar (all girls) school. We had to choose 3 and I wouldn’t have minded either of the other 2 as they were all great schools.

I passed...I went to a technical high school as did my sister. My two brothers went to grammar school. I wonder if this was unusual. We were brought up on a council estate.

I failed my 11+, but I knew I could have another go a year later, and I was determined to join my siblings at Grammar School, I made more effort and made sure I passed. With the right effort almost anything is possible.

I passed and went to grammar school,my mum and dad were so proud of me as neither of my older brothers did. I got a petite typewriter from them for passing. At Junior school, apart from one year, I was always top of my class so I was put in the A stream at the convent. First half years tests I came 27th out of 33. Biggest shock for me at age 11. I gave up after that, never really bothered . Always felt if I'd been put in the B stream would probably have been near or at the top still and would have excelled. I remember one of the nuns telling me I had a good brain if only I'd use it ! Couldn't wait to get to 16 to leave

I seem to recall a teacher saying to my mother that there was no point in me sitting the exam! Is this really possible.
I was an incredibly shy child with no confidence.
I like to think that I am an intelligent confidant person now.

I failed, it didn't surprise me at all, I always felt my intelligence was pretty average at that age, although later on I did well in subjects such as history, geography and English. My parents of course were disappointed. In my junior school not that many passed anyway so I didn't feel unusual, but I didn't feel special either.

After junior school I went on to an adjacent convent school. It was ostensibly a private school, but our parish priest had done some sort of deal with the nuns to take the catholic state school riff raff like myself, in exchange for presumably some parish funds. Anyway why anyone would pay to go to such a school was always beyond me, must have been something to do with the very naice blazers, boaters and white gloves, which equipped us for, let me think, oh yes absolutely nothing I remember one my close friends' sister passed the 11plus and her very Irish Catholic mother said well "I'm not wasting her in the convent she'll be going to the non denominational grammar!"

My husband on the other hand passed the 11 plus and considers he had a fantastic education which be puts down to his grammar school.

I failed my 11+ as I was ill for one of the tests (Measles or one of the other things we caught as a kid).
I therefore went to Joseph Rowntree Secondary Modern School - mixed pupils and it was brilliant, as were the teachers. Our year was the first to do a foreign language - French - and our teacher was a Professor from York University who took us to the "Language Lab" at York University every week. At 12 we did a 6 week exchange visit, living with a family and going to school with them. Did another one couple of years later.
The reason I stress this is I then did a 13+ and although I passed there wasn't a place at one of the Grammar Schools (in hindsight thank God for that.) For A levels I had to go to a Girls Grammar School and I hated it. You were looked down on by some pupils as you had "only" been to a Secondary Modern and the method of teaching was totally alien to me. After being top of the class most years in French I only just passed my A level because of the way it was taught. Some pupils used to say strange things like "how did you work with boys there" ?? often wondered how they turned out.
Despite "only" going to a Secondary Modern I became a Chartered Librarian and my last job before retiring was Managing a Schools Library Service for 4 authorities - my sister who also went to the same Sec Mod was a Solicitor.
On a passing note my friend passed her 11 + and went to Grammar and always felt she was behind.

I failed and went to an all girls comprehensive and really enjoyed school, came out with 8 O Levels but didn't attend uni, single parent mother couldn't afford so went to work and had a great working life ending up as a teacher which I loved for 19 years, employer paid for my degree and teacher training. Am glad the 11+ was scrapped as I was a late developer and the youngest in my class.

Yes. Went to a Girls High School in the 1950s when there was a three tier system locally. Grammar or High School; Technical school; Secondary modern school.
To me, that seems quite reasonable in that children were placed in the establishment most suitable for them. And there was an 'escape route' for some at 13 if they proved to be wrongly placed.
I think the injustice was in the wording. The 11+ ( or scholarship as it was previously called) should never have been deemed something which could be passed or failed
It should have been described as a means of fitting in each child into the appropriate educational setting.

I so agree Wellbeck. When I took the 11 plus I found it very easy and waited patiently for the obvious result, that I had passed. But I had failed. I never got over it and my schoolwork and attitude went swiftly downhill. We did a similar exam 13 plus later which I passed with no problem, to do a technical course, ie typing and short hand. The week after the results for the 11 plus we were all called to an assembly where prefects were chosen. I was chosen as one and felt it was because I was turned down for grammar school. It felt like a booby prize. It seemed that the chosen ones all had older brothers and sisters who had passed on previous years. Many from well off families too.

Seabreeze yes it is very possible most of the teachers I had at school, apart from infants school- ( they were all rounders and quite brilliant) were mediocre some were exceptional but sadly the vast majority were simply vile sarcastic tyrants.

I passed in 1967. It was the Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames and to the best of my remembrance consisted only of an IQ test. There were plenty of grammar schools, even at least one co-ed, in the area, so I suspect there wasn't the pressure on places others have mentioned. As I was already at an independent, academic school, I stayed there. Absolutely loathed the place, certainly didn't achieve my potential, and I do wonder if going to a decent grammar would have improved the outcome for me.

I think I passed. I do remember that I had a position in Durham Grammer School but we left the country before Anything came of it

I took it first at barely 10 years old and failed but took it again at 12 and passed. I did not transfer to the local grammar school as it did not have a particularly good academic reputation so I stayed at my secondary modern and have never regretted it.