Did you fail your 11+ exam?

I was delighted that I passed the 11+ ( always known locally as (the scholarship) in 1954. Particularly as borderline cases were sent to ‘the interview’ and when I was not called for an interview I was convinced that I had failed. Basically I quite enjoyed it, but had I been able to drop Physics, Chemistry and Biology I would have been happy as Larry.

I passed the 11+ in 1966. I loved the academic nature of the Grammar School; it was relatively small, and felt friendly and safe, although it didn’t occur to me at the time how traditional and sexist it was. The girls couldn’t choose Woodwork; the boys couldn’t choose Domestic Science. In 1968 everything changed when Comprehensive schools were introduced in our area. We were merged with two local single-sex Secondary Moderns, creating a much larger school, where everyone was just a number.
I was so disappointed when my own children went to the local Comprehensive. There seemed to be many behaviour problems; our daughter was bullied for a while. I would have liked them to attend a Grammar School, but the only ones in our area were fee-paying.
In contrast, my future husband failed his 11+ and attended a much more progressive Secondary Modern, then Comprehensive school. It suited him as he is much more practically minded.
I still think there is a place for Grammar-type schools for academically-minded children, but there should be a fairer system of selection.

I failed mine as I was really bad at spelling. Went to a secondary modern school. Sailed through the maths and Physics but still struggled with English. Made it into college and then did well at university. Still poor at spelling but it does not matter much any more with computers and spell checkers.

I passed (1970), but we'd only just moved house and money was tight, so my parents couldn't afford to send me to the grammar school. I went to the bilateral school and was in a grammar stream class throughout

Looking back on it my parents could never have afforded the uniform for the grammar school and I would probably have been laughed at or bullied. We did have a uniform in the secondary modern but it was much less strict and we were allowed to wear the equivalent of store and supermarket clothes.

My middle grandson has heard about the 11 plus and is very keen to do it. I don't think he's bothered about what school he goes to, he just wants to see whether he could pass.

My GS and GD attend the local grammar school. It seems common practice to be ‘tutored’ to help you pass, I’m pleased that they didn’t have tutoring, and passed without it. They say all their friends had it.

I was recently talking to the chair of governors from the school, and was astounded when he said that some children in the first year had poor reading skills, and needed to have their reading listened to by volunteers. I thought that only happened at primary school. He felt it was a result of the pandemic, and their parents hadn’t listened to them reading enough.

I would have thought that by 11 years old, children who were classed as bright enough to attend grammar school and pass the 11+ would be fairly confident readers.

The 11+ is so different now, of course.

I loathe the elitist 11 plus idea. Good comprehensive schools should be available for all children. It’s simply wrong to tell 11 year olds that they’re failures