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Entrance exams to secondary schools

  • 06-01-2021 1:08am
    #1
    Juggle2021
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1 ✭


    Hi there.. I am new to this.. I am looking for past papers or examples so that my child can work on something each day during this grey area of no school as óur school doesn't really do online. Thank you in advance


Comments

  • #2
    Carodh
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 121 ✭✭Carodh


    Juggle2021 wrote: »
    Hi there.. I am new to this.. I am looking for past papers or examples so that my child can work on something each day during this grey area of no school as óur school doesn't really do online. Thank you in advance

    Entrance exams are used nowadays to assess incoming 1st years for any learning needs they may have and plan accordingly. Practising wouldn’t be doing a child any favours.
    My sons school had no entrance exams & my daughters did an English essay & maths whereas my friends in another county had to do Irish, English & aptitude style tests.


  • #3
    ShamoBuc
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 33,972 CMod ✭✭✭✭ShamoBuc


    Juggle2021 wrote: »
    Hi there.. I am new to this.. I am looking for past papers or examples so that my child can work on something each day during this grey area of no school as óur school doesn't really do online. Thank you in advance

    I'm pretty surprised your school 'doesn't really do online'. It's not exactly an option.
    In relation to secondary schools, they will be given the Sten results and a lot of schools dont use the traditional exams anymore.
    Plenty of websites available, across the curriculum range, that can help students engage in learning and research if needed.


  • #4
    byhookorbycrook
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 12,514 Mod ✭✭✭✭byhookorbycrook


    In the 1st lockdown , schools had 2 hours notice and not much experience of working on line - if any .
    The DES had no advice or suggestions other than “ sort it out yourselves .”

    This time round , schools are much better prepared , despite the lack of a national standard learning platform , which should have been put in place by the DES since then, so I wouldn’t presume the school “ doesn’t really do online ,” despite the lack of notice once again by the DES.

    Entrance exam wise , there are no standard papers / approaches and many schools use ability tests rather than the older style maths , English and Irish tests .

    I’d check locally to see what happened in previous years . Many places didn’t do any entrance exams at all last year . And as already pointed out , the school report is now shared with the secondary school as part of the pupil passport for transferring to secondary . This report has the STEN scores for English , Maths and if applicable, Irish for 3 years in primary .

    If you are anxious to do some extra work, you could use a book like New Wave Mental Maths and for English twinkl is free to use at present , so you could find lots of comprehension/writing/ grammar work if you really wanted .
    But being honest , I’m not sure I’d be adding to the work they will be getting from school already .


  • #5
    wirelessdude01
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,429 ✭✭✭wirelessdude01


    Juggle2021 wrote: »
    Hi there.. I am new to this.. I am looking for past papers or examples so that my child can work on something each day during this grey area of no school as óur school doesn't really do online. Thank you in advance

    Why do you want to work on something for the entrance tests? The schools that we feed into write to us each year reminding us thatthey don't want children prepped for the assessment tests.

    They aren't going to get your child into a better class. They are used to make sure that classes have an even proportion of children with different abilities. They aren't used to create higher, lower classes.


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