Nowadays young pupils from very young ages are being drilled into sitting and working intensely for them to pass the eleven plus exams, in order for them to get a place at a grammar school. But is there too much pressure on these children into doing well, and is going to a grammar school worth it?

Children in year four, that can be as young as eight years old, are forced to endure long periods of strenuous revision in order for them to be both mentally and physically prepared for the tough challenge of sitting and passing a grammar school entrance exam. These entrance exams can vary in subjects across the country, but the most common exams are maths, English, and verbal and non-verbal reasoning. These examinations generally require vigorous preparation in order to understand the technique that is required to pass these exams. Perhaps young pupils shouldn’t be put under all this pressure to obtain places in the schools that they would like to go to. Is there not another, less intense way of monitoring a child’s intelligence?

Here in Sutton the policy of grammar school entrance exams has changed slightly, and now girls and boys must sit one exam to begin with, called the eligibility test, and only if they qualify after sitting this test may they then take the exam appropriate to school they wish to apply to. Although this process eases the pressure on schools to mark numerous exam papers; students now have to sit two separate exams to enter one school, and this may increase the pressure on pupils to do well, and their stress levels may increase.

This new method of examining pupils may relieve the stress on individual school, but perhaps we are noticing an increase in the hassle and pressure that the pupils have to go to obtain places in these schools. Is there another way this issue could be solved?