When we lived in Durham City our 2 older children were at the local primary school. Shortly before we were due to move to here, in Cheshire, we went to the parents' evening. Our daughter had been selected for the Grammar School (there was no 11+ exam, it went on teacher evaluation) and our son was a year behind her.
His teacher, who he had kept saying "wasn't very nice", met us with the accusation that he could be a "very silly boy". When pressed she couldn't really qualify this statement except to say he chattered and laughed a lot, though he wasn't at all disruptive. His work, she said, was "adequate" and yes, he would probably make Grammar School. We kept pressing for details of what she (obviously) didn't like about him but got no cogent answers until, as a parting shot, she said, "And his hand-eye co-ordination is almost non-existant", with a smug nod.
I often think of that woman when my very artistic (and now aged 43) son shows me his latest sketch or oil painting or when I hear him playing a complicated riff on the guitar. Seems like his hand and his eye got it together in the end.
Oh yes, I nearly forgot, he still chatters and laughs a lot.
