When to begin preparing for 11+ grammar? Should I hire a tutor? What are the alternatives?

I'm thinking that if you're in a prep school, there shouldn't be much need for extra work. The tutoring/non-tutoring debate is a bit misleading. It is about extra work or not. Someone that has a tutor an hour a week is doing less than someone doing an hour a day themselves with their DC.

Coming from a state primary, we did an hour a week with a local tutor. Nothing over school holidays. 2 revision sessions over the summer holidays. But I would expect a prep school to be ahead of the state curriculum and also prepare the students with exam technique. We found a local tutor at a decent price (much less than any agency tutor) that was recommended but untested. We went with our gut feeling and it seemed to have paid off (the tutor is now very sought after )

My DC is in a co-ed grammar with boys who also passed the QE exam (we never tried for QE because DC only wanted co-ed). DC also did some indie exams (successfully) and didn't find them very different.

My dd1 just did an exam for a competitive London grammar. We didn't do that much prep, started doing practice papers in June, and then got her a tutor in July for an hour a week. We did find the papers had stuff she hadn't covered in school (but state primary with 4 months out over lockdown). Actually I think the English was where the tutor added most value, particularly the creative writing. But if your son is already at an independent prep I would have thought they have already covered the necessary curriculum and been doing practice papers. The grammars tests aren't that different in content to the independent schools from what I can tell.

For Sutton we used Manchester grammar school past papers esp for maths, and also the sample questions in the CGP books.

You need to decide which grammar is your first choice and prep accordingly. For example, QE is a one stage Eng & Maths multiple choice - focus on speed with maths and eng comprehension. If the primary target is Tiffin plus independents, then you will also need to focus on the written / creative writing.

Some parents define "tutoring" as hiring an external tutor - technically my DS wasn't "tutored" but I spent more time than a tutor "teaching" / "preparing" him for his 11+.

In a similar situation, DS is in Yr 5 and we're aiming for one of the very selective London grammar schools (he's at a local state where there was no teaching/learning during the lockdown).

@whataboutbob For the Sutton grammar schools, since they don't have past papers, which papers did you use? Thanks

@helidad I feel your pain. We were in a similar position and without a scholarship (albeit financially not great) I think we would have gone with the grammar option. I think QE Barnet and some of the other London grammars are actually a lot tougher to get into than even the top independent schools - Westminster / St Paul's etc. At least my DS ended up not quite getting a place with our grammar top choice but did get offered a scholarship to one of the top London independent schools.

I'm sure this is also the case potentially even more so outside of London where independent schools are less competitive but the grammars (mostly) still attract a lot of children every year for not many places.

My advice having been there and done that - basically agree with @Wigeon

1 & 2) start thinking about hiring a (really) good tutor in Year 5 if you can. Don't be afraid to tell the tutor it's not working out if you don't see improvements after a few weeks. £25 seems like a very reasonable price. We started by going through an agency and being charged an absolute fortune only for the tutor to quit after 2 sessions because they 'got another job'. We ended up speaking to one of the teachers at our DS's school who we knew was fantastic and while he was still more than £25 per hour, without the agency fee, he was still a lot less than we were paying before.

My advice - don't just accept someone 'charming' but do some brief research yourself and don't be afraid to quiz the tutor a little bit before they start. Keep it very polite so the tutor doesn't feel uneasy but when you're being charged X per hour, I think it's okay to check they actually have some understanding!

3. I do know other families who have been successful without private tutoring but to be honest, those parents seem to have the time and expertise to spend some productive time with their children preparing for these tests. Ask yourself if you can spare the time and do you actually know how to approach a question in non verbal reasoning!

4. Resources: in this order a) great tutor b) if it's an online test we found Atom Learning the most helpful for reasoning especially (expensive per month but obviously nothing compared to tutor cost). You shouldn't need to folk out hundreds of pounds to teach VR and NVR. Start early, and a really good online resource will do the job. Atoms videos for NVR proved esp helpful. 3) Bond online - good question bank. 4) Galore Park if you are looking at the independent sector esp for ISEB - they have a partnership with ISEB which is obviously important. 5) your child's teachers will probably know some good ones, so go with what the teachers recommend. There are so many out there but teacher endorsement means a lot!

QE Barnet is one of the most competitive grammars - getting in is more about speed plus accuracy (i.e. exam technique and familiarity) rather than simply being "bright" or "top sets in maths & eng".

As to whether your DC needs tutoring and in what manner is something you will know better. I took the attitude it's much better to be overprepared than regret not doing enough hence started my DS doing weekly Bond/CGP/AE/FPTP books during start of year 5 and daily during the summer lockdown.

SW Herts consortium entry.

1. hired a tutor in Y5, £25 for an hour once a week until the summer hols. Exam was right at the start of Y6.

2. Word of mouth! Tutor was a primary school teacher near retirement. I’m not sure she was a massive 11+ expert but she was very kind and gentle and not pushy, and just gave DD loads of practice, and taught her quick ways of doing maths, so DD didn’t have to use the laborious methods taught at school, when doing the 11+.

3. people definitely get in without tutoring and it’s impossible to know if DD would have. I think she might have, but we didn’t want to risk it.

4. cheaper is to DIY using the widely available test books available. The 11+ forum has tonnes of info, altho also has people who have been tutoring since their DC were in nappies etc...

We just thought that trying to do it ourselves would inevitably lead to arguments and tears from both DD and us! You might have more patience/a more compliant DC!

Every kid is different but my son got in to a Sutton super selective without tutoring. Mostly because I wasn’t on the inside track with the tutoring parents, and couldn’t find anyone. BUT I started prepping him in year 4. That involved weekly sessions doing English related stuff with me- exercises in CGP books, reading Agatha Christie at bedtime, reading the newspapers. A wonderful friend was prepping her daughter and she took him for maths sessions ( she’s a teacher). As date got closer I did past papers. Manchester grammar school publishes its past papers online for free and apparently they are similar to Sutton grammars, esp in maths. The Sutton grammars never release past papers and there’s a lot of secrecy and frankly bullshit from the schools which pretend you don’t need tutoring, just to be an able student.
A good place to start is the 11 plus forum which will have info on the exam structure and content ( English and maths vs verbal and non verbal) for your target schools. Good luck.

I’m not in London but we found out my son passed the 11+ this week and we didn’t tutor. However, we did buy some books and practice papers and he did about an hour a week over the summer holidays.
Find out what type of exam it is (e.g. CEM), order some books and see how much your child can do independently. That will give you a good starting point.

I live in Herts and many parents seem to get a tutor when their child is in year 4.

Some tutors are know locally as the go to person for certain schools , it’s worth asking locally for recommendations and then asking them their success rates.