No tutor, what is achievable for the 11+?

I would say non professional tutor parents teach their kids (no pay of course) for 11+ related content is tutoring.

Unless you just give text book and pass paper for your kid and they work hard to figure out the rest themself then I have to say well done!

Great update OP! ☺️
That's sooo good to know. You would hope that's it's possible, thank goodness there is fairness in the world.
Many congrats!

Most people use tutors because their children respond better to being taught by other people than their parents. So if your child is obedient and willing to being taught by yourself, then a tutor is not necessary at all. All you then need is your own patience.

Not all prep schools actually prep so parents or grandparents have to step into the void and sort out gap. Though quite a few families we know pay for tutors or teachers in between jobs to be child care for pick up and teach the child daily.

Tutor, if you want to be a music scholar you need to start the grades and 2 instruments at a young age and build up. Fortunately there are music groups and charities to help out for those parents with limited funds or musical abilities.

Sport, we know people paying for extra netball, hockey, cricket, rugby camps during half terms and holidays.

Also, some families keep tutors so child is being taught ahead of curriculum on some subjects….so they will be bright and confident in class because they know it. Also, if they have an eldest child being tutor, they get the ones a few years younger to see the work. So getting prepared way ahead.

Some 11 years old in Hammersmith schools are already at GCSEs level maths, this is not from prep or state schools stretching their abilities.

congrats, well done. all that's required is extra work, not professional tutors. congrats again.

@Catcatcat12 Fantastic news, well done your dd!

Did you have any support from a prep school or was it totally DIY?

What do you mean by "tutoring" exactly? If you mean employing a professional teacher to work with a DC regularly, then it's absolutely possible to get into all those schools without doing that.

On the other hand, if tutoring is simply defined as someone doing regular extra work with a DC, then I would suggest that the vast majority are tutored in that way.

We never did professional tutoring, but we regularly worked with our DD.

I tutored my own DS, for Gloucestershire grammar schools, though. He was very good at maths and codes fairly naturally, but needed to read a bit more widely to improve his vocabulary. There were 7 grammar schools in Gloucestershire at the time with a fairly established pecking order. He missed out on the highest rated one but passed for the other 3 single sex schools he was eligible for. (The other 3 were girls' schools.)

We only started in the August after Y5 due to tricky divorce. Had we started earlier he may have done better.

I know someone who works in admissions in a top London day school.
What parents must remember, and this is from conversations I've had with him:
Hammersmith schools are very expensive, with limited bursaries, therefore it follows most applying are from wealthy backgrounds, many of those coming from top prep schools.

Admissions will look at a DC from a top prep in a different light to a child from a primary school that never feeds to their school. They won’t expect lower scores, but they'll certainly expect less polish. Therefore, I understand wealthy parents tutoring despite their DC attending some of the best and most exclusive prep schools in central London. They need all the help to stand out.
Any parent with a child at state primary, I would advise to tutor yourself, if the child isn't self -motivated to thrive in Hammersmith school, you're on a losing battle.

Any parent with a child at a prep, you have the advantage of working with the school to support your application, what they need to work on, are you being realistic? If you're in an all through 4-18 school and want to switch to a Hammersmith, you're sort of in the middle, the child should be at good standard if they've progressed from reception to Y5, but still need practice and tutoring either by yourself or paying.
So as explained to me, you tutor as per your situation OP.

I’ve heard plenty of parents who do the tutoring themselves but it’s dependent on whether the parents have the time/the knowledge of the 11+ techniques needed. Also will the child listen to the parent & do the work required without causing a strain to their relationship? Sometimes it’s easier to pay a tutor who the child will listen to & then they also set homework which they have to do before the next session. On the other hand a parent might be able to cover more material at home & might have more understanding of the gaps in the child’s knowledge. There are plenty of books/online resources if you want to do it yourself but some exam preparation is required even with a very bright child.

Whether you pay a tutor or DIY it is all tutoring. Some tutors started off as parents prepping their own children for exams. It is hard to judge the outcomes as it depends on the children and the parents. Parents can be tutors and tutors can be parents, but prepping is required for any exam and how much is needed depends on the child and schools applied.

I think there is also 'soft tutoring' that is not on the time sheet, like reading different materials, going to museums, having hobbies, or just general conversations on different topics.

My DD is at a Bog standard village primary school. Had she not passed she would be going to a standard secondary school.

Should say not Hammersmith schools but North London selective grammar.

I find it quite weird the people who did absolutely no tutoring because I think there are topics in the 11+ Maths that aren't covered until Y6 but you're doing the exam at the start of Y6.

Maybe these people are coming from private schools that are further ahead on the curriculum but I know DD1 who came from a bog standard primary couldn't have passed Maths without a bit of tutoring - she did an hour a week for 4 months - as she just hadn't done things like areas, ratios and long division when she took the exam.

I think it depends. My DD got 130-140 on Maths and NVR without a tutor, but she has a tutor on English and VR.

Am I in the minority that didn't do too much tutoring for DD? She had about 6 sessions and 2 mocks? Tutor didn't do much NVR, so we looked at some books and YouTube on it a week or 2 before the actual 11plus. She passed, subject to the wait for allocation day, for a Devon grammar school.

DD is at one of those Hammersmith schools. She went to a low pressure non selective independent primary who did some papers with them in the autumn term of year 6.

I took out the full subscription to Atom at the very end of year 5 & she did a bit on it most days of the summer holiday until November. She's bright but a bit lazy unless she enjoys something. Luckily she just loved Atom as it felt like puzzles & she enjoyed collecting the badges.
We never used a tutor & in fact I was a bit naive about the lengths I now know others go to!

Now we are in you can really see the kids that have come from the hothouse 'feeder' preps with tutoring on top. It's somewhat a shock that they are no longer top dog.

There are also plenty of girls from more modest backgrounds who have been expected to work hard from a young age and do so diligently & willingly. They are often at the top of the class.

You can definitely do it without a tutor & if your DD is naturally bright or tremendously hard working & focused. I found Atom to be a really good barometer in terms of whether I was aiming too high. DD was scoring highly on it from day 1 & we sort of lucked out by many of the schools resorting to ISEB in the pandemic as Atom leant itself to that sort of adaptive testing.
I was a big fan of Atom!

I used to work in a grammar school and this situation was heartbreaking. The students who had probably always been one of the top in primary were very much at the bottom suddenly and their mental health took a massive dive and they took so long to settle and a lot ended up leaving when the parents finally saw sense!

It could never happen, but tutoring should be banned, but it would be impossible to do and regulate. Practice papers etc..... no issue but the massive tutoring that you used to hear about when you spoke to the students used to break my heart.

These students are so bright but stick them with the top 5-10% of other students and suddenly their self confidence and self worth is on the floor.

I don’t agree about NVR. DS was scoring 80% on the first NVR papers he did purely because he always loved puzzles and matching games. It then went up to 95% with practice. I think it’s perfectly fine to get a tutor if there are gaps in learning but it’s not a magical cure nor is it something parents can’t do (time permitting)

@mast0650 - agree, especially for NVR.

Not true imo. Have you seen an 11 plus nonverbal reasoning paper? You’ve got no chance of working it out within the time restrictions if you’ve not been taught what they’re asking for

But there is a big difference between practicing a paper or two in advance, with the help of an answer sheet and either a tutor or someone else who is good with these things. and spending years on regular practice. I think it would be a bit daft to go in completely blind. But for my kids 5-10 hours practice (with some input from me) TOTAL in the one month before they took the test turned out to be plenty.

@Ihatethenewlook yes, I have. My child took it.