How necessary is tutoring at top schools?

This is simply not true. I teach in a 'top school'. We absolutely don't support kids getting tutoring. It can quite often do more harm than good (tutors sometimes teach the wrong skills, wrong curriculum etc). If we think a child needs extra support, we will provide it ourselves (at no extra cost). But we can tell parents until we're blue in the face that they don't need tutors, and there are always some that do it anyway.

One of the key service prep school provide is 11+ tutoring.

The school head is delivering the message (no tutor) to students from state /private /prep schools.

The school result (GCSE or A level) is really a product of the following factos:

cohort ability (how selective is the first place), parents involvement (tutor or pushing culture ), teaching quality/resource as well as subject choices.

I would say the first factor has the greatest explanation power.

Any school would (unofficially, of course) support tutoring, it simply means less work for them! They also tend to push children to tutoring by putting them under pressure unnecessarily. It is very naive to think that if you are paying for the school, the school would happily do all the hard job of teaching.

Preplexj
A lot of top schools also say no tutoring required for 11+ exam in their open day... you can give it a try..

No additional tutoring for DD for entrance exams - her prep school prep'd her which is what we paid it to do

It is really about what they do not what they say.

A lot of top schools also say no tutoring required for 11+ exam in their open day... you can give it a try..

Well I've been in the room when heads of 2 highly ranked girls schools said this, so some of them are honest

"Good, honest schools will say this to you"

Most of the top schools probably won't mind as the league table position is more important.

I agree with other posters - if you're paying for your child to attend a private school and paying for tutoring - your child is in the wrong school, or the school isn't doing its job.

Good, honest schools will say this to you

My DDs are both in a London private school with a bit of a hothouse reputation. They each had 6months tutoring to do the entrance exam but none before of since. With long days and a commute, there isn't time for more and I don't want them to be stressed with extra work.

So I reckon I'm paying fees for the school to sort things and not need tutors. Both girls do their homework independently and seem to be keeping up with all lessons etc.

Maybe the school didn't do a good job, maybe the competition is high, maybe just the hype of the parents, maybe the kids really want an academic stretch.

It is an optional thing. The key is: would you be regret if the outcome is not what you wanted?

My kids are at an academically selective private school. I'd say there's two groups; one who feel the need for tutoring from prep school come what may as a way of sustaining (in their mind) competitive advantage and those who top up if needed.

I'm pretty anti-tutoring (partly as I think parental help is adequate for many GCSEs). But I've paid for about five French lessons so my son could practise French speaking. And the same for maths as my son had missed quite a few concepts because he was in the top set and the pace was too quick for him to keep up with everything. (I asked for him to be moved down a couple of sets too). He didn't have any tutoring for A levels and my other son hasn't had any tutoring.

I think it depends on the make-up of parents at the school (ours are on the pushy side) but I'd say there's always a hard core set that will want regular tutoring, however good the school is.

One of my friends is a tutor and has tutored children at my DD's selective school, so it does happen. But I honestly don't know how we would find the time for my DD to be tutored - there's so much going on at school and she has out of school activities too.

And for me the same view.

You are paying a prep school to prep your child for selective entrance tests.
It shouldn't be necessary to pay for extra tutoring on top - it rather implies the school isn't doing its job properly.

It is just the same as a lot of prep school kids get extra tutoring.

If my DC were at a private school and I had to pay for tutoring on top, I'd wonder what on earth I was paying school fees for.

"However, there are many bright students who don’t need further tutoring BUT their parents still do it just because everyone else is."

I belive this is perpetual, not every subject though for everyone though.

If the child is average and only just scrapes in as they had an exceptional day then it’s not the right school for them. In those circumstances then yes the tuition will have to continue just to keep up.

However, there are many bright students who don’t need further tutoring BUT their parents still do it just because everyone else is.

And then remind yourself that there are thousands of children in regular comprehensive schools with no tutoring to support and they still come out with all 7,8s and 9s.

If you get the right school that meets the needs of your child then, no, tutoring is not needed. Speaking as the parent who turned down a place at a top 10 school for DD for her backup choice and she’s still on track for all 9s. No tutoring.