Going from state primary to independent secondary

[joshandjamie]

My son is only in year 2 and goes to the local state primary. I'd say he's above average in class, not top but in the top few. I love him going to the school as it's small and is just 3 minutes walk from home. And it doesn't cost us anything!

But I would like him to go to an independent secondary school, but will the education he gets at the state school be to the standard required to get into the independent secondary? Or should we be investing in private now? We could just about afford it but it would mean sacrificing lots of other things. Out of preference I'd prefer to use his remaining years at primary to save up so we can afford to send him to a good secondary.

Have you had a child go from year 6 in state education to year 7 in private - and how did they manage academically? Do you need to privately tutor before hand?

Thanks for any advice.

Depends! Look around at all the secondary schools in your area (I'd check both State and private). Those that you like ask them about the entry requirements and if they think a state school pupil can get in, how many state school pupils they have, and to look at past papers. Also check if they have entry at 11 or just 13. If it is 13 then you will probably need to find a Prep school ready to prepare your son for CE in two years.
I know lots of children go from our local State school to private secondaries, some are tutored, some are just naturally talented. But other neighbouring schools rarely send children on to private. There are also private schools which are very competetive and others that are much less so.

Completely depends on the school as has been said.

But there is plenty of movement from state to private at eleven so clearly lots of pupils have no problems.

As for tutoring, well you need to do some preparation if only to familiarise your child with the papers. Pupils from prep schools will have been doing this, so you would need to do the same I think.

At elevn the entrance tests are usually English (comp and essay), maths (calc and non-calc) and verbal reasoning. There is often a formal interview too.
Many school now include a 12+ entry which is the same exams but harder. Some include science at this point.

At thirteen there is common entrance which is an exam in all subjects (geog, history, Latin etc) and your son would have needed to cover the curriculum which is different to the NC )

Thanks for the info. I'm sure it is very school dependent, I just don't want to make a mistake and end up affecting whether my son can get into a private secondary. I think I'll speak to the school I'd like him to go to and his current school to get their views.

My DS is in Year 6 at a state primary and will be moving to private at Year 7 in August. He wasn't tutored but i did work with him on practise papers for a couple of months before the entrance test. I just bought the Letts/Bond papers from WH Smiths (Maths/English/VR/NVR) to familiarise him with the different types of test.

It depends if it's super-selective or not.

I know a fair few parents whose children attend one of the top Primaries around my way and send their children on to a good senior independent, most pass the entrance examination but not well enough to get any of the scholarships on offer.

I moved my son from a not terribly good state primary to prep at 9. He had a lot of catching up to do and repeated year 6, but it was worth it and his is much more confident now. Re subjects, not all children take Latin for CE - it depends what kind of senior school you have in mind. Probably best to move to a prep school for year 7 at the latest. This also means they get used to a different culture, not least the much longer school days, before the jump to senior school.

My Ds is transfering to an independent in september. He is going into a small year 6 intake and will automatically continue at the school for the rest of secondary.
We tutored him once a week formally and he did practice papers and Bonds/letts stuff pretty regularly. We started at the beginning of year 5 and he sat the exam just after christmas. In all honesty I would have started earlier if I had realised what a big deal it can be. Most independents do verbal and non-verbal reasoning papers which are skills not really taught at state primaries. Lots of mental maths is also helpful.
They also do interviews so we had to do some prep for that. I cant tell you what a relief it was to get in.

hmm - thanks for all the responses. Feeling more confused than ever. I get the impression that if you want to get in to a private secondary, you have to put in extra effort one way or the other - be it private tutor or just going through revision papers. The school we'd chose isn't super selective I don't think and they do take them from 11 - the website says that they're largely from 'maintained schools' at this age. So I guess it's doable.

The majority of boys joining DS's school at yr 7 came from state primaries (as did he) because the school only has a small junior department. It is selective, but not extremely so - I guess they take half or two-thirds of applicants.

The state schools don't prepare them for the entrance exam, but we found a few weeks of going through the VR/NVR papers with a tutor (shared sessions with a friend so not too expensive) was plenty. OK, DS is bright (in G&T programs etc) but the friend he shared sessions with is not on the same level, and still got in with no problems. We started in November and the entrance exams were in January (of year 6). If we were in an area with highly selective and competitive schools, like London, it would be a different matter, though.

It sounds like the school you are looking at is similar, if that is what they say on their website. But it is definitely worth having an informal chat with the school, and asking them if they have taken many children from your DS's current school before. Also worth having a chat with parents at your current school with DCs in yr 5 or 6 to see if they know how the land lies? But in any case, if he's only in year 2, it's a bit early to start worrying.

If you are not going for a super selective, then a tutor from Y5 to cover what is on the test should be fine. If you are patient, and have a compliant child, then you can do it yourself.

We put our dd into a group class at a local tutorial centre, which worked out well for us. Tuition does not need to be one on one.

My dd starts at an indie in September. She said almost nothing at her interview, so I would not stress to much about that if you have a shy child. Interviewers understand that they are only 10/11 year olds.

DD1 is in Y7 at a selective independent school. She went to an average local village primary. We did not get a tutor but I went through some Bond papers with her in the run up to the entrance exam.

She is now there and loving it! She was a little behind in maths but according to the school she is able but all the children that come from state school are a little behind due to the style of teaching. There are lots of girls who have gone to state primary there.

The main difference we have seen is that the girls who went to private junior schools are more confident and have had a higher standard of maths teaching.

I would agree with madsometimes that if your child is willing to work with you a tutor should not be necessary.

If your DS is able and works hard he will be fine. Good Luck

Thank you. If anyone has any links for the various papers you refer to please enlighten me. I am not from the UK schooling system so it's all greek to me!

In our area there are lot of privet primary children going to state secondaries. A friend of mine is who is Head of Year 7 at a State secondary says that he main difference is that in general, independent primary kids know more stuff, but state primary kids are better at finding things out.

About the papers - you'd need to ask the school in question what they set for their entrance tests - they will also usually tell you what practice papers would be relevant. The most common system seems to be to have one maths paper (roughly based on national curriculum), one English paper (also NC based, but they often have some writing tasks that may not be familiar to state school children), one verbal reasoning, and one non-verbal reasoning. I think I got all the practice papers from WHSmiths.

But really, it is way, way too early to be thinking about practice papers and tuition for a yr 2 child.

thanks exexpat - no, I know it's too early to be getting the papers now, I just wondered, come the glorious day, where you get them from. Think my DH is leaning towards them staying in state primary and doing some private tuition/paper practice and then going for private secondary.