Bute House tutor

[Threescompany]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone knew of a tutor with experience preparing girls for Bute House's 7+ exam? My dd is likely to sit the upcoming exam, but is currently at a state school. Despite being v good and lovely, the school does not teach high achieving y1 students at level 3. I've had no luck going via tutor agencies, such as Fleet Tutors. I don't want to shell out for a standard 7+ tutor as my dd and I are having a pretty good time (so far) working through bond assessment papers by ourselves. But Bute's exam is a lot more than assessment papers I am told. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi, my daughter sat the test last year, and we worked through some Bonds papers ourselves too. In fact, the Head specifically mentioned that she does not want girls to be coached for the test, and parents have to sign a form declaring if their daughter has or has not had tutoring! I think the school is looking for bright and inquisitive girls who are teachable and have potential, and not necessarily know all their times tables etc.. Sounds like you are already doing the right things.

Thank you w8 mum. Your message was a great help. What did your daughter think of the exam? Did she feel well prepared. All the best

Hi there. My daughter practised the assessment papers during the summer holidays, and it slacked off once school started in September. I did not want her to feel anxious come the actual assessment day. She came home saying she couldn't understand the Non verbal reasoning and the Maths was hard, but she enjoyed the group activity where they had to construct a model plane out of various bits and bobs. Her favourite part was the orange juice and Kit Kat! I think the girls are expected to be fluent readers and it'll probably be a bonus if you're not the wallflower type. I'm sure you'll do just as good a job as a tutor by spending time working, playing and just having fun with your dd. Good luck!

I have decided that DD and I are going to keep working together. It's fun (so far) and I never liked the idea of a tutor anyway. Thanks again.

Hi my dd did a very selective 7+ exam a few yrs ago and we mostly did it ourselves, with Bond books starting in August. But we did use Laidlaw agency in Chiswick and Sheen www.suelaidlaw.co.uk/ for six sessions of tutoring in the Autumn term. She covered a few things she hadn't done at school, especially some Maths, and also they offered an extremely useful mock exam day which she really enjoyed doing. She got into her school, so I would recommend them. The other thing I did, I got a neighbour who worked in education to give her a 10 min mock interview. At seven this really consists of What did you do over the holidays?, and What's your favourite hobby? But it highlighted to us our usually confident dd's inclination to look at her feet whilst speaking to a stranger... something we had no idea she did!

HTH

That's very interesting. The mock interview is a great idea. I suspect my dd will be fine in reading as she is fluent and do well in the I interview, but is likely to fall down on maths, logic and English questions that are completely new to her. The bond papers are going well, but the language of the questions is rather foreign to her ( and sometimes even to me). Once she gets it, she can answer them though. Though she gets more spelling words and harder maths homework than most of the other kids in her state school class, I suspect she is a chunk behind the private school kids in what she has/is being taught. Also, so much unguided work - which is understandably what happens when there's one teacher to 30 kids - means that my rather impulsive dd is not being taught to be precise, take care with her spellings in composition work, read the question well, double check her work, find clues within the question etc, etc. Hopefully I can help her with that. The other thing I have done is allowed her to do her practicing with different folks, include our lovely mothers helper, the young, studious teenaged babysitter from across the street etc. It loosens things up a bit and hopefully means she will keep finding it fun, even though I guide it and go through the work later. I'd be really interested how other folks help their kids. There is a great book I LOVE by Peggy Kaye called 'games for Learning by the way'. Goodness, this post is already far too long. Do post any fun study methods. I'd love to read them and be happy to share more, if you are not totally bored by me now. Bests,

Check out knightsbridgementors.com
It seems to be a new start up offering some really fantastic entrance exam courses and 1:1.... think they're offering something on money too.... I'm enrolling my son for September.. hope this helps SJx

I'm sure this is a silly question, but if you are trying to help a DC prepare for a 7+ assessment, do you need to do the 6-7 or 7-8 books? Also, I have heard that the head of Bute is leaving in 2012. Is there any information on who the new head would be or does anyone know how the head's leaving is affecting morale at the school? Does anyone know where she is going? Thanks.

When my dd did a selective 7+ I did the 6-7 Bond books first, as she was capable of doing them right away, just to raise her confidence, then moved onto 7-8 ones to ensure she was up to scratch academically. The selective schools generally expect them to be a year ahead of their age iyswim.

Hi, my daughter sat and got into Bute House last year (we chose LEH and she is very happy there!). I really would advise strongly against tutoring. From the large pool of children that participate in the 7plus day approx 50 girls are invited to a 1 to 1 interview. My daughters lasted approx 1 hour (3 adjectives to describe yourself & why etc!). They specifically ask each child at this stage if they have been tutored - little girls can't/shouldn't lie. They don't - and rightly so - look favourably on tutored children. The assessment day is incredibly comprehensive, not just normal tests. They had team building exercises (ie build an object that can fly x cm high using ruler, paper bag, paperclips etc). They know what they are looking for. Work through the bond papers and get your daughter writing stories etc. Happy to answer any other questions. Good luck!

Hi, can't advise specifically for Bute House, but DS did selective 7+ . We didn't use a tutor, he was fluent reader, which helped. (DD is v.different and can't yet decide about her!) The head directly advised against doing too much pre-papers as apparently they get over confident and stop bothering to read the questions properly. His advice was that the type of questions repeat so just do enough to ensure your child has 'met' that type of question before. He was talking about Verbal Reasoning, but I assume it would be the same for Non-verbal. Do some of the 6-7 and be heading towards the 7-8 book. He said they could generally spot a child who had been tutored as it came across at the interview stage. A practice interview is a good idea though, just to help them practice listening to the question and thinking of an answer, talking about what they like to do out of school...

I think however non-stressy you are about it, DC might get the idea that they need tutoring because they're not up to it and it could be counter-productive IYSWIM? I would instead spend time, playing games (quick adding of dice, counting squares etc) ask them to 'help' you with working out some maths things eg. we've got 5 people for lunch, I think they'll eat 3 potatoes each so how many shall I peel?

blueyonder22 - LEH and Bute are the two that we are considering. I would be v interested to know why you chose LEH and also interested to hear why your DD is happy there. It's all very confusing and we don't know people at either school, which makes forming an impression that much harder. Both seem lovely.

Hi BrookGreen,
Choosing schools is such a personal thing but for what it's worth I prefrred LEH for the following:

• Found the school more rounded. Sport, music and drama are all done to a high level. Whilst academic excellence is obviously important I really want my girls to have the opporunity to experience a balanced & rounded education.
• It reminded me of my old school!
• The girls appeared happier and certainly the girls we encountered at LEH were more articulate and engaged.
• Children from a wider background, larger catchment area and all sorts of financial backgrounds.
• I prefer the provincial as opposed to city feeling and all that comes with a more central London school.
• The head of the senior school is in my opinion exceptional and inspirational to the girls.
• The grounds and facilities are amazing. Bute has too little outside space in comparison for me. They do use St Paul's poolbut when I was shown round I really had the feeling that those areas are very out of bounds and definitely by appointment only.

Whilst all of the above would have been enough in honesty the principal reason by far is the progression straight into the senior school thus avoiding the nightmare that is the 11plus. If we had chosen Bute she would have been there for a few years then it would have all started again! By the age of 10 she would, understandably, want to choose a school where her friends were going. This would leave us with St Pauls (not for me), Downe House I love but uber expensive and boarding, Latymers (she was offered a place here at the 7plus but for us didn't come close to Bute or Leh so why would I want her to go to the senior school, Godolphin - a school which I really like but not as much as Leh or any of the High Schools - again not for me.

My DD loves LEH is doing very well learning loads and is turning into a confident,happy little lady. In honesty she would no doubt have loved Bute House. They are both excellent schools. We had actually been offered her place at LEH before she was at the final stage at Bute. It is here when you are really shown around and can get your impression. I had expected to be blown away and was surprised when I wasn't. Again all so personal... Feel free to PM me with any questions and best of luck with the whole process.

Old thread!!