Looking for a Tutor for 7+exam.

[Estefa]

I wanted to ask if anybody knows a good Tutor for passing 7+exam of most Private schools.
I would welcome any recommendation
thanks

Will I do? I can speed stack chairs and tidy desk tops extremely well. I am sure that I can effectively transfer these skills to your DC :)

Sorry for taking the piss Estefa.

Although we home tutored our kids for the 11+ we accepted that had we gone for the 13+ our DCs would have needed a profeesional tutor. But a tutor for 7+ ?

You are after recommendations as opposed to comments about your decision so I think that I'll bow out now.

You don't say where you are located?

I know a tutor in north London...

Central London sorry

Which schools will your child be applying to?

Please do not consider tutoring for the 7+. It is unnecessary and will only stress out your child.

At 7+ they look for potential rather than learning of hard facts. The schools will also be aware that children from state primaries may not have covered all the topics a pre prep covers and will judge the child accordingly. All the schools assessing at 7+ discourage tutoring and they are able to spot the tutored child a mile off. Choose a prep that is right for your child and they will be offered a place.

The best preparation for 7+ is a good night's sleep and reassurance from their parents that the assessment day is nothing to worry about.

Whilst I agree that schools are generally looking for potential, you would be doing your child no favours by allowing your child to go into the exam cold (for the very top selective preps, which is why I asked which schools you would be applying for).

It is not necessary to do intensive tutoring at this stage, but make sure that your child is familiar with timed testing and do practice exams. The top schools, and even the ones in the second tier) have gotten increasingly competitive, and pre-preps which used to send half their classes to these schools have seen these numbers decrease.

My son had the same potential at 7+ as he did at 8+ (i.e., predicted to fly through the top school exams), however he was unsuccessful at 7+ and accepted everywhere at 8+ simply due to exam practice. No need for intensive tutoring - we only prepped during the Christmas holiday period, but it was enough that he was comfortable with the exam setting and the timing.

OP - There is a middle ground between doing nothing and being an obsessive tiger mom.

Schools don't expect a child to be heavily tutored and yes, schools will be watching out for stock answers. So get DC to think about questions like why does SHE want to go to that school? What achievement is SHE most proud of? etc etc. She will then have prepared answers which come across as natural answers because they will be her opinions as opposed to mum's.

Turniphead - lots of heads of top preps disagree with that HM - I have spoken to them, this is how I know.

Personally I would avoid that school. Maybe they are all like that in North London, I would move in that case.

I am in SW London/Surrey area. All the prep heads I have spoken to in this area have a completely different attitude, which I am thankful for.

this is so sad

7 year olds having to prepped for tests for super competitive schools

sad sad sad

Gymboy - the sad thing is that it is not necessary and most of the prep schools don't like it.

Both my DCs got into well regarded preps at 7 without amy suggestion of the need for formal tutoring. It was the same story for most of their classmates.

"this is so sad ... 7 year olds having to prepped for tests for super competitive schools"

I see nothing wrong in prepping a kid by asking the kid questions like - what would you say if the HM ask why you want to come to this school?

Do you really want your kid to answer - because you have cool outdoor toys :) Its like a job interview. Are you really going to wait to be asked why you want that job BEFORE you start to think of an answer?

"Its like a job interview. "

they are 7

because you have cool outdoor toys is EXACTLY the kind of answer i would want from a 7 year old yes-because they are 7

"because you have cool outdoor toys is EXACTLY the kind of answer i would want from a 7 year old yes-because they are 7"

Well, if it was you sitting on the admissions panel of the OP's super competitive school then her kid will have no problems getting an offer.

But see, the OP didn't say 'super competitive' she said 'most Private schools'...

The quote came from gym not the OP

I know they do Turnip (crikey, I've seen plenty of hysterical parents around here, I know they aren't confined to N London! )but from what I see it is of absolutely no use in securing school places at 7, and in several cases has definitely done the child harm.

Plenty of tutored children not getting places and plenty of untutored getting into the schools the tutored nervous wrecks failed to get in.

I know these parents love their kids and only want the best for them. Many of them are good friends. The sad thing is that the formal tutoring and pressure at 7 does not help their kids sail into the "top" schools. It just stresses the kids out and makes them worry about the whole process so they cannot relax and be themselves. Not what they want for their DCs at all, I am sure.

By the way, I see no harm in chatting through the process with DCs so they know what to expect, just keep it low key. I told my DCs the day was for them to see if they liked the school and to try out some of the work they do. Worked fine for them, they just relaxed and got on with it.

Lynne, the tutor didn't win the places, the DCs actually did that.

When it comes down to it, it is what is inside the heads of the DCs who actually take the exams and the hard work THEY put in that gets them the places.

Tutors would have you think otherwise, but of course they have no reason to mislead you at all, have they?

Turniphead - which school is the HM from? Is it one of the girls super-selective private schools? Feel free to message me of you don't want to put it here. Thanks!

Seriously wondering how useful some of the posts on this thread are in helping answer the original question?!

It asks for a recommendation.

I'm a tutor but sorry can't help all my classes are full plus I'm in north London.

Good luck with your search.

I disagree with so many of the comments on this thread. sigh I don't think it's sad for a 7 year old to have tutoring at all! I think it's a luxury to have a one-on-one lesson with an attentive teacher and when I hired a tutor to help my youngest he even looked forward to his lessons! I had tutors for all my children and I didn't part with any tutoring fees lightly but I actually think the money I spent on tuition when they were younger was a better investment, it really helped their confidence and got them sitting on the top table or in division one early on, so they got used to being at the top of the class. I wish my parents had found ME a tutor when I was younger... think where I'd be today.... but I digress. I can recommend Hippocrene Tutors if you're looking for someone in North London (all their tutors are very experienced and the agency focuses on School Entrance) and they're probably willing to travel. In the centre perhaps Bright Young Things (although I've heard mixed reviews and personally haven't tried them). These are agencies though so there's an agency fee on top of it, which means it can get quite pricey.