To Tutor or not to Tutor - That is the question....

[indignatio]

Yr 5 boy, in state school, bright, willing to do practise papers, aiming for a place at a local, highly selective school in the top 20. Exams in Jan. Will be sitting both level 6 sats papers in May next year - unless they are scrapped again. Would achieve Maths now, has a fair chance (with work) on achieving English. Bright, reasonably patient parents. Past papers not available through the school or on line.

School will not prepare him for the exams and interview - nor should they, it is not in their remit.

It seems to be taken into account from such selective schools if a child is state educated and has not had a tutor.

DS is happy to sit the exams, do practise papers, but does not want a tutor.

So, do I negate the possible allowances made for his education to date by employing a tutor. If asked, he will not lie - nor would I ask him to-. Or, do I ensure he has the best chance possible by arranging tutoring for the interview and exams?

HELP

OP I think that's a pointless idea.

Because if you have the time to get tutoring yourself from a tutor and then to impart the received wisdom to your DS, you'd be better giving yourself a break (financially and time-wise), cutting out the middleman and just helping your DS yourself. None of this stuff is rocket science. The answers to the tests are at the back of the books. The tutoring industry is just that: it feeds off insecurity and has nothing special to add.

The only case for buying in help is if your child has a rubbish primary education and needs extra to bring it up to an acceptable level, or if for some reason a parent hasn't the time to help a child by timing a set of papers in the run up to the tests him/ herself.

I have a child in a 'top 20' school and completely agree with yellowtip. You don't need a tutor if you have the time to set/mark/go through papers with your son. This stuff isn't very advanced (it's 11+) and there is no magic formula that a tutor can give you. We didn't use one and my DD sailed in.

Your DS sounds bright but will also need to be fast and accurate-only practice will help with that. I also think that good schools are very adept at spotting potential vs the over-tutored child; it's in their interests to do so after all.

It's difficult to resist the tutoring bandwagon I know, but from what you've said, you'd be wasting your money.

Good luck!

Thanks all.

Spil I also work in my sons school (as an LSA), so I too have the SATS insider knowledge. My understanding of the entrance exams are that they are somewhat different to the SATS.

DS is happily sitting practise papers, becoming more accurate and faster. I am happy to mark and explain these in VR, Comprehension and Maths. We both love it when he gives a different answer to that in the back of the book and I cannot prove him wrong!

However, the one we haven't touched on yet is English extended writing. I am not at all confident with the marking for this type of work. If anyone has any pointers for me on this, I should be most grateful. I should add, I am really quite literate - oxbridge degree in non-numerical subject.

The other issue is the interview. DS is articulate, has a lovely turn of phrase, but is quite capable of "banging on" about a subject in which the listener has absolutely no interest. Despite eye rolling and yawning clues!

Shame on you indignatio, you must be very capable indeed of marking prose and comprehension for a 10 yo!

But the real problem with tutoring is not really relevant to independants. The real problem is on the macro level with grammars: the more that anxious parents needlessly buy in when their child is at a perfectly adequate school, the more less well off parents will become resigned to thinking their child doesn't stand a chance because they can't afford tutoring which they hear is a necessary prerequisite to success. HTs do their best to counter the myth - but if the prevailing view on MN is to be believed, only with very limited success.

I am also doing LSA work at the moment Indignatio - and agree it doesn't give me a clue about entrance exams. However, I am an English teacher by profession ( secondary) so may be able to help with extended writing if you want to PM me. Not sure I'd be any better than you though!

about your DS's interview technique - DS1 is JUST like this!

That's one thing I worry about, checking extended essays. Yes of course spelling and grammar is something we can do, but what is expected in terms of interest, narrative structure, richness of language and so on?

For Indies at 10+ or 11+ I would recommend the Galore Park So you really want to learn English book. Their books seem mainly designed for Indie and Common Entrance and are also geared towards home study. Lots of good exercises which enabled our DC to get some good supplementary practice in writing.

Our school seems to place great emphasis on ICT in English lessons. Lots of Powerpoint presentations, recording conversations, display, ICT for reports etc, etc. Is this the same elsewhere and does it place children at a disadvantage if so? Thinking of the traditional Preps that seem to concentrate far more on 3 Rs and rote learning of tables, spelling/grammar accuracy etc.

Thanks, Needmoresleep, I'll look into that.

Quick update. DS flatly refused to have a tutor. Just had the news today that he has a place at his first preference school.

Congratulations to your son indignatio

I am also not tutoring other than DIY ...paying $$$ already for prep school though that does do some 11+ familiarization for pretests...for me honestly, as long as DS puts the time in (which is a question of discipline) , i think he will be ok ...i guess a tutor gives the structure of having regular lessons and homework ...but for a Yr 5 ...I can't see any magic to it that I cannot deal with myself with help of off shelf books from WH Smiths...hope I am proved right, only time will tell, as DS is gong for highly selective 11+ pretest senior schools

Amber, if your DC is at prep, then there should be no need to tutor. They prep your child for 11+/13+. Hence the name. Should be fine. good luck.

Great news indignatio!

My friend's prep school does little prep for 11+. The cynics suggest that its because they want your money for another 2 years. However for 13+ they do spend the last lesson of every day on exam prep.

So don't assume that all prep schools will make a concerted effort to get your DC past the 11+

This may be a bit of a semantic selling thing. Perhaps not describing it as a tutor may help you sell it to him? Perhaps something a bit less formal?

Totally, you may be right but all the school round here get 13+ students to sit a pre-test at 11+. Not sure why, but it does mean the pupils are well prepped. A boy I know moved to prep in Yr 4, saw some Bond papers lying round on our table and said: Oh I did that one at school this week! They were already prepping them in Yr 4 at his school.

Slightly off topic but I don't see anything wrong with starting prep in Year 4. We started home prepping in Year 5 and during term time they did a paper a day. Now, that isn't too different from some parents/schools who do a paper a week in Year 4.