Question for those who got a child through 7+ exams for a competitive London school in past few years

[MGMidget]

My DD is only 4 at the moment but I am thinking ahead and may want her to move (in two/three years) from the private school she will join in reception this Sept as we may be moving house for our older DS's schooling. Therefore we may be looking at entry for DD into another private school at around the 7+ stage. The school she will start at in Sept doesn't prepare for 7+ exams. We chose it because my older DS is already there. I am wondering therefore what attainment level she ought to be able to achieve at an early age to be in with a chance of success in competitive 7+ exams. I would be very grateful for comments from those whose children were successful on what abilities your DC had on entering reception, by end of reception by end of year one so I know what chance we might stand with these exams. Were your DCs reading and writing (more than just their name) when they entered reception for example? I don't plan to heavily push my DD beyond her natural capabilities but need to know if I should be even giving these schools any serious consideration when we are trying to work out where to move to! Thanks for feedback!

it really depends on what the ability level of the children of the school she is joining is. If she is joining a highly selective academic prep that doesn't prepare for 7+, it should be enough if she is in the top third and generally doing well with some extra practice at home. If she is in a normal good prep (but not highly selective), she'd probably have to be near top of the class.
I don't think it is relevant what level she is entering or even finishing Reception, but where she is in mid Year 1 or late Year 1 is relevant. From what I have seen, pushing in Reception makes very little to no difference. See where she is in mid Year 1, if she is doing very well (top third), it is worth doing some extra practice and getting her ready. If she is average and not interested, no amount of pushing will get her ready at that age.
There are kids pushed insane amounts at pre-prep and via tutors who don't make it because they are not ready. At the same time, there are those who love reading and maths and reasoning and naturally pick things up who will do will with normal extra practice with the parent.
Really depends what schools you are talking about though. This is more for West London schools aka Latymer / Bute /LEH etc.. NLCS is a completely different animal.

Thanks, Chilled Parent, very useful! It is likely to be the West London ones I am thinking of and one of those in particular! She is entering a selective pre prep in reception but they certainly don't push them on Maths and English in the pre prep years. Reception is quite gentle and the education quite broad. I was thinking therefore of gently trying to work a bit of home Maths and English activities in on a regular basis to foster an early interest and to supplement what I think is a fairly relaxed approach to these subjects in the school she is joining in reception. Then I will see where we are at mid year one as you suggest.

DD moved for Y3 and sat an entrance test in early Sept for a selective school - there were only two places but 12 sitting. We’d missed the usual round. but it was all rather last minute and I remember waiting in reception and hearing some other parents chatting about the tutors they’d used over the summer and all the hard work they’d done and we hadn’t done any of it. Not one piece of prep. DD was herself and got the place.

She did have a reading age years above and was a good conversationalist. This was all achieved through regular reading and chatting round the dinner table. I wouldn’t have been confident trying to shoehorn her into a school that wasn’t the right fit via lots of tutoring. For 11+ we did familiarisation and practice but again no tutoring.