11+ test Kent - advice appreciated

[Bruce2]

Hi there,

We moved to Kent 6 months ago and our eldest started Y5 in September.
There's a lot of chat (panic) in playground about Kent Test next year and tutors/study clinics etc
I'm happy to pay for a tutor etc but I suppose my ask is....how much studying is really involved at home outside the tutoring?
How many practice papers are people doing a week on average?
The grammar system is very new to us as we're originally from Scotland so never been through this before.

Any advice is greatly appreciated

Many Thanks

It varies.

I know children who did a few practise papers the week before under timed conditions to get them used to timing and format and they passed. Other families just put their children into the test to see what will happen but don't worry too much - quite a few obviously don't pass.

Other families begin tutoring in Y4 and by the summer of Y5 are doing essentially a full timetable of 11+ prep at home and supplementing with professional tutoring. Private schools which stop at year 6 tend to prep for 11+ and will have a few lessons a week.

A lot depends on the ability of the child and the availability of decent non-grammar schools. In some areas the non grammars are really dire and parents will do anything to avoid them. In a few areas there are some good comprehensive schools which some students choose to go to even after passing their 11+.

You can get an idea by buying some 'assessment' books and seeing where you are now. Little and often is usually best for preperation so if you're able to help your child yourself they may be fine doing 5-10 minutes practise a day rather than seeing a tutor once a week. If they have a specific weakness a tutor might be helpful.

Is the child's work differentiated at school? If they're used to doing harder maths and English every day at school that will stand them in excellent stead (and also imply they won't struggle at grammar).

It depends a lot on the ability of the child. If you've got an 'effortlessly top of the class' type (in both maths and English) who also has a good vocabulary, is good at spelling etc, then it's really a question of familiarisation. You could probably get away without a tutor at all (though few are brave enough) - you basically just need to cover a bit of Y6 maths, get familiar with the VR and NVR question types, and practise timings and a few tricks and techniques nearer the time. If you've got a very able but not top of the class type, then I'd say that tutoring once a week in Y5 plus whatever homework the tutor sets (typically an hour a week?) is fine - probably with some more regular practice on the actual papers next summer. If you've got a child who needs much more than that, then tbh you really should be questioning whether a grammar is the right fit.

Thank you for all the advice
Will take on board and research a bit more into it before committing to tutors etc

Really helpful thank you xx