Do I need a particular tutor for a particular independent school

[fluffyredtoes]

I'd rather not get into the ins and outs of tutoring but nearly everyone I know has one anyway and as dc goes into year 4 I'm starting to think about how to prepare for entry to super selective independents.

Do I need a specific tutor for the desired school or do I just get a tutor to get on with it all.

Fwiw I know some state dc make it in without a tutor but I'm pretty sure allowances are made in that scenario, my dc is at a top prep and it's unlikely any shortcomings will be brushed under the carpet when it comes to admissions.

But I don’t think there are tutors who have track records for particular schools whatever they say- they usually give advice as to whether it’s worth trying for a particular school but they can’t make an averagely bright child into one who will get into a super selective one. State schools won’t generally give any advice on secondary options so that’s one of the reasons why people use tutors. My DCs tutor helped children go to the top schools but to be honest she just did stuff with them I could have done at home. No great secrets involved- lots of lots of timed practice papers, NVR and VR tricks, no ridiculous essay answers and being able to chat about a few things at an interview.

If you’re aiming for boarding schools at all (you mention Wycombe abbey and CLC) as long as her school preps for common entrance you won’t need a tutor for those. Don’t know about the London schools but if you or she begin to become reliant on tutors on top of fees, you’ve an expensive road ahead.

@WorkingItOutAsIGo

You aren’t listening. So I will say this not for you but for the readers who read this thread later on.

The highly academic schools you are after can tell if a child is the naturally bright kid they are after, or whether they are a decently average kid who has been tutored to sound like the bright kid.

Your DDs friends may well all have been tutored. But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have got in if they hadn’t been tutored. Tutoring might have made no difference at all.

But what tutoring will certainly do is put stress and work on your DD that she probably doesn’t need.

Maybe you've had bad experiences yourself as you seem quite angry about this! Some children may not need a tutor, some will to steer them towards showing their potential. If anything, some practice at interviews and they types of questions they will be asked. One thing that is important for many state school children is to practice the entrance tests, especially non verbal reasoning as under year 6 they won't necessarily have encountered this type of test before. If the tutor is putting pressure on them, then perhaps it is the individual tutor that is the issue.

Lush not angry at all except on behalf of the children involved, and having seen so many pushed by ambitious parents into losing years of childhood to tutoring. Totally agree with you that state school children may need help to be shown an exam with which they are unfamiliar, but that’s not the case here. I even don’t disagree with a prep school child having specific tutoring on a specific issue where they have difficulty or the school has let them down. But the blanket assumption that all children need to be tutored on everything from year 4 is not only dangerous but completely untrue.

As I said upthread, my own DC happily got to the OPs target schools without tutoring.

We also don't subscribe to entrance exam tutors. Our view is that we would prefer our dd to not get in at all, rather than be tutored and then struggle in class with her peer group after scrapping in. We do believe in support in targeted areas that broadly help our dd education, for example we have had a maths tutor to give her 1:1 and she LOVES these lessons so it is not any hardship. She has sat entrance exams for 4 independent schools and so far she has offers from 3, we are just waiting on 1 now. She is in a prep, but not a hot house prep, and we have not paid for an entrance exam tutor. We have friends that do between 1 and 3 hours a week, plus holiday school targeted tutoring for 11+. The kids are all a similar level and have done enough to get to schools of choice. One child however has always struggled and was hot housed since year 2 for 11+. She has not got the required level for any grammar and it was time and cost wasted. I feel sorry for her. So whatever you decide think carefully, what does your child actually need and why?