11 plus…..what’s in it?

[Notjustabrunette]

Hello, have just received an email from
my DCs school asking if I would like her to attend 11 plus club at school. She is in year 4, the club is £5 per class and clashes with a club she already attends and enjoys.
I am reluctant to send her due to the clash and the 11 plus feels a long way off. I was thinking though if I knew what was in the 11 plus would give me a better idea if she needed to go to the club or if there was anything I could help her with at home? Or get my mum to help out with as she is a retired year 5/6 teacher.
Have done some googling and not come up with anything useful.
If anyone has some insights or knows of a useful website, that would be great.

Does she need to take the 11+? Is it necessary for the secondary school she wants to attend?

A tutor would cost around £30 an hour.
Your mum would need to find out specifics. The exam and tutoring for it isn't the same as the normal year 5-6 lessons. You can buy books on Amazon.

She will be taking the exam this time next year so if you want her to have her best chance then starting now would be a good idea.

A lot of it is getting used to the type of questions asked which she probably hasn't seen before.

Would she not be taking the exam in 2 years, when she’s in year 6?

Only if you want her to attend a selective/grammar school or an independent this sitting their version of the 11+.

For state selective schools the exam will be sat in the September of year 6 usually.

It's normally made up of verbal and non verbal reasoning and sometimes some maths too.

The schools you're interested in sitting for usually have sample papers available or info on their websites.

It varies a lot from area to area so best to specify which 11+ you're talking about or make sure your googling is specific to the school.

Yes sorry! I misread. Beginning of year 6.
This year's exam is next week.
So they get the results before applying for schools which has to usually be done before end of October.

Up to you then. There is a lot of competition for places and there are families who do start that early.

Great, thanks for the info.

Probably not in same area as you as no school round here does 11+ prep. My ds2 is same age and I will start him on a tutor next year in year 5. This worked for ds1.

We are in an 11 plus area and if we are offered I will definitely take up any additional classes at school.

Are you in a grammar area? What are the other options.

We're borderline grammar and non grammar areas, the local school is outstanding so we didn't bother but we got in because DH teaches there and just in distance but it would have been a fine line without him teaching there. And they can walk to school and not do hour long plus commutes.

Some of the kids in their class live further away and in pure grammar and shit school territory they all were private tutored to get through it but not all of them made it.

My ds did his last week (Kent). Most kids start in year 4. There is an English paper, maths paper, non verbal reasoning and verbal reasoning and a short story to write which is only looked at if borderline. From seeing papers and sitting through tutoring with him there is no chance of most kids passing without understand how to answer it particularly the non verbal reasoning they need to learn how to answer the questions. You are better with a proper tutor than trying to do it yourself as you really need to know what they are doing, it is also quite a bit about year 5&6 level we were told but I am no expert. £5 a session is a bargain we paid £20 a session it was online (could have done it in person with the same teacher locally but it meant we could make sure he was actually doing it).

My ds did his last week (Kent). Most kids start in year 4. There is an English paper, maths paper, non verbal reasoning and verbal reasoning and a short story to write which is only looked at if borderline

Is this a school specific exam though?

My DD didn't do English or write a story.

In Kent English and maths are on top of the reasoning of you want to go for the super selectives. It really is area dependent and totally unfair at that.

There are some grammar schools, but it’s mostly comps, which in general have a good reputation. Our catchment school has a ‘good’ ofstead report. However, she is very academic and I think she would really thrive in a grammar school setting.

If you want to take the 1-plus exam, then absolutely join the lessons. It's not so much about the actual information, it's a lot about confidence which comes from doing lots of old papers, from being part of a group who all have the 11pm exam in their sights.

If you don't want your DD to take the exam, then why would they be prepared.