Prep school advisory for 11plus - AIBU?

[MrsSoyaSauce]

Wanted to seek the wise words of Mumsnet but could I ask what's expected of a prep school in terms of the 11plus process? Am I being unreasonable to expect our prep school to advise or give a list of schools for us to explore? And to provide proper guidance on which schools are realistic / banker / aspirational across a range? and in terms of the headteacher's relationships with these senior schools - what does that constitute? Beyond writing the reference obviously but does they mean they know the various exam formats etc?

In other words, what should I be expecting? It doesnt sound like our prep does much at all and I'm beginning to panic. pl help.

Hi OP. Does the prep school finish in Year 6 or Year 8? If the former, then they definitely should be helping you, unless they feed into a specific senior.... If the latter then I wouldn't necessarily expect them to as they'd be focusing on 13+ school entry.

Although co-ed preps that go to Yr 8 often do help with 11+ particularly for girls only schools.

Hello, ours goes up to Y6. They don't feed into any specific schools - some have gone to super-selectives (the rare few), some have moved to out of London schools, some grammar, some state.

What advisory process should I be expecting?

Guidance normally begins year 4/5. Do you know which schools your prep typically feeds? They should be able to advise which are within range academically and might suit their strengths and weaknesses.

Our school is also co-ed

thanks @LIZS . The only super-selective it's fed into is City. Some others have gone to Northbridge House, Maida Vale, Forest. It's a mixed bunch and no clear pattern if I'm honest.

The thing is - everyone seems to think their child is bright and the feedback given by the school is always "oh exceeding, punching above weight".

The exit results if I'm brutally honest, dont really reflect the feedback. I'm worried if there is no clear advisory process we might end up with no place!

Our prep goes to Y8 (all boys) and the process for starting to think about senior schools starts in Y5 when parents are invited to meet with the Head to discuss which senior schools may suit the child and to try and get school and parents on to broadly the same page. In a prep that finishes at Y6 I'd have thought the school should be helping parents have a plan in place some time in Y4.

Thank you all. How much weight does the Headteacher reference play? and do people apply to schools anyway even if Headteacher is not familiar with it?

References count for nothing in state system, even selectives. How old is your dc?

Most private won't provide guidance. And of course they are going to say your child is brilliant because they won't admit they have failed to teach your child given the ££ you are spending on them.

The only super-selective it's fed into is City. Some others have gone to Northbridge House, Maida Vale, Forest.

In no ways are these schools comparable at all! City is super selective as you said and their GCSE and A level results are excellent. Northbridge House & Maida Vale you may as well send them to state school for the same quality of education and save yourself some £.

Maida Vale note on their website two of their leavers went on to Russell Group universities. That's not an achievement to boast about!

Thanks @LIZS . DC is in Y4. We are only looking at independent schools (grammar is not for us as we're quite settled where we live and there are no grammars near us). Does the Reference not count at all with independent schools? and what's the process of headteachers and their relationships with all these senior schools? Is it just to say to these senior schools that kids from the prep school are applying?

@roses2 😂

points taken.

i do think the guidance at some prep schools are pretty good as ive heard things. our prep just seems a little wishy washy. so i'm wondering what's the plan? :)

I'm not quite sure how you've got to Y4 with no plan on where your DC will go after Y6! My DD doesn't start school until next year and I have already spoken to the prep school we're intending on sending her to about where the majority of their leavers go in Y6 (this information is also available on their website). The school also have school fairs in Y4 where the admissions teams from senior schools come in so parents can talk to them and pupils are then prepped for secondary school entrance exams in Y5/6. It sounds pretty poor that your prep school don't offer this but also that you hadn't thought to question it until now!

Ignoring the fact that you're paying for a prep and would therefore expect some advice I wouldn't worry too much.
Many DCs from state schools go to independent selective secondaries with no input or advice at all from their primary heads so it os perfectly possible to do it if you have some sort of idea about how academic your child is.
Some primary school heads won't give references either so they don't necessarily hold as much sway as some would like to think.

There will be some weight on the reference , it is child specific and should mention any particular strengths and achievements, but usually more so on academic performance in entry tests and interview.

In my DD's prep Y4 parents are invited over for an 11+ overview presentation when they do it mainly for Y5 parents in the Spring term. Not until towards the last term of Y5 children get specific guidance on the level they're at or the schools they should or could target. But this information is based on the assessments held from Y3, when children also start to work on reasoning.
I think our school assumes children's academic levels could change in that one year of prep, and I also think it kinda makes sense.
Of course from Y4 parents start to get anxious because they have less clue on what to expect. But from Y3 each end of year report puts down all the standardised scores for major subjects which gives some insight. My DD's teacher let us know which quartile she's in, but only when asked. Leavers destinations also helpful in what to expect

Very insightful @lililililililili . our prep school only gives specific guidance on which schools to apply / target in the last term of Y5 too and I've always wondered if that's too late. But it makes sense that a lot of things can change between end of Y4 and the whole of Y5 yes I agree. We're given their CAT scores as a broad measure of where they are academically.

End of y5 may mean you are more limited. You need to start attending open days before then and register for tests in year 6, which are late Autumn/after Christmas.

@LIZS you're right, parents may be best looking around schools starting beginning of Y5

The CAT scores can help guide you or if you do Mock tests on Atom learning. Our dd is year 6 at a state school and our school gave no guidance at all. But I used my dd Atom learning mock scores to help guide where to apply and she got into all the schools. She will be going to G&L in September. Have you tried asking your prep school? Some preps are better than others when giving guidance (at least from what I have observed from other parents speaking about it).

Thanks @SamPoodle123 . Yes some prep schools are better than others with drilling it down. This was what I was trying to ascertain on mumsnet.

@MrsSamR it's clear uve been hyperventilating about the 11plus before your children are actually in school. Before u shoot ur mouth off and be so bloody rude on mumsnet to someone uve never known- check ur facts. And ur budget. I wouldn't do 2 kids in private on 180k even if I didn't have a mortgage. Now buzz off and go start ur own thread.

We called the head and asked for an appointment. He had good relationship with with senior schools, we said what we wanted for our DS he told us our expectations were in line with DS's teachers. We picked a few bankers too. Ds did well and got several offers, he then advised further based on our child's character, interests about the best fit. Isn't this what you pay for?

Thanks @SuperGinger . Did ur DC get offers from all the bankers applied to?

Just need to know what to ask etc when meeting Headteacher.

Yes, all bankers plus three main ones we were actually interested in.