11+ Sussex

[Paliex]

Hi, I know that parents often like to keep this info close to their chest, but our kids are in year one and younger, so if anyone who has got suggestions for 11+ tutors in West Sussex/Mid Sussex could you please pm me? We are trying to work out if it is better to do prep or senior and if we consider senior only, we want to get a tutor lined up ready for the future. Thanks so much in advance!

My two cents: Unless your children are struggling, there's not really much need for a tutor.

You should do a little bit of extra maths outside school on a regular basis (we'd try to do 5-10 minutes every evening, just before reading) using books appropriate for their ability (I found slightly easier is better than slightly harder). Also, get books which mix up the questions as well and jump between those and the ones ordered by topic so they don't go too long without practicing any one particular topic.

In the 12 months leading up to the 11+, sign up to Atom learning or something similar on the lowest tier and then switch from the books to doing these practice sessions regularly/daily. When a few months away from exams, upgrade to the practice Exams tier which will give a good indicator of score.

We loosely followed the above (maybe 50% of the time) and they sailed through the tests.

I agree, excluding Brighton College I've never heard about any competition for places at the private secondaries in the area.

Thanks for everyone's responses so far! They've all be really helpful! Good to know the competition is not massive and maybe they'll have a chance if things don't change in the next few years. 😀

Jackofallspades would you say the same is true is striving for a scholarship? Apologies for jumping in, but we're in the same boat in exactly the same area. Our son is already getting 120 standardised on SATs practices in Yr5, but we were thinking he'd need a tutor before the November entries as the formats are different. Do you disagree? TIA

@Equimum Are the formats different? If the 120 score is out of a maximum 142 then that's what I remember. 120 is good with 6 months to go.

Also, are you looking to start your son in Y7 or Y9? I believe the Y7 academic scholarships are offered based on the performance in the Y6 tests. Y9 entries are offered based on the same Y6 test, but the scholarship assessment is in spring/summer of Y8 and is for a broad range of subjects. So that may affect how you approach it.

Either way, again unless your child is struggling with something, I don't think a tutor can do much that these online platforms like Atom can't (I'm sure there's other but that's what we used).