Grammar, or walk to the local comp?

[newyorkbreakfast]

DS8 is currently in Y4. Hardworking, conscientious, independent. There's a lot of local 'pressure' to get kids tutored to give them access to the one and only state grammar in the area which would be a fiddly bus/train ride away. The local comp is Ofsted 'Good', having recently risen from RI. It should be better but the wealthier in the neighbourhood send their kids to private school so that affects the intake of the state school, and the perception of it is sadly quite negative still, despite its apparent improvement.
Should I get her a tutor and give her a shot at the 11+? She's a good student but not exceptional at Maths. I don't know if the entrance exam requires them to be academically brilliant at everything or does it take anything else into account such as character, creativity etc? My gut feeling is to send her to the comp and if she needs tutoring for GCSE, I will pay for that as and when it's needed and she could hopefully do well. I like the fact she could walk by herself and would form friends locally. However, other parent friends think I'd be silly not to give her a chance at the 11+. However that would mean finding a tutor now and having her study at weekends. What are your thoughts? Thanks

You might want to ask MN to move this - you'll get more response in Secondary education than Food!

Thank you! I cannot seem to post it in Secondary Ed. The app keeps closing...!

Local comp - being close to school is great in my opinion for friends etc
But if you wanted to try for 11+ you don’t need to tutor from now?? You don’t actually need to tutor at all, practise papers so she is familiar with the type of questions is enough. If she needs extra help from now it would suggest she is not really suited to a grammar in my opinion

Thank you. Around here,everyone is getting tutored from Y4. It's insane...

Are you in the wrong section op? Do you need to move your thread? What does your dd want? I think that is the question.

@Savoretti

Local comp - being close to school is great in my opinion for friends etc But if you wanted to try for 11+ you don’t need to tutor from now?? You don’t actually need to tutor at all, practise papers so she is familiar with the type of questions is enough. If she needs extra help from now it would suggest she is not really suited to a grammar in my opinion

I'd also say comp. But you absolutely do need to tutor from now if you want your child to have a fair crack against all the others who will def be tutored. Bonkers but there it is. We moved from a grammar area partly to escape the madness. And the fact op that your area is awash with private and grammar is why your chimp is deemed not quite pukka. Great that you understand that Good luck with your choice

Definitely the local comp.

The benefits of a local school, increased independence from getting herself there, ability to spend more time at home/school as needed for extra curriculars etc plus having local friends are really valuable.

What tests do they use? Round here it's verbal and non verbal reasoning only. Other schools have 4. Those and maths and English papers. The v and NV reasoning is very much learning how to do the questions. Techniques can be taught. So your dd is year 4. She'd sit at the beginning of year 6 so now is the time to start. Then it could be a low key build up. I tutored my son myself. Depends if your dd will work with you? (a lot of that can be down to does she want it badly enough) Ds did. So he was willing. Otherwise, I considered paying for a tutor as I believed it would be the right move for him. So we had to play the game. He was competing with kids from private schools, loadsa money etc and he was as clever or cleverer than them. Here they take the highest scorers from any distance! So it was not just pass but a good pass - the cut-off was about 233 I think. There again, in our town, for boys, acceptable non-grammar choices were just not available.

We got (I think) Letts how to do NVR and some woman's 4 books Susan D...??? On how to do VR. They were great. Step by step. Depends if you have the time, patience and can you understand it yourself and guide her through it.

Thank you all, and sorry to distract you from relevant thread topics. I reinstalled my app and managed to copy the post over but received no answers in Secondary Ed so far. Go Food & Drink!
The entrance test is all the usual verbal, non verbal but apparently it is mysteriously different to other private 11+ papers, I hear. Good question: does she really want it. I will ask her, but doubt she knows what's best for her. She could thrive anywhere but I would hate for her to be held back by poorly-behaved kids in the class. I suppose we all had that and you have to get past it.