is it a good plan - when DS into year 3 - to switch from state school to private in order to prepare him for 11+?

[charlottenina]

DS1 in state sector. wanted good education for him - but cannot afford private school, so the plan would be to prepare for 11+ and then switch to good grammar school. if we aim for 7+ in a private sector, aiming to prepare him for 11+ - would be a wise move? please help with suggestions. thank you

I'm sorry I don't understand your question; your question doesn't seem to tally with the rest of your post.
Your son is in state school now, and you're wondering whethe to move him to a private school to prepare for 11+?

Depending on your county, the grammar schools will have different tests and ways of marking. Find out which tests yours use, get sample papers when he's in y5 and if he seems to cope okay, practise a few more.

Unless you know a private school that specifically tutors for 11+ in your area, there's no advantage to paying all those fees.

It depends on a) how he is doing in his current school b) whether you can afford private school from 7-11 and c) whether tutoring for the 11+ instead of forking out for a private school might do.

Personally I would choose c), but then my dc are very happy in their state primary and doing very well there - so I would hate to move them.

No. There are no guarantees he'll get a grammar school place. What will you do then? Way too much pressure as there is, and this will just pile more on. It'll be a financial investment and you'll expect to see a return.

Tutor him from year 5.

It does annoy me that people do this. People started doing this at our last school, in a very over subscribed and affluent area, meaning that other local children who couldn't afford private didn't get much needed places.

Lots of people do it. It depends on the individual schools you are looking at.

Keep him at the state school and hire a 11+ tutor in Yr5 would be my recommendation.

You "can't afford private" but are prepared to pay for 4 years of private education in the hope that he gets into a grammar for secondary?

Wouldn't it be better to pay for 4 years of private eduaction when he's older (if you believe it's a better education)?

I know people who've gone independent in Y3, then got places at grammar for Y7 - but if their children hadn't got in they'd have carried on at their independent.

Gosh Charlottenina (do you you aren't the lottie posting on YR nickname elsewhere).

Presuming this is for real -

like Elibean suggests - it is entirely dependent on how your DS is doing in his present school. You haven't said his age - but at end of Y2 you should get KS1 SATs results - which are teacher assessments but are a good indicator for future achievement.

If he is NC Level 3 at KS1 SATs in English and/or Maths (or both) then he is doing very well and should be targetted to achieve NC Level 5 (at least) for end Y6.

I think if I were you I'd start striking up conversations with Y6 parents & Y5 parents and talk to them about how many pupils from this school go on to grammar school/ pass the 11+. If a fair proportion from the school (say 5 - 6) go on to the grammar every year there may be no point considering this option - private school doesn't necessarily guarantee academic success.

With us we basically decided at the last moment to go private in Year 5 so we had to tutor DS quite intensely for 9 months. I suggest that you start now with say 30min on a Sunday morning and then ramp it up in Year 5.

Parachute - prep school is typically cheaper than secondary school by about £4-6k pa. This why some parents rather invest their limited funds on prep in the hope that it will get them into the GS.