Can I tutor for 11 plus myself?

[lindorlove]

Just that really. In gloucestershire. DS bright, def in top 5 in his class. Currently in year 4. Been looking at 11 plus tutors to start in sept but tbh, I just can't afford the £150ish a month it will cost for a tutor. Is it possible to do myself using resources from Amazon/Twinkl etc?

You can, my mum tutored me in the 11 plus when I was going through this 15+ odd years ago, however things are alot different now and would assume it's alot more competitive. Just remember that your dc will be up against children who have been tutored all throughout primary school (prep schools) and have external professional tutors, so personally if I couldn't afford it I'd maybe find some group 11+ clubs or see if the school have any 11+ after school clubs, or even remote tutoring could be an option as it would be alot cheaper.

I did ! The first thing is to do all the tests yourself so you know exactly what it's like! Also start off very slowly, get on to timing later on. It is important to teach technique - with VR, say, some questions will just make sense so go for those first, if you don't know something, circle the number, move on. It is daunting but very possible. Having said that, I wasn't good at NVR so roped husband in for that- he could instantly 'see' way more than me. Good luck !

Yes. My parents bought me all the books and I got on with them but that was a long time ago. DC have a one hour group tuition every week from the beginning of year 5 as I think that's easier on our relationship . They like the group format as less intense for them and their tutor is funny. I do agree with the pp who suggested having a go yourself first and familiarising yourself. It's horrible when you've forgotten how to do some things and I find some of it quite hard. I know in our area the content isn't stuff they have learned in school at the time of taking the test.

Yes tbh, after the horror that was homeschooling, I think it would be pretty stressful to do! I just feel awful that his education may be hindered as we don't have £150pm to throw at tuition

@lindorlove CGP do books for the 11+ which are really helpful and they have practice tests to help your child prepare too.

I did all 3 of mine and didn't pass myself ( didn't even know what it was just turned up one day to school and it was test day!)
Preparation and research are the key. There are loads of different question types so it's important to find which tests are relevant. Once you know there are tutorials on YouTube for every kind of question type.
Then it is just a question of buying the relevant tests and photocopying them, logging the results and improvements to target specific question types.
You are ahead of the game so now is a good time to get DC reading lots of different authors to be exposed to differing language styles/words.
Good luck!

Absolutely you can - many people do this including people who go to the top schools in London that I know.

I would recommend signing up to Atom Learning - it was a total game changer for my son. It shows you exactly where the weak spots are so you can focus on these in addition to providing lessons based on your child's current Y4 curriculum . It's totally worth the £60/month (especially more so if you don't use a tutor).

Yes. I did it too.
Lots of great advice and resources on the eleven plus forum

Yep - just get some practise papers and crack on. Go through them after he's done them and talk through the questions he's found difficult. For maths, especially, look up things he hasn't covered in school yet.

My mum "tutored" me - basically just going through papers - and I did the same for my brothers when I was in 6th form.

You certainly can do it yourself: I helped my DD a couple of years ago (Birmingham and Walsall tests, similar process and chance of success as Gloucestershire - I have friends there too who self-tutored.)

You will need to invest in some workbooks: we found CGP the best, but it's worth trying a bit of material from couple of other publishers towards the end, just for variety. You can sometimes get pre-used workbooks cheaply if you join a local Facebook 11+ group, as people tend to sell their books on once they have finished with them.

I know of a couple of people who used Atom, and it does seem good, but it's not cheap so if you're watching the pennies you don't really need it. We didn't use it. However, we did invest in entering DD in for a couple of mock tests during the summer, which provided invaluable experience of test conditions.

Our DD was bright like your DS, but more importantly, she really wanted to go to grammar school and was very compliant and straightforward to work with. We didn't have arguments at all, beyond a few 'do I have to do it now?' moments (she did 20 mins before school four days per week in Y5, and slightly less in the summer holidays as she seemed ready). If you found home schooling stressful, I would think hard about how to make the 11 plus prep as low stress as possible. A grammar school is not worth damaging your relationship with your DS for.

You can, but having been there with my daughter I wouldn't 😂 It really altered the dynamic of the family and her home life. She's normally a very chilled out child who's no trouble, but she (rightly) found it quite frustrating being "taught" by either myself or my partner especially as how kids are taught has changed SO MUCH just in the past decade or so. I spoke to my SIL who was a teacher and she said if it's important to you that she passes, invest the money.
We now spend about £160 a month but it's worth every Penny if you find someone good!!

I think it very much depends on the area you live in. We are in a non-grammar area, so just 2 super selective state schools (1 boys 1 girls) with an ENORMOUS catchment. It's very hard to get in without considerable tutoring. That said, the local state comprehensive system is excellent, providing additional opportunities and streaming for the top performers, so grammar isn't the be all and end all.

In a grammar county it should be much more possible to support an already able child through the practice books.

We paid and my son did it in year 5, just for the year. £25 for 2 hours a week (term time only) and with occasionally extra costs of mocks.

I debated it myself but after the homeschooling we had in covid, it showed he would be better with a proper tutor. As it was, we had a lot of homework from the tutor and they was stressful enough lol Worth it though as he passed...

YouTube.
Matched to the particular 11+ exam. Questions are broken down into different ‘types’. Study and practice each one.

I also widened the approach for my children and added extras to develop
logical thinking - jigsaw puzzles, crosswords, sudoku, anagrams, etc.

I will add, I only supported my DC’s because they initially showed that they could already make a really good attempt at the papers.

I included some time management techniques, end of test review etc too.

I tutored both my children for the 11+ and they both scored highly.

In my area many of the 11+ tutors are teachers wanting to earn extra money but they tend not to be very knowledgeable about the nuances of the 11+ and their tutoring seems to be more geared towards SATS (which is their experience at school but not particularly useful for much of the 11+ test). I found the Eleven Plus Website/Forum very informative and it took me quite a bit of time lurking and asking questions to work out the best approach.

Gloucestershire is not an 11 plus county. It’s worth trying but are you in catchment for a decent comp? They will have enough bright Dc as not all access grammar schools.

It def is!! One in chelt, rest in Glos

I think I'll give it a go. It's not the end of the world if he doesn't get it but I'd like to give him a chance

I would try and get a tutor. Maybe one would agree to once a fortnight to save on costs. . And you could also do some yourself.

We have 13 in Bucks. I see there are 7 in Gloucestershire. There are 100,000 more people in Gloucestershire so less chance to get in than in Bucks one would think. Surely Pate’s is vastly oversubscribed?

Absolutely you can, I know several kids who got into Grammar recently with only tutoring by the parent. The most in demand tutor in my town told me she thinks parents actually tutor better than paid tutors, as long as the relationship with the child is good.

You want CGP books from Amazon and if you can afford (or borrow) them the Schofield & Sims books and perhaps also the Bond ones. May be some on ebay. Read the CHP ‘How to revise for 11+’ first it is excellent.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1789084083/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1673474331&sr=8-1

This forum is fantastic do not be overwhelmed all you need is regular practice and as you near the exam, times tests and guidance on how to fill in the exam sheet (see the CHP guide).

www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/preparation/planning-your-campaign

Bucks and Kent are, I think, the only truly 11 plus counties, but there are enough grammars in Gloucestershire for a bright child with some prep to have a decent chance.

You might be talking about the top 5% getting places, rather than the top 25%, but if your child is in the top 5%... (figures invented to illustrate the point, so don't rely on those percentages!)

@TizerorFizz is right that, in an area where a low percentage go to grammar schools, the academic level at the comprehensives is not much affected, so a bright child should find others working at their level at a good comprehensive.

Good advice, thank you everyone

Yes, we’re in Glos and did our own tutoring for both DCs, and both got in, including one to Pate’s, so it can be done. The 11+ forums were valuable, but really it came down to recognising questions types, having strategies to deal with them. But above all - technique and timing! But we kept it very light touch. They both wanted a shot at going to a grammar, but we have good comps locally too, so were in a very fortunate position.

The exam format changed after our first DC, but I think the new format played to the strengths of our next DC as it had more non-verbal reasoning.