Bute House/Latymer 7+

[Erincr]

Hi everyone,
Is anyone preparing for the Bute House 7+ and Latymer 7+ entrance exams next week? I’ve heard that the maths tests at both schools are quite challenging. Unfortunately, we haven’t done much preparation. We hired a tutor last month, and she has helped my daughter make significant progress in maths, but she still feels it may not be enough. To be honest, my daughter’s writing is also not very strong, which worries me.
I was also wondering if anyone has any idea how difficult the exams usually are, how many children typically sit them, and how many are usually called back for the next stage.

Your dd will be up against kids preparing from the start of reception. But of course some just a year or few months before. Some have their sights set on schools early on and go all in. We never did 7+, but know some that have. You might need to step it up if you want your dd to have a shot.

Thank you!! We realise now that we didn’t start preparing early enough, as we only began about a month and a half ago. We also noticed that many families around us had been preparing for much longer. We tried Westminster and City, but unfortunately both attempts were unsuccessful. After that, we realised that in most cases children are prepared by their parents, and in some cases with the help of tutors. I’m sure some children do manage without extra support, but we learned our lesson. Although it was quite late, we hired a tutor, and we have seen a huge improvement in our DD’s maths and English comprehension skills. While we don’t have much hope for either Latymer or Bute, we felt it was still worth trying.

I don’t think many dd sit Bute 7plus without years of preparation, for example choosing a nursery that will teach them to read and write before starting school so that pre—prep reception and year 1 can cover the whole KS1 curriculum to allow the autumn term of year 2 for exam prep. I’m sure your tutor knows this but can your dd use sentences openers, tell the time to 15 minutes and know all her times tables? The dd selected at 7plus at Bute carry the school through to achieve the amazing 11 plus results as the 4plus entry is not selective. I would also add are you sure you want to buy in to the sw London alpha academic route if you are not the type of parent who buys into tutoring from age 4? Your family life might be better suited to a less competitive pre school. Finally when you visited for the open days esp at Westminster you must have seen the alpha pushy parents? You could not have selected a more difficult exam for your dd in the uk this autumn than the Westminster 7plus.

The truth is only the successful kids would have been prepped by tutors AND their parents. I am talking about excessive tutoring. And prep school. How do I know this? I know people that go to the school or got their dc into top schools for 7+ Some dc get prepped for hours a day during the school breaks....I am talking 3-5+ hours! At least, this is what I heard of for kids aiming for St Paul's, Westminster and Kings. Bute they also tutor like crazy when in the school because all the girls are trying to get into St Paul's. Many who are not in the loop of knowing do a small attempt to get in, but don't. However, it is still possible to get into good secondary schools after state.....so if you are happy with your state, I would just keep your dc there and start prepping form year 4 if you want her in private secondary.

It is not impossible though to get into a good school if you start prepping a little late, but if you know you want to go private, why wait when 90% are prepping from years in advance.

And yes, most parents at these schools are ultra pushy. Many dc are tutored once in the school and continue on in secondary! It is crazy. My dc are at schools slightly more laid back, but still academic (G&L and Latymer). They tell me many kids are still getting tutored multiple times a week. We don't do this, but sometimes wonder if we should be!

I can provide different views about prep to 7+. Both my kids got 7+ offers St Paul’s and Kings. They are not top kid in our local state school. We started to prepare very late, maybe 5 months before exam date.
We have tutor helping English about 3 months, our tutor also thought they were 50/50 chance.
I know some parents did prepared very long time, but I wanna to share my experience to those late started parents like me, you never know! After 2 kids 7+, I think exam skills more important than lots of exam papers.

I agree. We have a friend whose daughter is also at a state school. She wasn’t very strong in maths, and her writing was just okay. After being tutored by our tutor for almost two months, we were told that she might actually be able to pass the Butte and Latymer exam. That’s why I don’t think spending a huge amount of money is always necessary even though we spend quite a bit on tutoring. If parents have the time, they can also prepare their children themselves.

I think 5 months is enough time to prep....but def not one or two months unless they are in a school that has them ready for it. We never did the 7+ but have experience with the 11+ from state school. We decided to try for it last minute with our eldest (end of year 5, but that still left us 6 months to prep) and that was enough time for her :) However, since we knew we would do it for our next one we started earlier, just because it made sense not to wait until last minute.

@Erincr , Hi, How did it go for your girl? Mine attended assessments for both schools but i cannot get much info out of her, except that she really enjoyed her time at Bute.
fingers crossed! And good luck!

She told us that the maths questions at Bute were very similar to those in her mock tests. We were a bit lucky with the writing section, as she had practised very similar pieces with her tutor before the assessment. Still, I’m not completely sure how reliable a seven-year-old’s feedback is.
She also said that the Latymer maths paper was more difficult and that she ran out of time. Once more, we were fortunate with the writing section because she had done very similar writing tasks beforehand. I really hope that both our children will get into one of these schools.

Thanks!! I really hope so too: 7+ process hasn’t been a successful one for us so far. My daughter is a late summer child, and it’s been quite challenging to onboard her with the process and make her willing to put effort into it.

Good luck 🤗.

Wanted to come on here and say - if 7+ doesn’t quite work out - don’t despair. It’s really only one early entry point.
You’ll have more time to prepare for 11+ - and in many ways it’s a better time to find a right school for your kid, as they are more mature then.

Same here. It was very difficult to get her to do some work! She is very stubborn!

The results for Bute first round is out!!

Does anyone know how many kids are invited to second round?

congrats!! we didn't get invited back unfortunately 😥. good luck to your girl for the 2nd round!

As a current Bute parent I just wanted to add some balance. Yes I'm sure a lot of kids are tutored but its far from all. My daughter have never been tutored and got offers from both Bute and Latymer at 7+ and is flourishing at Bute without any tutoring. She has a nature love of learning and is a book worm but also has loads of other interests that are highly valued by the school (such as sport, music etc). Bute is not looking for tutored children, they don't do written assessments as part of the 7+ rather they are looking for a natural spark, curiosity etc. overly tutored kids are very obvious to them. So please don't worry that you haven't prepared for months - if they think your daughter is right for the school they will see her natural ability. And as others have said, if she isn't successful please don't worry. Everything works out, key is finding somewhere your child feels happy and supported

Thank you!! Still another round to go!😔

Latymer results are out!

Did you get an offer? I have a dc there and they are very happy.

My daughter has passed the first round and has been invited to the activity day. I understand it’s a very good school, although our first choice is Bute.

Yes, Bute is great. We know people w dc there and ones that went there. The only thing is the parents can be very pushy with academics (tutors, workshops during school breaks etc). This seems the norm there. But could be the same for Latymer (don't know any at the prep).

Anyone know about how many kids are called back for the next round for the Latymer 7+? My dc got through! We started prep about 5 months before. Gently, then ramped up at the end. Question from me: in terms of demographics- do most kids live locally in the PREP school? We live abit further away in Ealing. I'm thinking logistics, as apparently there is no breakfast club or after school club?! How do working parents manage? In general I can pick her up at usual / club time, but what if I get stuck?!

I think there are 5 days and about 25 kids in each group afteroon session. Not sure if there is a morning session. Could be 125 if they got sessions each day.

If i recall it was only the monday to thursday so assume c. 80-100 went through