If your child is at a grammar school what did you do to get them in there? And when did you start? And do you have any tips?

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Ds is 9, will be 10 in October and is about to finish year 4 and go into year 5.

We are in catchment for a grammar school. I really want him to go there.

So, what do I have to do to get him in? Happy to sell my grandmother, soul etc to do it.

Am I too late already? Is tuition to get him through the 11+ a good idea? I think he's probably bright enough so I don't think it's a risk coaching to get him in and then him floundering but all and any advice much appreciated. Thanks.

See if the following link helps,

www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=24341&sid=ebae38925e03723788b0db114c34097c

We don't know until March 2013 but it appears DD1 has got good enough marks to have a very good chance of getting into a good ( no 33 on the Sunday times list) partially selective secondary school.
Lots of people apply for a place from our area, including a lot of DD's class mates. We did a years pretty laid back tutoring for her year 5, spent the summer holidays doing maybe a paper a week, then did a paper a day for the two weeks before the exam.
A lot of the other girls who sat the exam were tutored for at least a year longer than DD, went to summer school over the holidays and some even took a week out of school prior to the exams! A couple got higher marks than DD but not as many as you'd imagine.
I think you can definitely over tutor!

My oldest 3 are all at grammar schools (the others aren't old enough yet) and all I did was buy a set of practice papers from WHSmiths for them to familiarise themselves with the exam paper layout. This was what the grammar school recommended (they told us which type of papers to buy) when they had their open day for prospective parents.

It is worth getting a private tutor to check where they have been taught up to in Maths and what level they will need for the exam. We did this also and found a massive gap in their education. My husband taught them the maths that they hadn't covered at school, as he is a physicist (which involves a lot of maths).

I do know some parents though that have had private tutors for their children for up to a year before hand. I think this runs the danger of your child maybe getting in and not being able to cope, or feeling really upset about not getting in after the effort they put in.

Good luck.