11 plus North London indies, please share your experience

[Melabela10]

Hello lovelu mumsnetters,

I would like to ask you about your personal experience with passing an exam for London independenet shools at 11 plus (NW London).

Is it diffult to get into NW London independent schools at 11 plus even from independent prep school with a bit of extra tutoring? Hearing stories of kids failing 11+ and not able to get a place even at back up indies scare me!

Does it happen often when children dont get a place even at back up school ? I know that nobody owns a crystal ball but I just wanted to know what is the experience like.

We are in NW London and dont really want to go into state comprehensives.

Hi
We have just been though it and I would say that as long as you target the right schools for your child's ability, you should definitely get a place somewhere. You need to have a realistic idea of where they have a chance of getting in and also sit them for some 'back up' schools that are easier to get into just in case. For the top schools only worth trying if their marks are really good near exam time, otherwise you are just putting them through the pain for no reason. So good to speak to your school about where your child should aim for. Good luck, it isn't fun but if you are properly prepared it will be ok.

@Nightwriter2017

Hi We have just been though it and I would say that as long as you target the right schools for your child's ability, you should definitely get a place somewhere. You need to have a realistic idea of where they have a chance of getting in and also sit them for some 'back up' schools that are easier to get into just in case. For the top schools only worth trying if their marks are really good near exam time, otherwise you are just putting them through the pain for no reason. So good to speak to your school about where your child should aim for. Good luck, it isn't fun but if you are properly prepared it will be ok.

thank you Nightwriter, have you been entering from prep or state school and did you tutor?

how much tutoring did you need if you dont mind me asking?

Hi,

Not sure which schools you're referring to but DC and DC's friends that sat various exams all got offers from sought after indies. We're at a state school though and we opted for a grammar school in the end as it suits DC better, we think.

In general, every child that got an offer from a sought after school, were expected to do well so no surprise there. But everyone who wanted an indie got a place as well. I was surprised by that at first.

Our prep was tutor once a week in Yr 5 (as had to be ready for Sept Yr 6 for grammar school 11+). After that mostly repetition.

Never any school work during halfterms and/or holidays. Proper summer break etc. Never any pressure (but we weren't opposed to the local comp so not the same pressure). We practised some meditation in the weeks leading up to the exams.

My advice is to follow your child. Be realistic with what schools are within reach and all will be fine.

Have a look on the elevenplusexams forum. There is a discussion forum that includes independent school tests and preparation.

We've done North/Central ones with three children from a state school that was requires improvement, high FSM etc. Between them they've only had one rejection and plenty of acceptances from top thirty schools. They're the bright side of normal or the normal side of bright, if you see what I mean. I doubt they'd get into the grammar schools.

My thoughts:

a) we limited them to three exams each. For the boy this was a bit hairy as all three choices were v academic so there was no banker. At the time it felt risky but they were the only schools that we felt were a reasonable commute and worth paying for.

b) Because of the girls' consortium we applied for more with the others but still kept to three exams. This time we did throw in one that we felt was a definite and actually both of them were called for scholarship interviews there (i.e. we knew early on in the process that they'd be offered some sort of place) which meant it did allay panic as intended.

c) don't fall into the trap of applying for loads. The process is exhausting - just getting to the exams and then the interviews blows a huge hole in your January. I think independent primaries can be a bit crap about this (or our local one certainly is) as they encourage their bright kids to apply to loads so it looks good for their websites.

d) apply for state schools and reassure your child about them. I genuinely wouldn't have minded if ours had gone to our ones (or the ones they eventually got offered). I know people whose kids didn't get offers, have gone to local comp and have done brilliantly (like all 9s/oxbridge).

e) they had an hour's tutoring a week with homework from midway through y4.

f) try to read lots including some more challenging books.