11+ 2025 support thread

[AquaPeer]

Hi all,
I really enjoyed reading previous 11 plus support threads and I think we’re probably ready for a new cohort of year 5s start their prep?

so I thought I’d set up one for next year. All welcome!

we are trying for dame Alice Owen. DD currently has group tutoring once a week but we are looking to increase to twice a week before Xmas.

i am trying to get her to do a cgt GL 15 min tests a day very unsuccessfully! This half term is going to be all about embedding routine 😀

look forward to meeting other parents preparing

we are trying for DAO which is 2 stage- 1st stage VR and then the top 325 scorers are invited back for maths and English.

we have just battened down the hatches and are doing a VR timed test a day. There just seems no point in the other stuff when she needs to be through the VR to get a chance.

it would be a great problem to have but god knows what we’ll have to pull out the bag if she does get to sit maths and English lol

That sounds like a good idea tbh. You have about 2 weeks between stage 1 and 2 (I think), so you have some time to hammer out maths and English. If my DD made it to round 2, I think a couple of days of school will be in order :)

Did you mean ‘off school’ @SFV? I’ve floated this with my daughter and she’s not having any of it. Might need to pretend it’s the weekend

Yes, sorry... I meant "off" school

My daughter would bloody love it 😂😂

😂- so would mine!! I think we have the best part of 9 days .

@DolphinOnASkateboard so surprised that the school hasn't taken them through all the curriculum of the 11+. I genuinely thought that all Bucks primary schools would do at least this in Y5

They've taught them the curriculum, but nothing about the test itself. So the kids are great at maths and English but from what I see on the class WhatsApp they're all struggling when faced with "tutor-proof" shape rotations and hidden words and so on that bear no resemblance to anything they've seen in lessons.

I read the other day that something like 28 per cent of Bucks state school pupils pass the 11+, while for private schools it's more than 60 per cent, so I'm assuming some places put more focus on "teaching to the test" than others.

Ds primary doesn’t do much except for some basic VR. The maths they teach is nowhere near what they need to know. I’ve heard friends say the same at other local primary’s. I’ve asked why and been told they have to teach the national curriculum and as most of it isn’t on it it would be unfair to those not sitting.

From what I understand, the 11+ in Bucks covers some curriculum material that doesn’t come up in the NC until Y6 (I’m thinking Maths particularly).
Private schools can sometimes be ahead of state schools in their progress through the curriculum (particularly for higher sets), and may have already covered this stuff (maybe deliberately? Especially if they are a school with a reputation for sending pupils on to grammar).

Private schools which are partner schools (I.e. their Y6 pupils are allowed to take the test in an exam hall in their own school, not in one of the county test centres) are required not to tutor pupils specifically for the 11+ - but my experience is that very few private school families don’t use external tuition.

I’ve been lurking here for ages 👀 DD is about to take the Bucks 11+, only four weeks to go! She has really run out of steam, it’s quite painful trying to get her to do much.

I believe it’s only the Y5 curriculum that’s covered in the Bucks transfer test. BUT if you know some Y6 maths techniques like long division, ratios, multiplying fractions etc, some questions are quicker to answer.

For us (North London) the maths covered in the 11+ includes everything until the end of Year 6 (so definitely not covered in state primary schools by the end of Y5) ... some past papers for particular schools I've seen creep in to KS3 territory often (like nth term and the level of algebra). Not long to go!

In Trafford, the school websites state maths up to the start of year 6. I personally think that it mainly correct, though son said their was an algebra question in last years test (but it was an easy one). Maybe a stretch question to test children’s natural maths ability?

However, having just finished year 6, son found maths incredibly ‘easy/boring’, so much relearning of basic skills to pass SATS. The bonus of doing the 11+, is they’ll get through maths SATs with their eyes shut!

The 11+ questions in comparison are mainly verbal based and require additional deduction to understand what the question is asking you to calculate. They are no way taught that at the same level, even by the end of year 6.

PS We looked around the local prep when son was little and they boasted they do no science in year 5 to teach all year 6 maths a year early. Then double science in year 6 to catch up! Read into that what you will!

You need to have completed the KS2 Maths curriculum by the easter of Year 4. Worst case end of year 4 to make good steady progress

Yes, that's what we did. My point was in relation to how some ppl were saying certain state schools in some areas prep kids for 11+.... whereas here they don't. You have to do all the prep yourself...

I thought that it was interesting that a private school near us, no longer requires their primary students to sit exams to enter their high school.

Desperate for the revenue?

Thing is north London / Herts isn’t really 11+ is it? There are a tiny number of super selective schools. You’re not siting the county councils test. Most children will never sit the tests and they’re not even classic 11+, the schools can set what they like.

Got a rather depressed DD today - her tutor session today was hard going (not because of her tutor, who is lovely! DD just not in the zone at the moment)
When DS did this a few years ago, he was fairly strong across the board, whereas DD is exceptional in some areas, and utterly bombing others… I just don’t know if that’s going to be enough.
I will be so bloody glad when this is done! As will DD, of course.

Posting as feeling the need for a bit of hand-holding.

DD did an organised mock test last week and bombed it. She did an organised mock test in June and did amazingly and was in the top group. I'm not sure what happened between mock test 1 and mock test 2. DD left both tests feeling she'd done OK.

Since mock test 2, DD has completely lost her mojo and believes that she can't "pass" the 11+. She now approaches any practise with such a negative "I'm not clever enough" attitude and I don't know what to do.

We have always approached the exam as an optional thing and our second choice comp is great and DD would do well there. However DD puts lots of pressure on herself to get into the same grammar as her older sister. She feels that she'll be the "not clever one in the family" if she doesn't get in.

Help please. I can't wait until this is over - 5 weeks to go.

I’m sorry it’s been a tough few days @BeFairSloth and @TeaandHobnobs

it seems a hard time of the proces doesn’t it? I don’t know about you but we have 2 weeks - DD is in a formal mock now - her third- and hasn’t yet achieved the 85% she’s going to need.

I keep reminding myself that this opportunity is a privilege of living in this error and we should consider it that, not something to lose.

didn’t help seeing DAOs stunning a level results post on insta this morning 😆

@AquaPeer your DD is on the home straight now, sending you both good vibes!

@BeFairSloth I have that worry too - I think if DD doesn’t get into grammar when her older brother did, she will be devastated. Even though she is just as bright as he is! She really looks up to him and wants to achieve the same things as him - even though he is AuDHD and actually struggles with a lot of stuff that she doesn’t!

DS is similarly up and down at the moment having plunged into various revision books and mock papers. Friday night at bedtime he was literally in tears about his NVR problems, god knows I've tried not to pressue him but he's a smart kid, he knows this matters... I can't get my head around parts of this country persisting with a state education system that puts 10-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN under this kind of stress.

Last few weeks! We are back from holiday and a festival. DD looks SO TIRED after many late nights but has put forward her own revision plan in a bid to get out of going to holiday club and I'm going to let her crack on I think. She did say that even if she didn't get in, she had enjoyed learning new things and felt well prepared for sats and secondary, the little love. I do feel a bit aggrieved that the system has got so out of whack that being bright and keen and self-motivated is not enough to be confident of a place.

last few weeks! 😳 DD is still coming in pretty average, hasn’t hit 85% in VR yet. She’s in an intensive course all week this week then a week off to practise a paper a day and corrections.

despite the unbelievable competition (a couple of thousand students for 80 spaces) I am pleased in a way it’s 2 stage. She can just focus on VR and not waste time on maths and English when she may not need it