11+ Tuition £££- How much did you spend?

[Twofor]

Question to those who used tutors - how much did you spend in total?
I spent an eye watering amount (approximately £6500 over 18months) but for us it was worth it and it has paid off. This is not a bragging post, just want to gage if the astonishing amount is the ‘norm’ for those targeting grammar schools, especially super selectives. For context I am a single parent with no financial support, and from a working class background.

DC is state educated, we are based in Southeast England and top choice was a SS. Tutoring included weekly 2hour group session, mock exams, and a couple of 121s sessions.

Around £1,100 (1hr term-time only tuition once a week for approx 38wks through yr5 at £30 a session). First choice SS in SE and should be fine as well within inner catchment. Costs seem to vary wildly, the SE and London being most expensive. I think we got off lightly with the overall expense!

Oh my gosh . My DS is Yr 5. And we are home tutoring as we just cannot afford anything else. I might put him in for a mock exam in the summer. I have already spent over a hundred pounds on the books.

That is an insane amount of money.

@Pigsmightfly1902 thanks! To be very honest I thought £1000 would have be enough to cover prep tuition, but a parent with a DC at the school told me early on that they paid £6000. I was in disbelief until I did more research.

Maybe 2k?

£35 per week for the whole of year 5 plus a lot in books so near enough 2 grand

I know!
I realise context is key with these sorts of discussions.
Looking at the figure many would assume DC was ‘tutored within an inch of his life’ but the school we aimed for is in the top 10 of the 6700 secondary schools in the UK and both GCSE and A-levels results are in the top 1.5%. DC is ‘bright’ in top sets, fast learner, reads daily, greater depth across the board, scoring 90%+ on pretty much all schools assessments.
You would think that is all you need for any grammar school.

I guess how much you spend depends on how much you think your child needs it/how heavily you want to tutor them. Ours was very much a softly softly approach as I do believe a child who has been heavily tutored to pass the tests may struggle to keep up in a SS. Ours had to get there off their own efforts with minimal tutoring which mainly focused on exam technique and speed/accuracy.

I just want to add to this thread for anyone who happens to read this, that we didn't tutor our daughter and only bought books which cost about £20 and spent a couple of hours a week going through them. She passed and now attends a grammar school.

Please do not read this thinking you need to spend a fortune to get into these schools, you don't.

I'm not against tutoring, however I would say that if you need to spend that level of money and time on tutoring that will need to be continued into their schooling as they will be attending with others who are naturally able.

6.99 a month doing online practice tests with BOFA. DS thought they were fun and it familiarised him with my verbal and non-verbal reasoning under timed conditions, as well as giving clear explanations when the answers were wrong.

@Yellow2024 Thanks for adding balance to post, my intention is to gauge against those who did decide to tutor. Unfortunately where we live the system has been gamed.

My child is at one of the top 100 in UK. She did one hour a week with a tutor and a wee group practice for 1.5 hours with 6 friends that was £10. Did this for a year. They all got grammar places- some in a top 25 school. I wouldn’t say any are exceptionally bright.

£40 a week for three terms

Unfortunately this is true for everywhere and the 11+ holds no merit any more in my opinion. I work as a primary teacher in y5/6 and the children this year who have passed were all tutored and only a couple would I recommend for the grammar school based on their school work. I have others who would definitely be able to work at the grammar school whose parents haven't got the means or ability to pay for a tutor or tutor at home. The 11+ used to be sat blind - no prep, no one knew the questions so it was at least fair.

Gawd. About £1500. Worth every penny though - the exam here covers parts of the syllabus they don't cover in school for another year!

We weren't looking for a super selective, but live in a grammar area and got into a normal grammar. Spent £600 on 4 months of weekly one to one maths tuition (not 11+ orientated just to cover curriculum). Was 2020 so wasn't getting taught at school otherwise we wouldn't have done any tutoring. DC2 will be doing the 11+ without tuition next year.

@Moglet4 @Janedoe82 where/are you targeting SS and what region?

@Twofor yep, super selective, South East. At my son's school, even for those kids who pass the exam they only accept the top 20%. The competition is beyond insane.

Thanks, very similar to our situation! DC’s very high score means they will get a place but still I question it all.

Greater Belfast area. GL/ SEAG run the test.

You don’t need to spend a lot if your have the dedication to tutor yourself but if you are looking at the super selective where it is 600 applicants for 36 places then you do need to start early and intensively to be in with a chance.

Two kids I know at one of the top 5 schools started age 3 religiously every Sunday sat down with their mum plus daily work set by their mum and supervised by the nanny. They were both waitlisted but eventually got in.

Your ‘for context’ doesn’t really provide any context, other than that you earn well.

I think the super-selective grammars in London are a different league of competition to non-selective grammars. Living in London borders we've done both and they cannot even be compared. The SS demand that you be the 1 person out of 25 who gets the seat after passing 1 selective test followed by a very tough second test where you are ranked by score. Each mark on the score will hold several children, so every mark you lose will mean you are that much further from getting a place. It's utterly insane and I wouldn't compare it with the prep needed for non SS grammars which were easier with single exam cut off score.

@Twofor - your number is in the right ballpark but it's painful for those who do not get in. I think people need to be realistic about whether their child deserves and is capable of this level of competition before they put too much money into this.

SS in the NW and thankfully, it’s paid off!

Less than £1000. DC is in a top ten super selective grammar. I have spent more on my other DC on specialist support from a one to one SENCO.

No one gets into a super selective who isn’t already naturally very able and very few continue to tutor once they get there. They sometimes pick it up in individual subjects at GCSE