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.

The thing is, it's completely different depending where you are in the country and what type of grammar you're aiming for. Some regions and schools are insanely competitive whereas for others, a bright child could be successful with very little preparation. (11+ tutor here) So the cost of tuition probably depends on a multitude of factors.

@Moglet4 and very few continue to tutor once they get there.

Should I have not have friends with kids at Tiffin Girls and Tiffin boys I might have had believed it. Not few but many are tutored.
My son has a math tutor who is tutoring two of them...

My child is also at one of the top of 100 state schools in UK and he didn't need to take a 11 + exam. Not all grammar get into top 100 and there are quite a few comprehensive or catholic or coe schools there

I wouldn’t disagree with you.

About £100 on books and we just prepped at home. DD got a place at Henrietta Barnett. She is exceptionally bright. Formal tutoring just wasn’t required. We actually chose a private school instead as felt that it was a better fit in terms of balance and support for extra curricular.

Tiffin in unusual then. Even when I worked in what is consistently regarded as the most highly performing ss in the country, very few were tutored. At GCSE, that changed a bit but only in subjects where parents thought the kids were struggling (all things are relative, they mostly wanted A*s rather than As. Every teacher in my department tutored the kids from other classes after school but none of us had more than 3 each. So about 15 kids out of nearly 200? Not exactly excessive. It’s exactly the same in my local ss - you get approached in year 10 (or often, year 11 these days - which I do find a little odd).

Even when I worked in what is consistently regarded as the most highly performing ss in the country, very few were tutored.
@Moglet4 do you think that my son's teachers are aware that he is tutored? Of course not as I don't advertise it. Many don't
No, his tutors are not from the school.
I don't do that because he is uncapable. I do that to give him competitive advantage in the subjects that he will need A-A* to get to a good uni

I have a child at a super selective and another at a “Normal” secondary school and I can assure you that just as many are tutored in the none grammar school as are tutored in grammar schools.. it’s a middle class thing rather than a grammar versus none grammar.

Sure, absolutely @privatenonamegiven In all kinds of schools kids are tutored. I have nowhere argued that they are not. I just disagree with the notion presented above that in superselective they are not. - yes they are.
I would say that there two variables here that impact it: affordability and how ambitious are the parents.

This is really interesting - we did 3 terms of one session a week which was £38 - I’d never added it up - but would have been £1500 plus the books . It was a normal Grammar not SS . Worth it - the right place for DC

@TheGoldenGate agree with you too.

Just think that too often on threads like this, grammar schools are portrayed as being full of children who are tutored and that this doesn’t happen anywhere else. When in fact many, many children in schools that are not grammars are tutored massively especially in KS4 and 5.

I also think the amount of tutoring that goes on during the GCSE years makes it very difficult to decide which schools are good etc as this is a factor that can’t be controlled for etc.

£165 per month (I think) for small group lessons once a week. A few £ on CGP books but all resources provided.

£ on one external practice exam.

Birmingham. Both DC passed. Happy with grammar so worth it for us.

For a one year programme- September yr 5 to august yr 6. I specifically waited to see if they were bright enough before putting them in.

Probably about £100 in total for Bond and CGP workbooks and £60 for a month of Atom.

Plus mine and DH's time as well.

These costs astound me. They really do.

My kid went to a non Selective comp and came out with 11 grade 9s. We didn’t spend a penny over our taxes.

I wonder if she would have even stood a chance at some of these schools without tutoring but they should have been clamouring for her in reality. The grammar school system really is private by another route these days looking at this thread. It certainly isn’t merit only.

Just over 1k for 2 years. 1 hr lesson a week at £45 an hour.

Get also had to do a lot of extra homework each week. Possibly about 4-6hrs each Sunday.

He passed and is now at a grammar school. Is also very smart anyway.

Edited to include cost of books that I forgot about. I think I spent around £400 -500 on all the books the tutor requested over the 2 years.

Just to add she also has never once been tutored outside of school.

You did 4-6 hours every Sunday for extra work on top of tuition for 2 years but he’s very smart?! I’m sure you’re not the only one but this it totally mental to me. That’s basically doing school again for a day on a rest day?!
I say this as I’ve got two in independent preps which are either all through/offered place if appropriate. We have many who are tutoring to “trade up” but I think the world has gone mad in this tutoring lark…..

I know a few children attending what are considered the top grammar schools for boys and girls in North London. Every single one of them is using a tutor as they approach their GCSE years.

£38.

As in, £38 in total for each child. It was the fee for three months BOFA online. It familiarised my children with the format of the questions so they knew what to expect. Nothing else was needed. They both got into their highly selective grammar.

Utterly bonkers - I have 2 DC at grammar in the SE (1 SS and the other just needed a pass) & bar some 2nd hand Bond books, didn't spend a penny on tutoring and haven't done in the years since they joined including GCSE. Mine are bright kids but not genius levels and both got in on first round with a couple of hours at home practise a week during year 5 mainly focusing on NVR & VR plus a few topic gaps.

It definitely does happen in all schools, especially at ks4 and 5. What I do find, though, is that the kids from the ss in particular are tutoring to make sure they get the highest grades whereas the parents who look for tutoring from the normal comps tend to be looking more for the borderline pass children or who need a specific grade to get into their A level provider of choice. What really isn’t true, though, certainly in the majority of ss, is that average ability kids are getting in because they’ve been tutored and are then having to be tutored all the way through ks3. It’s simply nonsense. There is of course a range of ability in ss but all of them are academically able (it helps, of course, that the majority are also highly motivated and used to working hard)

Many parents don’t advertise it but do you really think the kids don’t talk 😉 Plus it’s usually pretty easy to spot when a kid is being tutored, in my subject at least (I agree in others it might be harder to tell)

Probably about £20 on some practice booklets. I was very naive though. Didn't even know tutoring was a thing at the time. But I guess living with well educated parents who read all the time and talk about stuff has an unquantifiable impact. DS went to a SS and then to Oxford so basically pretty smart.