Channing - how smart to pass the 11+

[Meena43]

I'd like my daughters to try the 11+ and Channing, St Margarets, Highgate and SHHS seem to be the only ones which appeal to me location wise. But how smart do you really need to be? I have one extremely driven to do well, a 2nd also smart but more reserved/shy, both very good at Maths and sport. Not massive readers. Im wondering whether to give it a shot without tutoring but not sure if the children already there are exceptional.

Does your child do any standardised testing at school? Like CATs or Progress tests? As that usually can give you an indication of where to aim.

From what I understand SHHS and Highgate have a much higher bar academically than Channing and St Margaret’s. I don’t think that you need to be exceptional for any of these schools (well not as exceptional as you need to be for the north London grammars)

I only have experience of Channing myself with an offer this year (we didn’t apply to those other schools you named). My daughter is v strong at maths (134 in testing) but only above average in England (117) . The only tutoring we did was additional atom work weekly, mock tests though atom in summer and then start of Y6 and then about 3 months of specific English face to face tutoring get our heads around the creative comprehension element of the consortium testing.

I honestly don’t think you can get away with no tutoring at all - even if it’s do in your self style and just to focus on the testing they do if you don’t go to a prep school but definitely in our experience at least for Channing you don’t need to do weekly prep with an external tutor on both English and maths for years to pass!

Hi OP

The schools in the consortium (SHHS, Channing and St Margaret’s) have the exam run by Atom Learning so it is worth getting a subscription to Atom. We also had one hour of tutoring once a week (one week English, the next Maths) from midway through the Spring term of year 5.

Highgate is a different exam and I understand that it is in a different format to the other schools’ papers (but we didn’t apply for my daughter as she wanted a girls’ school).

These schools typically have 50 places for external applicants and 200 applicants. So your child needs to be performing within the top 25% of the top set in her current school.

Is she already at the top of the top set?

I would add Queenswood to your list. There’s door to door transport and lots of girls come from Hampstead / Highgate areas.

Clever girls do very well there but it’s nowhere near as academically selective. Sometimes it better to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

Sport is exceptional there, as are all their extra curriculars to be fair.

Definitely worth a look.

Hi, yes near the top for most but top definitely for maths.

To add that being properly prepared for all exams is necessary but this doesn’t mean endless tutoring. However, some of these schools are highly academically selective and parents will tutor. It’s a vicious cycle though as over the years the tests have had to get harder because more were passing due to tutoring. You are also slap bang in the middle of motivated middle class territory in north London. It would be a brave parent who didn’t properly prepare.

They do need to be familiar with verbal and non verbal reasoning. If you have the time and patience and work well with your children then this can be done at home with books or Atom Learning.

If they are at a state school then maths might need some top up. The highest sets in prep schools are often 18 months to 2 years ahead of the national curriculum.

Otherwise just make sure they are reading widely and extensively. Let them choose their own books - there’s no need to be reading “War & Peace” and schools would see right through that 😂😂😂

Exam technique is crucial and it needs to be tailored to the specific entrance tests. If it’s online then practice online. Is accuracy more important I.e. the test is adaptive so getting questions right is more important than the number of questions answered? Can they go back and review questions or miss them out etc.

If it’s pen and paper then teach about missing a question out and going back to it, making sure workings are clear, looking at the number of marks available for a question - three marks meaning you need to be provide three points etc.

Timings and being used to sitting an exam is also important.

The biggest piece of advice is being realistic about your child’s abilities. I see children tutored for years to get into these top academic schools and then not get in, or just about scrape through and then struggle whilst there. Sounds like your daughter stands a decent chance but there are fewer places than at a standalone 11+ only school due to children coming up through their prep schools. I would consider adding in FHRP and somewhere like Queenswood to your list as a result. Lots of girls from north London at both.

We have never formally tutored our DC. Of course we did stuff at home. We started in Y5 and it was just books and Atom Learning at home. Honestly no more than half an hour a day, some days none at all. In the summer they did some full exam papers but otherwise kept it short and sweet like we had been.

Offers included NLCS, City Girls and UCS.

Although people talk about these schools having 6x, 8x, 10x the number of candidates as places, it is worth bearing in mind that people also apply to multiple schools - particularly those in the consortium (as it is one set of exams where the results are sent out to all the schools).

Even the most academic schools have to take someone - if they only took children who were geniuses, they would have about four in each year.

So Queenswood looks quite far for us.

My concern about tutoring is that I dont want to tutor then they struggle there. As a result I would prefer to encourage at home.

To date, I've encouraged maths problems and tasks and as a result, its something they enjoy. Its harder to get my daughter into reading and im aware they need to read more.

Atom learning looks to have three price options. Can anyone recommend which one is best?

Channing and st Margaret's are both lovely chilled out schools that are not super selective. SHHS is much more selective

Hi, OP. We used Atom for just under a year and found it quite helpful for rote test practice

• nothing fun, tbh, but it really helped my DD who has ADHD to plan her time and maintain focus. The platform also helped a lot with some typical questions and gave us an idea where she was compared to other kids using Atom and applying to similar schools. (In terms of SAS)

I would recommend their exam prep plus because of the unlimited tests, and also access to printable papers ( as we tried for Grammar schools too) . DD got into al her top choice schools, and found most tests were at around the same level ( some were understandably harder) However, although the platform is good, I wouldn’t advise to use their tutors ,which they will certainly try to sign you up for. We gave up after trying to work with four different tutors from atom. . Not saying they don’t have any good ones, they probably do.. but it was always a miss for us..

good luck!

Queenswood has a door to door transport service so even if it’s not as close as you would like, your daughter gets picked up and brought back to your front door. It makes things very easy and worry free!

Atom learning looks to have three price options. Can anyone recommend which one is best?

The one which gives the mock exam practise, which of course is the most expensive option!

Hey,

i am starting atom with my daughter as she has ADHD. She hates studying and going in atom she will only read comic books and if she gets stuck on a problem she’ll answer haphazardly.
im so stressed out.

My friend didn’t bother with private tuition as her daughter was super clever and top of everything.
She failed
Others in her class which she said were average all passed . They had tutoring, and lots of it. one admitted 3hours a night plus 2 sessions a week with a tutor.

Dont risk it

If you look at destination schools for a prep like St Christopher's, a lot of girls apply to Channing as it's a Consortium school and it's nearby. But for example, in 2024 they had 19 offers for Channing and only 2 acceptances (because most girls apply to more than one school, and it's lower down the league tables than some of the others so it's often a second choice). So they need to over-offer by a fair bit to get enough acceptances.

www.stchristophers.london/beyond-st-christophers/senior-school-destinations/

If your child is in state school, they will be competing against a lot of girls who are from preps which prepare them for the exams (and most have tutoring on top). So it makes sense to do some tutoring to get them familiar with the style and format, and get them up to speed. You can do it yourself if you have time, it doesn't have to be with a tutor (but it can be money well spent if only to outsource some of the mental energy required, and some children respond better to a tutor).

Agree with others - you just need to sign up for Atom, think it was £69/month when we signed up, and you only need it for 9 months till December. Money very well spent. 10-20 minutes on that a day and you will be fine. Your DD just needs to get used to the style of the Consortium exam VR and NVR, and a few practice tests.

Channing is dead easy to get into - as others have said it is lower in the league tables so for that reason only, it generally isn't the top choice for the brighter girls. It's a great school. SHHS is more academically selective but was surprisingly easy to get into this year - they gave offers to lots of girls at our (non-hothouse) prep, I was quite surprised tbh.

Highgate is a bit harder, again higher up the pecking order. But give it a shot, they love a bright state school kid who hasn't been spoon fed from a prep.

They are all lovely schools, good luck and don't worry - I agree about how foolish it is to be tutoring children above their level of ability, but that's not what we're talking about with Atom, it's really just putting in a bit of effort for the next 9 months to chip away at any weak areas, and get them used to the VR/NVR etc.

Tutoring has its place but once you are getting into a child doing three hours a night of work, I will say that the benefits become more marginal. Tutoring won’t transform a child into a completely different person (and nor should it).

The St Christopher stats are interesting (and impressive). In 2024, each girl had an average of 4.42 school offers. This does make me wonder how many schools each applied to.

I agree, it shouldn’t and heavy tutoring to get into a desired school if you aren’t naturally up to it isn’t a good idea.
However
If your kid is marginal or above then ignoring that others will be tutoring to increase their kids chances of a place will simply go against your child’s chances.
getting a good grade in the 11plus exams is down to practice and knowing how to answer questions quickly. There are a lot of tips and tricks to get to that point.
Students chances of success increase hugely with private tutoring and lots of practice.

@Meowfoy do you think tutoring is required on top?

I really don’t, but then I don’t believe in pushing DC’s too hard as they just flame out as soon as the tutor support is taken away, if you see what I mean. Very few at my DC’s prep were tutored, mostly parents did it themselves with Atom.

But as you’ve said they’re strong in maths but not so strong in English, it might be worth getting a tutor for English. 1hr a week is pretty standard. It depends if they’re at a prep or a state school, if state then I’d be more likely to consider a tutor as they won’t have finished the Y6 syllabus early as preps do, in time for the 11+ in December.

@Meowfoy in the notes for the NL Consortium, it says that they only expect you to know up to y5 syllabus? Does that sound realistic?

@Meena43 , no way! The questions we practised on Atom were up to end of year 6…

Shhs and highgste very academic, channing a bit less, st margarets is most people's backup

As @ConfuzdMum says, I would definitly say the Consortium exam expects end of Y6 level as standard. That's why the prep schools work through it all by the end of Y5.