11 plus tutoring when to begin?

[user1478188491]

I’ve put my sons name down for a highly recommended 11 tutor a while again she’s now emailed asking if I want to start him this September which will be the beginning of Year 4 twice weekly.
Or to start next September which will be the beginning of year 5.
When do you normally start 11 plus tutoring from your experiences?

Part of me thinks it would be beneficial to get started as soon as possible but then the other part of me thinks that there is a risk of the child becoming bored and stale losing interest and it becoming a chore if we start at year 4….

any advice and thoughts greatly appreciated thank you ☺️

I did only start at the beginning of year 5 with my son and regretted it massively. It felt rushed and honestly if I did it again I would start at year 4. But… we only did it once a week.

Echoing the above. Once a week from Year 4 would be enough. I left it to Year 5 and it was stressful because the prep I moved them to was rubbish, in spite of rave reviews and Ofsted outstanding. I should have left them in their state primary and just tutored. You can start gently yourself with some age appropriate VR and non-VR. DC didn't mind those. You can tutor without it feeling like tutoring.

Hi @user1478188491 !

It depends somewhat on the competition and the level required. Which schools are you looking at?

Depends on the child, if you've been doing 11+ work at home and how competitive the area is. Our area is very competitive. One of our children has been fine starting at the beginning of year 5 but was doing well with 11+ work at home already and was top of her class, the pace was intense but she coped fine. I'm inclined to start my other child at a less formal group sessions in year 4 as she is more average and doesn't do work at home as easily.

Not going to lie, if you need tutoring from year 4, should you even think about a Grammar. My nephew did one practice paper and was ranked number 2 in a Surrey Grammar. Those are the kids you are competing against…..

Miraculously, with no teaching whatsoever? 🤔

It's entirely possibly. Kids like this exist. My daughter had no tutoring, we did a few practice papers and some revision with her and she passed (according to the stats released by our county council) as one of the top 60 girls in the county. Her primary school had suggested as much given what they'd observed of her/CAT4 scores etc.

Please don't start at the beginning of year 4. The start of year 5 is plenty of time. Really, all you are looking to do is familiarise your child with the reasoning side of the test and maybe cover some of the maths that is beyond Y5 curriculum. Then it's test technique - timing and skipping questions etc.

As other posters have suggested, if you really think your child needs 2 years of tutoring to pass, then grammar maybe isn't the right environment for them. I'm in Kent (fully selective system) and the stories I heard from people who were tutored intensely to get into grammar then spent years struggling are quite distressing.

It's more usual to start at the beginning of Year 5 for one hour a week ime. However, that is assuming the child is already working at greater depth in both Maths and English.

Depends on your child. I did year 4

In our area they teach things that are not on the curriculum but are in the exam. It works for us and you should do what works for you.

We did from October in year 5. That's how my tutor worked. Got them past the exam then started the next year group. It worked fine.

Twice a week from year 4 is madness.

Not true. Almost every child you’re competing against will have received 2 years of 11+ tuition. Like it or not.

Never tutored mine he just did a few of the Bond practice papers at home he passed highly and has just done his GCSEs at one of top grammars in Kent. If they are clever already they don’t necessarily need a tutor. However, I do know of people who had 2 years of tutoring but then floundered in bottom sets so I personally think that is disheartening and demoralising for the child.

We did once per week in Year 5 and son passed very comfortably. Twice a week in Year 4 is madness and agree with others if you need that much tuition, grammar isn’t right for your child.

In year 4, make sure they are reading a good variety of books, every day or evening without fail.

I just realised I made an error it’s twice MONTHLY in year 4 not twice weekly 😂🤦🏻‍♀️

We started in Year 4 to make sure the tutor was the right fit and also to make sure that fd had a really solid base of the y4 curriculum. They didn't start the 11+ content until they were all in year 5.

The showboating continues. My child passed without tuition, looked at a past paper the night before. Aced it.
Gosh if your child needs tuition they're clearly not grammar material.

While the rest of us here on planet earth are scratching out heads.

Not sure which month 11+ is taken now,but when my children were at Primary they started seeing the tutor after Easter in Yr 5 .Think the exam was in the January of yr 6 with results beginning of March.

No tutoring at all. Just a practice paper. He is now predicted 14 A*s at GCSE. He is like a walking encyclopaedia, I kid you not.

It just depends on the child and where they are at and also how they deal with exams. Some are really clever but underperform in exams due to nerves so may need more prep because of that, to feel confident.
My 4 DC all got into highly selective London grammar schools with just prep at home with me, but they were exceeding in Maths and English at state primary all the way through, the state primary is good and they were always extensive and avid readers from an early age. There is no way they would have sat happily through 2 x weekly practice sessions of dull revision from Year 4. In Year 4 they were doing loads of sports and music. We crammed the 11 plus every time because that suited us better. They do have plenty of naturally clever friends who also did that. I think the extensive prep only adds a few points here and there but because we are talking about getting one or two questions extra right compared to other kids, it is obviously going to make the difference for some children.
We also need to remember that for some kids English is not their very first language and that may also mean extra prep may be necessary.

We tutored from start of Year 4, once a week until the summer of Year 5 when we increased to twice a week. DD was bright but not working at greater depth and tended to work slowly. Her tutor taught in-person and was a great mentor, and was excellent at making the work interesting and boosting her confidence, and she looked forward to the sessions so it wasn't just dreary worksheets.
She got offers from 3 top London private schools (we didn't attempt any grammars as they were too far). She is doing very well at senior school and in the top sets.

I guess it depends on the area - the exam for the 2 grammars near me have changed recently to only cover content that is on the Yr 5 curriculum, the idea is to make the grammar schools more accessible. The primary schools usually do optional tutoring from year 5 but there are still some parents who tutor from year 4 (with the format we have now id guess that's unnecessary and if it's needed then the grammar schools aren't the right fit.)

State primary schools never did any tutoring for 11+ when my childen were at school early 00s . I agree with that because it was not in the curriculum for everyone .

Two years of tutoring…? Poor kids.