Homefield Year 5 preparation for Sutton grammar schools

[pawlar]

Hello everyone,

We're considering moving our son (currently in a state primary) to Homefield for Year 5 with the aim of preparing him for one of the Sutton grammar schools or other highly selective grammar schools.

As changing schools at this stage is a significant decision, I'd really appreciate hearing from parents whose sons are currently in Year 5 or Year 6. I'd love to understand:

How well the school prepares boys for the 11+.
The level of academic support and pace
Whether 11+ prep is more parent led and school support is limited

If you're happy to share your experience, either here or via DM, I'd be very grateful. I need to decide by next week so it would be helpful to hear from you at the soonest.

Thank you

Can you not just tutor. I am not too familiar with that school but there was another local prep that a couple from my daughters primary moved too in Y3.

they didn’t get anyone in to the Sutton grammars where as about 25% of the year from the state primary did….

i would also think Y5 is a bit late tbh, exam is at the start of Y6 so by the time he has settled you don’t seem to be getting much benefit.

we looked at doing something similar and in the end just kept him at his current school and added tutoring/home prep rather than moving. a lot of the sutton grammar prep really is parent-led regardless of school tbh. we've been using ace 11+ for the maths/VR practice, does adaptive daily quizzes so you can see where he needs work (https://www.ace11plus.org/diagnostic) - might be worth trying before committing to the school move, could save you the disruption if it's really just about 11+ prep

I would advise you leave him as is and add tutoring. Private school kids have longer days and extra curricular activities which make it harder to prep for 11+ after school. You now have evenings clear - why ruin that. Tutors can do more targetted work than schools. If you want a ‘group’ environment where he sees others preparing you can use TestTeach or Bala’s for testing.