What Grammar Schools did you target at the start of the 11+ journey?

[Jadelisa1989]

My daughter is going into year 5 next week and I’d like to start the 11+ ball rolling.
I’ve just enrolled her into a taster class for next week at a tuition centre that’s been recommended to me, so we will see how that goes.
where did everyone start? We’re based in East London and I’m not even sure where to target? The plan is to relocate if we have to. Anyone else living in East London and looking at Grammar schools?

None. The nearest grammar school to us is nearly two hours away. Grammar schools aren’t even on the radar for the vast majority of the population of the UK.

No idea about East London schools but be careful on assuming relocation will get you in and check criteria carefully. Where I am some are very strict on this and some 11+ schools require years of permanent address proof to stop people doing just this.

You'd also need to be happy with the local catchment school wherever you move to as there is no guarantee even the most academically able child won't panic on test day or have a bad day. They are so young and it happens.

11+ is huge in my area. Most are heavily tutored from Y4, so you seem late only starting in Y5. It’s always 1-1 tutors too, not a tuition centre. But if that’s what happens in your area, crack on. Most in my area pay for private school if they don’t get into grammar school.

@Jadelisa1989 Henrietta Barnett is the main grammar near us (we are in North London). Its one of the top performing girls schools in the country. Also look at Latymer in North London. We are trying out HB as its nearby/but no real chance but mainly looking at independents. HB get thousands of applicants from hours away because its free/apparently excellent and so many people are struggling with independent fees so much more demand.

Best of luck!

I'm in a grammar area but not the south east. I agree with everything JustGotTo said. I don't know of anyone who only started tuition in year 5, that's really late. Those who were very serious about grammar had up to three sessions per week after Xmas in year 5, multiple friends of DD did that. Of those 3 sessions one was usually a small group session, the rest 1:1. It really does depend on the family and how desperate you are to get your child into a grammar.

My daughter started in year 5 and once a week group session, she was fine
and passed well. We can't compete with three private sessions a week from year 4, that's huge sums of money. Not many (or any that I know of) of her friends did that either (Kent.) Most had one to one weekly sessions from year 5.

The one that's a 20 minute walk from where we already lived.

It's a "super selective" grammar school, we started 1 to 1 tutoring in the Spring (yr5) before sitting the 11+ in the autumn (yr6).

Their catchment used to be huge, but gradually they have changed the rules to prioritise children who live closer.

Please check the catchment rules carefully if you're thinking about relocating. And commuting for school is quite hard on kids, especially if the school expects them to participate in extra curricular activities too.

My DS is about to go into Y5 in a full grammar county. We are in catchment for two outstanding grammar schools and would be happy with either. We aren’t actually in catchment for our closest grammar school as the crow flies, but DC get places from much greater distances so if we prefer that one I’m hopeful my DS would get a place. DS will commence 1:1 tutoring in September, once per week. If he needs more tuition than that I would reconsider whether a grammar school environment would be suitable.

The Sutton ones as that’s where we lived and I didn’t want a long commute. We started group tutoring in y5 and he got a place at Sutton grammar (passed for Wilson’s too but didn’t like it), so that’s clearly enough tutoring if they’re naturally bright. He’s now going into year 10 and a few of his classmates are either still being tutored or struggling to keep up. I don’t know for such, but I suspect these will correlate with the kids tutored from year 2 or 3.

Before you even start tutoring ask yourself are you realistically going to get a place from your home address? There are a few schools with no catchment or just go on scores, but the great majority you need to live in a set area and have lived there for a set period of time.

For example, in Bucks, for Dr Challoners High School you would need to have a permanent address in catchment and be living there by 1st April 2026 for admission in September 2027. You can’t just move once you know if you’ve got in. Every year people get caught out by this. They are also really hot on admissions fraud, so renting in catchment but retaining another property reasonably close by. It also doesn’t matter if you get a score way higher than 121. They simply allocate everyone who got 121 and over in strict order according to their admissions policy.

As a result the Bucks grammars are probably seen as “easier” to get into but are still very high performing schools. My children didn’t have any formal tutoring, we just did CGP books at home from Y5. They are naturally bright (greater depth in all areas) and teachers said grammars would suit them. They passed with flying colours.

I would imagine this approach wouldn’t work for the super selectives though. What are you looking for in a school is probably the second question you need to ask yourself and what happens if they don’t get in? Many don’t.