11 Plus Exams Forum

Moving to Tonbridge for Sept 2008 and want to prepare son for 11+ but no idea where to start? Do most people get tutors or work with their children or do schools help by sending home anything?

Do I have to apply to the Seconday schools or will the Primary schools advice at the right time?

Have tried a few Bond assessement (Nelson Thornes) papers with him and he has found his age easy and done them in 5/10min instead of 30mins but not sure if they are considered easy.

Thanks Sarah
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Sarah

Hello Sarah
I gather from your other post that your son will be starting year 5 in September. Will this be at a state or private school? If it is state, then the school will almost certainly not help prepare your son for the Kent test as Kent CC ask schools not to do so. A private school may give him some help but I think that most play by the rules and will not do so. All Kent primaries/ prep schools will administer a set of "familiarisation papers" about a week before the real thing. But that's about it for most schools.

Most successful candidates will have been prepared for the tests out of school. In most cases this will have been done at home using the sort of practice papers available through this site or from high street retailers such as WH Smith. Some candidates have professional tutors but please do not be panicked by some of the posts on this forum into thinking that that is the norm. It isn't, even here in West Kent.

Kent uses tests set by NFER. At present they test VR, NVR and maths. In each case they use multiple choice papers. NFER sell 4 practice papers in each discipline. These are the closest thing to the actual tests that you will find. I suggest that you buy a set and see how your son gets on with them. If he finds them relatively easy then you will probably not need to do much beyond a bit of practice (to increase his speed) in the month or two before the exams. If he has difficulty with any aspect then you have plenty of time to work on that.

There is also a piece of written English (about 45 minutes long with a choice of, mainly "creative", subjects). This is only marked if a child fails the test and their headteacher appeals on their behalf. I don't think that many people bother to practice for this as it is something which they do ad nauseam in school anyway.

You will have the chance to attend open days at the various secondary schools in the Autumn you arrive and again in Sept/ Oct 2009 just before you choose to which secondary schools you wish to apply. Your primary school should advise you about all the options/ procedures etc in year 5 and/or 6.

Good luck with the house move.

Kent99

Thank you for your reply.

My husband is off to get the papers you suggested and he will bring them out to try.

Was happy to hear about the 3 tests (he is not big on free style writting) and no big english then I read the next paragraph!

Not sure what school he is going to attend only visited Woodlands and they were very friendly but not I'm sure about the area. Hoped to live central Tonbridge but who knows! No other primary school would let me look around when I was there in Feb. I need to look into in further over the next month.
Thanks again Sarah

You can do this many ways - but many, many children have a tutor! Also whilst nfer form the basis of the test, avoid doing these too early. They are the only four papers available - in NVR and VR - and are generally used closer to the test. Materials are easily availble on this site, but I am not sure which ones are appropriate for Kent. I am sure someone else will advise. i have used JM Bond assessment papers - but these are not as closely comparable to the Kent test. Not sure if you are thinking maintained or independent in schooling. If independent - choose carefully as many schools are aiming for 13+(Common Entrance), not 11+,ask the question. Maintained schools rarely prepare for the 11+ so you know you have to do it yourself! Its actually quite fun, until the actual exam,(then you face a horrendous nail biting time, please note the you - your son will be oblivious!) you just need to be fairly focused.

hi Sarah

Just wanted to add, keep an eye on KCC website regarding date of 11plus. I presume your child is currently in year 4 so you will not be affected by proposed changes. If your child is currently in year 5, there is the likelihood of test being brought forward to September 08 for entry in September 09. I understand that registration would take place for 11plus entry from June 08, but still unclear as no final decision has been declared. Good luck with move.