11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi to all prents with kids in Year 3!

If you have been just lurking or have started any preperation or if you are like me and just wondering from where to start, lets talk!

Let them enjoy the sun and play. Too early, start in Y4.

Still too early: have a life, enjoy childhood and start at the beginning of year 5.

In the middle of year4, but definitely not in year3. Concentrate on a school work, home-works, that's enough now.

parent2013 wrote:Let them enjoy the sun and play. Too early, start in Y4.

Year 5, please not before Year 5! By all means do what parents do anyway, read with them loads, talk with them loads, show them the world, talk talk talk. Really this is all they need! (Twins, both qualified, started Year 5, low key, 30 min tutor once a week, 15 mins mon-fri, thats all)

I've heard of a tutoring place where parents take their 5 or 6 year olds to do VR and NVR! I guess it depends on what is called preparation and what school the parent is aiming at. Some children just need a pass, others are from out of catchment and need very high scores.

salsa wrote:I've heard of a tutoring place where parents take their 5 or 6 year olds to do VR and NVR! I guess it depends on what is called preparation and what school the parent is aiming at. Some children just need a pass, others are from out of catchment and need very high scores.

Well that is, frankly, ridiculous, however high the score required. If your child is of the right academic standard to thrive in a grammar school, they are already halfway there. They just need some help with specific techniques/question styles for a few months before the exam, depending what area you are talking about. My two had tutoring in year 5 only, each for a highly competitive superselective grammar. Give them a chance to be children, for goodness' sake.

salsa wrote:I've heard of a tutoring place where parents take their 5 or 6 year olds to do VR and NVR! I guess it depends on what is called preparation and what school the parent is aiming at. Some children just need a pass, others are from out of catchment and need very high scores.

2 years to move house into somewhere's catchment area, then...

IMO if you start early enough, you can take it easy for a while. But I wouldn't start before year4.

ToadMum wrote:

salsa wrote:I've heard of a tutoring place where parents take their 5 or 6 year olds to do VR and NVR! I guess it depends on what is called preparation and what school the parent is aiming at. Some children just need a pass, others are from out of catchment and need very high scores.

2 years to move house into somewhere's catchment area, then...

What if you live next to the super selective like for example St Olave's? They don't have a Catchment area. So, I guess it depends on what school I-mum is targeting? Also, some people do not want to move for family and personal circumstances. I don't know, even year 4 seems early, but I'm thinking that this is like every other thread about how much tutoring. It all depends on the targeted school, the child and the child's current school.