Suggest a good independent school to prepare for Grammar 11+
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Anil
Suggest a good independent school to prepare for Grammar 11+
Hi
Can anyone recommend any good independent junior schools that will help to preapre my children for 11+ grammar school entrance examinations.
The areas I am looking at would be in the Coventry, Nuneaton, Hinckley, Solihull, Kernilworth and Strtford Upon Avon.
PS I am not overly impressed with King Henry VIII and Bablake in Coventry.
Can anyone recommend any good independent junior schools that will help to preapre my children for 11+ grammar school entrance examinations.
The areas I am looking at would be in the Coventry, Nuneaton, Hinckley, Solihull, Kernilworth and Strtford Upon Avon.
PS I am not overly impressed with King Henry VIII and Bablake in Coventry.
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Geoffrey
Hello Anil
Have you thought about looking at the state primaries and their record with the 11 plus in the area. I know many independents do well with getting their pupils into grammars, but I think you have to be a little cautious. At my daughter's grammar, 4 or 5 girls who came from independent prep schools left in the first or second year to rejoin the independent sector.
Grammars may perform well academically, but they are still state schools with large classes and a different outlook to the private sector. Sometimes kids not used to the cut and thrust of a state primary find this difficult to cope with, particularly if they're moving from a small private single-sex school to a large mixed state grammar.
Just a thought.
Geoffrey
Have you thought about looking at the state primaries and their record with the 11 plus in the area. I know many independents do well with getting their pupils into grammars, but I think you have to be a little cautious. At my daughter's grammar, 4 or 5 girls who came from independent prep schools left in the first or second year to rejoin the independent sector.
Grammars may perform well academically, but they are still state schools with large classes and a different outlook to the private sector. Sometimes kids not used to the cut and thrust of a state primary find this difficult to cope with, particularly if they're moving from a small private single-sex school to a large mixed state grammar.
Just a thought.
Geoffrey
You are looking at quite a wide area - are you actually living here yet or moving to the area? Several independent schools that I am aware of locally are 4-18 and so would presumably encourage their brighter pupils to stay within the same school at 11. There are one or two private primaries that advertise their long lists of successful 11-year old entrants to a range of grammar and private schools (often the same children taking all the tests however!). Echoing Geoffrey's point, Warwickshire LEA primaries will presumably have some preparation for its own 11-plus tests for Stratford / Alcester grammars - I don't know if the LEA can give details. There are no grammar schools in Solihull - the children that I know of locally from state primaries that have gone to grammar schools at 11 have presumably done their own preparation.
