YeomanOftheGuard wrote:
Ok, so the child is currently in a state school, KS 1, and we're on the Birmingham/Solihull border. The (large) state school publishes their outcomes to current families, and last year no children went on to the Birmingham grammars. I also know other people with older children in the same school who are now looking into the 11+ and getting no support from the school. We briefly considered tutoring but for a variety of reasons think we would prefer private primary. Both School A and B publish their outcomes too so we've had a look at those, though I certainly agree that it's cohort-dependent.
I suppose I'm just asking whether it's a risk to send a child (whe you know you want them to at least try the 11+) to a school that isn't in a grammar area. Will the school be less focused or aware of what is necessary in terms of teaching, preparing them, etc?
We really wouldn't want to pay for both tutoring and private primary.
I am not surprised with that outcome YeomanOftheGuard, as State schools are not known for preparing children for 11+ exams outside of their normal curriculum. You will find that most children preparing for 11+ in Birmingham take the private tutoring route rather than just relying on their respective school. Yes, there are independent prep school, who do prepare children, but from my experience of the process, and knowing some tutors, independent prep school children are more likely to have further private tuition as compared to state schools, and more likely to gain a place too.
Few years back, I believe more than half of the intake for CHB and CHG was from private sector. I remember receiving this information from a trusted source few years back, requested under FOI.
More than half of CHB entrants were from Indies - mainly just Hallfield, Blue Coats, West House with a few from Norfolk House and Ruckleigh's .
Just under half of CHG entrants were from Indies - mainly just Hallfield, Blue Coats, EHS and some from Ruckleigh's too.
Of the other pupils, they were mainly from very good state schools like Harborne, Hall Green, King David, Moseley CE etc. and not many inner state schools featured in the list at all.
As someone who has been through the process twice with my children, I would recommend looking at hiring a specialist 11+ tutor, if you have the necessary resources available, and, of course, not the time or knowledge to DIY.