Independent school in Maidenhead offering free 11+ coaching

[missmarple]

Is this legal? The website of an independent school in Maidenhead states: "We offer free 11+ tuition...in Year 5, run by our own teachers."
I will let BCC know but presumably, as the school is not a test centre, they can do what they like. Are we now at the stage where we need to allow all primary schools to offer free 11+ tuition in an attempt to level the playing field?

[scary mum]

If they aren't a partner school there is nothing to stop them from doing this.

[anotherdad]

How is it any different from parents paying for tuition privately? There will always be people prepared to pay to gain an advantage. If state primaries were allowed to tutor it would just up the arms race and private schools and tutors would simply do even more to combat it.

[Amber]

A few years ago there was an initiative round here to try and offer free tutoring to children from schools in the area closest to our most prestigious grammar school, because they very rarely even apply to sit the test and even more rarely get in. The school itself was involved in this initiative, keenly aware that it was sitting there as a bastion of privilege and attracting children from 50-60 miles away on insane journeys while children who were living in the local authority or low cost housing within walking distance almost never came to the school.

I understand that the initiative failed, largely because parents could not be persuaded that the school was 'for people like us'. This is the big problem with trying to level the playing field - many people don't feel that they would 'fit in' to 'posh' schools like grammars. I persuaded someone a few years ago to try - she was certain she would not be able to 'afford' the school, or be able to 'look the posh teachers in the eye'. Her child got in with almost no coaching and one of the highest ranks in the year, but it needed a lot of persuasion from me (a friend). I don't think the entire 'fairness' of a system which is inherently brutally unfair is going to be threatened by mini-schemes like this one.

[missmarple]

I completely agree - a very sad situation

[kenyancowgirl]

Have they been specific in saying it is free 11+ tuition JUST for their current students?....Just wondering, if not, whether someone from another school ought to apply for it!