11 Plus Exams Forum

Hello Everybody

I am new to this forum, but I read a lot in the last two days and found the info here invaluable.

My daughter is in Y3 now and the reason I am on this forum is because there is a whole trend amongst the parents now that they start tutoring their children this year.
She is going to a Catholic school but we are Christian Orthodox so she will not be able to apply to St Michael's or Finchley Catholic, so we will have to apply to other schools.

My question is: for schools like HBS, MHCHS, The Latymer School, DAO etc, is it advisable to start tutoring early?

Also, is it worth investing in music classes with a chosen instrument? They do not come cheap, so it's worth knowing if it is going to be money wasted in case she will not be using them for other purposes.

Also, could you please suggest similar forums to this one but for primary schools especially in Barnet?

Many thanks for taking your time to read my post
Helen

Hi Helen
It depends on which tutors you find.

We started tutoring my oldest son in Year 4, mainly because we didn't think he was up to standard for selective grammars, but the tutor we chose was unable to come down to his level and kept giving him 11+papers, which were way beyond his capability. In the end, we stopped tutoring him in Year 5 and tutored our next two children ourselves [one is in Habs boys and the other at HBS].

Rather than tutoring, if you want to start now, I would buy some books like Bond books - which cater from all ages, starting at 5 and going beyond 11+. They also cover all subjects you will need for selective entry, like Verbal, Non verbal, Maths and English.

Re the music route, I think it is quite hard to get in thru music and your DD would need to be very good. For Latymer you need to be at or above Grade 5 with distinction [by the beginning of Year 6] to even think of applying for the music route. DAO only take around 10 of all the applicants for music, so very difficult to get in that way. If you haven't started now [and your DD isn't showing signs of musical flare] you may have left it too late.

The good news is you do have plenty of time - so no need to panic, but a bit of work each day from the Bond books would be a good way to start off and see how it goes. They are excellent books and reflect the level she will face in the exam - a good taster.

Good luck!
Worrier

Helen

Music instruments hold their resale value well (providing your child doesn't damage it ) Or you can hire in the short term. We hired a child's violin for about £45 for the first year. So, the killer is the cost of lessons as opposed to the cost of the instrument.

You ask whether it is worth investing in music lessons. I'm assuming that you mean in relation to getting your child in as opposed to from a personal development viewpoint.

Selective schools are, IMO, looking for well-rounded children who are able to show that they can focus, whether that be swimming, music sports etc. Some kids are natural stars but for others, they need something to distinguish them from all the other applicants and music is a good 'something'.

Looking at it from a personal development viewpoint, my kids are the better for it. It taught them discipline and to concentrate. And if the experts are to be believed, it actually exercises the mind and improves the memory (you try playing a 5 minute piece without music )

Thank you so much for your input, it does not look like the music would be an obvious choice for us and also I feel we left it for too late anyway.
We will go down the academic route and try to make the best of it.
I read on other posts of the type of books I should get to help her out with maths, english and reasoning (verbal and non verbal), the suggestions were the Bond books and the Schofield and Sims, any other suggestions on that area please?

Also, anybody knows a similar forum but aimed at 4-11 rather than 11+ and I could probabbly benefit on the feedback from that too?

Kindest regards
Helen