Hi all,

I feel my child is capable of taking the 11+ but we have no grammar schools in our area.

Is it worth putting him through the pressures of the studying and exams if we only have the options of state schools? Will it give him a better chance of getting in to out preferred school?

Thank you

I'm not sure how your child would sit an exam if you have no school to apply for? It will not give them any advantage getting into another school. All schools must follow their published admissions criteria & if they are not selective the 11 plus is not relevant.
The exams are different for different schools (& grammar schools are state schools too), there is not one 11 plus exam (unlike GCSEs, for example).
So, no, there is no reason to put your child through the stress.

I agree with scary mum, wholeheartedly.
Also, grammar schools are state schools.

If you have no state grammar and no plans for your child to attend a selective independent then there is little point in doing the eleven plus.

I have seen people on the forum who have put their children through it, having no intention to take up a grammar place but what they did have was bragging rights and in the odd instance a scholarship offer at an independent when they waved the grammar result at the usually non-selective school.

The exams can be quite different from each other and whilst some of the preparations can help fill gaps in knowledge they are not the right tool to purely bridge those gaps if you’ve identified any.

I will also add that we’ve seen some on this forum think that fair banding tests at comprehensives will benefit from eleven plus practice - in reality it is a waste of time and misses the point of fair banding and risks the child ending up in a band that is full and missing a place at the school. Fair banding also often goes on distance in relation to that band so scoring highly is irrelevant.

Check the admissions for any school you are interested in as they can vary hugely.

How old is your DS? I'm assuming that he is either your only or at least eldest and that you haven't had need to look at the admissions criteria for any secondary schools yet? Or, perhaps, primary schools - the Admissions Code - which says that schools must publish their admissions criteria and follow (only) them when awarding places - covers both primary and secondary admissions. As others have said, if School A doesn't admit any children on academic ability, then sitting School B's entrance test won't improve your DC's chance of getting a place.

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

In fact, using score to allocate places within bands contravenes the Admissions Code...

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

The only fair banding school I'm even remotely familiar with is Thomas Telford. For that one my suspicion (based on no particular evidence) is that what you really want is for your child to place in a distinctly lower test band than their primary school attainment would suggest was appropriate.

Iirc, my comment about the Admissions Code may at least in the past have been pertinent, in the context of TT...

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx