11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi,
Just to know from your experiences, what is the best way forward 11+ I mean, should I send my DS to private prep or State primary + tuition. I have asked few and they all have different views about it so I want to know from anyone's personal experience. I am in Hampshire and planning to move to Kent (probably around tunbridge W).

Thanks in advance..

Vik

Vik wrote:Hi,
Just to know from your experiences, what is the best way forward 11+ I mean, should I send my DS to private prep or State primary + tuition. I have asked few and they all have different views about it so I want to know from anyone's personal experience. I am in Hampshire and planning to move to Kent (probably around tunbridge W).

Thanks in advance..

Vik

Hello and welcome .

Ours were state primary, no paid tuition and precious little from us either, so I'm sure I'm not the best person to advise you, but from what I've gleaned over the years on the forum, I think the general idea with paying for primary education is that more or less everyone then pays for outside tutoring on top. Therefore for what it's worth, I'd suggest you save your thousands and send your DC to the local state primary school.

I'm assuming that your DS is actually reckoned to be 'grammar material', according to his academic progress to date? What year is he in?

This will be hard to answer. It is very much a personal choice and depends on many factors including how able they are, how self motivated your child is, tutoring options, what their other interests are, whether you are aiming for one of the superselectives or just need a pass, what your state school options are like. If you are moving in-year your choices may be limited. Some independents will not necessarily be better than state.

How old is your DS at the moment?

We did home familiarisation from Y5 and had not tutor, DD was in an independent which did give an advantage with the maths I think but nothing that she couldn’t have picked up with a bit of extra help. We didn’t choose the independent with a view as a springboard for grammar (where she is now happily settled) but for other reasons, mainly stretching her academically, robust language teaching from specialists and qualified science teachers.

Hi. I think this would have to come down to personal preference. I know peopl who would never consider a state primary school no matter what. It's prep or nothing!

Personally, my DC attend a state primary school which is neither great nor is it the worst around. DD1 was always top set but starting GS 11plus tuition with other DC from different schools(prep and state) was an eye opener for us. Following an initial assessment by the tutor we chose, DD was deemed to be of bottom set ability. Based on this, the tutor wasn't s optimistic about DD1's chances of gaining a grammar school place. However, we were quitely confident as we know our DD best. DD1 was doing well and within 6 months, the tutor moved DD1 to top set. This made it clear that DD1 was not being challenged at school. DD1 has now done very well in 11plus exam.

So what I am saying is if you have good state primary schools near you, I suggest you seriously consider them and supplement with home support and/or tuition. If you can't access any decent state ones near you and it is financially viable for you then perhaps a good prep may be better. The former option obviously doesn't cause as much of a dent in your pocket.

I have to say that I was quite surprised to see a good number of DC from one of the most popular prep schools in Birmingham attending tuition with DD1. I suppose I naively assumed the small class sizes and all the lovely extras that come with preps automatically made them better.

Please do not think the prep school route is the better option when aiming for Grammar school 11plus. However, it appears preps know how to prepare their pupils for indie 11plus as they seem to have decent numbers from there gaining scholarships.

This will really depend on where you live.

There may well be good preps in your area where they understand the exam format of their local 11 plus selectives and help students to prepare for the exams. But I am not aware of any in our local area.

The 13 plus preps will do a good job with 13 plus which is only available for boys in our area but they seem to keep Maths levels really low until Y7 so no students are ready for the 11 plus Maths levels in Y6.

My advice in Herts and North London would be don't waste your money on a prep, use it on a tutor who is used to working with the exam format of your chosen school.

But this may not be the case in your area. DG

Daogroupie wrote:This will really depend on where you live.

There may well be good preps in your area where they understand the exam format of their local 11 plus selectives and help students to prepare for the exams. But I am not aware of any in our local area.

The 13 plus preps will do a good job with 13 plus which is only available for boys in our area but they seem to keep Maths levels really low until Y7 so no students are ready for the 11 plus Maths levels in Y6.

My advice in Herts and North London would be don't waste your money on a prep, use it on a tutor who is used to working with the exam format of your chosen school.

But this may not be the case in your area. DG

The OP has said that s/he is currently in Hampshire (which is non-selective) but is planning to move to Kent.

Vik wrote:Hi,
Just to know from your experiences, what is the best way forward 11+ I mean, should I send my DS to private prep or State primary + tuition. I have asked few and they all have different views about it so I want to know from anyone's personal experience. I am in Hampshire and planning to move to Kent (probably around tunbridge W).

Thanks in advance..

Vik

Dear OP
If you are looking at choosing a Prep school as a route to 11+ success for a Grammar school place, IMHO you're choosing the school for wrong reasons.

Prep schools are good at preparing their pupils for Independent Schools but their prep starts a lot later than what your DC would need for a super selective Grammar.

Prep schools do have a wider option for drama/sports/music and gives an overall grounding for your DC. The other plus would be the languages (French & Latin) taught in the school.

PettswoodFiona wrote:How old is your DS at the moment?

I think OPs DC is aged 4 (happy to stand corrected OP if this isn't you):

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/ ... mar-school" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

loopylala wrote:

PettswoodFiona wrote:How old is your DS at the moment?

I think OPs DC is aged 4 (happy to stand corrected OP if this isn't you):

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/ ... mar-school" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This might assist.I appreciate its only one of the areas you are considering in Kent.

http://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news ... ary-606771" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

loopylala wrote:

PettswoodFiona wrote:How old is your DS at the moment?

I think OPs DC is aged 4 (happy to stand corrected OP if this isn't you):

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/ ... mar-school" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If that is indeed the same person, then someone on there (ta1kinpeace) has already given you the advice I would give you. Stay put.