11 plus preparation help and routine advice (St Olave's)

[silversixpence]

We are planning to apply for St Olave's for my son who is in Year 5 currently. We believe he has the ability to be successful but needs a bit more motivation and discipline. He has been going to a local group tuition session since the beginning of term and is being given 4 papers a week to complete in addition to this. I am considering teaching him myself (or finding a 1-2-1 tutor) as he is not doing well in the group setting and the tutor seems to have written him off as being unsuitable for St Olave's so won't move him into the super selective teaching class.

My question is, how much preparation would you suggest and which teaching materials should we be using? How many hours a week should we be doing as a rule of thumb? We already have Bond books 10-11 and he has completed most of book 1 in each subject. We are also looking at Creative writing books such as Descriptosaurus, vocabulary flash cards etc. Will these be worth purchasing? Any other resources you would recommend?

Many thanks for any advice.

[2tinkers]

Hello. My son didn't sit St Olaves but did the Sutton exams.
I am replying because we had a similar situation this time last year with a well known tutor. My son attended her sessions 5 times before I decided that her approach wasn't best suited to his needs. He was by no means struggling but the group environment and learning things by rote didn't work. She suggested he would struggle ...i disagreed so we went our separate ways. Teaching your child yourself if able is better than on relying on a tutor.
We had a further dozen sessions with a maths tutor closer to the exams and this proved successful.
This time last year was a big blip but don't lose heart as the children who want to succeed will put the effort in. We used CGP, Bond 12-13, Letts books and the plethora of free resource's online
Make sure the basics are there in maths and don't forget ...your son needs to read, read, read and do little but often writing slowing building up the pace with a variety of topics. Reading newspapers and watching programmes about weather, construction etc was a good way for additional knowledge and perspective. Hope this helps.

[silversixpence]

Thanks 2tinkers your advice is really helpful and much appreciated. We are currently on Bond 10-11, I didn't think we'd need to go as high as 12-13! I will look at CGP as well. We are persevering with the tuition for now but are going to supplement with reading and comprehension in the holidays and see how it goes for now.

[2tinkers]

Sorry it was Bond 11-12+ not 12-13.....thats what we are doing now!! Good luck