Tutoring on top of private prep school Post Reply

[sp45]

Hello, just wondering what peoples thoughts are on this: if you sent your child to a selective private prep school from age 4, would you expect to tutor your child as well as the school fees to ensure your child gets into a good private or grammar school? Or would you expect this is the job of the teachers to manage with you? (Looking into private dulwich schools..)

 

[EllieD79]

I wouldn’t say it is expected, but certainly most parents do.

It depends what school your child is at and where you want them to get into.

Parkgate for instance will have a couple parents who do tutoring on top of the regular teaching. Aiming to get into Whithift, dulwhich etc.. Whilst at Eaton house the majority of children will have it as they are aiming for very hard schools such as Eton, Harrow etc..

It all depends on your child, what you are aiming for and the school itself.

[BFW]

Literally everyone! But nobody will admit to it. The whole thing is just crazy...

[dudette]

I really don’t think that’s true. Some people do, but not everyone and if they do it’s usually only in the year before the exams. We didn’t and both my kids (who are bright enough but not super bright) got into Dulwich schools.

[astro]

Agree. Maybe it occurs later, but we haven’t gotten to year 3 and the only tutoring that we’ve seen is the kids going for 7+ Exams, and even then it has been in 1 or 2 weaker subjects.

I’m sure it is there but none of our closest friends feel the need.

[Pemberley]

There were many children in our son's prep school that were being tutored for 11plus; and the state school children were too. I think it's pretty much the norm now in Wandsworth. It's just a question of when you start not if you start. Not everyone admits to it and if you can get to grips with the curriculum for Y5/6/7 and buy up Bond papers, Schofield&Sims etc. you could supplement the prepping. I found our son's school didn't really start until Y6. In hindsight I wished I'd been more engaged in Y5 and started sooner so it was more gradual instead of the summer before Y6.

If your child has been performing in the upper quartile at their prep school for Y5/Y6 and are being stretched sufficiently then may be not. It does really depend on the type of schools you want them to try for.

[dohnia]

I tutor a number of pupils who attend private schools - the majority of my families in fact!

[Starr]

We didn't tutor but we were in the minority. They all start in the beginning of year 5. Sadly has become the norm for tutoring on top of prep school!

[Jan2010]

Hello can you message me about tutoring

[Bear123]

We do it, most people I know do it. It’s just what needs to be done now a days….

[mylifestory]

We did tutor from june in year 5, mostly to get exam practice and we had someone who talked a lot about techniques and how they try to trick kids, what they need to be aware of in exams etc. This was the most important part of it for us. I think my kid wdve got in any way bt cdve made it easier or the difference in getting a scholarship. I don't agree in tutoring much before year 5 unless yr kid needs it in a particular area

[Lizzie]

I wouldn’t do coaching unless my child was particularly weak in one subject or is dyslexic or some other educational difficulty. Our thinking was that if our children couldn’t get into a particular secondary school without tutoring then it was the wrong school for them as I certainly wasn’t going to engage tutors until they were 18! However, that’s a few years ago and competition for secondary schools is even greater now from what I hear. It depends on how much tutoring I guess.

[Stickystick]

We did not tutor for the 8+, but I got the impression that the majority of kids in my son’s class had tutoring, either an out of school arrangement or extra paid hours from one of the school’s own teachers.  And this was on top of all the 8+ prep that the school already did in normal hours and after school clubs!  For some kids this was more than two years of tutoring, starting in Y1 at the age of five, having a go at 7+ and then another go at 8+.   The irony was that it seemed to make no difference to whether kids got into the highly sought after schools (St Paul’s Juniors etc).   The early developers who were reading CS Lewis and using perfectly regular joined up writing aged six got in, as you would expect, and would have done regardless of tutors, and the rest did not, and no amount of tutoring would have got them in.

Having said that, I would use a tutor in future if a) my son was trying for some kind of exam for which his school didn’t prepare, either curriculum wise or format-wise OR b)   If he was really struggling in a particular subject and the school was unable to help.

 

[gabieleke]

I have the same question
 

[susiemarmite]

They all do.  I had no idea being a working mum at the time and not connected into the mum network.  I only found out after the event!  It's the big secret that no-one shares.  Quote unquote "we did what we had to" ... to get the secondary school place.  Don't be fooled!