Our tuition
We believe our weekly 11+ classes are one of the least stressful ways to prepare your child for the exam — and we try hard to make them somewhere they actually enjoy coming.
Classes take place weekly, in small groups of up to six, here in Salisbury. We don't think it takes years of reams and reams of homework — nor a frantic cram in the summer. We've built our course as a happy medium between the two: a sensible amount of work that won't leave your child scarred for life.
The Foundation Course
Around 30 lessons, from October of Year 5 through to July, covering every topic the 11+ needs. We run a separate course for each of the two Salisbury grammar exams — Bishop Wordsworth's (mostly boys) and South Wilts (mostly girls).
Everyone in face-to-face classes also receives a video of every lesson, so a missed week — or a tricky topic — can always be caught up at home.
The Summer Course
Follows on over the summer holidays and into the September of Year 6. We revise the most common question types and focus on exam technique, so your child arrives at the exam calm and confident. You don't need to have taken the Foundation Course to join.
How your child is doing
There is a lot of pressure around the 11+, so we give you regular feedback — you're never in the dark. Our course includes many short tests: if your child is regularly in the top 25% you can relax, they're doing really well; regularly in the top half and things are looking good; regularly in the bottom 25% is an early sign that all may not be well.
Roughly half of Salisbury children who sit the 11+ pass. Any child who prepares — with a tutor or a parent — probably has at least a 70% chance, and our classes normally do better still. But we never write anyone off: one of the joys of this job is watching children come on in leaps and bounds.
More than classes
- Mock exams — so your child arrives at the real thing calm, collected and confident.
- Books — we recommend the best ones and supply them at a small discount.
- Advice — years of experience to dispel the numerous myths and scare stories.
- Do-it-yourself courses — the worksheets, so you can teach it at home yourself.
Term, holidays and Bank Holidays
Our lessons follow the school teaching week, so two things are worth knowing:
If a lesson falls on a Bank Holiday, the school is closed and we can't be in the building — so that week's lesson moves online instead.
Because Saturday classes follow the teaching week too, a Saturday can occasionally land on the first day of a school holiday.
Registering is free and secures your place in the queue — classes are allocated in the order families registered.