Parent Information.

Grammar school admissions.

Entry requirements.

Selective schools are schools that admit students based on some form of selection criteria, usually an 11+ entrance examination to test a student’s academic ability. Selective schools comprise of grammar schools and many independent and private schools. Selective schools use academic assessments to decide which children qualify for a place, whereas comprehensive schools admit children of all abilities. 

Admission to comprehensive schools is usually based on priority being given to catchment areas, to other siblings who are already attending the school, or if the child applying is in care. Although these criteria are not usually applied to selective schools, some grammar schools in the West Midlands are now implementing catchment areas. The King Edward VI Academy Trust Birmingham changed its admissions policy from September 2020 for its six selective schools. This included setting up catchment areas for each of their schools (see maps below) and increasing the admission of pupil premium children to 25%. Further information about the proposal is available on The King Edward VI Academy Trust Birmingham website.

Please note, there are eight grammar schools in Birmingham. The changes mentioned above will currently not be affecting the admission policies for Bishop Vesey's Grammar School or Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls. Nor will they affect any of the schools in The Consortium of Grammar Schools in Walsall, Wolverhampton and Shropshire.

Researching the right school for your child.

My advice to parents when it comes to deciding on the right school for their child is to do your homework in advance. Even with the proposed changes to the admissions policies for some Birmingham grammar schools, you will still have choices to make. I strongly advise parents and children to do their research before selecting their preferences with the local authority. There is plenty of information out there and a good place to start is the school websites and prospectuses. These will provide you with the overarching ethos of the school, its aims and aspirations on the wider interests and development of your child, as well as their academic achievements. I advise parents and children to visit the schools they are interested in and eligible for, before sitting the 11+ exams. This will give you and your child the opportunity to get a feel for the school, talk with teachers and pupils, see their work and the subjects the school has a passion for. Your child will be spending at least 5 years, and giving a huge level of commitment, at the school they go on to attend, so it is important he or she feels comfortable there. A grammar school education offers more than simply good GCSE results; each school is unique and some will suit the needs, personality and wider interests of your child more than others. Open days are hosted by every school and the dates for these are usually available on the school’s website.

Tuition - preparing for the 11+ and grammar school.

Suitability.

Let me begin by stating I do NOT cherry-pick students for tutoring. I do NOT involve myself in questionable practices such as choosing ONLY the brightest and the best to tutor, and I am also not a substitute service for prep schools. Empower 11 Plus Tuition judges a child’s ability and attitude to hard work in making the necessary progress to successfully pass the entrance exams in the time available as well as their ability to cope with life at a grammar school.

There are many examples of children tutored by Empower 11 Plus Tuition to pass the 11 Plus exams who were previously declined by other tutors because they were not considered clever enough and therefore “not equipped for grammar school”. These children have gone on to study at different grammar schools across Birmingham. Many have gone on to studying at prestigious universities. This was achieved through effective tutoring, hard work and dedication, having obtained a place at grammar school and gone on to achieve excellence.

Subject to my availability, tuition is a carefully considered judgement with the parent and the child, on whether the pace of progress required, based on the child’s current ability and their attitude to apply themselves to hard work, is reasonably attainable against the time available until the 11+ exams. Furthermore, by the time every child leaves me I need to ensure their learning is securely embedded so they can cope confidently with the challenges of grammar school life. If I believe this is realistic and achievable then every such child deserves an opportunity, and if it is not achievable then I make that clear to parents.

Framework for high quality tuition.

Teaching requires professional skill and should be considered a vocation. As such, it is important to ensure you are clear on who will be teaching your child. With the demand for tuition growing, there are many tuition centres enrolling significant numbers of students and as a result hiring more staff.  Whilst this can generate excellent financial returns and is a very sound business plan, as a parent looking for a provider, you will have very different objectives.

I am a qualified teacher, graded as Outstanding throughout my teaching career in primary education. I am proud to have been a senior leader and Deputy Headteacher for schools in Birmingham, Walsall and Manchester, responsible for raising the standards of teaching & learning, and the outcome for pupils at these schools. I have used my extensive experience to develop the same approach in the tuition I provide.

I am the tutor for the students I take on. I do not run a large scale tuition centre and I have no interest in doing so. Every year the number of new students I take on remains consistent within a limited number of classes, with a maximum of six children per class, which I alone will give 100% commitment to.

It is best to commence preparation for the 11+ exams sooner rather than later. As such, I advise parents requiring my services to begin tuition at the start of Year 3. Tuition places are only available on a first come, first served basis and due to referrals and strictly limited class sizes, places are booked well in advance, so my advice is to contact me as early as possible.

The 11+ exam preparation I provide is specific to the structure and content set by GL Assessment to cater for grammar schools in Birmingham, and CEM which meets the needs of the entrance exams for grammar schools in Walsall, Wolverhampton and Shropshire.

Tuition begins by teaching and consolidating a secure foundation in Maths and English, and then focusing extensively on building a greater depth of English vocabulary, reading comprehension, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, in stages. It is important to stress, all the teaching material I use in my tuition lessons are bespoke and created from a wide range of resources specifically designed to meet the 11+ exams for the consortia of grammar schools mentioned above.

I do NOT have students working through “off the shelf” 11+ books in lessons. You may have come across these books, which are readily available online and in retail stores. Parents can choose to use these in addition to the tuition material provided but this is not necessary. In my professional opinion, using off the shelf books alone is simply not a robust enough process to best prepare your child for the 11+ exams. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, a good tutor will have thorough knowledge of which areas in each subject are almost certain to come up and which are unlikely to, and therefore to work through books in a tuition class is questionable practice. For example, there are dozens of different areas of study for verbal reasoning and non-verbal sections of the 11+ exam. Both GL Assessment and CEM prepare 11+ exams for lots of different grammar school consortia across the country, and the areas of study in these subjects varies for each. Simply working through books risks wasting time on areas of study which will never come up for 11+ exams in the West Midlands, whilst not giving sufficient time or depth of learning to areas which almost certainly will. Furthermore, a good tutor will also be aware of the weighting each grammar school or consortium gives to one subject over another (English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning). All the teaching material children use in my tuition has evolved and been developed, year upon year, specifically to address all of these needs.

My tuition lessons focus on new learning; that is to say I won’t be using lesson time to simply complete lots of multiple choice tests and then going through the answers. To build lessons around such an approach is an ineffective use of time. Of course, assessing progress in lessons is necessary in gauging where each child is, in their learning and what gaps remain, but there are many ways a skilled teacher can accomplish this whilst they focus on teaching. There will be regular testing, but it is just one of many tools in the armoury, and the majority of lesson time should focus on new learning and enabling the child to make progress!

Keeping parents informed of their child’s progress is important. Having a relatively small number of children in every class means that I can provide constructive feedback to parents at the end of EVERY lesson. Parents are also welcome to ask questions on anything that will help support their child’s learning.

Student and parent commitment.

Preparation for the 11+ entrance exams is not easy. It requires hard work and dedication from both students and parents. Before your child begins tuition, we will discuss the aims and aspirations you and your child have for their future, and how I can work with you to help achieve that.

I will explain what your child can expect in terms of the work I set in class and at home, as well as, how you as the parent will need to dedicate regular time to support and monitor their commitment. In addition to the work completed in class, children will receive homework every week, to be completed and submitted the following week. The homework will cover all subjects and will require students to dedicate their time to completing this throughout the week. Parents will need to make sure their child is spending the necessary time to complete the homework.

Reading is the cornerstone of good learning and progress in all subjects. It broadens the mind and develops good cognitive ability - qualities that promote and facilitate a child’s love of learning and their strive for excellence. Every child will be given a book to read at home and required to complete a comprehension task as part of their homework. I have a wide selection of books to choose from, both classic and modern. Each reading book is selected based on appropriate age-related expectation for each child. Children should be encouraged to read for enjoyment and parents can facilitate this by spending a few moments asking children about the book, a character they like, or what the child thinks will happen next.

All homework is marked by me and feedback given to students. Any areas of concern regarding unsatisfactory effort or incomplete homework, will be discussed with parents.

If your child is prepared to put in the effort, there is no reason why he or she cannot achieve and even surpass their goals. My role as your child’s tutor, along with the personalised tuition programme I offer, is not simply to enable your child to pass an entrance exam; it is also to equip them with the knowledge, skills and attributes to apply themselves to life in grammar school. The preparation they need to help them get there does not have to be dull or arduous. Children learn best when they are enthusiastic about learning, so it is important to start tuition early and instil some balance of fun to their lessons - they are young children after all.