Dr Karen O'Rourke Independent tutor

FAQ   -   Questions asked frequently about grammar school preparatory tuition with Dr Karen O’Rourke

This page is about grammar school preparatory tuition only. For information about other areas of tuition provided by Dr Karen O’Rourke, please read the relevant pages on this website.

11+ tuition isn’t for the faint-hearted!  However, if you have an objective understanding of your child’s ability and potential, and are willing to plan ahead and make a firm commitment, the achievements could be rich indeed!

PRACTICALITIES & OVERVIEW

Q:  Where do you teach?    

A:  All tuition takes place at my home in Handsworth Wood (B20 2LH).  Handsworth Wood is three miles north-west of Birmingham City Centre, and within 20-25 minutes drive of Moseley, Walsall, Streetly, Harborne, much of the Black Country.

Q:  When does grammar school tuition take place? 

A:   I follow the Birmingham Education Authority school term dates. Grammar school group tuition with me takes place once a week for two hours, on one regular day between Monday and Thursday, in term-time.  11+ preparatory tuition is a long-term commitment on all sides: parent, tutor and child.

Q:  Do you teach at weekends?
A:  No. 

Q:  What are your fees? 

The fee for group tuition (in a small group of five students or fewer) is £15 per hour per child (i.e. £30 per week per child).  The fee for six terms’ tuition (calculated at six terms of 12 weeks) is therefore equivalent to two-thirds of the cost of one term at an independent ‘prep’ school.

Q:  Do you offer discounts for the unwaged, low-waged, or for brothers and sisters from the same family?

A: No. I believe I offer excellent value for money.  (Please see the previous question.)

Q:  For which grammar schools do you prepare children?

A:  All no-fee grammar schools in Birmingham and Walsall, except for Handsworth Grammar School (for boys) and Wolverhampton Girls’ High School.

Q:  What about tuition in the school holidays?

A:  

• I recognise that there has to be a balance of work and play for children and their families - and the tutor!
• For this reason, there is no tuition during each of the three half-term holidays. 
• For children in Year Five and approaching the 11+ tests, I will offer ad. hoc. practice tests for a limited period in the Christmas and Easter holidays, and (usually) for the first and last week of the summer holiday. Tuition at these times is at the same rate as term time.
• In addition, for Years 4 & 5 11+ students in the summer holiday, I will set, on request, a personal scheme of work (which parents will need to monitor and mark).It is tailored to each child, and is for three weeks only during the six-week summer holiday, when they are not receiving tuition from me.
• During every school holiday, I expect families to make a commitment to ensure that children read widely and adventurously.  

YOUR CHILD'S SUITABILITY & POTENTIAL

Q:   What sort of families use your tuition services for grammar school preparatory tuition?

A:   I teach children from a variety of backgrounds, who come to me from a wide geographical area, including Birmingham and the Black Country, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire.  For tuition with me, I welcome the following families: 

• Families who have thought well ahead about what is best for their child, and what that child might need to fulfil his or her potential.
• Families where parents can organise time for their child to undertake work at home, without this 'homework' becoming a battle-ground!

• Families who encourage and follow their children’s reading of a range of books.

However, families who take holidays in school term-time, along with families in which both parents work full-time, are starting a new business, or are in full-time education or training, are unlikely to have adequate time to support a child attending grammar school preparatory tuition with me.  For this reason, please think carefully about your ability to support your child effectively before you make a commitment to tuition with me.

Q:  My child’s bright:  why does s/he need tuition to gain a place at a grammar school at all?

A:   A good question. Children who are lucky enough to attend schools that nurture high ability students to their full potential, and whose parents are confident and focused in supporting them, are not likely to need my help.  Tuition with me is for children whose families welcome expert and experienced guidance.

In recent years, one third of all my students have at least one parent who is a teacher; and yet what all the parents of my current students have in common is that they have recognised their child’s potential accurately, and they have the motivation and ability to organise their own time to support the child in the 11+ journey.   

Crucially, parents thinking about tuition with me should understand that they will need to make the time to sit down and work face-to-face with their child at home to revise and consolidate tuition reading and written work. 

Q:  My child has average ability, but is a very hard worker. Why don’t you take on children like my child for 11+ tuition?

A:   Each year, I take around 100 phone calls from parents requesting tuition for children who are struggling now they are in grammar schools.  Often, children in this situation have received inappropriate intensive tuition while at primary school.

I don’t intend that the tuition I provide should be simply the means to an end of passing an entrance test: a grammar school education isn’t appropriate for every child.  Grammar school preparatory tuition with me is for children with the capacity to perform well in an environment which uses accelerated learning methods.  Sadly, this won’t be suitable for most children, however hard they work. In Birmingham each year, 14,000-15,000 children leave year six and enter secondary school.  Fewer than 1,000 of those will go on to a grammar school.

My aim is not to tutor children intensively to pass a test.  Rather, it is to work with children of substantial ability whose present education does not equip them to fulfil their potential fully, so that in the future, and after passing the test, they may go on to flourish in selective education.

Q:  Your website states that you take on only children from state schools for 11+ tuition.  Why don’t you take on children who attend independent (‘private’) schools?

A:   There is a simple and practical reason. The amount of homework that many independent schools set makes it nearly impossible for children attending independent schools to complete my homework thoroughly and, crucially, to read widely, which are what they need to do to be successful in the grammar school tests.   

Q:  Do you provide any individual tuition for grammar school preparatory teaching?

A:   No, I don’t, and for a good reason: children need to see the results of their work set against the results of other children preparing for the same tests.  With me, 11+ tuition takes place in groups of five students or fewer.  For example, each one of the children in my current year five group is now at the top of his or her class at their different schools.  Each child achieves over 90% in each test they do with me.  However, only one child achieves over 97% consistently, and the other children are keen to work hard so that they will overtake this child!   

THE FINE DETAIL & KEY INFORMATION

When should my child start grammar school tuition?

This, of course, depends entirely on your child. However, tuition with me is for children who show a high level of ability and potential in a careful and thorough initial assessment that I undertake before tuition begins. To offer continuity and structure for my students, and to avoid unnecessary repetition, I prefer students who attend an 11+ course with me to start at the same time in year four. 

For this reason, if you want to delay your child beginning tuition with me until they are in Year Five, it is very unlikely that I will have a place for him or her available.

Q:  How many terms should I expect grammar school preparatory tuition to last?

This depends on when children begin tuition.  This matter is complicated slightly by the changes announced in November 2011 by the King Edward Foundation Grammar Schools.  From 2012, the Birmingham Consortium selective entrance tests will be held in early September, and not the usual November. Please read on to see how this affects your child.

Q:  When will Year Four 11+ tuition begin for students who started Year Four in September 2011?

A:  In the Spring Term 2012.  Please contact me NOW to arrange an assessment with me if your child is in Year Four only and is in top sets in both English and Mathematics.  

Q:  When will Year Four 11+ tuition begin for students who will start Year Four in September 2012?

A:  In the early Autumn Term, 2012.  Please contact me in or before July 2012 to arrange an assessment if your child will enter Year Four only in September 2012, and was in top sets in English and Mathematics while in Year Three.  

Q:   What subjects do you cover in grammar school preparatory tuition?

I cover relevant elements of the Key Stage 2 and 3 curricula in English and Mathematics, with non-verbal reasoning. English (‘Literacy’) covers proof-reading, grammar, punctuation and syntax, vocabulary expansion, comprehension and cloze completion. The scope of mathematics (‘Numeracy’) that I cover in tuition ranges into all relevant parts of the KS3 curriculum.

Q:  What level of term-time commitment does tuition actually require from parents?

A:   On weekday evenings, approximately twenty minutes for three or four evenings a week, working face-to-face with a child, testing understanding, and approximately five minutes monitoring work and checking (and not just asking!) whether and how well the work has been completed.  At weekends, I ask parents to spend at least an hour working with a child on tasks and topics, for which I will give clear guidance in a weekly homework pack.

Q:  Your website mentions an ‘assessment’ by you before an offer of tuition is made.  What does this involve?

A:   The assessment is in stages, and is planned this way to avoid unnecessary stress to families and children:

• Assessment feedback is confidential and will not be shared with anyone other than a parent or legal guardian.
• A simple functional and contextual reading assessment of approximately three minutes, which can be undertaken at home over the telephone and online before families come to meet me for the first time. There is no fee for this assessment.

• If this simple reading assessment reveals that your child has a reading age of 3 years above his or her actual age, I will invite you and your child to come to meet me here before you commit your child to sitting the full assessment. 
• The full assessment lasts for two hours and takes place at my home.  It takes place in a small, informal group, with breaks between sections. 
• My assessment seeks to identify a potential for learning, not prior knowledge, through short tests in vocabulary, comprehension, maths and non-verbal reasoning.  
• For comprehension, I use cloze and multiple-choice formats, which children find less intimidating than writing full answers in sentences.  Most children leave the assessment smiling! 
• I never discuss the outcome of the result with students. 
• I send a full, written report of the assessment to parents by email, in confidence, including scores and comments, within 24 hours of the assessment.  This report will contain an offer of grammar school preparatory tuition, or alternatively, will explain the reasons why I do not think tuition with me is appropriate for your child.

Q:  What proportion of the children that you assess do you take on for tuition?

A:   Last term, I assessed seven children and offered five places. 

And finally . . .  

To sum up, grammar school preparatory tuition with me is for children whose assessment indicates over a number of key areas that they have the potential to benefit from and flourish in later selective education.

If you think that your child is suited to a grammar school education, please don't be afraid to ask your child's teacher or head teacher whether they believe that grammar school is also appropriate for him or her. I encourage parents to discuss the prospect of a grammar school education with children, and to visit the schools' open days and evenings before they come for tuition with me.

When you've considered whether a grammar school might be appropriate for your son or daughter, and whether you have the time, resources and stamina to support your child towards this long-term goal, do give me a call any morning, Monday to Saturday, and we'll have an informal discussion in confidence and without obligation on either side.

Dr Karen O'Rourke 2.1.12