How to avoid the 11+

More parents want to bypass senior school entrance exams. Jess Harris, Director of Quintessentially Education, offers tips for alternative pathways

Quintessentially Education have seen a marked increase in calls from parents asking how their children can avoid the 11+. Many calls are from international parents, concerned at what they see as a confusing system that puts too much pressure on the child (and their family), but an increasing number of British families also want to bypass these exams.

The 11+ has become a catch-all term for online tests, exams and interviews that children aged 10 or 11 take to gain entry to academically selective senior schools, both state and independent. The original 11+ was an assessment (of English, maths and reasoning) that determined whether children would gain admission into a grammar school. While the UK’s grammar schools were largely disbanded by 1976, a small number remain, and they continue to rely upon the 11+ to select children for admission.

The catch-all term ‘11+’ is now more frequently associated with selective independent schools which also have entrance exams as part of their admissions process. As a rule of thumb, the more academic a senior school, the more hoops you have to jump through to get in. That said, you can avoid the 11+ altogether, if you consider an all-through school. These are schools that welcome children from the ages 3, 4 or 7 up to the age of 18, negating the need for your child to sit external assessments in Year 6. Some academically stellar schools, such as North London Collegiate, King’s College Wimbledon (KCS), Highgate School and Dulwich College, have an all-through model, with junior schools that ‘feed’ their senior schools. This is designed to ensure that children are well-prepared to the expected standards from an earlier age.

Of course, it doesn’t mean pupils won’t sit any assessments at the age of 10 or 11 but they are assessed internally, which reduces the stressful nature of completing the 11+ externally. Assessments are designed to ensure the child can move seamlessly from the junior to the senior school. Of course, many of the most academic through schools remains competitive and some parents believe that the pressure is just transferred to an even earlier admission point (via 7+ exams, for example).

A way of avoiding assessments all together at the age of 10 or 11 is to opt for a non-selective school. There are a variety of non-selective all-through options across London – including The King Alfred School and North Bridge House. Alternatively, parents could consider a senior such as Kew House in south-west London, which uses entrance testing but places wider emphasis on interviews, samples of pupil work and school reports.

International schools that follow the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum don’t require an 11+ assessment. Many of the UK’s top schools offer the IB at Sixth Form, and a select few offer the IB curriculum lower down the school. ACS Schools in Egham, Cobham and Hillingdon and the International School of London (ISL) in Chiswick are all-through and follow the Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma (DP) IB programmes. And Marymount International in Kingston, which follows MYP and IB DP, doesn’t have a junior school but offers Year 7 entry via its bespoke ‘Grade 6 assessment programme’.

“As a rule of thumb, the more academic a senior school, the more hoops you have to jump through to get in”

There are other routes which, while not avoiding the 11+ altogether, may reduce the impact of the exams. Many schools offer sports or music scholarships, which often have different assessment criteria. This may enable a more specific but also a more holistic review, by considering a child’s potential across other spheres. For instance, Whitgift and Millfield both have strong sports scholarship programmes.

If you – or your child – have your heart set on an academically selective school, there are still ways to reduce 11+ exam stress. Prepare a shortlist with target schools and an insurance choice and aim for your child to undertake no more than five separate assessments. Plan for your child to sit centralised tests if you can. Many schools have introduced online tests in recent years such as the ISEB Common Pre-Test. This online, adaptive assessment covers English, maths, verbal & non-verbal reasoning.

Although taking the pre-test doesn’t enable students to ‘avoid’ the 11+ style of assessment, it can help avoid having multiple individualised exams. Under the ISEB pre-test, students sit one exam in either Year 6 or Year 7 (dependent on the senior school goal), and the test is taken in their prep or primary school. Results are then shared among participating senior schools, and each student is only invited forward to the next stage of the process if their results are considered a potentially suitable match. This can drastically reduce the number of assessments children sit at different schools.  

Another centralised assessment is the London 11+ Consortium Assessment, a single online test for entry to a group of 14 independent day schools for girls, including Francis Holland and Notting Hill & Ealing High. Students sit one exam in the autumn of Year 6 at their own school. Students who pass this test are then invited for interview and possibly a written exam. Again, the aim of the Consortium assessment has been to reduce the number of 11+ papers each pupil has to sit, also reducing the considerable time commitment and stress for children and their families.

Quintessentially Education quintessentially.com/education

Further reading: Moving up – Simon Packham’s new novel on senior school transitions