Frequently Asked Questions

Term Dates 2023 – 2024

Autumn Term 1
Year 4 Course: 15th October 2023 – 16th December 2023
Year 5 Course: 10th September 2023 – 16th December 2023
Year 6 Course: 10th September 2023 – 16th December 2023

Christmas Holiday Work: 18th  December 2024 – 6th January 2024

Spring Term 2
Year 4 Course: Sunday, 7th January 2024 – Saturday, 23rd March 2024
Year 5 Course: Sunday, 7th January 2024 – Saturday, 23rd March 2024

Easter Holiday Work: Sunday 24th March 2024 – 13th April 2024

Summer Term 3
Year 4 Course: Sunday, 14th April 2024 – Saturday, 31st August 2024
Year 5 Course: Sunday, 14th April 2024 – Saturday, 31st August 2024

Summer Holiday Work: Sunday 21st July 2024 – early September

We do not have lessons during half-terms; however we will leave up the previous 2 weeks work to allow for extra revision and/or for any students who need to catch up for any reason.

We usually put up 1 to 2 weeks lessons over the Easter and Christmas holidays and the equivalent of 3 to 4 weeks lessons over the summer holiday (available from the last week of July throughout August until early September). This enables students to do the lessons when it suits and will allow you the freedom to fit the work in with any holiday plans you might have.

The best time to start tutoring for the 11 plus is in Year 4. This will allow your child sufficient time to cover all subject areas to the required level without the stress and panic which comes with starting later.

Our success rate of over 92% is usually achieved by those children who have attended tuition from Year 4.

We do not ask your child to sit an assessment test before being enrolled on a course with us. An assessment test at this stage would only test your child’s knowledge learned so far. It would not test your child’s true ability level or their suitability to tackle the 11+.

Once your child starts tuition with us, we find that they very quickly move to a level beyond their current NC level at school. As they progress and learn more with us, your child’s true ability will then be monitored and reflected in their assessments via our monthly mock exam course.

All course material, resources and practice exam papers are provided as part of our weekly teaching content and monthly mock exams.

There are a couple of extra resources which we strongly recommend you purchase for extra practice and revision, as needed. Both these resources are suitable for your child to use not only towards their 11+ preparation, but also right through their secondary studies up to and including GCSE ‘O’ levels.

Mrs Jones Education has an excellent reputation with over 92% success rate for those children who start in Year 4 and more than 84% success rate overall.

Our online tuition model has proved to be a very effective and efficient system to meet the high academic levels and demands of the 11 plus examinations. Indeed, our excellent success rate of over 92% has been maintained (and even excelled!) when we compare our online students against those in our physical groups pre-Covid.

Reservation Fee: £325 (forms part of the total course fee & is non-refundable)
This reserves your child’s place on the course and includes:

a) the first month’s tuition fee of £225
b) a one-off registration fee of £100

A payment of £225 will be taken automatically on the 1st of each month, starting from the second month of tuition through to December of Year 6, unless you decide to stop tuition earlier*

*You can stop tuition at any time by simply cancelling your monthly subscription.

You will need to complete and submit the online Registration Form on our website and follow the instructions to pay the initial Reservation Fee and set up an account with us.

Please check that you have completed all your details on the Registration Form correctly, including your contact details and your child’s name – as you would want it to appear on future mock exam reports.

Our tuition courses cover the complete 11+ exam syllabus for all subjects – Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-verbal Reasoning.

All our tuition courses are prepared and taught by Mrs Jones herself!

Mrs Jones (BSc.Hons, PGCE) has an excellent reputation with a proven track record of success and over 36 years teaching experience behind her – so no risk of getting an unqualified, inexperienced or unreliable tutor.

Yes, we are one of the few 11+ tuition providers to include Creative Writing as a key part of all our main tuition courses. Creative writing takes both time and practice (over 12 to 24 months) to develop and perfect.

We help develop their writing skills by teaching the children various techniques to use with different writing styles and genres. Our online videos enable us to include a range of pictures, images and settings to create mood and atmosphere and to fire your child’s imagination.

We include sample pieces of work (often written by our previous students) to further encourage and develop your child’s individual style and inspire their enjoyment in writing.

We provide both verbal and non-verbal practice and technique tutorials, as the majority of schools (grammar and independent) will assess at least one, if not both of these subjects.
Most grammar and private schools now include Verbal Reasoning as an integral part of their English exam and Numerical Reasoning (non-verbal /spatial type problem questions) in their maths exams.

Our main 11+ tuition courses also include our remote monthly Mock Exam Course. Each month, your child will practice timed exam papers in each subject and learn how to complete the computer answer forms just as they will in the real 11+ exams.

You will receive detailed reports and feedback enabling you to highlight any areas of weakness and/or any timing issues. This will help your child gain exam confidence, accuracy and technique.

Please check our Mock Exam FAQ’s for more information. 

Homework forms an important part of your child’s coursework and is set in the form of short weekly timed tests in each subject. Not only do these tests help consolidate their learning and monitor their progress, but they enable children to work on improving their timing and technique.

To support your child with their homework and to help keep any required parental input to a minimum, we have built in essential help, hints and guidance into the weekly timed tests.

On average, our Year 4 students will have about 4 hours work each week – around 2½ hours lessons and 1½ hours homework, including vocabulary work.

Our Year 5 students are set on average 4-5 hours work each week – around 2½ hours lessons and about 2 hours homework, including vocabulary work. This may increase in the final term of Year 5 and through into Year 6, where advanced 11+ practice papers will also be provided.

The hours shown may vary slightly from week to week depending on the work /topics being covered. The above times are estimated as children will take different amounts of time to complete work depending on their individual speed and ability.

Our courses are fully guided and structured, so once your child gets going, they should be able to work independently.

There is no need for you to sit with your child throughout each tutorial. Indeed, we prefer you do not do this as, apart from being very laborious and time-consuming for both you and your child, we want to encourage your child to learn to focus and become an independent thinker – an absolute requirement for success in the 11+ exams!

We suggest you set up a work timetable with your child so that you can tailor their work schedule to fit in with your family life and with their other commitments e.g. clubs, school homework etc.

While our success rates show that our courses are incredibly effective, we must point out that preparing for the 11 plus is intensive – there are no short cuts and parental commitment and support are fundamental elements to helping your child achieve that success.

We advise every parent to approach 11+ preparation as an opportunity to help their child achieve of their best and as high a standard as they can and to support their child throughout their 11+ journey.

We take great pride in introducing topics clearly for children, giving them a chance to try their new skills and then we regularly keep that knowledge fresh throughout the course.

Our tuition courses are fully guided and so well explained that we rarely get questions. We always provide answers to every question and the more complicated questions all have very detailed answers. Your child can also quickly go back into the tutorial to check or revise any part of the lesson as needed.

While our courses are so well explained that questions are rare, we are here to help should questions arise. Everyone using our main tuition courses has an email they can reach us on to ask questions if they have any, and we aim to respond within 24 hours if not sooner.

We continually assess and monitor your child’s progress throughout the year therefore you can assume that your child is progressing well unless we have specifically brought concerns to your attention.

All our tuition courses include our Mock Exam Course where each month your child will be assessed in each subject and you will receive a detailed report showing your child’s overall result, the cohort average and whether there are any timing issues. The reports also identify your child’s strengths and weaknesses and highlight any specific areas where your child needs more help and input.

The course is designed to fully prepare your child for all grammar and private independent schools and for all examination boards including GL, CEM and ISEB.

We teach to the high levels required for entry to the top grammar and private schools including scholarship level in Year 6.

Schools’ information and advice is provided in the link below:

We are happy to provide further help and guidance with any additional specific questions you may have for students attending our Y5 and Y6 full preparation courses.

Remember, the application procedure, catchment information and exam dates can vary between different schools and from one year to another. School admission policies can be found on the individual school’s websites and are usually updated by April/May of each year.

2023 – 2024

Year 4 Mock Exam Course: Once monthly from November 2023 to July 2024 
Year 5 Mock Exam Course: Once monthly from October 2023 to July 2024
Year 6 Mock Exam Course: Once monthly from September 2023 to 2023 December 

Each month your child will take a mock exam in each subject (Maths, English, VR and NVR). The exam papers are progressive and will gradually increase in difficulty throughout the mock exam course.

An additional ‘Maths Challenge’ examination will also be provided each month during the summer term of Year 5 and every month throughout the Year 6 course. The maths challenge papers reflect the much higher maths levels required for entry into the more demanding grammar and private schools including scholarships.

All students doing our main 11+ tuition courses are automatically placed on our monthly online mock exam course. Students from other tuition providers can also benefit from our monthly mock exams via our mock exam only courses.

Apart from providing regular exam practice, our monthly mock exams are a useful tool to regularly assess your child and monitor their progress.

Our monthly mock exam courses are available in Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6:

Year 4 mock exams run from November to July and aim to introduce your child to the 11 Plus exam process in a non-stressful and gradual way.

Year 5 mock exams run from October to July and are designed to enable your child to reach their full potential in a non-pressured way.

Our Year 6 mock exams run from September to December during the Autumn term each year and are set at an advanced level in preparation for the 2nd stage grammar and top private school exams & scholarship level.

While we do provide an element of help and teaching within our mock exam courses, we would like to emphasize that the mock exam only course is not a teaching course and should not be used to replace regular weekly 11+ tuition.

Our unique monthly mock exam courses provide children sitting 11+ exams with motivation, confidence and direction to help them on their 11+ journey to success.

We believe it is good to get children used to doing exams early so that they become familiar with the exam process in a more gradual and non-pressured way.

Most children sitting for the 11 plus will complete one to two years of regular weekly tuition. However, they rarely receive the same regular training on exam skills, timing, technique and focus.

At Mrs Jones Education, we are unique in providing regular monthly mock exam courses. Our exams gradually increase in difficulty to allow students to gain confidence and deepen their knowledge in each subject. We take your child to the next level to ensure they peak for the real 11+ exams.

We cover all four subjects – Math, English, Verbal and Non-verbal Reasoning as required for the majority of 11+ examinations.

Most English examinations (for both grammar and independent schools) now include a substantial amount of verbal reasoning, cloze procedure (a mixture of comprehension and verbal reasoning) and vocabulary-based questions within their examinations.

Additionally, most maths papers include a large element of word problems numerical and logical reasoning, critical thinking and analysis. These require the use of both verbal and non-verbal skills and techniques.

Many schools will test all 4 subjects – either separately or as individual sections within a single examination. Furthermore, schools can (and frequently do!) decide to change the subjects they test at short notice.

At Mrs Jones Education, we thoroughly tutor your child in all 4 subjects so that they are fully prepared for all selective school 11+ entrance exams.

The students will complete a timed examination in each subject and complete the ‘live’ computer answer forms (just as in the real 11+ examinations).

We also provide a ‘practice’ exam and answer form in each subject which your child can choose to do first before going to the live exams and answer forms which are all strictly timed.

The practice exams include help and hints with the more tricky Maths and English questions and a quick reminder /demonstration of the techniques to use for the different types of VR and NVR questions.

For flexibility, each month’s mock exams will be available for 2 weeks. This gives your child plenty of time to do the exams when it suits and allows them enough time to do the ‘practice’ exams first as needed.

To provide even more flexibility, we have created single subject exams enabling your child to do each exam subject individually at a time when it suits them. This system also enables you to select the exam subjects relevant to your target school(s) or to focus on a specific subject where your child needs more practice.

Each month, you will receive a detailed report and feedback for each subject highlighting any areas requiring improvement and any timing issues your child may have. This enables you to monitor your child’s monthly progress and helps pinpoint weaker areas on which to focus revision.

We also include detailed video explanations of the answers for the more challenging maths papers provided during Year 5 and Year 6 and a chance to practice the exam paper again for extra revision and to help consolidate the maths methods and techniques required.

Answer sheets are scanned using OCR software as used by the examination boards giving your child the opportunity to eliminate any potential lost marks due to incorrectly marking the sheets.

Our mock exam papers are thoroughly tested and are created so that they are as close as possible to the real exams. For copyright reasons, we do not release the full papers to parents. However, our detailed report feedback will enable you to identify your child’s weak spots and/or any timing issues they may have.

The course is designed to fully prepare your child for all grammar and private independent schools and for all examination boards including GL, CEM and ISEB.

Our exam papers gradually increase in difficulty each month to allow students to gain confidence and deepen their knowledge in each subject

During the summer term of Year 5 and into the Autumn term of Year 6, we include additional ‘Challenge’ papers which provide extra exam practice for the harder grammar and independent school entrance examinations.

Our Year 6 mock exams run from September to December each year and are set at an advanced level in preparation for the 2^nd stage grammar and top private school exams & scholarship level.

We teach to the high levels required for entry to the top grammar and private schools including 2^nd stage grammar and scholarship level in Year 6.

We pride ourselves on providing the highest quality teaching and resources to enable children to perform at their best. Our courses are challenging and tailored to the most competitive schools. We find our unique online course structure particularly suits those children most likely to gain a place into a top Grammar and /or Independent school.

All our online courses are planned and taught by Mrs jones and include everything you need. The lesson videos and tutorials are fully guided and structured so your child knows exactly what they are doing each week.

Pre-recorded lesson videos and tutorials are uploaded to the portal each week. The lesson videos are separated into sections by subject or topic so children can easily digest them in smaller chunks.

Our course is highly structured enabling students to learn more effectively and efficiently. Work is set immediately following each lesson topic taught, so that students are able to check and reinforce their understanding of the topic directly following the lesson.

Guidance, starting points and step by step explanations are provided to help your child tackle the more difficult questions within the tutorials and timed tests. Children can build their knowledge whilst improving their timing and technique.

All our course tutorials are provided in separate subject videos, enabling the children to learn in small chunks over the course of each week instead of having to digest all the subjects in a single, lengthy lesson in class or via zoom.

This allows your child to work at their own learning pace and ability level – particularly helpful if your child is starting their 11+ preparation late in Year 4 or Year 5 and needs to catch up. Our system ensures your child is able to build a solid foundation prior to the Year 5 course or even before their actual 11+ exams in Year 6.

The course is highly structured enabling students to learn more effectively and efficiently. Work is set immediately following each lesson topic taught, so that students are able to check and reinforce their understanding of the topic directly following the lesson.

One of the advantages of recorded lessons is that they are shorter than physical lessons as there are no students to interact and interrupt your child’s concentration and focus. This means that learning can be done in a faster time.

Being able to watch pre-recorded videos on demand also facilitates revision as pre-recorded videos are more likely to be re-watched if the student does not fully understand, or can be watched again later for revision.

The key features of our tuition courses are our structured tutorials and resources, which when used alongside our timed and assessed monthly mock exam course, provide invaluable data to help identify and target each pupils’ weak areas.

Our courses are highly structured and fully guided with topic-based lesson tutorials and weekly timed tests for homework. This method of learning leads to greater efficiency in learning and enables students to build their knowledge whilst improving their timing and technique.

Research has shown zoom lessons not to be suitable or effective for primary school children. It was found that a system like ours, of shorter, pre-recorded video lessons proved best for optimal learning and to meet the 11+ demands and the high standard of intense academic learning, in a more efficient time-frame.

11+ preparation requires commitment and hard work, regardless of whether it is online or face-to-face. We have found that children who are keen learners can make better progress with our online system than in face-to-face lessons, as it is less time consuming in terms of lesson length, there are no distractions from other students and no travelling time.

Our courses are designed for children who are academically able and enjoy being challenged. Students who are focused and diligent in their studies can make excellent progress on our online course and be better placed to compete with their peers due to the time-advantage they have.

Our system also allows students who are behind in their studies for any reason to work and learn at their own pace, allowing them to fill in gaps in their understanding and then accelerating their learning. They can go back into a lesson themselves to revise a particular topic or re-watch a video with parental guidance and assistance if needed.

Our flagship online education platform provides the perfect home-based 11+ preparation program with our fully structured and guided weekly lessons, tutorials, worksheets and regular mock exam paper practice. A winning formula that works!

We hope these findings will provide positive assurance of the advantages and effectiveness of our unique online tuition system.