11 Plus Made Simple

The school report came home this term and said meeting expectations in maths, reading and writing.
For a lot of Year 3 and 4 parents, that is the moment they stop worrying. The marks look fine, so the 11 Plus gets filed under later.
Here is the part that catches people out. Meeting expectations means your child is on track for their year group, measured against the national curriculum. Readiness for the 11 Plus is a separate question.
It is faster, it is harder, and it sits a year or two ahead of where the curriculum is. A child can be comfortably meeting expectations and still have real ground to make up before they are at grammar school standard.
That gap is invisible on a school report. It is the document I see misread most often on my strategy calls, and it is misread by switched-on, involved parents who are doing everything right.
If your child is in Year 3 or 4 and the report looked reassuring, this is the term to check what it does not show. The free SIMPLE Assessment scores six readiness areas in about three minutes, and I read it alongside the school report on a call so you get the fuller picture.
Link below.
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7 maths facts every 11+ child must know before exam day. Save this.

Some facts have to be known instantly in the 11+. No time to work them out. These seven are at the top of that list.

Most children know a few of them. Very few have all seven secure before they sit down in that exam hall.

Slide through, save it, and test your child on each one this week.

Students on my 11+ course get a full maths fact booklet with these and many more inside. It sits alongside everything else we do to make sure nothing gets left to chance.

Follow for more tips like this every week.

Some find nets of cubes to be one of the hardest NVR question types. Children are asked to look at a flat shape and imagine what it looks like folded into a cube.

Some get it straight away. Others need to hold the shapes first. Not because they lack ability. Because they have never held one.

A paper net that folds in front of them. Magnetic tiles they can build and turn. That is what makes the question make sense.

Follow for more 11+ tips like this.

Most parents assume the 11+ exam is always in September. Not any more.

Reading School has moved its 11+ exams to July. For most applicants sitting for September 2027 entry, the exam is now earlier than the traditional September date. Worth knowing: out-of-catchment applicants still sit in September, so even one school isn't uniform.

If you follow Bexley, this will feel familiar. Earlier this year Bexley moved its registration window earlier and shorter, running 1 to 31 March, alongside the switch from GL to Quest. The timeline is creeping forward.

The point isn't those two schools. It's that the old calendar is no longer a safe guide, wherever your child sits. Dates are starting to move and schools don't always make it easy to spot.

So check the test and registration dates for every school on your shortlist, straight from the school or your local authority. Not social media, not a WhatsApp group, not a newsletter, mine included.

And remember, an earlier exam doesn't mean a harder one. Same content, just sooner. What changes is the prep window. That's why steady, year-round learning beats a last-minute summer push every time.

Worried your child isn't ready for a date that's moved forward? Comment ASSESS and I'll send you my free SIMPLE Assessment, so you know exactly where they stand.

Your Year 3 child doesn't need past papers yet.

I had a call recently with a Year 3 parent who'd already bought the Bond books. Their child was getting half the questions wrong and losing confidence. The child was not behind. The material was wrong for the year.

Year 3 is not too early to start 11+ preparation. It is the wrong year to start with past papers.

Foundations first. Times tables to fluency, not just memorised but answered in three seconds in any order. Place value and core arithmetic. Vocabulary built into everyday conversation, one or two new words a day. Real-world maths in the kitchen, the shops, the car.

By Year 4 the formal 11+ work begins, and the foundations carry it.

Save this if you've got a Year 3 child and a Bond book sitting unopened on the shelf.

What did you start with? Drop it in the comments.