What the 11 Plus Actually Involves for Beckenham Families

The 11 Plus is not one exam. It is a group of different exams run by different schools, and the format varies depending on where your child is sitting. Knowing the real format for the schools you are actually targeting is the first job of any decent preparation plan, because papers written for one school’s format will leave your child unprepared for another’s.

For Beckenham families, the three state grammars most commonly in play are St Olave’s in Orpington, Newstead Wood in Orpington, and Bexley Grammar in Welling. St Olave’s is boys only. Its entry process runs over two stages: a Selective Eligibility Test (SET) first, and a second-stage paper covering extended writing and further English and Maths. In their tiebreak criteria the creative writing paper is used after the Maths score, which tells you how much weight it carries in a close finish. Newstead Wood is girls only and uses GL Assessment: an English paper with reading and writing, and a Maths and reasoning paper. Bexley Grammar is co-ed and part of the four-school Bexley consortium using the Bexley Selection Test, which is two multiple-choice papers of about 50 minutes each covering English comprehension and verbal reasoning plus Maths and non-verbal reasoning. The Bexley test does not include an extended writing section, which surprises some families who assume all 11 Plus papers do.

Independent schools in reach of Beckenham include Trinity in Croydon, Whitgift in South Croydon, Dulwich College, Eltham College and Bromley High. Each has its own entrance paper, often sitting under the ISEB banner or school-set, typically combining Maths, English comprehension, creative writing and reasoning, followed by an interview. The timing is often slightly earlier than the state grammars, with pre-tests happening in Year 5.

That spread of formats is why our 11 Plus programme covers Maths, English comprehension, extended creative writing, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning across every term, rather than specialising to one school. A child who prepares for the full range stays in play for every realistic target school, including the one you have not thought of yet.

Why We Take Children from Year 3

One thing that sets us apart from most 11 Plus providers in the area is that we accept children from Year 3. Most providers start at Year 5, sometimes Year 4. We take Year 3 because the children who build the strongest 11 Plus performance tend to be the ones who had two or three years of patient, confidence-first work before the exam became the point. By Year 5 the pressure is real, timetables are tight, and there is no slack to work on, say, how a child feels about writing. If we have a child from Year 3, we spend the first year building habits, vocabulary and reading stamina. The exam preparation is layered on top later, from a stronger starting point.

That does not mean Year 5 is too late. We take Year 5 starters every term and they regularly get grammar school places. It just means the work is more concentrated and the margin for error is thinner. If your child is in Year 3 or Year 4 and you are already thinking about this, that is good timing, not pushy parenting.

What Our Beckenham Programme Costs

Our 11 Plus in-centre programme is £215 a month and includes free access to our online booster sessions. 11 Plus online-only is £195 a month for three hours of teaching a week. Independent school preparation, which includes additional focus on interview technique and school-specific exam formats, is £265 a month. We offer a 10 percent sibling discount for two children and 15 percent for three or more. We accept childcare vouchers, Childcare Choices, Student Finance England and Universal Credit.

Assessments are free and genuinely free. There is no £5 charge, no refundable deposit, nothing to pay before you have met us. Our assessment-to-enrolment rate is 90 percent, which is what it is because the assessment is a real conversation about fit rather than a sales pitch, and once families see what the teaching actually looks like most of them want to join.

About Geek School and Me

I am Joycellyn Akuffo, founder of Geek School Tutoring. I set up the business in 2013 and in the years since we have worked with more than 1,000 children across our two centres and online. I hold an MA in Education, a BSc in Psychology, PTLLS, and a Diploma in Teaching. Before I started Geek School, I spent more than a decade working in the media as a journalist editing for national magazines including Glamour, BBC Good Homes and Women’s Weekly. I also sat the 11 Plus myself and attended an independent school throughout secondary. This means I have a candidate’s perspective on the process alongside the teaching one, not to mention supporting both of my children through the same journey as your child will soon endeavour.

Geek School is Ofsted registered. All our tutors are DBS checked. We are a Corporate Member of the Tutors’ Association. Our Google rating across the two centres sits at 4.9. For families aiming at the Kent, Bexley and Medway grammar schools, our pass rate currently sits between 90 and 100 percent.

Our Beckenham children have gone on to St Olave’s, Trinity, Whitgift, Dulwich College, Sevenoaks, St Paul’s and Wallington County, alongside a steady flow of grammar school places closer to home.