11 Plus
Ebbsfleet Valley is a new town and redevelopment area in Kent, South East England, and part of the Thames Gateway, southwest of Gravesend. It is named after the valley of the Ebbsfleet River, which it straddles. Although a small part of the site in the east lies within the borough of Gravesham, Ebbsfleet Valley primarily sits in the borough of Dartford.
If you are in Ebbsfleet and require 11 Plus tuition feel free to give us a call today on 01474 247 629.
Parent
"I couldn't ask for more from Paro Tuition. They provided my children with excellent tuition and as a direct consequence, they all passed their 11 Plus exams with excellent marks..."
Parent
"Fazal is very good at nurturing and developing the children's academic skills. He readily listened to concerns , polite and friendly. My daughter passed her 11 Plus..."
Parent
"6 years ago, Fazal prepared my daughter for her 11+ exam and also my son 2years ago. There was a great improvement in both of them..."
We’ve taught hundreds of students over the years so we know what to prioritise to give your child the greatest chance of success.
Preparation for the 11 Plus is about more than just doing a few test papers and some Maths problems. It takes speed, accuracy and a great deal of logical thinking to be successful.
Knowing this and combining it with over 5 years of teaching, trialing and refining has allowed us to develop our own structured teaching system for the 11 Plus. Simply put, we remove the guess-work and teach each element of the test in a carefully thought out manor.
Our experiences have also shown us which aspects of the test students find most difficult and which ones require more time to teach. This knowledge allows us to teach in an efficient manor, saving both teaching time and money yet still achieving great results.
With all of this in mind, we’ve learnt that it’s typically best to start off the year with Verbal Reasoning, Non Verbal Reasoning and Spatial Reasoning work; covering the different question types that could appear on the tests. These are new concepts for children (and parents alike) but we’ve found our teaching to be very successful in improving students in these areas in the past.
We’ll also be covering Maths problem solving throughout the year but will focus more on this when we feel it’s appropriate for the students. At this stage we’ll make sure to go over the areas of the Maths curriculum that we know students find hardest too.
English is mostly covered in the form of comprehension as this is the main skill required for the Kent 11 Plus test. As well as this we’ll spend time throughout the year covering vocabulary.
Overall our teaching programme ensures that students cover everything they need to know for the test and get plenty of exam practice along the way too.
Like all of our staff, our 11 Plus teachers have plenty of experience in preparing students in the past. Some have even sat the 11 Plus and attended Grammar Schools. Collectively we all have a deep understanding of the purpose and workings of the 11 Plus tests.
“It was only when I started teaching that I realised the unique opportunities I had benefited from through a good education and achieving excellent grades. Since then I’ve become committed to finding innovative ways to help give students of all ages these same opportunities.”
Fazal is the Founder and Director of Paro Tuition. After attending Gravesend Grammar School he went on to study for a Masters Degree in Engineering at a top university. Since graduating, over 5 years ago, he has taken it upon himself to teach, guide and advise students all the way from Primary School up to university graduation and even subsequent full time employment.
Our years of experience in teaching the 11 Plus have allowed us to develop a unique system of teaching which produces great results within the limited teaching time that is available. At Paro Tuition we know what to teach, what order to teach it in and the best resources to use whilst teaching.
This also means that your child could get away with having less weekly tuition time if taught by us.
We make sure to cover all of the skills needed for the Kent and Mayfield tests such as Non Verbal Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, Maths Reasoning & Problem Solving, Comprehension and Spatial Reasoning.
Throughout the year we cover exam style questions and exam technique to ensure that students won’t come across too many surprises. This includes doing practice tests.
As we get closer to the test date, the number of practice exams we do increases with a particular focus on timing and speed during the test.
In the final weeks we’ll take this one step further and put the students through a mock test so that they can experience a test environment.
Part of our success comes from our unique process of getting to know the students we teach and to understand parents’ expectations. Outlined below is what you can expect from us throughout the year:
Start things off with a free consultation.
The first step is simply to pop in or to contact us to discuss your needs. At this point we’ll book you in for a more formal consultation in which you get to a chance to understand more about the way we work and what we can do for you. It’s a great opportunity to ask us about any further questions that you might have.
We’ll also agree a time slot for an assessment so that we can get to know more about your child’s ability.
Our thorough assessment will tell us the capability and current level of your child.
We’ll assess the strengths and weaknesses (if any) of your child in Maths and English compared to what’s required by the national curriculum for students of their age group.
We’ll also observe other aspects of your child’s learning such as their focus and natural ability to learn new concepts.
This helps to decide the best way forward for your child.
Students attend our centre once or twice per week as advised after the assessment at an agreed time slot.
Our structured teaching system is design to be followed weekly with homework being set after every lesson. This ensures that we cover everything needed to prepare for the tests.
Video lessons can be used to recap the things that have been taught in the week and to help students complete the homework.
We encourage parents to get involved where possible. We also provide book recommendations for parents wanting to do extra work during the week.
Keep informed on student progress throughout the year.
We’ll give you the opportunity to have a formal sit down at various points throughout the year so that you can get a clear idea on how well your child is understanding the 11 Plus content and progressing overall.
This is a great opportunity to discuss if anything more needs to be done to increase their chances of passing and to discuss future expectations.
At Paro Tuition our 11 Plus teaching and methods aren’t based on guesswork. We use the following approach to work out the best way to teach students of all abilities:
Put simply, this means that we’ll continue to keep finding ways to improve our teaching and results year after year, student after student.
As well as this, we don’t take a one size fits all approach. Our teaching is differentiated for the ability and the current working level of the student so you can be sure your child is well supported.
Ofsted inspect and regulate services that care for young people and children as well as services that provide education.
As an Ofsted registered tuition centre we have to ensure we meet the highest of standards.
You can be sure that:
Being Ofsted registered also means you may be able to get significant discounts on tuition provided by us through schemes like Childcare Vouchers and the new Tax-Free childcare. You could also get support if you receive Working Tax Credits or Universal Credit; essentially it works just as if we are providing childcare.
We believe that Grammar schools should be accessible for everyone. This is why we’ve found a way to make our services very competitively priced.
The cost of 11 Plus tuition with us starts from just £15 for an hour long session every week. With this, students gets the benefit of being taught by an experienced, knowledgable tutor who will observe their progress. We also provide any stationary and writing books that are needed.
As we’re also Ofsted registered, the use of Childcare Vouchers/Tax-Free Childcare schemes could enable you to save 20% or more on the price of tuition. As well as this, the childcare element of Working Tax Credits/Universal Credit and the Childcare Grant for full-time students could enable you to save if you’re eligible. This could be as much as 70% for Working Tax Credits and 85% for Universal Credit.
In addition, parents can benefit further by taking advantage of our discounts on books.
All in all, we’re likely to be far more affordable than you think. Just get in touch to find out more or to start your free assessment.
The 11 Plus test varies from region to region. Typically, tests contain Maths problem solving, some form of English (either a piece of writing or comprehension) and often include some other test of ‘reasoning.’
The Kent 11 Plus test currently has 3 main areas of testing: Maths, English and Reasoning. The Maths section mostly consists of word problems whilst the English is mostly comprehension questions. The Reasoning paper is further broken down into sub categories designed to test different skills. In the Kent test you’re required to pass all 3 main areas of testing.
Students sitting the Medway test have a different test format entirely. They’ll be sitting a Maths paper, a verbal reasoning paper and a writing test. The marks from all 3 papers are added together with the majority of the marks being awarded for Maths and writing.
Of course!
We do practice test style questions and practice papers regularly through out the year. We increase the amount of practice papers we do as we get nearer to the test and progressively increase the difficulty too.
This depends on the capability and current working level of your child which is why we start each child off with a free assessment. What we have seen though is that unless students are performing at a very high level in school, they’re almost always better off starting before Year 5.
We have many children who start tuition well before Year 5 (some start in Year 1) but for those year groups it’s not just 11 Plus work we cover. We largely teach Maths & English, aligned to the national curriculum, for children in other year groups.
It might be difficult for your child to pass now but it’s certainly not impossible. We have had a number of students start tuition quite late into Year 5 in the past who went on to pass. Our advice would be to book in for a free assessment and speak to one of our teachers for advice.
Most students will typically have 1-2 hours per week. The number of hours we recommend will depend on a variety of factors such as student ability, their current working level and a variety of other factors.
Our recommendation will usually be made after we’ve carried out our initial assessment and had a thorough discussion.
Unfortunately, there will be some children who really struggle with learning the concepts, skills and level of problem solving required for the 11 Plus meaning that they would be highly unlikely to pass. If you believe any of our students are within this category we’ll inform the parents at the appropriate time and advise on the best course of action.
The 11 Plus is a once in a lifetime opportunity for students to be in a school environment more suited to them. We understand it’s not right for everyone, which is why we start with a free assessment and trial session before making any recommendations.
The demand for Grammar schools is at the highest it’s ever been whilst the 11 Plus tests have continued to increase in difficulty and schools have been unable to provide much support to students wishing to sit the tests.
On top of this test makers are frequently making changes to tests leaving most people with little knowledge of what the tests contain.
This why we believe tuition is needed and that the most successful tutors are the ones that have a high level of knowledge of the 11 Plus and plenty of experience teaching it.
That’s what we do every day. We’re ready to prepare your child as thoroughly as possible for the rigours of the Kent test using the same principles that we’ve developed over the years working with hundreds of students.
Of course, we understand, if you’re not ready to make a start just yet but it costs nothing to come in and have a chat with us. We’d be more than happy to help.
