11+ Preparation

Preparing your child for their secondary school (both grammar and independent) is a core part of our work at St Martin’s School. We offer impartial advice as to which school would fit your child, taking into consideration their attributes and ambitions. We will develop a clear plan with you and your child in order to ensure they are confident sitting exams and preparing for interview.We aim to prepare the children for these exams by offering them an accelerated learning programme in which we aim to have taught all objectives in KS1 and KS2 by the end of Year 5, while the focus in Year 6 is extending knowledge into KS3 targets. This gives children the confidence and clarity to tackle any test or exam, including the 11+.

Our Preparation Programme

We prepare the children for 11+ examinations by building on the vocabulary and key skills the children begin learning from Nursery. We ensure that they have practice in Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning. We have put English at the heart of the children’s learning and have carefully selected a variety of core texts around which the learning takes place.

We have an abundance of experience in preparing pupils for entry at all independent senior schools and have a deep knowledge of the content and layout of the variety of tests used by individual schools.

Our Approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal ReasoningAt St. Martin’s, we have a unique approach to critical thinking, Non-Verbal and Verbal Reasoning. We don’t simply provide practice in these skills but systematically teach the art of understanding and completing them from Form 1 onwards. This results in the ability to recognise patterns between numbers and letters, and shapes, as well as building a large pool of higher level vocabulary. Skills progression begins with a practical, play-based approach and ends with extended testing and review.  By Form 5, the children are thoroughly prepared for both Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning tests at 11+ level.Interview PracticeThe Headteacher and an outside consultant conduct ‘mock’ interviews with the children to ensure that they are completely prepared and are able to answer questions in a mature, thoughtful and confident way.Our pupils receive offers at their choice of secondary school in the vast majority of cases.  We are very proud of our record of scholarship offers.

11+ Examination Results – Leavers July 2024

Schools	Applicants	Offers	Accepted
Aldenham School	4	2	1
Haberdashers’ Girls’ School	1	1	1
Haberdashers’ Boys’ School	3	2	0
Merchant Taylors’ School	3	2*	1
St Albans School	2	1	0
North London Collegiate School	1	1	0
Herts Consortium	3	3	1
Queen Elizabeth’s School (QE Boys)	5	1	1
The Latymer School	1	1	1
City of London School	2	2	1
Highgate School	4	2	1
St Helen’s School	2	1	1
Watford Grammar	1	1	1
Immanuel College	1	1	1
Ewell College	1	1	1
*One DT scholarship
In addition – children also went to the following state schools: St. James Catholic High School, JFS and Queen Elizabeth’s Girls School