Prep schools break rules by coaching for 11-plus

PRIVATE schools are breaking the rules to give their pupils an unfair advantage in 11-plus entrance exams, an investigation has found.

Several fee- paying prep schools have been coaching children for the tests, which is forbidden by council chiefs.

Reporters for BBC South East’s Inside Out show filmed secretly at ten schools in Kent, one of the only remaining areas to retain the grammar school system and the 11-plus exam.

Nine appeared to be coaching for the exam to give pupils an advantage – a practice banned by Kent County Council.

A reporter posing as a parent recorded private school teachers. One said: ‘It’s ridiculous they say you can’t be tutored for it... we prepare children for the Kent test – 100 per cent.’

The best performers in the 11plus will be offered places at grammar schools, which generally outperform their nonselective counterparts.

The council said schools that broke the rules could be banned from holding exams.

Angela Culley, from the Independent Schools Association, said it was wrong to criticise private school coaching when families could hire tutors, adding: ‘What’s the difference.’

‘We prepare children’