Families are paying hundreds for 11-plus practice. Heads call it an arms race
What happened
An investigation published by the education paper Schools Week on 3 September 2026 has looked at what families are spending to prepare children for the 11-plus, the test used for entry to England's remaining grammar schools. There are 163 grammar schools across 35 local authorities in England. The figures the paper found are striking. GL Assessment, one of the main test providers, charges up to £99 for bundles of practice papers. Atom Learning, an online preparation platform, offers an 'exam prep plus' package costing around £670 a year. The companies involved are doing well. Atom Learning's turnover rose 15.4 per cent in 2024-25, from £13.2 million to £15.2 million, and its net profit rose 72 per cent, from £2.7 million to £4.6 million. GL Assessment made £25 million profit in 2024, up from £18 million, and paid £112.8 million in dividends. School leaders quoted in the investigation were blunt. Chris Evans, head of Reading School, said the situation creates a 'tutoring arms race which is unfair upon the most disadvantaged'. Joanne Bartley of the campaign group Comprehensive Future said the 11-plus 'has created an industry in which anxiety about a child's future school can be monetised'. Defenders of the providers argue they are in a difficult position. Stuart Gardner, a former academy trust chief executive, said providers are 'damned if they do and damned if they don't'.
Why this matters
If you live in an area with grammar schools, this is not an abstract debate. It is a decision you make in your kitchen, usually when your child is nine or ten. The worry parents describe is straightforward. If other families are spending £670 a year on preparation and you are not, are you letting your child down? That is a horrible question to sit with, and it is precisely the pressure the head teachers quoted are describing. The cost falls unevenly by definition. A family that can find £670 will. A family that cannot, will not. When the test is supposed to identify ability, and preparation for it can be bought, the test is measuring something other than what it claims to measure. There is a child wellbeing angle too. Ten-year-olds pick up on what the adults around them are anxious about. A year of evening practice papers, with the message that a great deal rests on one morning in September, is a lot to put on a child of that age. And it matters even if you have no interest in grammar schools, because it shapes what happens in the local primary school, where children start comparing what they are doing at home.
What the evidence actually says
The central question is whether paid preparation actually works, and the honest answer is that it works enough to be worth buying, which is the problem. Test providers have long argued that their tests are designed to be resistant to coaching. The commercial reality reported here undercuts that: an industry making these profits exists because parents believe practice changes outcomes, and there is a good deal of research suggesting familiarity with test format does improve scores, particularly on the first attempt. What is harder to establish is how much. Nobody can tell you that £670 buys a specific number of extra marks. The investigation raises a second point worth noting. One grammar school, Weald of Kent, admitted 260 pupils to Year 7 against a capacity of 300, and reportedly 60 per cent of that year group would not have passed cognitive ability testing. The school's head, Richard Booth, said the aim was to 'widen access for local families and disadvantaged pupils'. Nuala Burgess of Comprehensive Future called it a 'back-door route to boost grammar school admissions'. Those two readings can both be partly true, and the disagreement is genuine rather than manufactured. One detail deserves attention from any parent: free materials are often offered only to pupils eligible for pupil premium. That leaves out a large group of families who are not on the lowest incomes but for whom £670 is completely out of reach. Wider figures point the same way. The Sutton Trust's Private Tutoring 2026 report, published in February, found that 29 per cent of secondary pupils in England and Wales have had private tutoring at some point, up from 18 per cent twenty years ago. It also found a gap by income: 30 per cent among the best-off households, compared with 23 per cent among the worst-off. Paid help is not evenly spread, and it never has been.
Practical advice
If you are weighing this up, a few things are worth holding on to. Start by asking what you actually want. A grammar school place is not the only good outcome, and for many children it is not the best one. Visit the comprehensive schools near you before you decide the 11-plus is essential. If you do go ahead, you do not need to spend hundreds. Most test providers publish free familiarisation materials, and local libraries often stock practice books. Ask your child's school what it offers, and ask other parents in the year group what they have found useful for free. Keep practice short and regular rather than long and intense. Twenty minutes a few times a week is more effective and far less damaging than an hour every evening. Watch your child rather than the calendar. Sleep problems, tummy aches, tearfulness and reluctance to go to school are signals to ease off, not to push harder. Say out loud, more than once, that you will be pleased with them whatever happens. Children remember what their parents were anxious about far longer than they remember the result. And if money is tight, ask the school directly whether any free support is available. Some schools have more than they advertise.
What to know
An investigation by Schools Week has found families paying up to £99 for practice paper bundles and around £670 a year for online preparation ahead of the 11-plus, while the companies providing them report substantial and rising profits. Head teachers and campaigners describe the result as a tutoring arms race that disadvantages the poorest families, and free materials are often limited to pupil premium pupils. If you are in a grammar school area, the practical response is to decide what you actually want first, use free materials, keep preparation short and calm, and protect your child from the anxiety that surrounds the whole process. Sources: Schools Week, '£600 for practice tests creates 11-plus tutoring arms race', 3 September 2026, https://schoolsweek.co.uk/600-for-practice-tests-creates-11-plus-tutoring-arms-race/ ; The Sutton Trust, 'Private Tutoring 2026', February 2026, https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/private-tutoring-2026/ ; The Sutton Trust, 'Private Tutoring 2026' full report (PDF), February 2026, https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Private-Tutoring-2026.pdf This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional. If exam pressure is affecting your child's sleep, eating or mood, speak to your GP or your school's pastoral team.
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