How Much Does 11+ Tutoring Actually Cost?

One-to-one private tutoring is the most expensive route, and prices vary a great deal depending on where you live and the tutor's experience. In and around London and the South East, hourly rates are generally higher than in other parts of the country, and tutors with a strong track record of grammar school passes, or those who are qualified teachers, typically charge more than newer or less experienced tutors. As a rough guide, hourly rates across the UK commonly range from around £25 to £30 an hour at the lower end up to £60, £70 or more an hour for highly experienced specialist tutors in high-demand areas, though you will find rates outside this range in both directions.

Over a full year of weekly sessions, that adds up. Even at a relatively modest rate, a year of weekly one-to-one tutoring commonly runs into four figures, and can comfortably exceed £2,000 to £3,000 for families using a specialist tutor weekly over a full year in a higher-cost area. Some families use two tutors, one for English and verbal reasoning and one for maths and non-verbal reasoning, which roughly doubles the cost.

What you're paying for is genuine personalisation: a tutor can adapt in real time to exactly where a child is struggling, provide direct feedback, and adjust pace session to session. Whether that's worth the price depends on your budget and how much your child benefits from one-to-one attention specifically, versus other, cheaper ways of getting similar practice.

Small group tutoring, often two to six children per session, is a common middle-ground option. Because the tutor's time is shared across several children, hourly rates per child are usually noticeably lower than one-to-one, often somewhere in the region of £15 to £30 per child per hour depending on group size, location and the tutor's experience, though again this varies by area.

Franchised tuition centres (chains offering after-school and weekend classes in maths, English and 11+-specific preparation) sit in a similar or sometimes higher price bracket once you account for enrolment fees, materials, and the fact that many centres require attendance at fixed weekly slots over an extended period, sometimes a year or more. Total costs across a preparation period commonly run into four figures, similar to or sometimes above sustained one-to-one tutoring, depending on the centre and how long a child attends.

The trade-off with group settings is less individual attention than one-to-one, but often a more structured, exam-focused curriculum, some social element (children motivating each other), and a somewhat lower cost per hour of instruction. Quality varies a lot between providers, so it's worth asking about group sizes, tutor qualifications, and whether the syllabus is tailored to your specific local exam board format (GL Assessment or CEM-style) before committing.

Online and self-directed 11+ preparation platforms, including Skylark 11+, sit at the lower-cost end of the spectrum, typically charging an annual subscription rather than an hourly rate. Skylark, for example, is priced at £199 a year, which covers a full year of adaptive practice, a personalised study plan, mock exams and downloadable worksheet PDFs, without requiring scheduled sessions or a tutor's hourly rate.

The honest comparison: over a year, £199 for a self-directed platform is typically a fraction of what sustained weekly one-to-one tutoring costs, and often less than a year of group tuition or a tuition centre programme too. What you give up compared with a human tutor is real-time personal explanation, the ability to ask a tutor a question and get an immediate, tailored answer, and a person actively managing your child's motivation and pacing week to week. What you gain is flexibility (practice fits around your family's schedule rather than a fixed weekly slot), adaptive practice that adjusts to a child's actual performance rather than a one-size-fits-all worksheet, and a much lower financial commitment, which matters given that not every family can realistically afford £2,000 to £3,000 a year for tutoring.

For many families, online platforms work well as either a lower-cost alternative to tutoring altogether, or as a complement alongside a lighter tutoring schedule, for example fortnightly one-to-one sessions supplemented with daily independent practice on a platform, which can reduce total tutoring hours (and cost) while still giving a child regular, structured practice.

Several things push 11+ preparation costs up or down regardless of which route you choose: geography (tutoring in London and the South East generally costs more than in other regions), tutor credentials and track record (qualified teachers and tutors with strong local reputations charge a premium), how far in advance you start (a longer runway generally means a lower weekly spend spread over more months, versus intensive, higher-cost catch-up tutoring closer to the exam), and how many subjects or skill areas need dedicated support.

Value isn't purely about price, though. The right question isn't 'what's cheapest' but 'what does my child actually need, and what's the most cost-effective way to provide it'. A child who's broadly on track but needs steady practice and exam familiarity may do perfectly well with an online platform alone. A child with a specific, significant gap, in maths fluency, say, or English comprehension, might benefit more from a course of targeted one-to-one sessions focused on that gap, combined with a lower-cost platform for everyday practice, rather than paying for weekly generalist tutoring across all four subjects for a year.

It's also worth remembering that spending more doesn't guarantee a place. Grammar school admission is competitive and based on relative performance among all applicants in a given year, not on how much a family spent preparing. A well-structured, consistent preparation plan, whatever its price point, generally matters more than the size of the bill.