Grammar schools have been accused of “making a fast buck out of parents’ 11-plus test anxiety” after an investigation found their parent and teacher associations are raking in thousands running mock exams.
The money made by PTAs is then pumped into the schools to help bankroll things like MacBooks, cricket nets and equipment for state-of-the-art facilities.
Five PTAs in Surrey and Kent are charging up to £70 to sit “familiarisation tests”, a Schools Week and Comprehensive Future investigation has found.
One offered just 5 per cent of test places free to disadvantaged youngsters, while others warned they only subsidised “limited” slots.
Campaigners say the schemes are “a money-spinning racket” that “offers the well-heeled yet another way to buy advantage”.
Peter Read, a former Kent grammar school headteacher, said he was “flabbergasted” and “appalled”.
“This is a way schools are making money out of parents who want to be considered for [a place].”
The practice appears to have spread since a Schools Week investigation seven years ago first revealed it happening in two PTAs.
‘Money-spinning racket’
A trading company linked to Sutton Grammar School’s PTA in Surrey runs in-person mocks costing families as much as £60 each, or £40 for an online version.
A “limited” number are subsidised for those on free school meals.
Ben Cloves, the school’s head, said free spaces were also offered to “pupils who are part of our outreach programme with local primary schools”.
Accounts show the company, SGSPTA Ltd, gifted the PTA more than £153,000 in 2021-22. Over the same period, it donated almost £103,000 to the school, £5,000 of which went towards four new MacBooks.
Two years earlier, it contributed £5,200 for a replacement greenhouse.
Grammars are making a fast buck out of parents’ 11-plus anxiety
The PTA at Wallington County Grammar School, also in Surrey, says its “primary aim is to raise funds” for the secondary, the “majority of which” comes from its £45 tests.
Since 2019 it has donated more than £300,000 to help build a new drama studio, DT and music block and cricket nets.
Jamie Bean, the grammar’s head, stressed the assessments, administered by the company WCGSPTFA Ltd, helped “pupils familiarise themselves with school entrance tests and free places are provided for those from disadvantaged backgrounds”.
Parents’ association accounts show it “instructed” the company to offer “up to a maximum of 5 per cent” of spaces free in 2022-23. These went to children “eligible for free school meals or pupil premium”. Both Cloves and Bean stressed their PTAs also raise funds through other activities, like raffles, Christmas tree sales and a second-hand uniform service.
Free tests at Wilson’s School in Wallington – The Sunday Times’ secondary of the year for 2024 – were offered to “every” eligible applicant from a deprived background.
Data published by its parents and friends’ association (PFA) suggest about 1,290 maths and English papers were completed in 2024. The 150-minute sessions – which involve sitting both papers – cost £50 each.
They generated almost £53,000 in 2022-23, accounting for about two thirds of the association’s £76,790 income.
PFA accounts listed “equipping the new Britton Centre”, a music and sports facility opened by Princess Eugenie last year, as one of its charitable activities for the year.
A Wilson’s spokesperson said the mocks were run by “parent volunteers for the PFA”.
After Schools Week approached the association for comment, its website was updated to make “clear that every eligible applicant is given a free place. This has been the case since the familiarisation tests were introduced.”
And in Orpington, Kent, mocks netted St Olave’s parents’ association (PA) almost £44,000 in 2022-23.
The tests replicate “the real St Olave’s stage 1 selective eligibility test very closely” with a number of free slots available to those who can demonstrate financial hardship, its website says.
The association also produces sample questions that are available to download free. It sells others during the school’s summer open day.
‘Desire to support social mobility’
The PTA at Townley Grammar School in the London borough of Bexley, launched its practice tests over the summer.
Costing £70 each, the assessments are designed by the exam prep company Atom Learning and use the “same procedure and instructions” as Townley’s entrance exams, the PTA’s FAQs page says.
It also notes that “a limited number of free places” are available to disadvantaged families. he school said this was a mistake. It and Atom also stressed every pupil premium child who participated in the Townley events sat the test free.
A spokesperson for the school said the “PTA’s decision to offer familiarisation tests was driven by a desire to support social mobility and raise funds for additional support programmes, particularly benefiting disadvantaged students”.
In partnership with Atom, the school provides a test preparation programme and English and maths support free to poorer children.
Dr Nuala Burgess, the chair of anti-grammar school group Comprehensive Future, accused the PTAs of “making a fast buck out of parents’ 11-plus anxiety”.
“To avoid the appearance that parents are able to buy advantage, mock 11-plus tests should be free and open to all,” she said.
Finance expert Micon Metcalfe said any school could fundraise itself or through a PTA. Most primaries and secondaries could also apply for charity status, allowing them to claim gift aid.
But schools needed to ensure their fundraising activities were in line with their values as well as the Nolan Principles for standards in public life..
It comes as schools and trusts more broadly have increasingly resorted to fundraising. Gail Brown, the chief executive of the Ebor Academy Trust in York, said it was “continually looking at different ways” to access alternative cash streams.
“We are a primary-only phase trust in a well-known low-funded area of the country, so every penny matters.”
In 2019, Schools Week revealed The Ormiston Trust received £2.7 million in two years from charitable trusts and National Lottery-funded organisations, while the Harris Federation generated £1.2 million through fundraising in 12 months.
However, the discovery of pupils paying a premium for exams coaching has reignited fears poorer children are being edged out of grammar schools.
“The selling of mock 11-plus tests is nothing short of a money-spinning racket,” Dr Burgess said.
“It offers the well-heeled yet another way to buy advantage and ensures that the poor and disadvantaged are kept out of grammar schools.”
