First Steps To 11-Plus Preparation!

Have you been struggling to decide exactly when to begin getting your child ready for the 11 plus exams?

If you ask majority of parents who are well versed in the 11-Plus preparation, they will quickly tell you that the best time to start preparing your child for the exam is from day one.  You might then ask, “What exactly is the meaning of starting from day one?”

In one of my 11 Plus blog posts, I shared with you that majority of parents begin the process by the start of Primary 4.  A few others will leave the preparations until the start of Year 5.  Children and families work differently and it would be unacceptable to pinpoint an exact time when it would be best to begin the process.  A lot will depend on the child’s natural academic ability as we discussed in my last post, preparing your child for the 11-Plus exams.

In this blog post, I am going to share with you some of the basic things you can start doing with your child before even considering starting preparing them for the Grammar school exams.  My intention here is to try and minimise the panic and anxiety that I see all the time associated with the 11-Plus preparation.

So when exactly do you start?

It’s highly likely that you may have just come to the realisation that all children who take the 11-Plus exams need to be professionally tutored.  Maybe you have a child in year 5 who is doing well and you have only recently come to the realisation that your child could actually gain entry into a Grammar school but you are not sure how to get him or her started in the 11-Plus programme.

Or perhaps, this may even be your first time of hearing about the 11-Plus exams and so you understandably feel quite upset that you didn’t get the chance to start your child early enough. Maybe you are a parent who is still unsure how to start the whole process of preparing your child and you are looking for a tutor in your local area to help and advise you.

Suffering from information overload?

Or maybe, as it’s the case these days, you’ve got so much information and frankly, you are more confused than ever and you are looking for some clarity on what to do to get your child to pass the 11-Plus exams.  If any the above reasons describe your particular situation and you want to find out more, then keep reading.

Let’s say you have a child in primary 1 or 2 and you have intentions of getting them into a Grammar school.  And because of this, you want to make sure, from the very outset, that they are receiving the right information that will keep them on track for eventually taking the 11-Plus and passing well enough to gain entry into a Grammar school. There are aspects of your child’s knowledge that you can start working on starting right now to ensure that they have a good command and understanding of the basics.

Congratulations to our primary school teachers…

One of the first things I want to say here is that majority of the local primary schools are doing a fantastic job teaching our children important skills and concepts that set the foundation for their future learning.  If you are a primary school teacher, I congratulate you for all your hard work.

So as a parent, the first thing you should do is to check the national league tables to see how your local school is doing compared to other schools in your borough as well as how they are doing nationally.  You can find the link to the Schools Performance and League table by clicking here.  The information you get here will then decide how you will proceed.

If your child’s school is failing to provide the children with the basics in English and Maths, then any extra time you begin to invest in your child will make a substantial difference in their overall achievement regardless of the outcome of the 11+. In saying this, I have seen quite a number of parents take a decision to change their children’s school because they were unhappy with the performance of their children’s current school.

Let’s say, you are happy with your child’s current school. If your child’s school is doing a good job and they are providing your child with firm foundations in literacy and numeracy and your child is challenged enough to stretch his or her ability and the school as a whole is achieving good results in all their end of year exams and SATs results, then there’s very little here for you to worry about.

Attend ALL parent teacher review meetings

The next thing to be aware of is that, many schools hold review days once or twice every year where parents are given the opportunity to meet the class teacher one on one to discuss how their children are doing in their school work. You also have the opportunity to find out if there is anything you can do as parent to support your child further at home with his or her learning.

As a parent, make sure you do not miss attending any of these review days because this is your opportunity to get answers to all those unanswered questions you may have about your child’s school work.  Teachers are extremely busy and they have a thousand and one things to prepare for before the next day’s lessons, so a chance meeting outside the school gates or on the playground in the morning is not the ideal time to have discussions about your child’s progress.

Know the National Curriculum requirements…

The next thing you can do as a parent is to familiarise yourself with the national curriculum requirements that your child needs to meet.  Click here to find out more. Even though all the different subject areas in the primary curriculum are equally important, your focus should mainly be on literacy and numeracy if you intend for your child to take the 11-Plus  when he or she gets to year 6.

Once you are aware of the NC requirements, then even if you find that your local school is not meeting all the needs, this is the opportunity for you to start putting things right by going ahead and purchasing resources that will ensure that your child gets a good command of the basic knowledge that is needed.  This is your way of making sure that he or she does not miss out on anything. This is where you can begin to supplement their work at school with additional work at home.

Stock up on good quality resources…

You can purchase books from local stores like WH Smith, Waterstones or you can use online stores like Amazon.co.uk.  You can also purchase online programmes that will help your child to stay on track in their learning.  There are many resources out there.  Click on the resources tab on the top of the page to see the recommended list.

Now that you have all the resources for your child, you will probably want to know how to proceed from here.  One of the main difficulties many parents face is finding the time to actually start going through the resources with their children.  Very few children are self-motivated enough to pick the books themselves and start doing the work required.  Besides, children are young and need a lot of guidance to do the work correctly.

Set time aside to help your child…

As a parent, it is your responsibility to make the time investment for your child.  You will have to find the time to guide your child through the work.  You don’t necessarily have to sit with the child but you will have to be available for the child to consult if they need the support. If you can’t make the time, then you will have to hire a private tutor to help.  This is what majority of parents do.  But do be aware of the costs involved!

If your child is, let’s say, in the reception years and you have plans for the 11-Plus exams, then it is important that you make the time to help develop his or her literacy and numeracy skills.  Encourage the child to develop the love for reading by getting them to read to you every day.  You can invest in quality reading time by listening to them read to YOU books they love and will enjoy. Get them to start spelling simple words by writing them in an exercise book and not on scraps of paper. This way you can keep a record of all the new words they are learning.

Again, you have to make the time for this and in my opinion, you will achieve the best results if you do this yourself with your children in their early years. Just as important, encourage them to also practise and get good in basic number skills such as counting, times tables, simple division and fraction rules.  You can achieve all of these for your child by the time they reach 6 or 7 years.  If you’re really stuck for time and you can’t do it yourself, then the next best thing is to employ the services of a private tutor.

Don’t panic! There is still time…

So going back to my main reason for doing this post! You don’t have to get yourself into a state of panic if your child is in year 3 or year 4 and you find out that majority of parents have already got their children enrolled in the 11-Plus programme and you haven’t.  Contrary to what most parents think, majority of children start the process when they get to year 5.  I am not saying this is the best time because success in the 11-Plus will depend on many other factors other than the exact time you start preparing your child.

I want to keep this post very brief.  I have tried to outline the basics of what you can do as a parent right from when your child starts going to school.  There is no right or wrong way to go about preparing your child for the 11-Plus exams.  But the important thing to keep in mind is that, nothing great was ever achieved without putting in the hard work.  Even if you do employ the services of a tutor to guide your child through the process, remember, the tutor is only a guide.  Your child will have to put in the work to achieve the success desired and you the parent will have to ensure that you are available and accessible to support and encourage the child throughout the entire process.

To Your Child’s Success!