11+ tests and secondary school choices can seem a long way off. Our Year 3 and 4 children live very much in the moment, usually oblivious to the choices they will be facing a couple of years from now. But as parents, we need to be aware of what opportunities await our children and how the system works, and it definitely pays to be clued up on all this earlier rather than later.
Over my years of teaching in schools and tutoring children from Years 3 to 6, I have become certain that the earlier you begin thinking about it, the better. It is always disappointing when parents contact me mid-way through Year 5, hoping that I can help them get their child ready for the tests, and I sadly have to tell them that my books are full. Not only that, but 11+ preparation involves a lot more than some students and parents realise, and a few months really doesn’t allow long enough to really get the hang of everything involved.
I hear the same from other tutors: don’t wait until your child is in Year 5. Places fill up fast at the start of an academic year, and they stay full all year. We have children on waiting lists, sometimes a year or two in advance, whose parents have been thinking ahead, and many start their tuition or at-home preparation as they enter Year 4.
Once your child is settled in Year 3, it’s time to start looking into what happens at the end of primary school. That might seem too early, but it’s actually the perfect time to start considering it. Year 3 is the time for you, the parent, to start investigating. Find out about the secondary schools in your area. Are there grammar schools, or only comprehensive schools? Is there just one local high school that everybody seems to move on to, or are there several, perhaps even in nearby towns, that your child’s school “feeds” in to? If you aren’t sure, ask the staff at your child’s school, or look on your local authority’s website. Arm yourself with the knowledge of what’s going to be available when your child reaches the age of 11.
Next, if you live within range of a grammar school, even if it’s in a neighbouring town, find out about the entry requirements. Here in Kent, our schools are a mixture of grammars and comprehensives, and children often take buses to neighbouring towns, to attend the school of their choice. Don’t presume to know which school your child will want to attend. One of the main reasons I get so many late requests for help, is that parents have assumed their child won’t want (or won’t be suitable for) a grammar school place, until sometime in Year 5 when they start hearing from friends who are already preparing for grammar tests, and they suddenly become intent on it! Cue some frantic requests for help! Armed with this knowledge early, during Year 3, you can support your child steadily through their key stage 2 years, to be ready for the tests if they/you decide they will sit them, when the time comes.
Contact a tutor while your child is in Year 3, to get their name on the waiting list, ready to start in September of Year 4. A good, solid, two years of weekly, one-to-one sessions with a good tutor, will give them the best grounding and steady progression towards the tests.
Starting at the beginning of Year 4 means that as a tutor, I can often quickly work through the Year 4 skills, ensuring that those are fully embedded. At the same time – during Year 4 – I can help them extend their skills and understanding into Year 5 content, giving them a headstart on other students in their cohort. It is widely accepted among 11+ tutors, that in order to be in with realistic chances of passing, students should be about a year ahead of their curriculum requirements. And I agree with this; there are skills and areas that are tested in 11+ tests, that are taken from the Year 6 curriculum, despite the tests occurring in the very first week of Year 6. Consistent, weekly tuition from the start of Year 4 enables children to get ahead of their year group, to exactly where they need to be by the end of Year 5.
It’s not just the curriculum learning that they need either; there’s also the Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning and Spatial Reasoning (different areas vary in their requirements). These are skills that are not explicitly taught in school, so the style of questions in these tests is completely unfamiliar. By beginning early in Year 4, and setting up a really strong, secure foundation in Maths and English, by the time students reach Year 5, they are ready to tackle these difficult areas. I often begin to introduce VR, NVR and SR questions during the second half of Year 4, along with continuing to advance their Year 5 level Maths and English skills. By the start of Year 5, students are hitting the ground running, and often breeze through school work because they have already been taught it. It means we can really focus in on the trickiest areas that will give them the edge over other students in the test. As an experienced tutor, I see a big difference between those that started tuition in Year 4, and those coming to me in Year 5. Those who started earlier, and have had the extra year of quality 1-to-1 teaching through Year 4, find that they can breeze through their Year 5 school work and enjoy the challenge of the higher level skills during 1-to-1 tutoring.
It really does pay to be prepared early. Don’t leave it to chance whether you’ll be able to find a good tutor late in the day, or whether your child will be able to cope with cramming lots of preparation into the last few months of Year 5.
The early bird really does catch the worm.
If you are considering using a tutor to help your child prepare for the Kent Test, please see details of my Tutoring Service, and contact me to enquire about availability. You are also welcome to send me a message through my Facebook page.
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