As 2020 approaches thoughts will be turning increasingly towards the Wirral 11+ that looms in September.
Many parents are eager to support their children with preparation for the exam and many will turn to tutoring to support this. However, there is plenty that can be done at home to support the overall progress towards success in the exam and the way that we have found to be most successful is the approach of little and often, little and often.
When we speak to many parents they always identify Sunday as the time to complete 11+ homework. Whilst the effort to do this is commendable, it can sometimes bring a range of problems ranging from rushing it by the student through to frustration that is shared by both parent and child. Often, by Sunday the eyes of everyone are always slightly on the Monday whether that is work or school. This can lead to a lack of focus from the students and a lack of patience from the parent culminating to an overall lack of progress and success.
To counter this we always propose little and often throughout the week. This could be a bit of 11+ comprehension one day with 10 minutes of speed maths another. This could be accompanied by a 10-15 minute bit of word maths another night and then some non-verbal reasoning another.
In addition to the short bursts throughout the week we also strongly advocate regular reading to support success in the 11+ exam. The exam will look at vocabulary in a range of ways and being a strong reader will enable students to tackle the comprehension and other literacy tasks with confidence.