Prep for 7+

[poppoppophop]

If your DC is at a school that does not prepare for 7+, competing against a lot of children from a pre-prep who are prepared for it, how much work do you need to do at home to prepare them? I am planning to do this myself, not tutor.

Start a year before the exam? Work 2-3 hours a week? Does that sound realistic? School publishes past 7+ papers so I'd know roughly what to aim for.

Thanks!

[Fekko]

When are you aiming for? Bond papers are pretty good.

Don't forget about the non academic stuff - music, sports, clubs, interests, what they get up to at school... make sure the child is well read, comfortable chatting to adults, curious, and has a grip on what's going on in the world (first news and Aquila are good sources).

[Dozer]

Are we talking London craziness or elsewhere?

[poppoppophop]

London craziness unfortunately.

DC is currently only three - think we've decided against the pre prep but want to understand what I'm opting for instead.

[Fekko]

Ok... boy or girl (just trying to hgave degree of craziness)?

[Dozer]

The eleven plus forum has a 7+ section i think.

[poppoppophop]

Ok I'll take a look, thank you. Boy

[Fekko]

Central London nuttiness?

Your school will have ideas of which schools to try for. A lot is on personality and fit, nut just academic ability. Have you a list of the application dates and procedures? Start thinking about the activities and interests outside of school - they like to see passion and commitment that comes from the child.

[poppoppophop]

Thanks Fekko. He's very sporty (for a three year old..), thinking of starting him with drama - not really for school process but because he'd like it.

Main thing is I want to keep things quite low key which is why I'm unsure about the (very competitive and academic) pre prep.

[Fekko]

PM me if you've any qs - I've been on that roundabout and other parents can be weirdly competitive!

[poppoppophop]

Thanks Fekko, really kind. I'll try and work out how to send PMs...

[Fekko]

Just press the 3 little dots on someone's pist and press the PM link.

[princessna]

A lot will depend on the age and specific temperament of your child. If he is only 3, you may not yet quite know what he is like. If he is mature for his age, able to concentrate and easily grasps all the concepts he is taught at school, then the work you will need to do with him will be less. Or rather you will be able to use the time to extend and drill specific things like adjective, similes, personifications in a story. If he is a young for his year group, you may (there are of course exceptions) find that concentration is just not there, hence concepts take longer to grasp and you find yourself doing a lot of basics during your prep time.
You will find that while Bond papers are of for a basic start, they do not really cover the type of questions asked by the schools and the English does not cover the length of comprehensions and story writing expected. So use these just as a starting block before progressing to material requiring MUCH more written material.