Hi there,
My DS is in Year 5 and we have just registered with Sherborne for Year 9 entry. DS will sit the pre-test at his prep school in November and will attend an assessment day in January.
DS is very dyslexic and getting him to write anything meaningful or legible beyond a birthday card is impossible. However, this year his prep started to allow him to type his work using an iPad and it has been a game changer. He still struggles, but you would not recognise the work he produces using an iPad and using a pen and paper as being by the same child, and I don't just mean the handwriting.
My concern is that part of Sherborne's assessment day is a creative writing task. I have spoken to Admissions and the LSU at Sherborne and, while they would be very accommodating of DS's needs once he is at the school and for exams, for the purposes of the assessment day they make no concessions at all. He cannot use a tablet to prepare his answer and he will be given no extra time. They see this as being fair as it allows them to compare boys using a standard measure from which they can establish what needs each boy has. Personally I disagree with this view, but rules is rules.
My question is if anyone who has been through the Sherborne assessment process in recent years could share with me the creative writing questions that the boys were expected to answer on the day? This is just to help me prepare my son with a basic structure to follow. I ask this because "creative writing" could cover any number of question types from "Describe a nice day out" to "Write a science fiction story in the first person" and I want to give him the best possible chance to do well, given all of the disadvantages that he will have to deal with in completing the assignment. I would be super-grateful to anyone willing to share.
Also posting this on the Private School forum.