Preparing in Year 3 for grammar school entrance exams

[Rozhan]

Hi everyone,
My son is currently in Year 3, and we are thinking ahead about preparing him for Grammar school entrance exam.
For parents whose children have successfully passed the Blue Coat exam or Grammar school exams, I’d really appreciate your advice and experience.
What resources or books would you recommend starting with at this stage?
Would you recommend getting a tutor? If so, are there any particular tutors or tutoring centres that you would recommend?(on line)
Also, when did you start preparing your child, and how much preparation did they do each week?
I’d be really grateful for any advice, especially from parents whose children have recently taken the exam and been successful.
Thank you! 😊

😂😂😂😂

He's 7. Leave him alone.

Personally I wouldn’t use a tutor yet unless you think he is behind already. Add lots of puzzles, brain teasers, more complex board games or logic games. We find ample opportunity for solving maths problems in daily life - get him involved in estimating and then figuring things out.

Make sure he knows his basic maths operations inside and out - eg does he have instant recall of all his multiplication and division facts up to 15?

Practise spellings regularly.

He’s needs to be reading widely and regularly - both with you and on his own.

When he’s reading aloud, there should be about 3-5 words per double-page spread that he struggles with. Any more is too hard, and less is too easy, You should be familiar enough with his comprehension to know that whilst he may be able to read the word “apprehensive”, he may not be entirely sure what it means.

Make sure you ask him to pause to check comprehension. All the usual questions, can he summarise what has just happened, can he guess what’s going to happen next, etc. Also “how do you think the main character is feeling? What phrase on this page makes you think this? Why do you think the author used this word? What other words could you use instead that means the same sort of thing? Can you explain what this word means?”

I do know children who do the worksheet and tutor approach but if your child is bright and the school isn’t totally rubbish he should be fine to wait at least another year before you buy into the 11+ prep.

oh and don’t let him have too much screen time! Brain rot.

😂

Oh… thanks for your explanation. It is great 👍