With Bromley one of a handful of London boroughs offering highly sought after state grammar school education, there's increasing demand for places from local families. Many of our local children (with the guidance and extra academic support of parents and/or tutors) do successfully pass the 11+ exams, and go on to gain places at these schools.
Every child's experience of preparing for and sitting 11+ exams will be unique in terms of the 'journey', but what all their parents will have in common is a desire to equip them as best they can for the rigours of the papers (which are increasingly Maths and English-centric).
With this in mind, we are really pleased to introduce to you 11+ Flash Cards. This family run business have used their own personal experience of the 11+ journey to develop a product that would support their own and other people's children in their learning.
Here's what they told us:
"We believe that learning can be made fun and exciting; if the material and techniques are refreshing, children will not shy away even from the most challenging subjects.
Does your child find understanding and retaining new words difficult and boring? Do you wish you had a concise list of frequently appearing words to ease the learning process for their 11+ exam preparation?
We spent hours and hours working with endless vocabulary resources which our son detested and was unable to retain. To overcome this challenge, we made a concise list of words with antonyms, synonyms and added sentences, all in one place to help him understand meaning and context. We converted them into flashcards and the result was very posi-tive.
Our son began to enjoy learning vocabulary at home, on the road, at bedtime etc; and as a result did very well in his verbal reasoning/English exams. The positive results were not limited just to 11+ attainments, as we also saw his creative writing/reading grades improve drastically.
When we shared these flash cards with friends and professionals, feedback was very positive and encouraging. Lot of parents and teachers told us they had been looking for a product like this to make vocabulary easier and more enjoyable.
Today, we are very pleased to launch our flashcards to the general public and our aim is to help as many children (and parents!) as possible along their 11+ journeys.
The learning pack includes:
· 100 cards printed front and back, words listed in alphabetical order;
· 200 high frequency words, approximately 1300 synonyms/antonyms and simple sentences to explain different contexts;
· 2 high quality rings to carry selected cards on the go;
· 10 blank cards to make your own flash cards;
· 2 index cards (‘mastered’ and ‘to do’) to help organize learning.
You can find out more information and purchase our flashcards (currently retailing at £15 + free P&P) at www.11plusflashcards.co.uk or Amazon."
The next round of 11+ exams (for entry in the academic year 2016-17) is less than six months away. Many of you will have already long since embarked upon the learning journey with your child(ren), as you keep your eye on the prize of a grammar school place. Why not share your experience of doing 11+ prep, the mocks, available resources you've used and the gaps you see in this market? Preeti, co-founder of 11+ Flash Cards, is happy to offer her insights, as a parent who has gone thro' the process, and more recently as a provider of 11+ revision aides.