Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Flip

Original poster

7+ advice on Bond papers

25 replies

mamadou · 12/10/2011 11:21

Hello, I have a bit of a daft question, but here goes...

Those of you who have used the Bond papers for the 7+; what age category papers did you use?

Did you just do the verbal and non-verbal 6-7, or the 7-8 as well? They are only in Year 2, so I assume 6-7, but should they be doing more, because there is the expectation that they are working ahead?

TIA :)

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

WineOhWhy · 12/10/2011 12:01

My DD is at a pre-prep and they do some of these in class in Y2 as lots sit 7 plus. They started on 6-7 but most have now moved on to 7-8.

Michaelahpurple · 12/10/2011 13:01

Whilst schools (eg Latimer) suggest on the websites doing the age appropriate one, in presentations I have heard suggestions to target the level ahead. Seems sensible, although not at the price of rushing them ahead of their abilities. That is what I plan to do for next year's 7+ joys, assuming I gear myself up for the horror.

RunningAllDay · 12/10/2011 13:12

I had to do catch-up maths with my DD1 during the summer after Yr2. We did the 7-8 yr one. And that was to catch up (she is in non-selective state primary) - but I felt it was just the right level for what her Yr 2 had been doing.

My DD2 (aged 5) did the 6-7yrs one.

Original poster

mamadou · 12/10/2011 14:26

Thanks for the replies. I sort of guessed that they might have to be doing some 7-8 stuff. DS is in a state school and we are (perhaps foolishly) doing this alone, and hoping it's enough. Arrgghh.

OP posts:

WineOhWhy · 12/10/2011 17:09

I suggest you also do a trawl of the websites of schools that have 7 plus entry for sample papers (even for schools you are not sitting for). The bond papers are quite samey and it gives a feel for different formats. Also worth getting hold of some old level 3 KS1 SATS papers.

lovingthecoast · 12/10/2011 18:24

I agree with Wine. Get hold of as many sample papers as you can. Start of the 6-7 ones and move up to the 7-8 as and when your child is ready but don't rush through too quickly.

Oh and don't worry about doing it alone. A bright, confident Y2 who is expected to get a L3 in their SATs should have no problem with most 7+ papers.

lovingthecoast · 12/10/2011 18:26

Sorry, what I meant was get sample papers in addition to the Bond papers. I also agree that some sample L3 SATs papers will help with prep. You can get these in most bookshops.

TiddlerTiddler · 12/10/2011 20:13

Mamadou. I am doing it on my own too. And I have been doing 6-7 as i thought we should go by age. But we will move up once we are done with 6-7.

Thanks for the encouragement that it can be done on your own. Trying not to get sucked into the panic of tutoring just because others are. Much prefer him to get in somewhere based on his true potential. But then I feel like I am letting him down when I don't even know the right year to be working at.

WoGreenMum · 12/10/2011 21:19

Probably asking the obvious!

Why are you doing 7 plus - is it for entry into year 3 in selective schools? If so, I would like to know, which ones in North London, Enfield area?

Thank you

lovingthecoast · 12/10/2011 21:41

Tiddler, personally I don't see any value in tutoring for the 7+. It is nothing like the same beast as the 11+ or CE. IME, the 7+ really is just testing where they are and what potential they are showing. This is why practice sats papers help when they are no good for 11+.

You could tutor them to have covered more I suppose but what good would that do unless they really are able to work and cope at that level. And if they are then you can cover it yourself. There are samples of the 7+ for Habs Boys on their website. I think you can also get samples from the NLCS website.

For English the focus of your prep should really be a)comprehension and b) story writing. Comprehension is all about practice and picking out and perhaps underlining key words in the text. Also about answering the question fully which sounds obvious but lots of kids fail to do. The writing needs to have agood narrative but also include,
a)Good quality descriptions. The best descriptive writing is not all about using adjectives to describe every noun but using vivid adverbs and considering his verbs carefully.
b)Does his current school use VCOP? If not this is good practice to get into as it makes an enormous difference to how kids structure their writing.

In maths, they will be looking at a)solid place value b)solid understanding of all four operations c)ability to use and apply this info to problems such as word problems and graphs etc. So concentrate on that.

As I said, if he can get L3 in practice sats papers then you're on the right track.

TiddlerTiddler · 12/10/2011 21:57

Oh lovingthecoast. You are a star. I could give you a hug. Thank you so much for all that.

Can I ask one dumb question - what is VCOP?

lovingthecoast · 12/10/2011 22:07

Sorry!
It's Vocabulary, Connectives, Openers and Punctuation. It really makes them think about their writing both in content and how they present it on paper.

Google VCOP, there will be tons of free resources. Also look under google images as Im sure there will be pictures of posters etc.

Hope this all helps a little. And thanks for the hug! I'm 3wks post natal and feeling a little teary tonight! DC4 finally asleep though so I'm off to have a very small glass of red wine which will hopefully reach my breastmilk by the 2am feed!

lovingthecoast · 12/10/2011 22:09

Meant to add, also google Big Writing (Ros Wilson) as they go hand in hand.

TiddlerTiddler · 12/10/2011 22:37

Will google :) this helps a lot ... not a little! Congratulations on your new baby. Fabulous. Amazed that you are doing all that as well as giving out such helpful advice at the same time. Impressive multitasking!! Thanks so much!

spinning · 15/11/2011 14:24

Hi I am a new mumsnetter also petrified for DD1 who will be sitting 7+ exams in Jan 2012. She's at a local state school and the jump from what she does at school to level 3 KS1 seems to be enormous. We also havent gone down the tutoring route.

Does anyone know whether what they will get in the exam will be the equivalent number of questions as in a Bond Paper or more or less?
Also how much should they write in their story? 6-7 sentences?

Agapanthii · 15/11/2011 20:25

Hi Spinning when my dd did the 7+ a few yrs ago she was successful but I never ever got to see the papers afterwards. From our chat in the car on the way home I believe the maths was about the size of a Bond paper, but she was definitely writing stories which had description of people and places, using lots of adjectives and a beginning, middle, and an end of story at that time. So more like 5-6 paragraphs at least I'd have thought in 30 mins.

Ayeshabai · 28/01/2012 16:25

Hi all our daughter went for the Habs 7+ interview last week, wondering what they are really looking for in the second round and how a state school child would compare in preparedness to a prep school child

mumteacher · 29/01/2012 14:34

7-8 bond books for sure. Look closely at what your child gets wrong in these books and then go back and fill those gaps - eg if in maths at 6-7 your child seems to under fractions but gets a few questions wrong at the 7-8 level then it is a topic that needs a bit more work.

Vocp isnt enough also look at sentence starters. The bining of the story should set the scene, middle event - where somehing may go wrong, end putting right whats gone wrong. Dont worry too much about spelling as long as your child is using 'wow' words.

Pingu40 · 29/01/2012 21:27

Mumteacher are you still tutoring children?

RSVPB5 · 14/01/2013 13:21

There is a lovely in st johns wood who tutors kids and has 100 percent results.
Her no is 07990572250........Her places fill up v quickly.....

iseenodust · 14/01/2013 14:48

DS is doing 8+ in two weeks time. The HT of the school said just do one book each of non-verbal/verbal reasoning of the appropriate age. He said one book is enough to give the idea/skills. We are not using any tutoring though I'm thinking a crash revision in story writing this weekend may be needed. Disclaimer - we are not in the south east.

wearymum200 · 14/01/2013 20:11

We have just done (ok, ds has) the 7plus. Not London. I got 1 book each of 7 to 8 VR and NVR because I wanted him to vhave seen those kind of questions before. Practised a fair amount of NVR, almost no VR as he seemed to "get" those much quicker. He wrote a couple of stories for me and we did some maths concept stuff (averages, decimals) which hadn't been covered at school. No tutor, as low key as possible.
Fortunately got in to preferred school. Very relieved. Good luck to all those still with it to come!

mumteacher · 14/01/2013 20:25

Iseenodust there's a long post in my thread 3+4+5+...... in primary education about story writing that you may find useful.

Good luck x

iseenodust · 14/01/2013 21:49

Thank you, spotted it. We're laid back because DS is at a very good primary and we'll just go for it at 11 if he doesn't make it this time, only going for the one school.

mumteacher · 14/01/2013 22:09

Many of the 7+ assessments are purely academic so if you can put the time in yourself helping the child you shouldn't need a tutor. Sounds like you have a great long term plan x

Flip