Preparation for private school entry exam in Year 4 - any tips/resources?

[PrettyBelle]

Hello, I am considering moving my son to a private school. He is currently in Year 4. Are there any online resources to get an idea what he is supposed to know and what skills he is supposed to have?

There are many workbooks for KS2 - which is what he is working towards. Shall I simply pick them by age? If so, do I go for 8-9 or 9-10? Some are just 8-9 and 10-11. Do these give a good idea of what's expected - or are they aimed at state schools (I would expect that private schools are a bit ahead?)

Shall I get a tutor - who has any experience with them?

In general, any ideas on how to prepare a child for private school exams would be most welcome! Many thanks in advance.

You should be able to get a sample set of exam papers from the school. Some have them online and others will post them to you if you ask. They may include things like verbal and non-verbal reasoning as well as literacy and numeracy but schools differ on this which is why it is important to get the info from the school.
You could photocopy them and get your ds to try them to get a "base level" of where he is right now. Then you could see what areas he had most difficulty with. Then you could concentrate on helping him with the areas of difficulty starting from where he is right now and leading him towards the types of tasks required by the sample exams.

You could do this by finding online worksheets or buying workbooks but either way choose things that just take him up to the next stage at a pace he can manage. I sometimes use bits of key stage 2 books/worksheets (heavily disguised) with my KS3/4 students and bits of (usually foundation level) GCSE books/worksheets with some KS2 students.

Most of the workbooks you can buy are aimed at the "average" child of that age. Many independent schools may set their exams a bit ( or a lot) higher than this but again they vary. It's not good getting an age 9-10 book immediately though if it is too big a jump for your ds!

A good tutor would be able to support and advise you through this process, but you could do it yourself too.

Is he taking the exams in Jan/Feb 2012? That isn't a lot of time for preparation but still time to give some help and support.

There are lots of different types of assessment for private schools, so is this an assessment for competitive entry at the start of Year 5, or for a mid year entry in Year 4? If the former then start with getting copies of past papers. If the latter then the assessment will probably be less formal. In the latter instances a reading test, a piece of creative writing, a 30 minute verbal reasoning test and a maths test would be the norm. Whereas in a formal test there would probably be a comprehension and/or dictation test.

There are plenty of age related curriculum booklets in WH Smiths. Buy your Year age bracket and the one above. Also ask a parent at the school if you know one to have a look at a current maths text book. Google Creative Writing Magic Money Cards for English. But mostly try to see example test papers from past years - the school might be happy to offer sample papers.

It will very much depend on the school but for the English part make sure his comprehension is of a good standard and his writing. In terms of writing it should be fluent and descriptive. Make sure he's using good, descriptive adverbs not just listing adjectives. Make sure his story writing has reasonable pace and a clear beginning, middle and end. If you are going to buy anything English related, buy some comprehension practice and do some story wriitng and perhaps a non-fiction recount.

For maths, his place value needs to be top notch. Depending upon the school, he ideally should have a good knowledge of PV to 10000. He should be able to confidently use all four operations although there is unlikely to be anything more than basic division. He should understand the relationship between fractions and simple addition so understand that a quarter is the same as dividing by four. His times tables should be up to scratch. Make sure he can see the pattern connecting the 2x, 4x and 8x and stuff like that. Good knowledge of 2D and 3D shape. Able to read the time from a clock face picture. Interpret info from a graph but no need to be able to draw a graph. Able to use and apply all this info, say, in the form of a word problem.

If he got level 3s at the end of KS1 and has made good progress from then until now then he should be fine unless the school you are interested is fiercely competitive.