7+ exams for Westminster, King's and St. Pauls

[Heist]

Hello Everyone, my son is writing 7+ exams for Westminster, St.Pauls and KCS this year.
My son is preparing for a while now and struggling in English a lot as of now.
Could someone please provide me more insights on the interview and activity tasks that the kids are asked to participate in and how to ace those bits? How could I prepare my son for these bits?
Thanks a lot.

I know at least 6 or 7 boys have 3 offers, therefore the reserve lists are going to move soon. And totally agree that it's crazy to sit WUS if their first choice has already offered.

Thanks @heist and @organiccofee. Hopefully people will use the weekend to make decisions and lists will move next week! Best of luck to all waiting

OP a lot of creative writing teaching at that level tends towards tick box stuff: add some adjectives, use sensory detail etc. It really doesn't;t produce standout work. Encourage him, as others have said to read, read, read and ask him questions about what he enjoys reading most. What made that exciting? Why is this a page turner? What do you want to know more about?

Then get him to write as honestly as he can about anything at all that interests him. An opinion piece, an atmospheric piece, a memoir, a description - doesn't matter, but get him to engage his mind in bringing something to life through words and NOT just shovelling in a requisite adjective, semi-colon etc.

Hi abc79, yes that is right, deadline is 30th Jan. The schools themselves have also said that they expect some movement after this deadline and also hopefully next week (as all results are out as of next week). The lists do move... Good luck!

What a truly depressing thread

Oh duh! Sorry - I should have read the OP's posting date. good luck to you all.

thank you @Tingting01

Yes @velocitygirl7 it may look quite depressing but this is what it looks like in 2020 SW London for school entries. Further up (11+ entry) it gets even worse and numbers can look insane (1000 applications for 100 places). It may look like we are all mad (and my mother certainly thinks so!) but it’s the game to play. Luckily most of us shield our dcs from all this anxiety and just use this forum to vent a little!

Sorry to jump into the 7+ discussion, does anyone have any insight into the 8+ exam? Any ideas if there are boys with multiple offers and considering elsewhere? Like others, just want to get an idea if wait list moves at all.

Should have clarified for WUS

Congratulations @Heist! I have been following this thread since you started it, as we will be looking at my son sitting 7+ in Nov 2020, a year behind you.

We are also based in Wimbledon and so KCS is a natural choice.

I am reluctant to put my son through the process if it is not suited to him. As such I'm keen to understand the level a boy needs to be at, at this stage of Year 1 to consider going down the 7+ route at the end of the year. (By this I mean colour reading band, writing and maths.)

The feedback from his pre-prep is that he is bright and passionate about learning, in particular science and natural history. Is good at maths, but struggles with reading relative to his high performing peer group. (He is on purple books). Despite the reading he is very good at spelling, but relatively reluctant when it comes to writing lengthy pieces.

I realise it is early in the process and he is only 5! However I would be grateful for the insight. As I'm certainly not going to put undue pressure on him or go down this route if it's not for him.

Many thanks!

Hi@zamumuk,

Of course it is very early to predict if the boys are ready for this experience... but if you feel that he struggles with reading, I would definitely recommend to read more. Just because reading will improve his vocabulary and it must be at a very good level to pass the exams. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice! He reads a school book daily and we subscribe to the Reading Chest too, which definitely has helped. We will keep at it!

Thanks @zamumuk.
I would definitely recommend around 20-30 minutes of reading on a daily basis.
I would reckon to also start reading some short story books like “Magic Finger” by Roadl Dahl and slowly and steadily improve it so that 8 months down the line he could read a variety of books with ease and enjoy them.
In case he is not in a mood to read on a certain day, then someone else could read to him and then ask questions around what he understood, what does he think will happen next just to keep him attached to the story.
Since he is good at spellings, thus sometimes if someone else reads to him, his spelling won’t be much impacted by that.

I found Magic Finger as a relatively easier book for kids to start with. But that could just be the starting point. Final level of English reading should be much higher.

Thanks for the great advice @Heist. We read chapter books to him every night at bedtime, but it hadn't occurred to me to get him to read them yet. I will definitely start trying that, along with the comprehension activities. Thanks again!

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but has anyone heard anything about any movement yet on 7+ WLs for WUS, KCS and SPJS?

Are you on all three wait lists abc79?

We are the waitlist for WUS abc79 and there has been no change as of yet...🤞

Anyone else on the WLs for WUS & SPJS for 8+? And any movement yet? Hope people make their decisions soon

Has anyone heard about any movement in waitlist for SPJS? Thanks.

@Heist guess have to wait until after 30 Jan

I’ve just heard that one boy we know has accepted WUS, meaning that there will be a freed up space in SPJ. I hope this can be helpful!

Congratulations to all those who have their good news! For those on waitlist- all the very best! Sorry to hijack this thread as my son is looking to sit his exams end of the year/early next year: hoping to sit WUS and SPJ. I was wondering what I need to do to help prepare him - bond books? What else?

Good luck to everyone on the thread but do remember children develop at different stages. My youngest was not even allowed to sit for his brother's school (Merchant Taylor's) by his head master. He went to a not so high ranking private school with his twin, got the best A levels rrsult in the family and is doing very well in a BSc at one of the better universities and starts his legal career in September in terms of post grad law study.

No one would have thought he would do this other than his mother (me) back when he was little when even learning his school spellings aged 6 took him 5 x (I timed him ) the time it took his twin brother (who is now also doing equally as well and that one was allowed to try but didn't pass for Merchant Taylor's so went to the other school with his twin where they both won music scholarships).

In other words good luck but it isn't as important as it seems at the time and if they are bright and hard working and have a decent second or third choice they can do very well.