7+ / 8+ independent boys schools thread

[Lolakath19]

hello, just wondering if any of you had DS sitting 7+ or 8+ soon. How are you coping and how much work do you do at home with them? what does school do to help them prepare? do you have help from external tutor or do you do bonds books at home or something else?

7+
Current school doesn't prep
Only starting properly now but have been doing bits of work with DS over the past year - mainly talking about maths, addition/subtraction/times tables, we talk a lot about everything and anything

We are now doing maths, English, reasoning
papers - 3 or 4/week.
No tutors.

Probably quite naive but at the moment he loves learning and I don't want to kill that or tutor him so much that he struggles once in the school.

@noworklifebalance when will he be taking exam?

@momrishi - in Jan 2020, less than 3 months to go and we are away over Xmas/NY

@noworklifebalance you do realise that many of the exams are in the first week of January? You might want to rethink being away over NY.....

It's a bit sad if you can't go away with a 6 year old because of exams. 11plus maybe but 7+??

@winteragain one of the exams was on January 2nd last year. What is the point of sitting a child who is tired from travelling for a difficult test?

I would not listen or stress about all these comments maybe it is better to have child slightly tired because of trip but happy and refresh to have taken a break from school and with lots of things to talk about at interview than a child tired mentally after having worked through all Xmas holidays.

The dates for entrance exams should be on the school websites now. I would be checking the schools past papers to see what there standards are. We are not there yet (but have done three rounds of 11+) my youngest is in a prep school and the expected standard to move onto the junior school for yr 3 is a reading age of 2 yrs above and the same for maths. He is already being pushed very hard with three books a week, plus homework which is maths, literacy and science. He is in reception and is already being assessed and we will find out at the end of yr 1 if it’s worth trying for the junior school....

Oh wow, that sounds horrendous @aweedropofsancerre - poor kids and parents.

DS is at a prep (rather than pre-prep) so his exams would be at 11y and the school don't do any prep for the 7+.

Our feeling is that it may be kinder on us all round to try at 7+ knowing that he can stay on at his current school if it doesn't work out and, if it does work out l, then he has got in without huge amounts of stress and angst.

We know the dates of the 7+ and we'll be back a few days before it. We plan on having a brilliantly fun Christmas with a holiday (we never usually go on holiday over Xmas) and lots of seeing family and friends interspersed with some practice papers - definitely weighted in favour of fun.
However, as I said previously, this may be very naive of us but I intend to come of it with our mental health intact!

@noworklifebalance what type of homework does he have ? Spelling /sight words? And maths ? Addition subtraction one more one less things like this?

I really want to try 7+ for 2021 January. What all we now doing is phonics writing practice i.e one or 2 a week. Maths we doing small additions and sequences at home. I guess he is doing ahead at class room so nothing ahead of his peers practice I think, but it's for him not to forget what he learnt and hand writing practice. He is only writing words and sentences on persistent or sometimes he just get urge to write a line or expression.. So not sure he will be ready by then. Any ideas and tips I would be thankful.

@Lolakath19 - he gets very little homework: some reading, spellings (about 5 week) and online maths homework, which is quite basic.
I have also taught him maths gradually over the past year or so - 5 min here and there, on the school run etc l.

@Lolakath19 how are you preparing your DS? Any tutor? Is your child at a private or state school? I don't have a DS but thinking of putting my DD through this next year. Thanks

@aweedropofsancerre

From experience I am surprised at the level of homework you are getting already at reception?

What homework on maths, literacy and science, beyond reading are you getting now, only a couple of months since starting Reception? Sounds strange.

He gets three books a week and also gets set homework on a Friday which is to be handed in on the Wednesday. That involves I spy with phonics, finding things out and about with the phonic letter sound they have been learning and writing them out. He also gets 6 high frequency words to learn every week, maths has been counting how many leaves , squirrels etc on a A 4 sheet and writing down the number. He has had to go round the house comparing shoe sizes, finding things that are taller and smaller heavier and lighter and longer and shorter and finding ways of measuring those. He has only just been set an additional piece of science for the half term . We are in London and the junior and senior school is highly
sought after and standards are extremely high. I hadn’t appreciated the amount expected at reception but as stated above they are expected to be 2 yrs ahead by the time they sit the 7+ to be even considered for a junior spot.... I am not paying for tutors for him but sadly a large number of the kids in his class have been getting tutors since they were at nursery.... seems mad to me

@aweedropofsancerre oh wow the level expected is really high!

Just rechecked the homework and it’s not science! It’s physical development.... anyway I am not looking forward to the 7+

@aweedropofsancerre I agree that is a lot!

Following this thread as DS will be doing 7+ this time next year.

I'm pretty confident on his maths, but less so on English which I expect is almost more of a differentiator for this exam.

So keen to get tips... we basically read, read and read some more (he reads, we read it him, we talk about what we read) but what else?!

@aweedropofsancerre - it does sound a lot when listed like that but it's probably all the things you would normally do with a child that age but much less formal.
Reading every day - either you to them, vice versa or both is a given. I spy phonics, spotting squirrels & sizing up things will just a game to the children.

noworklifebalance that may be correct but I am not aware of any friends locally who are working with there kids to the same extent and they are shocked at the amount of work. So I agree we as parents do less formal learning with our DC. However I have felt the pressure to ensure he is reading (not me) I have to spend every day getting him to read the books and sound out and blend words. For me it’s not the same as the joys of reading him a book! Anyway the expectation to complete a piece of Homework every week including , writing , numbers and some other piece of research is far more than my other DC did at state school. one week we had to research the difference between the African and Indian elephant. It’s felt like a lot of work! Anyway my advice on this thread for those going for 7+ is do your research for your chosen schools and ensure you know the standards expected .

@aweedropofsancerre what school is your son going to?