What I Really Think About Pen Licences
The first time I heard the term 'pen licence' I was listening to Charlie, my eight-year-old, in the back of the car on the way home from school. He wasn't wildly impressed with the concept. He explained to me that his teacher, Mrs. Barker, awarded pen licences to...
Tips & Tricks: How to Prepare Your Child for 11+ Non-Verbal Reasoning Questions
The eleven-plus (11+) exam includes three “reasoning” sections—verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, and spatial reasoning. If you’re anxious about your child’s ability to understand and answer these reasoning questions, you’re not alone. Non-verbal reasoning tends...
10 Kent Test 11+ facts that may surprise you
Confession. I’m an absolute Kent Test geek. I’ve been studying the details, and noting down children’s responses to particular questions and timings, for over a decade. Here are some key pieces of information I'm keen to share with you: 1. Timing is everything in this...
Use your fridge to teach 11+ Maths
Using your fridge is a gentle, stress-free way to help your child revise key maths facts. Maths isn't all calculations and understanding new concepts. Some content is purely revision-based - and that's where your trusty chiller comes in... Challenges of the Kent and...
Teach Your Child the Correct Way to Hold a Pencil or Pen
When your child first picks up a pencil, their teacher shows them how to hold it, and then off they go. Well that's what most of us believe... Even as an experienced teacher myself, I too used to presume that once a pencil/pen grip had been put in place in the early...
Why is my child’s writing so messy?
Are you concerned about your child’s poor handwriting? Are you afraid that your child will the the last in his or her class to receive their pen licence? If so, you’re not alone. Many school-age children have poor, and sometimes indecipherable, handwriting. It’s a...
How to encourage your child to write
Why are some children reluctant writers? Producing a successful piece of creative writing is a complex process. Children have to fully understand the given task, organise their thoughts into sentences, sequence those sentences, consider the spelling of their words and...
Does your child have dysgraphia?
I have worked closely with several children diagnosed with dysgraphia in my online writing clubs. Dysgraphia is a learning disability which impairs a child’s handwriting and/or spelling abilities—it’s a learning disorder which makes written language challenging....
Managing summer revision
This is peak anxiety time for parents of children approaching Year 6. The Kent Test 11+ is on 9 September this year. Strangely, in the summer break, we find ourselves in a rather isolated bubble, where school is over and the sun is out, yet it is peak revision time....
Introducing our mini writing club
Due to the success of the Standard and Higher Writing Clubs, we've recently launched our new Mini Writing Club for younger ones. The club is aimed at beginners (Years 3 and 4) and is brilliant fun to teach. It sits alongside our two other clubs, for older primary...
