My experience of the 7+ Assessments (2022-2023)

We currently await the final results from our current cohort who have now completed their 7+ examinations. All of our students have done exceptionally well and worked incredibly hard. When you choose to embark upon tuition with Creative Minds Tutors, you do not just get a lesson once a week. It is the ongoing communication between teacher and parent that sets us apart. You will have direct access to your teacher at any point from the end of the lesson to the start of your next lesson. In this way, your child will have the best possibility to succeed. I truly believe that this beautiful communication is what will allow us to have so much success this year and is what has allowed us to be so successful in the last 16 years!

When I teach children for their 7+ assessments, I do not just have the 7+ assessment in mind. I am looking long term. I am looking to support my students to achieve to the best of their ability, not only to perform well in their assessment but to also develop skills that they can take with them well after the tuition is complete. In fact 75% of our students return to us after a year or 2 to continue with tuition because our clients see the incredible value that we provide.

The 7+ this year has been like every other year with one main difference that I noted at all schools. The level expected of children was higher. This is where you need an expert to guide you as to exactly what level your child needs to be at in order to be successful in their assessment. The biggest problem that I saw last year was with parents beginning one or two months before the assessment. This is a problem because it isn’t enough time. Of course the lessons will no doubt support them with their learning but it won’t be enough to help them to be successful in the 7+.

Children need to aim to achieve at least 80% in all of these areas (of course depending on the school)

1. Maths - reasoning and problem solving

2. English - comprehension, spelling, punctuation and grammar

3. Story writing

4. Verbal and non verbal reasoning

Please keep in mind that all schools have different assessment procedures and it is important that you familiarise yourself with exactly what your child needs to be able to do at the school/s that they are sitting assessment for. If you have tuition with us, we will guide you every step of the way. We have experience with every single school at 7+.

Ultimately, the children who scored the highest will be invited to interview (round 2 or 3, again depending on the school you are applying to)

Maths - At most schools, the level of maths has been at a year 3/4 standard. This may seem shocking to you but with enough preparation, your child will be ready to tackle any question presented to them. Problem solving has been big this year with schools wanting to see how children apply their mathematical knowledge to 2 and 3 step worded problems.

English - Some schools did a comprehension and others didn’t. Regardless whether the school you are applying to tests comprehension or not, it is still vital that your child practises their reading. They need to be able to read proficiently to answer even just their maths paper. So much mathematical language needs to be known and understood, otherwise questions cannot be answered. Some schools did story writing and others didn’t. The level of the story needs to be high. It’s not about the quantity but all about the quality. I provide a lot of support for story writing and have many FREE resources. Please email me if you’d like me to send you extra support for story writing (office@creativemindstutors.com). I have also written several of my own models which can help guide you as to the level needed.

Verbal and non verbal - This was challenging at most schools this year. Your child needs a lot of exposure and practise with both verbal and non verbal reasoning. The best resources that I have used for this are the Bond Books (aim to get to age 8-9 but start at the age your child is currently) and also Schofield and Sims have excellent resources.

Other areas - You will need to practise general knowledge with your child, interview questions if they are called to round 2, dictations if this is a requirement of the school/s you are applying to.

The children who were successful at round 1 this year (I’m still awaiting round 2 data and then will update) were the children who started tuition in January/February of the year of their assessment (so when they were in year 1, we also have several who started in reception who were also successful) and had nearly a full year of tuition, one hour once per week. The children who were successful were those who completed all of their home learning each week and worked on all of the feedback that I provided them. The children who were successful were those who were able to score excellent results (above 80%) in all of the areas I’ve mentioned above.

If you choose to support your child yourself, we also offer Massive Action Months where I will send you all of the materials each week, mark all learning and guide you as to exactly what you need to be doing each week to support your child with their learning. Massive Action Months are £75 per week. Schedule your FREE 15 minute trial lesson to see what these are like. Read our incredible reviews here to see what other parents have to say!

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My experience of the 4+ Assessments (2022-2023) Round 1

All of our results are now in for Round 1 at all of the schools that our youngest children have sat assessments at. Our youngest students start with us as early as two years of age. When they sit their assessments (4+) they are either 3 or 4. Most schools have two rounds of assessments at this age. I am still awaiting final results but a lot of parents have been asking me about round 1 at different schools so I thought it would be best to write a blog about my experience with the 4+ so far for the last academic year. As new students get ready to begin tuition with us, it is my hope that this blog will help someone to apply something that they learn just by reading this blog post.

We prepare children for a variety of different private schools for the 4+. Our most popular schools this year have been:

NLCS

Haberdasher’s Askes

St Christophers

St Margarets

South Hampstead

Kensington Prep

Channing

The main thing that I have learnt from this year and that I would like to share with all parents is the importance of children carefully following instructions. So as an example, if your child is asked to draw a butterfly that they actually draw a butterfly.

Practise listening skills with your child in their preparation for the 4+ assessments. Provide your child with a series of instructions that they need to follow. Do this frequently. You can even ask your child to provide you with instructions and you model to them how you carefully listen and follow instructions provided.

Here is an example:

I would like you to draw a dog.

Please give the dog 5 spots.

Give the dog a smile

Draw a tongue.

Here’s another example:

I would like you to jump up and down 10 times.

Turn to your right once and stop.

Crouch down to the floor and count to 5.

Then stand back up and touch your head.

Make it really fun but do practice frequently.

Remember that at round 1, the schools are getting to know your child as an individual. They are looking to see a variety of things specific to each school. If you choose to do tuition with us, we will of course guide you and support you every step of the way. We have over 16 years of experience preparing children for their 4+ assessments at all top London schools.

Whether you choose to tutor your child or not, it is fundamental that you prepare your child for these assessments. So far, we have had exceptional results and I am very excited to share our final results once all round two results are released by the end of this month.

I provide a lot of FREE support each week to everyone who joins our mailing list.

To join, simply click the link below:

https://www.creativemindstutors.com/contactus

Why Reading Schemes & Book Bands Don’t Work and What I Teach Instead

I worked as a full-time teacher for 12 years. The main banded books used in the schools that I worked at was the Oxford Reading Tree scheme. In this scheme, books are banded by colour and in order of the child’s ‘reading ability’.

Below are the bands together with the year group, age and Oxford level. Oxford Reading Tree are famous for the Biff, Kip and Chip books that you may have read yourself as a child. I remember reading these books in Reception and Year 1.

Why I’m not a fan of Reading Schemes

 A reading scheme is ‘a series of books that have been carefully written to help children learn to read. The books are organised into levels, bands or colours.’

 I have a problem with a few things here.

How can a series of books help all children learn to read? It’s not possible. It is very generic. All children are different; therefore, one story may suit one child and may be totally wrong for another. We cannot continue to discuss children in such a generic way. Reading needs to be planned and tailored to each individual child.

 My second issue with this is that by being organised into levels, bands or colours, children will inevitably compare themselves to their peers and wonder why they are on a certain band when their friend is on a different one. It also brings up a huge issue for me when you have a child for example in Year 4, who is reading at Reception level according to the above table. I had a child who was in year 4 and had to read Pink Level of the Reception band. Each morning, she would need to go down the stairs into Early Years and choose her book together with the 4 and 5 years olds. This completely crushed her confidence and I immediately put a stop to this (of course the school I worked at had a big problem with this!)

Banded books are supposed to provide the ‘right level if challenge’ for children. The books are not supposed to be ‘too easy’ or ‘too difficult’ for the child. It will be up to the teacher to decide when the child is ready to move on or not.

I agree that there needs to be a degree of challenge but I don’t agree that if it’s too easy, their reading won’t get any better. So many times, I would see children being told off for sitting and enjoying their favourite book, only to be told by the teacher that the book was ‘too easy’ and that they should put it down. To be then handed a ‘harder’ book and basically be told to read it. How is that building a love for reading? Honestly, it was infuriating. Also, who determines whether a book is ‘too easy’ or ‘too difficult’? Surely, it should be the child who determines this? Again, here we need to be careful. A child may think a book is ‘too easy’ but then not be able to answer simple comprehension questions relating to that book. It is important to always check.

Again, it is about taking the time to getting to know the child as an individual. Knowing their specific needs and addressing them in a way that suits them.

In my classrooms, I would often read ‘easy’ books to children as a class and I would emphasise how much I personally loved the book and that I would often re- visit it. If a child in my class wanted to read a childhood favourite, I would never tell them it was ‘too easy’. To build a lifelong love of reading in our children, we need to encourage them to pick up the books that they love especially when they are younger. Give them the independence to decide the books they wish to read. I’ve seen that when I do this, they will inevitably go on to choose more challenging books. I would much rather a child choose their book than be told what to read.

Towards the end of my full-time teaching career, I really noticed how flawed the system is when it comes to teaching our children to read. First of all, if reading schemes work, why would some children get to the end of their primary education and still have issues with reading? Why did so many children in the higher year groups have such big gaps in their phonics knowledge? Why could some children read but not be able to answer simple questions about the books they had read? Why were children unable to answer simple comprehension questions?

My answer is this.

Children’s learning is not tailored enough to their individual needs. We cannot continue to see children as the same. Yes, there are 20 -30 children in a class and things need to be done to enable the teacher to be able to teach all of them but I also believe that it is important to find strategies to be able to truly support our children to become effective and confident readers. Not for results on a piece of paper, not to show OFSTED what we have achieved but to truly support children all the way into their adult lives to be able to read and truly understand what they have read. After all, why else are we teaching them to read? Is it so they can score well in their SATS or entrance exams or is it so they can develop further as proficient readers? I teach reading because I want to develop a love of reading in my students. I want them to be able to read books with ease. I want them to have an excellent understanding of what they have read. I want them to come to me and ask me for more books to read. I want to teach them that nothing is too easy and nothing is too hard. This is when I know I have succeeded in teaching a child to read.

I would much rather think of strategies that I know will enable a child to leave Primary school with a strong foundation rather than have a child leave Primary school unable to read as they should. This is simply not right in my eyes. I will not stand for it anymore.

 I personally no longer teach in order to see results on a piece of paper. I teach to see lifelong results in my students. Teaching a child is not about following a set plan, it is about knowing the child as an individual and knowing how to fully support and challenge them so that they can succeed.

How I teach reading

Very simply.

1.     I get to know the child as an individual

This is probably the most important one. When a child feels that you truly care about them and have an understanding of what they like and what they dislike, they will be more likely to take ownership and responsibility for their own learning. I’ve seen children flourish from children who couldn’t read to children who can’t put books down, simply by taking the time to get to know them.

2. I give them books that I personally choose (not banded) that I know will challenge them and support them

I choose books based on the individual child. I let them be the ones to tell me what they enjoy and what they don’t. I find this accelerates reading quality far quicker than ‘making’ a child read a book that doesn’t interest them in the slightest. Imagine being handed a book and just being told to read it. Would you? I don’t think so. So why should children?

3. I focus more on the comprehension and understanding rather than on the reading itself

You can have a child who can read beautifully and fluently but when you ask them a simple question about what they have read, they are unable to answer it. I don’t see the point in reading if you don’t understand what you are reading. I feel the same with spellings. Why give a child a spelling to learn if they don’t know the meaning of the word? If they can’t use that word within a sentence? Pointless.

4.  I focus on phonic sounds that I see the child struggles with and don’t move on until they are confident with them

By doing this, it fast tracks reading quality significantly. I see children in Year 5 and 6 who don’t know the sounds certain digraphs make and therefore are unable to decode even simple words. This will really set them back. I actually find this deeply upsetting. To go through school from Reception to Year 6, we must not allow a child to get to the end of their school life and not be able to decode simple words. It is unacceptable to me as a teacher and as a mother.  To me it is fundamental that children have a strong phonic base. You can see a huge difference in the reading quality of a child with excellent phonic awareness compared to one who doesn’t have that foundation.

5.  I encourage the child to create a vocabulary book and write down all new or tricky words and we revisit them daily

In this way they build a vast vocabulary and can remember words when they see them again. If you take anything from this blog, take this! Create a vocabulary book!

So let’s build a lifelong love for reading and instil that passion into our children. Be led by our children and get to know them as individuals. Support them fully to be the best readers they can be. And if they struggle, not put them down but encourage them and find strategies to support them. I can think of nothing more important when it comes to educating our children.

7 Plus Entrance Exams: Creative Writing Tips by our Company Director

How will you teach my child to write a story for the 7 plus exam? 

Easily. It is one of our passions here at Creative Minds Tutors. We adore seeing our younger students develop a love for writing and seeing their stories improving each time they do a new one! 

So, how do we teach story writing? 

This is how. 

1.Start with either: 

A story title 

An image or a set of images

A sentence opener 

2. Plan the introductory paragraph 

Discuss what an introduction is 

Introduce the character – decide who the main character will be and describe him/her

Introduce the setting – decide where the story will take place and describe it

Introduce the problem – decide what the problem will be (remember this could be a good problem or a bad problem!) 

3. Plan the middle paragraph 

Go into detail about the problem

4. Plan the ending 

Resolve the problem

End with a moral or a question 

5. All about the vocabulary 

Adjectives 

Encourage your child to describe everything! Remember that when your child is writing, they are writing with a purpose. They are writing to engage their reader! They want to build a picture in the mind of the reader. Description will be key. Print out an adjective sheet for them to use or encourage them to come up with their own! 

Sentence openers

Use a variety of sentence openers. At this age, children will want to use simple sentence openers like – He, She, Then, When, If. Encourage them to use a variety of sentence openers. Again, print these out and practice using different ones. 

Punctuation 

Check that each sentence has correct punctuation (full stops and commas)

In the middle section, your child will need to include speech punctuation. Check that this is also correct. 

Spelling – Accurate spelling is very important. Encourage your child to check their spelling. Underline, spelling errors and create a spelling test for your child based on the words that they spelled incorrectly. Make it fun and not a problem. It’s absolutely fine to make mistakes! 

6. Re-read 

Get into the habit of editing. Read and re- read the story and make changes or improvements where necessary. 

7. Composition

Once the plan is complete, your child can write their story. Remember that they will need 3 clear paragraphs and all of the above! 

I have written a very informative blog about how story writing is assessed in the 7+ examinations. Read it here.

4+ Exam Preparation and How We Can Support Your Child

We have been preparing children for their 4+ assessments for over 12 years. If you choose online tuition for your child, you might have many questions regarding the lessons. I thought it would be helpful to write a blog post and answer as many questions as I can. These are questions that I’ve banked over the years through many hours of discussion with parents about their child’s tuition and their learning.

Reading consistently with parents is key

How can lessons work online when my child is only 3 years old?

This is the most frequently asked question. Many parents have been sceptical at first. They wonder how lessons will work when their child is so young. However, lessons work very effectively online and the value that we provide is certainly one that you will not find elsewhere.

 Parents will of course need to be present and involved in the lessons. Lesson will not be effective if the parent is not fully engaged in their child’s learning. It is a three-way involvement between the parent, the child and the teacher. Some children take longer than others to warm up to their new teacher but you will be amazed at the relationship formed between the child and their teacher. The conversations had and the laughter throughout the lesson is something that is always such a pleasure to see.

Reading visually appealing phonic books

How will you engage my child in the lesson?

 All children are different and all children learn differently. Therefore, there is not a one answer fits all for this question. All children will be engaged in different ways. Your teacher will get to know your child from the first lesson and identify how they best like to learn. If your child is a very visual learner, your teacher will provide bright images on the screen to capture their attention. If your child is a kinaesthetic learner, your teacher will provide activities that are more active and will involve your child moving around more. This could include for example a treasure hunt, where your child needs to find hidden phonics or numbers and then read them out. If your child is an auditory learner, there will be more of an emphasis on lots of discussion and speaking. Lots of singing will be see with these types of learners. If your child is a learner who loves to write, they will always have their paper and pencil and will be encouraged to take lots of notes in the lesson! Lessons at this age will never be more than 30 minutes at a time. In those 30 minutes, so much will be covered and we will make the lessons fun!

Daily Writing practice

What should my child be reading to support exam preparation?

Your teacher will provide your child with phonic books. You will read these books to your child and encourage them to follow along as you read. Your teacher will also provide book recommendations for your child in order to best prepare them for the assessments. Of course, the emphasis is on the assessments, however we encourage all of our younger learners to develop a passion for reading!

 Here are some of our book recommendations for our younger learners:

1.We love all of the Bob books collections.

They are visually attractive and they are sequential in the sense that once your child can read with confidence the first set, they can move on to the next.

Here is the Amazon link, if you’d like to purchase these.

2. Usborne – My first reading library

Here is the link, if you’d like to purchase these.

3. Usborne - My first phonics reading library

Here is the link, if you’d like to purchase these.

What will my child need to know in terms of maths?

The 4+ assessments are different every year. We will prepare the children mathematically but we cannot predict what they will be asked in the assessments.

 We will cover the following with your child:

 Place value – Numbers to 10 and then to 20 (reading and writing them)

Addition and Subtraction – Adding and subtracting numbers to 20 using objects such as number blocks or objects that specifically interest your child.

 Shape – learning simple shapes and being able to describe their properties (eg. number of sides and corners)

 Measures – Discussing simple measure such as liquid and weight.

 Length and height – Discussing language such as taller, shorter, tallest, shortest.

 What can I do every day to support my child with their maths?

Having lots of discussions is key. Noticing maths in the every day. Eg. Which shapes can you see in our house? Practising for short snippets of time throughout the day. Your teacher will provide you with home learning that will guide you with how to support your child on a consistent, daily basis.

 What makes you different to other tutoring companies who provide 4+ support?

First of all, all our tutors are fully qualified teachers who have at least 4 years of experience in a school setting. The majority of our teachers have over 10 years of experience and some currently work as head teachers, deputy head teachers and SENCOs. . We have worked in schools where children are prepared to sit these assessments and therefore have a lot of knowledge about what is expected in each individual school. We have also had a lot of interaction with these schools, including visiting the schools and seeing 4+ exams in progress.

If you’d like to book your complimentary online trial lesson, please click on the button below.

Creative Minds Tutors 7+ and 11+ Bootcamps What are they and why are they beneficial?

 I have been having a lot of conversations lately with clients about our fabulous 7+ and 11+ Bootcamps. The main questions were – What are they? What happens? Why are they beneficial?  So, I thought I’d take some time to answer each question in detail here.

 1.    What are they?

We launched our monthly Bootcamps in September 2020. They are for children who are sitting their 7+ and 11+ examinations. They are also for children who want a boost in their exam skills and techniques. Since September, we have had many children across the country take part in our Bootcamps and they have all achieved phenomenal results. The majority of children who sign up, do these on a monthly basis. Parents can see the value of what is offered and they have been very impressed with the progress their children have made after attending our Bootcamps. The Bootcamps are priced at £300.

 2.     What happens?

 Once you have signed up for the Bootcamp, you will receive a welcome email from our company Director, Maria Mazarese. You will also receive a link with the details of where and when the Bootcamp will take place. We use a platform called Bramble (https://about.bramble.io/) You will also receive the first 4 test papers which will be completed during the Bootcamp together with your Tutor. These papers will need to be printed so that your child can have them to hand. The Bootcamp will take place over two days (two hours on each day). During the Bootcamp, there will be breaks when needed. There will never be more than three children attending. During the two days of the Bootcamp, your child will receive intensive exam preparation in Maths, English, Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Your child will complete the tests together with their tutor, who will have the questions up on the screen. When those trickier questions come up, your tutor will take time to explain how to answer those question and go through tips and techniques for answering these effectively in the exams. There will be plenty of opportunity for questions and discussions. It’s fantastic because the children get to interact with other children who will also be sitting exams and there is a lot of teamwork involved with the children supporting and helping one another. After the intensive two days of the Bootcamp, your tutor will email you feedback and bespoke resources for your child to immerse themselves into to revise the areas that they found most challenging in the Bootcamp. You will then receive the next two tests which your child will be asked to complete independently and in timed conditions. Once this is complete, you can send a scanned copy to your tutor, who will mark it and provide feedback. Again, bespoke resources will be provided in areas that need further revision and reinforcement. Once these tests are fully completed, you will receive the final two tests and the same process will apply. At the end of the Bootcamp, you will receive a detailed report about how your child performed, what they did well and areas that they need to work on. There will be two weeks allocated to complete the remainder of the tests after the lessons with your tutor. You will also have unlimited email contact with your tutor during this time.

 Why are the beneficial?

 Of course, this is my opinion and the opinion of our clients and you can see for yourself when you sign up for the Bootcamps! In my personal opinion, they provide a massive boost in confidence. They expose children to questions that they may at times find complex and they will have the opportunity to work with a tutor who has many years of experience in preparing children for their examinations. They provide a lot of revision in preparation for these assessments. The Bootcamps will also very quickly highlight any gaps or areas of concern, which can then be quickly addressed. Above all, they are fun, engaging and motivating!

 If you would like to know more about our fantastic Bootcamps please email office@creativemindstutors.com or call 07956677783.

We look forward to seeing you at our next Bootcamp!

 Maria Mazarese

All things grammar

All things grammar – for children aged 4-6 

Blog written by Maria Mazarese, Creative Minds Tutors Director. 

A lot of my clients will often ask me the following questions: 

What do I need to do in order to help to support my child to do this? 

How can I help them to understand? 

Where do I start? 

When it comes to grammar, it can be a little overwhelming! There is a lot to cover! However, I’d like to share the strategies that we use here at Creative Minds Tutors to support our children. We will be a providing a series of courses to parents to help to support their children in developing their grammatical skills, ensuring that they have fully understood concepts and helping them to excel in their learning. 

Here is a sneak peek into what the courses will look like! We will be covering all age groups and all grammatical elements that your children will need to know. We will explain the best methods (in our opinion!) to teach them! 

So, let’s start with children aged 4-6. 

Of course, you will need to decide when it is the best time for your child to start learning these grammatical concepts. We will be here to guide you with anything you may need. We are here to support you and answer any questions that you may have. 

1) Regular plural noun suffixes: 

Children will need to be able to correctly use these suffixes within their sentences. They will need to use the suffixes ‘-s’ and ‘es’. They will need to understand their effect on the meaning of nouns. First of all you need to ensure that your child knows the meaning of the words plural, noun and suffix. A plural is more than one, a noun is a name, place or thing and a suffix is a group of letters that are placed at the end of words. 

Once they are secure with this, you can ask them to write sentences with words ending in 

‘-s’ or ‘-es’.

Eg. trees, birds, foxes, boxes. 

The trees were beautiful.

The birds sang a joyful song.

The foxes hid behind the trees.

2) Verb suffixes

Children will need to use verb suffixes which can be added to verbs where no change is needed in the spelling of the root words. 

Eg. -ing and -ed

Again, before beginning you need to ensure that your child know what a verb is and recap what a suffix is. A verb is a doing or an action word. 

Examples of sentences: 

The girl is playing with her toys.

Dad cleaned the table. 

Mum looked surprised. 

3) The prefix -un 

The children will need to know that the prefix -un changes the meaning of verbs and adjectives. 

Before beginning, ensure that your child knows what a prefix is. A prefix is a group of letters that are placed at the beginning of a word. 

Examples of sentences: 

The girl was unable to complete the puzzle. Here the prefix ‘un-‘ tells us that she was NOT able to do it. 

The carpet was untidy. The prefix ‘un-‘ tells us that the carpet was NOT tidy. 

She felt that it was unfair. The prefix ‘un-‘ tells us that is was NOT fair. 

4) Conjunctions 

The children will need to know that conjunctions are joining words. They join clauses using the words ‘and, but and so’. 

Before beginning, ensure that your child knows what a phrase is. A phrase is a part of a sentence. This is something children tend to forget so repetition is key here. 

Examples of sentences: 

The girl opened her package and was delighted. 

She wanted to study but it was dinner time. 

He was hungry so he ate his dinner. 

5) Punctuation 

The children will need to be able to use capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks correctly within their sentences. They also need to know that the personal pronoun ‘I’ needs a capital letter. At this stage they don’t need to know what a personal pronoun is. Just that the letter ‘I’ on its own is ALWAYS capital. 

Examples of sentences:

Why is the girl sad? 

What a wonderful gift! 

6) Proof reading to ensure that sentences make sense. 

This is a wonderful skill to develop from a very young age. I find that the younger children that we teach love to be ‘done’. But when we ask them if they have checked their learning, they mostly say that they haven’t. We teach all of our children from a very young age to read carefully over their sentences. Check if they have left important words or punctuation out. We teach them early on that it is absolutely fine to make mistakes but that it is important to correct them. Proof reading is certainly a vital skill to develop early on. 

Happy Creative Grammar Learning everyone! 

Email us if you have any questions at all regarding this. If you would like extra support with your child’s learning, please contact us at:

office@creativemindstutors.com 

07956677783 

Adapting to our new reality

        Adapting to our new reality                                          

January 2021

Written by Maria Mazarese

Let’s be real. Our lives have all changed!

This time last year, we were all going on about our lives as ‘normal’. We could never have imagined that things could have changed so drastically. Did you ever think that your school would actually be shut? That thought had never, ever crossed my mind. Did you ever think you wouldn’t be able to go to your favourite clothes shop, to your favourite gym or to your favourite restaurant? Whatever you love to do, you have most likely had to adapt to your new circumstances. Currently, Primary and Secondary schools have moved to remote learning (something we have had to adapt to for the past 10 months), with school remaining open to our vulnerable and key worker children.

We have had to deal with a rollercoaster of emotions. Having to come to terms with our new ‘reality’ and the difficulties associated with it. Some of us, more so than others. Whether we have been ‘affected’ or not, we all have stories that make us feel sad, worried and perhaps at times anxious. However, we have also had to adapt so quickly and transform our lives. Many parents have told me that they never thought they would be home-schooling their children. However, they have adapted and it brought me to think how important it is to have an environment in our homes where we can feel calm, focused and motivated. Our homes have become our offices, our gyms and our restaurants! Literally!

Here at Creative Minds Tutors, we believe that it is vital that all children continue with their learning daily and create a schedule that they can stick to each day. We are here to support you and to provide guidance where needed. Let’s be honest, things can be stressful for us right now but it is important to stay focused on our goals. Our children have worked so incredibly hard and we need to ensure that even though they are missing physically being in school, that they continue to learn at the highest standard possible for them. I have had the opportunity to speak with several clients about how their children have been getting on with studying from home. Some children have found it to be a positive experience and others have had difficulties with adjusting and motivating themselves to work independently.

This is where we come in! We are currently offering our ‘Home Learning Support Package’, these packages are a way for parents to support their children during these current circumstances and beyond. We have been running these packages since May 2020 and we have already seen phenomenal results.

These are just a few comments from our current clients:

‘I have appreciated Maria’s personal approach in her Home Learning Support Package as this has helped us support our child during this difficult time. He has really connected with her and looks forward to his lessons.’

‘I have found it very helpful because I can come to you to help teach the areas that I have not been able to due to my work commitments, especially during lockdown.’

 ‘I couldn’t have survived home schooling in both lockdowns without Maria’s professional and fun Home Learning Support Package! Every lesson has been tailored to be parallel to Isabella’s year group learning and her confidence is continuing to grow, even through these uncertain times.’

These are just a few comments from our current students:

The lessons help me to expand my knowledge in areas that I don’t understand. I enjoy my lessons with Maria (Reyan, Year 5)

The lessons with Maria have boosted my confidence and I am now able to tackle even the most challenging questions. She has taught me not to fear getting things wrong and in fact encourages me to make as many mistakes as possible! After all, that is how I will learn to get things right! (Sam, Year 3)

Here are some of our favourite free online resources (for children aged 5-11):

https://library.thenational.academy/spend-time-with-tracy-beaker-and-jacqueline-wilson/ 

https://wordsforlife.org.uk/virtual-school-library/

https://ed.ted.com/

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/take-part/try-this-at-home.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize

https://www.tate.org.uk/kids

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/classroom-resources/

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/

We are all aware about the importance of keeping up a very high standard of education during this time. However, just as important is our mental health and wellbeing. Taking the time to look after ourselves and being very aware of not spending all of our day in front of a computer screen! Something as simple as standing up every 15 minutes! Yes, it seems simple but if I’m not mindful, I could be sitting down for a full hour and not have even realised! Set a timer if it helps! Going for walks throughout the day. Being in nature is such a mood booster. I am incredibly lucky to have a beautiful park near my home. I have never visited it so much in my life! I have personally found that I have become a lot more grateful for all of the wonderful things in my life. Practising gratitude daily is so important. I have a gratitude journal, which is a simple notebook and I write down all of the things that I am grateful for. It could be as simple as a wonderful lesson with a student, or a long walk, a beautiful sunny day or a hot bath with my favourite candles! Speaking to our friends is also very important. Although we cannot see many people at the moment we can all take some time out of our days to call a friend and see how they are. You never know, you might make their day! Schedule a Zoom call with family. We are social beings and we all need that interaction with others.

Here are some fantastic apps or websites for your mental wellbeing:

Insight timer

Head space

The 5 minute journal

Calm

Sleep meditations for kids

Youtube has thousands of videos that you can search for Positive Affirmations

I will create another blog to discuss mental wellbeing in more detail! These are just a few of my own personal suggestions. I personally use insight timer and head space daily and highly recommend both other them.

One final thing!

Creating the ideal study environment!

This is of course personal to each individual child.

1.     Create your space for studying

Whether this is in your bedroom or in the sitting room, make sure that it is your space. Be organised and have all of the resources and books that you need. If possible, put some calm music on to help you to concentrate. I personally always work to the sounds of nature (my current favourite is rainfall or thunder therapy. I use insight timer for these) If it is noisier than usual in your home, put headphones on. Try not to use other electronic devices (phones!). As we are all spending so much of our time in front of the screen, we certainly need to try to limit our exposure to other screens!

2.   Have a daily routine

We all need boundaries. Set a time for yourself to start and to finish. There have been times where I have caught myself still working at the computer at 9pm! If I don’t give myself a limit, I could work all night long! Not a good idea! Set a time to really focus on each subject. But do take breaks! Stand up, walk around, do some jumping jacks! Whatever you like! But MOVE! Go outside and breathe in some fresh air. If it helps you, write your routine down and try to stick to it!

3.   ‘Socialise’

Take time to talk to your family. Spend time together having lunch even if it is only for 10 minutes. Talk about how your day has been and if there is anything that you have found challenging. Try not to keep things in. Remember this is a challenging time for all of us, but if we can express our feelings and emotions it will be a lot healthier than keeping it all in.

One final point, please be kind to yourself. These are new times for us all. We may have great days and we may have some more challenging days. I am grateful to work with such positive and motivated students but even they have their tricky days. We all do. We are all human and doing the best that we can. So speak kindly to yourselves and take good care. Do something wonderful each and every day, even if it’s just taking the time to sit and read your book or stretch or do your favourite exercise. Find times in the day to relax and be mindful of your own wellbeing.

If you would like further information about anything that I have discussed in this blog or about our Home Learning Support Packages, please don’t hesitate to contact us at:

office@creativemindstutors.com

www.creativemindstutors.com                                 

How Story Writing is Assessed in the 7+ Entrance Examination

7 plus story writing always a ‘hot’ topic for discussion! I have had countless conversations with many parents of students that I have taught with regards to story writing.

These are a few of the most common questions about 7 plus story writing I have heard:

Is it possible for a 6 year old to write an interesting, descriptive and structured story?

Can my 6 year old write a full story in 20-30 minutes?

Will my child need to include paragraphs?

Will my child need to have correct spelling and punctuation?

The answer to all of these questions is ‘Yes!’

I have been supporting children with story writing for over 10 years. It is very important to remember that each child will have different views and feelings when it comes to story writing.

I have supported children who absolutely love story writing and can’t get enough of it. I have also supported children who have told me that they never want to write a story ever again! Therefore it is very important that each child is dealt with in a unique way. It is important to find the correct balance and to never ever overwhelm a child. The process has to be fun. It has to be done in a way that will encourage the child to love writing in the long term.

A 6 year old can absolutely write a story in 20-30 minutes.

With plenty of practice of course.

Story writing is not something that can be forced on a child. The best stories I have read from my 7+ students are stories that are creative and imaginative and totally unique to the little author writing them! Yes, we can teach great adjectives and adverbs but ultimately it all comes down to the imagination of the child writing the story.

How do you ‘teach’ a child to become imaginative?

Read, read and read some more. Read from a variety of genres and get those creative juices flowing. As your child reads, encourage them to write down beautifully descriptive sentences from the books that they read. This sounds simple, however this is something that I rarely see children doing as they read. It is a skill that can be mastered, however. It needs to become a habit.

Create a bank of descriptive sentences that your child can dip into when writing their own stories.

You can organise your ‘Creative Book’ very simply.

Separate the book or folder the following way:

1.       Wonderful adjectives

2.       Superb adverbs

3.       Excellent verbs

4.       Beautiful sentences

5.       Similes

6.       Personification

7.       Speech punctuation

As your child reads, remind them to be mindful of these sections. You can focus on one or two sections at a time. After several weeks, you will have created an extremely valuable resource that will support your child with their story writing.

What is the expectation of story writing for the 7+ entrance examination?

Each school will have their own expectations.

This is what I focus on when teaching story writing:

1.       Three clear paragraphs (beginning, middle and ending)

2.       Spellings – correct spellings used. Your child needs to know the 100 and 200 high frequency words and they will be expected to know spellings up to a year 4 standard.

3.       Punctuation – Correct use of full stops and commas as well as a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence. Correct speech punctuation when using inverted commas.

4.       Adjectives – Using a variety of adjectives to describe.

5.       Verbs – Using verbs for effect

6.       Sentence openers – Varying sentence openers for effect.

7.       Similes – using a simile or two (if it is effective)

8.       Personification – to add that wow factor!

This may seem overwhelming to many parents. But you will be surprised at how much the children absolutely adore writing stories.

Take your time with this and above all, make it fun!

Happy Creative Story Writing Everyone!

If you are interested in private tuition to prepare your child for the 7 plus entrance exam, please contact us.

Strategies for teaching comprehension (KS1/Lower KS2)

Strategies for teaching comprehension (KS1/Lower KS2)

Many parents have come to me and asked how they can better support their children with comprehension, so I thought it would be helpful to write a blog about it!

What is comprehension?

Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read.

To be able to accurately understand written material, children need to be able to:

(1) Decode what they read (apply their knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words)

(2) Make connections between what they read and what they already know.

(3) Think deeply about what they have read.

Why is comprehension important?

It is important because it shows our understanding of what we read. It shows our ability to make inferences and predictions. If we lack comprehension skills, it means that we won’t be able to truly understand what we have read.

When should I start teaching comprehension?

Of course the younger, the better. However, you can start at any time. With so much online material and so many fantastic comprehension books to purchase, there are many opportunities to support your child with their learning of comprehension.

The most important thing to remember, is that in order to gain mastery in any comprehension activity, your child needs to become an avid reader. They need to read for pleasure and look forward to reading. Encourage them to choose books that they love - that will keep them engaged and interested.

Steps to teach comprehension whilst reading with your child:

1.      Encourage your child to read to you out loud. I have found that older children become more reluctant to read out loud and prefer to read on their own. Encouraging them to read out loud will allow you to see if they are making any errors with their reading and also check that they have understood what they have read. Too often children tell me that they have finished reading but when I ask them to tell me what the book was about, they are only able to tell me one or two points. Most children that I teach love to read out loud because they love to be listened to. If they make mistakes or don’t understand, that is never a problem. Take the time to truly study the sentences and understand the meaning being portrayed within them.

2.      When they come across a new or unfamiliar words, ask them to stop. Make a note of this in a glossary (you can make it yourself by getting a blank notebook and writing A-Z or you can purchase one) By doing this, you will be increasing their vocabulary. Dip into the glossary daily and ask your child if they remember the meaning of a certain word. Can they put it into a sentence? If they don’t remember, practice it with them. Keep revisiting the word until your child is confident with the meaning.

3.      Look up the meaning of the word in the dictionary.

4.      Write down the meaning and discuss (Many children skip words if they are unsure of them. Try to avoid this as much as possible as it can become a habit)

5.      Ask your child questions about the book that they are reading.

6.      Ask your child to make predictions.

7.      Ask your child to explain the meaning of certain sentences to you.

8.      Encourage your child to ask you questions too and model how to answer the question correctly.

The more your child reads and is exposed to a variety of different vocabulary, the better that they will become at comprehension.

The main problem that I see is that if there is even just one word within a sentence that a child is unsure of, it could completely throw them in the understanding of that particular sentence. This will then make it very difficult to answer a question relating to that particular sentence.

There will inevitably always be words that a child will not know. As long as they are able to try and guess at the meaning of the word either through the context of the sentence or through trying to interpret the meaning of the word- this is the skill that we must teach. Often, children will say to me – ‘I just do not know!’ All I have to do is ask them to re-read the sentence and have a guess at the meaning of the word and 90% of the time they will be able to.

Ultimately, the more you expose your child to high quality vocabulary, the more they will be able to try and infer meaning.

Top tips!

Read daily

Build a love of reading

Write new words in a glossary with their meaning

Answer comprehension questions daily – it’s all about practice!

Make it fun!

Encourage children to ask you questions

Never skip words that they are unsure of

Be an inquisitive learner!

Read every day! Start at 10 pages a day as a very minimum.

If you have any questions about teaching early comprehension, please comment below and I will get back to you.

Happy Creative Comprehension Teaching!

How to read phonetically in 6 steps!

Teaching children aged 2-3

Step 1:

In the beginning and the earliest stages, teach letter sounds from a-z (in order)

Use lower case letters (you can also show upper case letters but when the children do begin to read, they will mostly be exposed to lowercase letters)

Go through the letter sounds from a-z.

Note - In the English alphabet we have 44 sounds.

Step 2:

Go through the alphabet out of order (sounds)

Step 3

Move onto blending.

Create a board with sounds or flashcards if your child is easily distracted by too many things on one board.

Elongate the sounds to help your child to blend effectively.

Step 4

Use a phonics primer to help to teach your child to read.

See ‘The National Right to Read Foundation’.

Step 5

Choose appropriate books for beginner readers.

Step 6

Teach the sight words.

If words cannot be decoded phonetically then we can have the child memorise by sight.

The key is to do small amount each day. 1-2 minutes each day to start off with. Have fun with this. This should be an enjoyable experience for your child. When they get tired or distracted, that’s absolutely fine. Come back to it at another time or another day.

Happy Creative Reading Everyone!

The joys of reading!

There are always opportunities to read.

Curiosity

Always learning!