How are you preparing your child?
Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators
-
Colourful-Rainbow
- Posts: 70
- Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 7:07 pm
Re: How are you preparing your child?
We do 1 or 2 full tests per week and we work on the question types every other day for about 20 - 30 minutes. The workload gets a bit too much with school though so we tend to spread a paper over the week or we do it in the weekends. We also include fun activities, regular reading, schoolwork and so on.
Re: How are you preparing your child?
A friend has just moved her son from our primary to a prep. The prep is geared towards getting children into State grammars. He is given an hour's homework every night, which currently takes him two hours, as he's not used to the set up, having had about 10-15 mins homework per week from our state primary. It sounds like a lot, but it's not really. Not by year 5, so I don't think the OPs workload is undue, so long as her child is doing other things and relaxing.
My DS is doing about 30-40 mins a night now, at the start of yr 5, with an hour on Saturday. He also does two sports, chess, choir, piano and cubs - all his own choosing. I made him drop one sport as he was too busy, but he's thriving. We fit that in easily alongside clubs, friends coming over for tea or sleepovers and plenty of rolling round on carpets pretending to be aliens etc.
What he's lost is the couple of hours vegging in front of a screen every night, and I don't think that's any great loss. He still gets 30mins-1 hour to watch stuff he loves; he just loses those hours of vacantly zoning out over rubbish cartoons.
My DS is doing about 30-40 mins a night now, at the start of yr 5, with an hour on Saturday. He also does two sports, chess, choir, piano and cubs - all his own choosing. I made him drop one sport as he was too busy, but he's thriving. We fit that in easily alongside clubs, friends coming over for tea or sleepovers and plenty of rolling round on carpets pretending to be aliens etc.
What he's lost is the couple of hours vegging in front of a screen every night, and I don't think that's any great loss. He still gets 30mins-1 hour to watch stuff he loves; he just loses those hours of vacantly zoning out over rubbish cartoons.
-
Yummiemummie
- Posts: 160
- Joined: Mon May 23, 2011 9:02 pm
Re: How are you preparing your child?
Woah I am really amazed at how much some people are fitting in. My son got into one of the most academic schools in the area, but we didnt do much extra during term time with homework, music etc he was pushed for time. He did occasional papers in the hols. I worry that if children are pushed too hard they wont cope when they get to secondary. My son gets 2 hours prep a night and copes because he is naturally academic, other boys have had to switch because they struggled to keep up with the sheer volume and quality of work expected. I think its just choosing the right school for the right child, wish there was a scientific formula!
I hear from a mum whose daughter went to the local grammar that some children are so tutored to get in that they have to go for extra lessons at lunchtime just to keep up in maths and english.
I hear from a mum whose daughter went to the local grammar that some children are so tutored to get in that they have to go for extra lessons at lunchtime just to keep up in maths and english.
Re: How are you preparing your child?
Yummie, I am preparing my children because the school doesn't. The school is hopeless with academic children. I was told at the end of yr 4 that technically my son should be level 5 maths as it was easily within his capability but she couldn't give him that mark as they hadn't covered enough of the curriculum for it in class. I.e. no provision is made for brighter students.
Again, my sons finished yr 4 having done English comprehension exactly 2 times since starting the year. They get no homework. They don't know their times tables by rote. My son can work it out and is 100% accurate but slower than children who have the answers instantly drilled into their heads. So we do what other schools do. We prepare him to be really well grounded in the basics and adequately pushed in areas where school is under-taxing him. E.g. Yr 5 spelling test this week: water, icicle etc. I asked why and DS said, everyone got the same spellings.
Yummie, I'm sure you don't mean it this way, but it can sound condescending to assume that intensive tutoring means a child isn't academically up to a grammar. Bear in mind that children are in all sorts of different circumstances, and the extra work they do reflect those. If I said we did 30 mins once a week on Saturdays, no one would comment. And that's what we'd do, if they were given 20-30 mins homework a night from school, as their peers at the neighbouring state primary get. But they're given none. Or they're asked to draw a picture. So the work we do compensates for the fact that they spend too much time at school painting, cooking, gardening and watching an endless stream of wonderful incoming theatre and music companies. I love all that stuff, but it means we're left to do the academic donkey work in their spare time.
My DC are naturally academic too, but I'd never dissuade people whose children aren't from having a go. So what if they get in through sheer graft and continue to have to graft? If graft means they get further in life, they are all the more impressive for their attitude, not less. Natural ability is not a stronger signifier for success than hard work, nor more admirable or deserving of a better education.
Again, my sons finished yr 4 having done English comprehension exactly 2 times since starting the year. They get no homework. They don't know their times tables by rote. My son can work it out and is 100% accurate but slower than children who have the answers instantly drilled into their heads. So we do what other schools do. We prepare him to be really well grounded in the basics and adequately pushed in areas where school is under-taxing him. E.g. Yr 5 spelling test this week: water, icicle etc. I asked why and DS said, everyone got the same spellings.
Yummie, I'm sure you don't mean it this way, but it can sound condescending to assume that intensive tutoring means a child isn't academically up to a grammar. Bear in mind that children are in all sorts of different circumstances, and the extra work they do reflect those. If I said we did 30 mins once a week on Saturdays, no one would comment. And that's what we'd do, if they were given 20-30 mins homework a night from school, as their peers at the neighbouring state primary get. But they're given none. Or they're asked to draw a picture. So the work we do compensates for the fact that they spend too much time at school painting, cooking, gardening and watching an endless stream of wonderful incoming theatre and music companies. I love all that stuff, but it means we're left to do the academic donkey work in their spare time.
My DC are naturally academic too, but I'd never dissuade people whose children aren't from having a go. So what if they get in through sheer graft and continue to have to graft? If graft means they get further in life, they are all the more impressive for their attitude, not less. Natural ability is not a stronger signifier for success than hard work, nor more admirable or deserving of a better education.
Re: How are you preparing your child?
I do agree with you Menagerie - some may say that my dc's did quite a bit of work for 11 plus, however, while they attended a very good and caring state school, it was not one that made any great academic demands on them.
They would have barely 10 minutes of homework a week, and, as you have put so well, I simply ensured that they got what a child at a Preparatory school, for example, would have had naturally.
They would come home quite refreshed from having basically played all day and ready to do an hour's work. A prep school child would likely come home more tired from their academic rigours and have an hour's homework to do for the school. Therefore they could say they are doing no or little 11 plus prep when in fact they are...
Then there are many other factors to be taken into account. When dc1 and 2 were little, I was very ill and in hospital a lot. They had a chaotic time and missed out on a lot, the usual bedtime stories, conversation, word games, that I would have done had I been well. So again, I ended up compensating in some way by trying to fit all that 'literary experience' into their later years.
As for the oft-repeated idea that greatly tutored children struggle at selective schools, I am not entirely sure that is the case. My ds1 had quite a lot of support, work set by me, and he had tuition too, gained a place and has thankfully been fine, even with little input from home - as I've been concentrating on ds2 this year.
They would have barely 10 minutes of homework a week, and, as you have put so well, I simply ensured that they got what a child at a Preparatory school, for example, would have had naturally.
They would come home quite refreshed from having basically played all day and ready to do an hour's work. A prep school child would likely come home more tired from their academic rigours and have an hour's homework to do for the school. Therefore they could say they are doing no or little 11 plus prep when in fact they are...
Then there are many other factors to be taken into account. When dc1 and 2 were little, I was very ill and in hospital a lot. They had a chaotic time and missed out on a lot, the usual bedtime stories, conversation, word games, that I would have done had I been well. So again, I ended up compensating in some way by trying to fit all that 'literary experience' into their later years.
As for the oft-repeated idea that greatly tutored children struggle at selective schools, I am not entirely sure that is the case. My ds1 had quite a lot of support, work set by me, and he had tuition too, gained a place and has thankfully been fine, even with little input from home - as I've been concentrating on ds2 this year.
-
Yummiemummie
- Posts: 160
- Joined: Mon May 23, 2011 9:02 pm
Re: How are you preparing your child?
menagerie- I can only comment on my experience in Bucks where over-tuition is known to be an issue. There were children at my son's state primary who were tutored from yr 3 and in some cases saw tutors more than once a week. IMO thats a lot. Good luck to your child and to you finding a school that suits them.
Um-not sure the difference between state primary and prep school is as clear cut as all that. Some state primaries give a fair bit of homework, some don't and some prep schools give lots of prep and some don't. I moved my daughter from our local state primary to a prep school so have experience of both. My daughter is in year 6 so we have the joys of 11 plus this year, but in fact there is less pressure at the prep school than my son had in year 6 at our local state primary.
Um-not sure the difference between state primary and prep school is as clear cut as all that. Some state primaries give a fair bit of homework, some don't and some prep schools give lots of prep and some don't. I moved my daughter from our local state primary to a prep school so have experience of both. My daughter is in year 6 so we have the joys of 11 plus this year, but in fact there is less pressure at the prep school than my son had in year 6 at our local state primary.
Re: How are you preparing your child?
I think that as Bucks still retains the 'traditional' 11 plus tests, over-tuition could understandably be an issue, sorry I hadn't checked where you are.
In Birmingham, the tests are CEM, so no traditional VR types, but a very different test checking general literacy and mathematical/NVR ability.
To be fair, it may be possible to get a below average child through the traditional test with extreme tuition - who will then struggle - but this would be unlikely to work with the CEM test.
You are right - preps and Primaries can overlap, I was generalising as in most cases it is the prep that 'pushes' harder academically.
In Birmingham, the tests are CEM, so no traditional VR types, but a very different test checking general literacy and mathematical/NVR ability.
To be fair, it may be possible to get a below average child through the traditional test with extreme tuition - who will then struggle - but this would be unlikely to work with the CEM test.
You are right - preps and Primaries can overlap, I was generalising as in most cases it is the prep that 'pushes' harder academically.
-
Yummiemummie
- Posts: 160
- Joined: Mon May 23, 2011 9:02 pm
Re: How are you preparing your child?
Yes Bucks is a bit of a one off! They only use VR tests hence allowing tutors/parents to really push this one area.
Re: How are you preparing your child?
Hi All! If my DD was at a prep school, she would be being prepared for entrance tests as part of her school day and homework.
She has just started Y6 (state primary and a good one according to Ofsted), and her homework this week was 30 maths questions multiplying and diving numbers by 10, 100 or 1,000. She's been able to do this for several years, but, nevertheless, off she went, writing the answers in her homework book, using the sheet of questions as the guide to question numbers (she is not allowed to write the answer on the sheet so the sheets can be used again...) It took her less than 10 minutes to do. Is this sort of homework really going to prepare her for her entrance test? I think not.
I did hear on the way to school this morning that she was supposed to write out the questions as well as the answers into her homework book, so the teacher knows which question she is answering. This would have taken another 20 minutes for her to do, and presumably this is how her teacher will justify having given 30 minutes of homework this week...
She has just started Y6 (state primary and a good one according to Ofsted), and her homework this week was 30 maths questions multiplying and diving numbers by 10, 100 or 1,000. She's been able to do this for several years, but, nevertheless, off she went, writing the answers in her homework book, using the sheet of questions as the guide to question numbers (she is not allowed to write the answer on the sheet so the sheets can be used again...) It took her less than 10 minutes to do. Is this sort of homework really going to prepare her for her entrance test? I think not.
I did hear on the way to school this morning that she was supposed to write out the questions as well as the answers into her homework book, so the teacher knows which question she is answering. This would have taken another 20 minutes for her to do, and presumably this is how her teacher will justify having given 30 minutes of homework this week...
Re: How are you preparing your child?
Tailsmo, I despair (and recognise) when I hear stories like that. No wonder some of us are considering indie schools. My pet frustration at state non-selective schools is that they cater for the very few kids bang in the middle. No one is stretched or engaged or expected to have too much enthusiasm. My son told me they'd gone round the class today saying nouns and he'd chosen a very long one. The teacher said he'd done it to show her up. Now she is lovely and I know she was joking, but even so, the subtle message in that joke is: toe the line. Don't excel. Fit in. Asked for a noun? Say 'pen' or 'cat', not 'substantiation'.
