11 Plus Exams Forum

Some interesting claims. Prep school children 3 years academically ahead,vocabulary can't be extended/ effectively taught beyond Y4 (from memory), cursive writing important, weekly spellings from the start etc.

I thought the consensus was spelling tests don't work? I think now the focus is on maths.

Has anyone read?

Have you got the link?
if you have it; kindly post it as comments cannot be made without reading the article.

Unfortunately the times online costs to sign up.

I have not seen the article... but I don't doubt for one minute that most privately educated primary school children are miles ahead of state school children in certain subjects when it comes down to entry tests and exams. After all they have better facilities, better teachers (in most cases), more freedom in terms of curriculum, smaller class sizes, etc... However, our DD has started GS last September. A lot of her peers indeed come from Indies. At first we were slightly worried about this as we thought this would mean that our DD would struggle to keep up with the high standards of her peers. Luckily for us this does not appear to have happened. She is top set in all main subjects such as Maths, English, Science and languages but doesn't stand a chance when it comes down to making the hockey team!

Also, why is it that spelling tests would not work?

In general, children don't remember in the longer term random lists of words learned just for a test - and you can't learn thousands of words that way in a weekly test.

I did spelling with my older dd at home because her spelling and written vocab was poor. However, we always used words in a sentence or in cross word form like in A&E education books. I did notice in her school work that she was starting to use some of the words she had learned in her work so something must have stuck.

With our youngest DD we make word lists. When she comes across a word she does not understand in a book we make a note of it. Use it in a sentence and practice the spelling. Also when she makes a spelling mistake in her homework, we practice it a few times and asked her again if she remembers how to write it a few days later.

It seems to work for us. Am I doing it all wrong?

Private schools do not necessarily have better teachers....

You do not need to have a teaching qualification to teach in independent sector. If a teacher fails their induction year they cannot work in a state school, but can in an indie...

That is true - on the other hand Indies are not limited by national pay structures and can offer better packages to attract better teachers

in my limited experience, going to private school up to year 6 means smaller class size, thats all, but this is still a big thing.

poiuyt wrote:in my limited experience, going to private school up to year 6 means smaller class size, thats all, but this is still a big thing.

I agree , Our Y6 has 20 children, it is easier to give them time and help than a class of 30 or 32. Even thoughthey are VERY demanding!