The devastating truth about starting too late preparing for the 7+
/We’ve had several Sample lessons this week with 5 year old children (currently in Year 1) who are preparing for the 7+. They are preparing for the likes of Highgate, UCS, St. Paul’s, Westminster, Habs and Latymer. When students start this late in the year, it is my assumption that they have however been working towards their 7+ for the last year at least. This is rarely what we observe in our Sample Lessons.
There are many, many problems with this. Too many to write about in this blog. But here are a few for you.
Children who are not at the level of reading and writing that they need to be by this point in the year will not pass their 7+ Assessments. No matter how intensively you prepare your child for their 7+, you cannot teach reading to the level expected in the 7+ Assessments in just under 5-6 months. Why would you want to anyway? It’s just pure stress for everyone involved.
The level of stress that you will feel starting late is something that I do not wish upon any parents.
5 year old children are laser sharp aware of exactly what is going on. If you are forcing learning upon them, they will not like it. I don’t like it either. We want to build a love for learning and not a deep hate for it. If you’re asking your child to do Bond Books 2x a day, I promise you, they will not build a love for learning. In fact they might come to resent it.
The devastating truth about starting too late preparing for the 7+ is this…
Your child will simply not pass.
I had a Sample Lesson last week, and my client asked me this question…
“Out of these 4 schools, which one will be the easiest to pass?”
She listed 4 top schools including St. Paul’s and Highgate.
I told her that none of the schools she listed were ‘easy’ to pass. Clearly, she just hadn’t understood the 7+ Assessment process.
She asked me, “Tell me honestly, how much work do we have to do?”
My answer was that she had a lot of work to do and that without dedication, determination, grit, perseverance and a lot of effort from everyone involved, there was no chance that her son would pass his 7+ at her Target Schools.
The 7+ needs two years of Assessment preparation (from the Autumn term of your child’s Reception year). If you child is summer born (April- August) I would suggest you start 4 months before this.
Going to the best school possible and having the best learning experience possible is far too important to not be taken seriously. Take the process seriously otherwise the process will not take YOU seriously. Simple.
I had to say no to someone who wanted their son to attend my 7+ Bootcamp this week. She told me that she hadn’t done any 7+ Assessment prep yet. There is no way her son would have been able to keep up with the level expected in my 7+ Bootcamp.
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