When parents start assessment prep is the most infuriating thing to me (and to them too!)
/There are two types of parents that I encounter on a daily basis.
Type 1.
The calm, relaxed, go with the flow parents. The parents who say things like, ‘Oh Maria! But we don’t need to prepare them for that assessment!’
‘It’s not as competitive as the other schools you prepare for!’
‘I’m so sure that they will just take him/her!’
Type 2.
The focused, determined and fully aware parents.
The parents who say things like, ‘Right Maria, let’s go! We have 18 months left and we have work to do!’
‘When can we get started?’
‘What can we do to support him/her to have the highest possible chances for success?’
You know the type that I wish to talk to.
There is a huge problem with when parents start assessment preparation for their children. The problem is this…
I will truly never understand why anyone would consciously choose to send their child to an assessment unprepared. And I honestly don’t care what school it is that their child goes to.
Any school. Is there really such a thing as a ‘feeder school’? Because I teach many, many children from these ‘feeder schools’ so really some of their results are mine too! (they do not publish that though do they?)
Keep in mind that these schools will cost these parents 8k-11k per term for their children to go there. So why on earth would they not invest a fraction of that to prepare their children for these schools?
Everyone’s answer will be different and really that is a rhetorical question because I’m not too interested in the answer to that question.
But what I am interested in is when parents call me up to tell me about the fact that their child was unsuccessful in this or that assessment and when I ask them if they prepared, they say no. Or they say that their child went to nursery or school. Yeh, that is not assessment preparation - and I do not care which school your child attends. Doesn’t matter. At all.
You see, parents will not advertise the fact that their child did not pass their assessment at schools like Westminster, Habs, NLCS or South Hampstead. Perhaps they won’t even tell you that they applied. They will keep it their little secret. So how are you to ever know that children are unsuccessful at these schools’ assessments?
Well, of course children are unsuccessful.
That is why they are called assessments.
So if you’re new to this. Great. Listen to me very carefully.
Preparing for entrance exams takes time, patience, resilience and dedication. And do not ever forget that this is a competition. And these schools will have their choice of who they want to attend their schools.
Who will they choose?
The prepared or the unprepared?
It’s so incredibly obvious to me!
