Should you prepare your child for the 11+ exam? Eight creative ways to boost their grammar school chances

• Primary school leavers hoping to attend a grammar school will usually need to do well on a special 11+ exam
• Registrations for many of these open in April
• Although content varies by school, these tricky tests usually cover the same four major topics
• There are fun, novel ways to help your child prepare at home - without adding extra pressure

The testing process to secure a spot at a selective secondary school can be daunting for a young child - but sometimes, getting ready can be fun and games.

With national secondary school offers day now just days away, parents whose children will be leaving primary school next year might also be starting to think ahead about their applications. Applications - including your top secondary school choices - will be due later this year, but picking out which ones are the right fit for your family isn’t always easy.

If your child is achieving highly at school, a grammar school might be worth considering. These selective schools can help them to reach their full academic potential, and fees-free state grammar schools are frequently among the highest-performing schools in the country when it comes to secondary school exams.

In most cases, your child will need to sit and do well on a special test, known as the 11+ exam, to earn a place at one. Although the exact content and dates for these can exams vary by school, they usually have some core components in common. Registrations for parents interested in having their child take the test also typically open in April - in a little over a month’s time.

The UK’s only newspaper specifically for young people - First News - recently worked with online exam prep company Atom Learning to create a guide for parents wanting to make sure their child was ready for the 11+ exam. Here’s what you need to know about the test - and their suggestions for helping at home:

What are 11+ exams - and what do they assess?

The 11+ test is taken by children in their final year of primary school (Year 6) who are applying for a place at a selective grammar school for the following academic year. It is designed to identify children working at the very highest levels for their age group, so understandably, it can often be quite tricky - and can ask some higher level questions than what children will have covered in class.

While the exact exam contents and overall requirements will vary depending on the school you’re applying for, most 11+ tests cover four key areas. Two, English and maths, are taught in school. According to Atom Learning, topics covered in this part of the test may include reading comprehension, spelling, punctuation and grammar, and possibly creative writing for the English section - and addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, basic geometry, and statistics for the maths section.

The others, however, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, aren’t specifically taught in school. These test your child’s reasoning skills, like understanding patterns, spotting connections, and solving problems. Verbal reasoning involves letters and word-based problems, while non-verbal reasoning often involves shapes and diagrams.

Join our NationalWorld Today newsletter - morning headlines in your email.

Creative ways you can help your child prepare at home

Practice papers, keeping up with class and homework, using an exam prep platform, and potentially even some tutoring can be incredibly helpful, Atom says that children’s brains are primed to soak up knowledge in many different situations.

This means you can help boost their confidence in these skills by practicing in fun and novel ways at home. This can also take some of the pressure off. The learning service points out that the 11+ test will be the first formal exam many children ever take - and they may be nervous or scared of disappointing you.

Here are eight creative ways to practice key skills from the test with your child:

1. Write maths sums on post-it notes and stick them in high-traffic areas around the house. Reward your child for each note they solve with a marble in a jar - and every time they fill it, reward them with a prize.
2. Encourage your child to read a First News or other basic newspaper article over breakfast. On the way to school, ask them questions about it to improve their reading comprehension skills.
3. Play rhyme and word games while waiting in queues - like at the supermarket.
4. Buy times-tables singalong music for the car. The catchy tunes will stick in their minds, Atom says.
5. Give them a ‘word of the day’ and reward them each time they use it (correctly, of course).
6. Play board games involving letters and words like Bananagrams or Scrabble. This can help hone verbal reasoning skills.
7. Create treasure hunts where they must crack the clues using non-verbal pictures like shapes and diagrams. This is great for working on non-verbal reasoning.
8. Work together with Lego to practise non-verbal reasoning in action.

This article is produced in partnership with First News, an award-winning newspaper for UK children read by 2.2 million each week. To find out more about getting First News at home or in your child’s school, or even to browse its other online offerings for young people, you can visit its website here.