Pi Academy Course: Year 5 English 11+ Scholarship Preparation
Age Group: 10 to 11 years
Course Duration: 1 – 1.5 hours per week
Summary of Course:
This course is designed for highly talented students who wish to apply for scholarships or bursaries at independent schools.
Reading and Comprehension:
- In this course we cover the highly-challenging comprehension questions that students will be expected to answer. We focus on various types of question, including factual, inferential, emotional and linguistic.
- We teach students to justify their inferences with evidence and how to assemble this evidence.
- We teach students how to question and analyse word choice, structure, and various literary devices.
- Good reading improves and builds upon vocabulary and grammar skills. We develop a positive approach to reading, and an understanding of what our students read, discussing a wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks
- In addition to the student’s own reading, we recommend one book per month for the student to read and then discuss in class. We recommend a wide range of literature, including popular twentieth-century books and short stories. Familiarity with a wide range of literature ensures that students will be able to work on various types of comprehension passages with ease.
- Students are set a homework each week to see how they progress independently. This is then discussed at the start of the lesson.
Writing:
- Two major aspects of writing are covered: transcription (spelling and handwriting) and creative writing (articulating ideas and structuring them in long-form writing).
- In transcription, we pinpoint any regular spelling issues and, if necessary, set regular spellings to be learnt and tested; we offer feedback on handwriting legibility and advise on speed of writing. Orthology and orthography are also discussed.
- In creative writing, we teach students to plan, revise and eventually evaluate their own writing. Students are also taught to articulate ideas and communicate them effectively.
- Students are often required to write a continuation of the passage given in Section A of the 11+ paper. We therefore focus our attention on this continuation, improving the student’s skills in understanding tone, style, vocabulary and audience.
- We consistently bear in mind the need for accurate, swift writing and organisation of ideas under exam conditions. We therefore encourage students to time themselves as they practice, and we carry out occasional timed assessments for those students who need to focus on their timing.
- We also cover spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG) to a very high level.
Prerequisites:
We have our own designed Scholarship assessment test. The child needs to score more than 80% to be enrolled for this course. We assume the student attending this course is well versed with fundamentals in English and familiar with basic literacy techniques including reading, writing and SPaG appropriate to KS2 level.
Course resources:
We provide lecture notes and homework tasks, including past paper questions, after each lesson. We have also developed a summer reading club so that students may continue their literary education during the summer holidays. If desired, we can also provide a list of recommended reading during term time.
Why this course is important:
To achieve scholarship places in London’s top independent schools, students must possess excellent skills in English. In addition to helping students achieve the best they can, we also offer tailored and individual support to each student, pinpointing the areas they most need help with.
Outcome of this course:
Over 90% of students enrolled in this course have won scholarships in top independent schools – a sample of these is listed below.
- St Paul's Girls' School
- Westminster School
- Haberdashers' Aske's Boys’ School
- Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
- City of London Girls’ School
- City of London Boys’ School
- Highgate School
- Merchant Taylors' School
This course also helped students applying for places in grammar schools, including Queen Elizabeth’s School, The Latymer School, Henrietta Barnett School and Dame Alice Owen’s School.