Introduction to pre-prep assessment worksheets

A good way to get your child to learn while still having fun is to make it into a game.The worksheets I have attached links to have been taken from Kidslearningstation and are a pretty good way to get them started. There are also a lot of books and games on Amazon that can help in similar ways.

For me, these worksheets were a good way to start. Just going through a few exercises a day will make sure that they have a really good understanding of what is required on an academic level at the assessments. Remember that these assessments are not looking to judge a child solely on academic standards. Yes, showing an academic inclination is a definite plus but my advice would be not to go overboard and hire tutors etc.  The assessments are centred generally on seeing how well a child will adapt to formal learning by following instructions, how they will interact with other children socially, how well they will adjust, how independent they are, how well they play in addition to how much they know. Remember that if your child does not know as much as your friend’s child who is going in for the same assessment, that does not mean that he or she will not get in. After all, school is for learning and a child who does not have as much knowledge as his friend will, if chosen, be in the same class and be taught the same things and will therefore learn them albeit at a slightly later stage.

You must remember that the teachers who conduct these assessments have a great deal of experience and an innate ability to pick out those who are tutored from those who are not. Sometimes, the assessments are even set by Educational Psychologists and are done in a way to suss out the children who may display early signs of learning disorders or development delays. This does not however naturally mean that then those children are no longer offered places. Although in the past, the state sector has held the certificate (as it were) for being the best for children with mild special needs, the private schools are now more and more incorporating such children (who often display a high aptitude for academic prowess and are exceptionally intelligent) within their ranks. It is imperative though that the parents of such children accept the situation and are completely transparent and truthful with the schools. It does not serve either interest to cover up such issues as even if your child has a good day on the day of the assessment, it may turn out that he/she has obvious difficulties later on which may then present several other problems, for the school, for you and most importantly for your child. It would be terrible for a child to regress as a result of a bad experience which may well be avoided if the parents are upfront with the school.

As such I do not think (having been through the process myself) that parents need to worry as much as they seem to. I do believe that children must have a certain level of knowledge, but at the end of the day, these are such young children that assessments begin to seem (to some degree) almost a form of a lottery. After all, after the alumni intakes and the sibling intakes (though in most schools these are based on merit) there are very few places left and I cannot believe that all the children who don’t get offered a place don’t make the grade. There is a certain amount of luck involved and the schools are very clever at picking the children who most suit.

Therefore, while it can be very disappointing not to get the school that may have been your first choice, perhaps parents could take some comfort in the knowledge that none of the North London schools can ever be labelled “bad schools” and whichever one your child gets, is sure to achieve good results. At the end of the day, I am a firm believer in the school and parent partnership and if you are willing to put in the hours and work with your child alongside the school, any one of the schools based in and around this area (or any other am sure) will help your child achieve his/her true potential.

Please see the worksheets section for more information on academic development.

Regardless, though, I do fully appreciate and understand that this is easier said than done. I too was obsessive in my research when my child sat the assessments and as such have put together a few ideas for encouraging  social communication and dialogue and increasing confidence in your child.

• When you are out and about, talk to your child about their surroundings. This may seem easy enough but if you stop and count the number of times we are out and thinking about what we have to do and replying to our children in non-committal slightly distracted ways you will see that it is easier said that done. An idea would be if you were driving and a fire engine went past, the chances are that your child will say “nee naw, nee naw” you could then expand on that with, “oh very good, that is the sound a fire engine makes” if your child is older then you could expand by saying, “I wonder who needs help, maybe a house is on fire, or  maybe someone is locked in or maybe someone’s cat can’t get down from their tree”  etc..think of all the things that firemen do and ask your child which one they think needs the fireman’s help today. You can apply this across the board.
• Another idea is if you have a specific day planned at for example the Heath or at the Zoo, you could print some pictures of animals or flowers or trees off, stick them on a paper and take it with you. Ask your child to mark a line against each one as they see them and then ask them to count how many of that one item you see. For example at the zoo, you could have a picture of a monkey on your paper. You could then ask  your child, how many monkeys they can count and draw lines that correspond to that number. You are then helping your child count, involving them in observing what is around them, and teaching them to be more comfortable with a pencil. You could then come home and watch a video on You Tube (for instance) about monkeys and talk to your child about where they live and what they like to eat.
• If you go on holiday for instance, you could collect little souvenirs and make a scrap book when you get back or send post cards from your holiday destination to their grandparents and you could ask them to draw a picture or write their name or just colour it and when you get back ask their grandparents to thank them and ask them questions about their holiday like, where did you go, what did you do etc. You could also show them the country on a map.
• There are also lots of games you can play like Charades or puppets which will encourage your child’s imaginative play. Dress up is also lots of fun especially if you have a garden to romp around in where you can plan secret trails and treasure hunts.

These are just a few suggestions. Please feel free to let us know what you think and what your experiences are of assessments and what you have done to prepare your child. We welcome your suggestions as am sure any other mums preparing their children would as well.

What I have come to realise is that if you take the time to talk to your child and spend whatever time you have playing games or taking them out for outings where they can experience new and different things, they will grow in confidence and their personalities will blossom. That in itself is half your battle won as far as assessments go! But do let us know what you think.