How your child can use their school books this summer for 11 Plus learning
27.06.24
This will help with your child's 11+ creative writing exam preparation! 
You may already have received a message from your child’s class teacher asking you to send in a plastic bag so your child can carry home ALL of their exercise books at the end of the term.
What joy! And so many!
Before they are lovingly relegated to the back of the cupboard, it’s well worth asking your child to carry out this task – it WILL help with their 11+ creative writing preparation over the summer. And I guarantee it will be one of the most helpful hours of prep you and your child can do, boosting their confidence and readiness for the exam.
It’s common for children to go blank when faced with an 11+ creative writing exam question. They can believe they are being asked to do something beyond their capability or something they’ve never learnt before.
This is often not correct.
One look through their English (Literacy) book will remind them of this.
It will give them confidence and reassurance when they realise they know the topics and text types they've studied.
I’ve been a primary school classroom teacher for nearly two decades, and learning one text type, say, a story, can take five weeks—that’s 25 hours of learning!
So, something must have stuck!
What to do
1) Write a list of these headings on a large piece of paper:-
Text type
(recount, story, discursive, persuasive, newspaper, article, playscript, poem, instructions, non-chronological report, autobiography, biography ). -
Characters
-
Settings
2) Now, find the English, History, Geography and PSHE books.3) Start with the text types. Look through each book and write down the text types they have studied.For example:
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Did they write a recount of a school trip?
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Did they then turn this into a diary entry or an informal letter to a friend?
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Did they write a persuasive speech in their History book, perhaps as Boudica was rallying her troops before going into battle?
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Did they prepare a discursive argument in their PSHE book on the pros and cons of modern technology?
4) Now, list the characters developed in these texts.For example:
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If they wrote a story, what types of characters did they create? What did they look like? What were their motives and personalities?
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Did they read a class book and do a character study of the main character?
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It’s also worth noting all the class books and home readers read this year. Which characters were most interesting to your child? Why?
5) Finally, list any settings written or learnt about. The Geography book may come in handy here.For example:
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What regions of the world have they learnt about?
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What about weather patterns?
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In the History book, which periods of history have been studied? What type of settings have they learnt about for this era?
6) Your child can now give themselves a HUGE pat on the back for all the wonderful learning they’ve done this year. They've come a long way, and this review will help them realise just how much they've learned and how it will be beneficial when faced with their 11+ creative writing exam question.
I hope that’s helpful.
Happy delving!
Anna