The 11+ English Club

As a tutor, I'm asked for advice regularly. It's part of the job plus I love helping others!

This week, I was approached by a lovely friend of mine who is worried for her child. 

He's just started Year 5 and will be sitting his 11+ exams next year.

Her concern is that her child is burning out. Sound familiar?

So, naturally, I asked what his schedule looks like and I was shocked to discover that he's attending multiple classes across various tuition centres (some of these classes being 3 hours long! 😱) and is studying everyday, without fail - including weekends.

Each tuition centre sets homework, so he's staying up late to get everything done and often hands in his usual homework late, which is obviously causing a multitude of problems at school.

His after-school clubs have been cancelled and any social activities are kept to a minimum. 😞 

He is simply exhausted, and is quite rightly beginning to resent this whole process.

Does this sound like an ideal situation to you?

Here's what I advised my friend to do 👇 

Put yourself in your son's shoes. What message are you promoting here?

"Burrow yourself away, keep practising, and it'll all work out?"

Let’s pretend you have a very important exam coming up which, if you pass, will afford you plenty of academic and career-based opportunities...

But in order to stand a good chance of passing, you have to sacrifice everything you love for the next two years.

She paused for a moment, and pondered on this information.

I think it’s safe to say that it dawned on her just how much their current choices were affecting this child's overall wellbeing.

Here's my advice to you!

We all know that consistency works. 

Combined with exceptional skill and motivation, it can lead us to achieving our goals in life.

But without adopting the right mindset, or creating the right balance between work and play, there will be no results. It's just not sustainable, and isn't setting the right message ahead of secondary education - where, let's be honest, the really important stuff happens.

The 11+ English Club is proud to implement a growth mindset as part of this process, fostering the confidence and wellbeing of our students.

If you want to make this process an enjoyable one for your child, check out information on how we operate here.

If you're looking for more advice, check out our Tutor Chat series on YouTube for so much free guidance!

Speak soon,

Lucy