I admire your commitment to your children and the struggles you face. I get it!
Lots of kids hate writing! They are not all avid readers. Consequently, some may have a limited range of oral and written expression.
Or they’re pretty good readers and/or articulate speakers but have other blocks holding back the creative writing process.
Then there’s the uniquely difficult skill of top band exam creative writing itself. You can’t ‘cram’ for creative writing exam tasks in the way you can with other subjects.
Creativity and timed exams are not good bedfellows. Creativity reveals insight. It has to be nurtured, developed and adjusted over time. Countless timed exercises are needed to see real improvement.
Additionally, creative writing exam responses are also assessed for technical accuracy and overall literacy. All that punctuation and grammar to master! Does your child know the difference between a dash and a hyphen? Or how to use a semicolon correctly? Or the four main sentence structures?
What about acquiring an impressive, apt and invigorating repertoire of vocabulary to allow the child to express their ideas in a distinctive style? How can all these elements build your child’s range of expression, their creative writing techniques and distinctive authorial narrative voice? Yikes, there’s so much being tested in the creative writing exam!
How on earth can that be improved in the next 6 weeks?
I’m worried for this particular academic cohort as well…and I’m an experienced English coach. Time is running out and action needs taking if we’re to ensure the children can really do themselves justice in the written English section of the 11+ (and 10+) exams which are now only a few weeks away.