Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Creative Writing Skills

Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Creative Writing Skills

As a parent, we know how great our children’s imaginations are but why is it sometimes so difficult to put their creativity on paper? There’s no worse feeling than pondering over the first sentence and feeling deflated that you can’t put your thoughts across. This can only be made worse in a classroom where everyone else seems to be flying ahead, making the process appear even more daunting. 

At Achieving Success, our private English tutors can give your child the confidence they deserve in their writing, helping them to excel in the classroom and encouraging them to put pen to paper. At our tuition centres, we believe teaching English is a holistic process and should develop several skills like creativity, communication and problem-solving. 

To help support your child to think more openly about their creative writing skills, it’s important to know the real benefits it can give them. In a world that is so heavily tech-driven, your children mustn’t lose their ability to express themselves.

Creative writing can be beneficial in building confidence and boosting imagination, skills that in their adult life will allow them to push boundaries, stand out from the crowd and think more innovatively. Not only this, creative writing can enhance your child’s empathy and communication skills and is proven to better their emotional, mental and physical health. 

Some of the best creative writers will have years of experience under their belt, but we hope these five steps will help encourage your child to have confidence in their creative writing ability. 

1) Read, read and read!

To write well, it’s important to read well. How do you expect your child to learn how to write more creatively if they don’t read from those who already do it so well? 

Reading more will allow your child to explore different writing perspectives and give them inspiration for their writing. It is also one of the best ways to improve and expand their vocabulary, as it exposes them to new words which they can use in their writing. Try treating your child to a book that will excite and engage them from the very beginning. 

If getting your child to sit down with a book seems out of reach, try diversifying their reading material. How about a biography, an e-book or compelling magazine? Reading more will support them in developing an eye for what makes an interesting piece of writing that will leave the reader wanting more. 

To ensure your child is taking in what they are reading, it’s also important to give them time to talk about what they’ve read. Ask them to share what they thought made it a good piece, what words they used and perhaps how it could be improved to them? All these thought-provoking questions should inform their thinking next time they come to write something.

2) Become an expert 

When it comes to creative writing, it can often seem like the sky’s the limit. However, this isn’t always the case and your child could be posed with a specific topic or situation that they will need to form a piece of writing on. 

To help prompt their creative flow, it’s important for your child to know and understand the subject or industry as best as they can. Encourage them to find a private room and take the time to use the internet or read magazines to help find information to inform their writing. 

Did you know that sometimes the more visually engaging their notes are, the better this will help you formulate your child’s writing? Becoming an expert in their field will help them save time and allow for a much smoother writing process. Achieving Successes’ bespoke learning materials will be able to support your child at every step of the process. As well as this, our highly skilled tutors will continuously monitor their learning and ensure your child’s progressions is at its maximum. 

3) Write it down 

Sometimes an idea can spark at the least expected time or place. To avoid losing these precious thoughts, ensure they have a small notebook with them at all times so they can always jot their ideas or thoughts down. 

Encourage them to think about their writing when they are doing mundane tasks or out with you for lunch, something might just spring to mind that is too good to lose. You’ll be surprised at how inspired your child will be when they’re not sat behind their own desk. 

This is where having a private tutor can also help your child. Achieving Success offers a fresh, new learning environment with classrooms that have projectors, smart boards and whiteboards to help them thrive above and beyond.

4) Think outside the box 

It might be an overused phrase, but to ‘think outside the box’ aims to push you outside your comfort zone and express your thoughts in a different and potentially more unique way. For example, its common that children are good at talking about the character involved but can often forget what’s happening around the character. 

Encourage them to enhance the story by thinking about the location and setting and be creative in how they want to present these elements and explore what else comes from it. The larger they can widen the lens, the broader their imagination will travel. 

5) Have they really proofread?

Again, this seems like an obvious way to ensure their writing is at the very best standard, but you’d be surprised how many forget this step. 

When your child finishes their writing it will feel like the best feeling in the world until they remember they have to read through it all again – but this is so crucial. Proofreading helps to correct mistakes and teaches them to not make them again in the future. 

Not only should your child proofread their own work but getting someone else to do it as well can be equally as useful. Other people can spot the mistakes they couldn’t quite see themselves. Although it’s the last step, proofreading is an important part of their creative process and can help shape their overall results.

Private tutoring can be a great way to receive additional support for your child’s writing. Not only can the tutors at Achieving Success act as an additional pair of eyes, but also teach your child the most effective ways to check their work and give them the confidence to do themselves in the future. 

Why you should choose Achieving Success to support you?

Does your child need support with their creative writing? Our private English tutors are highly equipped to ensure your child is reaching their maximum potential in whatever area this may be.

Regardless of whether you are looking for 11 plus tuition, GCSE tuition, SATS or Grammar School Tutoring in Birmingham – Achieving Success are the premier private tutoring agency in Birmingham.

 An experienced tutor will create bespoke curriculums that will keep your child engaged and guide them down the path to success. 

If you are looking for English tutors in Birmingham – contact us today!

Helping Your Child With Maths

Helping Your Child With Maths

One of the typical pain points for students at school is maths. It is such an important subject and life skill to take on to further education and your career. Learning maths from a young age helps develop problem-solving skills for everyday life. 

Children can struggle with maths at any age. With primary schools being such a hotbed of learning, it can often be hard for parents to keep up with how their child is progressing. However, at one time or another, you may be told or find out the hard way that your child is struggling with maths.

Some kids who have trouble with math just need more time and practice to learn math skills. Others need extra help and support to get there. 

Learn more about some of the most common maths challenges kids face and what can help:

What Do We Mean by ‘Struggling’ With Maths?

Every child learns and develops their maths skills at a different rate, so it is hard to accurately judge whether a student is struggling or just developing at their own pace. Determining where your child is within the expectations of their age range or year group is definitely a good place to start. 

This means that you should take into context the difficulty of the work and how other students are coping. The problems may be hard for the whole maths class and not designed for students to get full marks or close to full marks. 

However, here are some basic problems that every student is expected to have learnt by a certain stage and should look out for. For example, you might see your child struggling with very simple concepts, like ‘more’ and ‘less’ and ‘bigger’ and ‘smaller.’ Your child might also have trouble understanding amounts or the order of things in a list, such as ‘first,’ ‘second’ or ‘third.’

The ability to understand these and other basic concepts is known as number sense. When kids have poor number sense, it makes it hard to learn maths.

Why is Maths so Hard?

There are a number of reasons why students can find maths difficult. This can be to do with the personality of the student or the way that it is currently taught. Sometimes, certain learning and thinking differences are a factor. This includes a common math learning difficulty called dyscalculia, which you can research online to make an initial assessment as to whether this affects your child. 

Let’s look at some of the common hurdles. 

Maths Anxiety

One sign that your child is struggling is ‘maths anxiety.’ This is where the student hates maths at school and at home, so they avoid doing homework or get upset when they have to do it. They may cry before tests or disengage with classes. Kids get so stressed out about math that it gets in the way of learning the subject. It can make it seem like they’re struggling with maths, even if they aren’t.

Understanding this can allow you to see that they are disconnected from learning maths and it could be rectified by having it taught to them in a way they connect with. This is where maths tutoring in Birmingham can help, with personalised lessons that suit them. 

Learning Styles

There is also an element of brain-style in the big picture, according to many scientists. There will always be opposing views on any topic, especially on the workings of the human brain, but many theorists believe that people are wired with different math comprehension skills.

The common left brain and right brain theory comes into play here. According to some brain science scholars, logical, left-brain thinkers tend to understand things in sequential bits, while artistic, intuitive, right-brainers are more global. They take in a lot of information at one time and let it “sink in.” So left-brain dominant students may grasp concepts quickly while right-brain dominant students don’t. To the right brain dominant student, that time-lapse can make them feel confused and behind.

There is no real evidence to support this theory of left and right brain thinking but there is also no evidence to disprove it. Regardless of this theory, there is a definite trend in which more creative thinkers find maths more difficult and will struggle. Not every subject is a natural fit for children but they can still learn if they are taught correctly. There is one core issue in the current maths curriculum that affects both KS2 students and maths GCSE students alike. 

Maths As Cumulative Discipline 

Maths is a cumulative subject to learn; meaning the subject and your understanding is built in a stack of building blocks. You have to gain understanding in one area before you can effectively go on to ‘build upon’ another area. Our first mathematical building blocks are established in primary school when we learn rules for addition and multiplication, and those first concepts comprise our foundation.

A key issue is that with schools setting more and more targets and cramming in more than ever, the class may move on before these building blocks are established. Students may pass the exams, but not with high grades. Then they will move on to the next level with shaky foundations, making it more difficult to learn the more complex ideas. 

This can be rectified by tutoring centres or help at home from parents. Any student who receives a lower pass grade in a math class should thoroughly review their performance to be sure to pick up the concepts they’ll need later. This will allow them to run into fewer hurdles later on.

Understanding Maths

As mentioned before, one of the hurdles that students face when studying maths is how it fits in with their learning style. It is often taught in a very rigid way at schools, meaning a lot of students get left behind. In real life, you can approach maths however you see best and you can then thrive. 

Maths is a time-consuming subject, which is why students fall behind. You speak English every day and you often see science occurring in small areas of life. Maths, in the way that it is taught, is far less tangible and you need to sit down and dedicate the time to it. 

Firstly, do not try to memorise the processes. This is counter-productive. It is much better and rewarding in the long-run to focus on understanding the process and logic that is involved. This will help students understand how they should approach such problems in the future.

Remember that maths is a sequential subject; so it’s important to have a firm understanding of the key concepts that underpin a mathematical topic before moving on to work on other, more complex solutions which are based on understanding the basics.

Therefore, a key part of understanding maths is trying to find weaknesses and understand why these areas are becoming problematic. When practising with problems, it’s important to work through the process for each solution. If children have made any mistakes, you should review them and understand where their problem-solving skills let them down. 

Helping Your Children at Home

Struggling with math can make kids feel like they’re not smart and that can take a toll on their self-esteem. Let your child know that everyone struggles with something and that all people have strengths too. Help your child develop a growth mindset and stay motivated to keep trying, even when math is hard. There are lots of ways you can help your child build math skills:

  • Look into board games and books that help younger kids build math skills
  • Explore fun techniques that use more than one sense
  • Bring maths and mathematical problems into real-world situations and games.
  • Be positive and rewarding – make maths a positive experience.
  • Study maths a little bit every day.

Get Support from Tutors

Our private classes really support your child’s development, allowing them to get that extra attention often missed in overcrowded and stressful school classrooms. The small and intimate nature of our classes means your child gets the devoted attention they need to succeed, allowing the teachers to build upon their individual strengths and weaknesses.

Achieving Success provides you with 4 tutoring centres where you can schedule lessons with private maths tutors in Birmingham. There are a variety of classes and levels to help boost your child’s overall maths ability and understanding. We take the time to understand your child’s individual needs and ensure we tailor the right class for your child. Get in touch today. 

What is The 11 Plus? A Parent’s Guide to Grammar Schools Entrance Exams

What is The 11 Plus? A Parent’s Guide to Grammar Schools Entrance Exams

If you’re wondering about whether to send your child to grammar school or an independent school, then you may have already started hearing references to the ’11+ exam.’ It is written in a number of ways, eleven plus, 11 plus, 11+ and so forth but they all are the same exam. This exam allows your children to gain access to a number of schools with a real pedigree to them. 

What is the 11 Plus?

So what is the exam and why is it important? The 11 plus is a selective entrance examination sat by children in their last year of primary school. It is used to determine whether or not a child may gain entrance into a grammar school for their secondary education and sometimes referred to as the ‘Transfer Test’. These schools are often some of the best in their areas outside private schools, so it’s well worth getting your children enrolled. 

As Wales and Scotland no longer have grammar schools, the 11+ is only taken in certain parts of England. The test has officially been phased out in Northern Ireland (although some schools still use the test in a different form, called the Northern Ireland Transfer Test, in order to select the most academically able children).

The History of the 11 Plus

The Butler Education Act of 1944 saw the introduction of the 11 plus examination. This was part of a big shake-up of the whole education and schooling system in the UK. Secondary school education was made free to all, in an aim to eliminate existing inequalities in the country. 

Following from this, secondary schools were consequently divided into three distinct types: Grammar, Secondary Modern and Technical schools. The 11 plus was introduced to assess whether students could access grammar schools and those who did not pass were allocated places at one of the two other types of secondary schools.

While the number of grammar schools has dwindled over the years, seeing the divide between comprehensive and grammar schools lessen, they still are a great opportunity for many. The situation will depend entirely on your local constituency but they are more often than not the top schools in the area. 

When to Apply for the 11 Plus Exam and When is the 11 Plus Sat?

These exams and the whole process is separate to the national curriculum. Therefore, you must go outside of the school to ensure you are prepared for the exam. Here is the timeline in which you should start thinking about the 11 plus and have your child sit the exams. 

  • September: Ideally, you will have decided which grammar schools you are considering or even your final chosen grammar school. It is a good idea to visit each school with your child, to get a better feel and to see if it is the right environment for them.
  • April: Most grammar schools will open their registration in April or May and set a deadline around June or July for parents to register their child for the 11+ exam. There is some variability so please check these dates with your individual schools. 
  • September (following year): For most grammar schools the 11+ exam will take place during the first two weeks in September. There is some variability so please check the date with your individual schools.
  • October (following year): For most grammar schools, 11+ results will be posted in mid-October.
  • March (following year): School allocations are confirmed in March.
  • September (two years later): New intake begins Year 7 at each of the 164 grammar schools.

What Does the Exam Consist Of?

The exam does differ depending on the school and constituency but there are a few key areas that schools normally assess. 11 plus and similar exams vary around the country but will use some or all of the following components: English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. 

This means your child will need to prepare for four different examination tests. These are a mix of test papers sat in exam conditions and spoken exams. All of which tests your child on the above disciplines. 

Again, as these exams are often separate from the national curriculum, you will need to help your child prepare outside of school. The best way is to have 11 plus tuition outside of school, as it will be difficult to prepare your child yourself. 

The 11 plus exam itself isn’t too difficult but preparing your child for it alongside other examinations is the real test. So ensure they are prepared for the exam with the best help they can get. Devise a preparation plan to help keep your child on track, with lots of mock tests and practice papers. 

Let’s take a look at the different sections of the exam and what they need to prepare for. 

11 Plus English

To make things even more confusing, the English test will usually be divided into three main sections:

  • Comprehension.
  • Applied reasoning.
  • Continuous writing.

Comprehension

This section requires you to read a passage or an extract of text, and subsequently answer a range of questions based upon what you have just read. For the real exam, it is recommended that you spend approximately ten minutes reading the extract given, and a further 30 minutes answering the related questions.

The lines of the text will be numbered in order for you to be able to refer back to them when giving your answers. The types of questions that you will be asked in the comprehension section are designed to test your child’s understanding of the text and the words and themes within it. They will be a combination of both multiple-choice and longer, more descriptive questions.

Applied Reasoning

It is recommended that you spend ten minutes on this part of the test in the real exam. During this section, you will be asked a few different types of ‘verbal reasoning’ style questions.

Given the time frame your child has to answer these questions, they will have to complete them fairly quickly. They will involve more ‘quick-fire’ type exercises and they will be prefaced with an example question and answer so that you can get an idea of what the question is asking of you.

Continuous Writing

Your child will be given a separate booklet for this part of the test. It is recommended that you spend around twenty minutes completing this section in the real exam.

Your child will be set a couple of tasks, and then asked to write a number of sentences (around six or seven) on a subject or topic in your own words. It makes sense to divide your time evenly for these two questions, so with that in mind, you should aim to spend around ten minutes answering each one.

For these questions, they will be assessed on the creativity and quality of the pieces you write, along with the correct and proper usage of punctuation and spelling.

11 Plus Maths

This exam is more simple, with the one test being sat by your child. Your child will be given one test paper and one answer booklet and tasked with answering all the questions within a set time limit. 

It is recommended that your child answer all the questions you can in good time, and not spend too long on a question you are not sure on. This means that they can leave them time at the end of the test to go over and try again on any questions you were unsure of the first time around.

Your child will be tested on mental maths, maths concepts and skills and problems that have to be solved in multiple stages. The test will address maths problems your child has been studying in school. 

The test will not allow your child to use or take in a calculator with them but there is ample space in the answer booklet for working out. The exam board advises that once the test has commenced, you will be unable to ask about any of the questions within it.

11 Plus Verbal Reasoning

These questions are about solving problems and following sequences to do with words and text. Verbal reasoning tests your child’s English grammar and vocabulary. Generally, the verbal reasoning section of the 11 plus exam will be combined with the Non-Verbal Reasoning 11+ paper, and your child will have one hour to complete both sections.

11 Plus Non-Verbal Reasoning

During the non-verbal reasoning paper, your child will need to solve problems to do with diagrams and pictures. There’s also an element of maths involved to this as mathematics and logic often go hand in hand. Non-verbal reasoning is used during the 11 plus so that student’s ability to work out similarities of patterns and shapes can be assessed. As mentioned previously, the non-verbal section of the 11 plus will most likely be combined with the verbal reasoning.

The Different 11 Plus Examination Boards

GL and CEM are the two main exam boards for the 11+ and although they cover broadly the same topics – English, maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning/spatial awareness – there are very real differences to the way the GL and CEM 11+ exams work, which will have an impact on how you support your child.

To help you prepare your child for the 11+, we’ve summarised the key differences between GL and CEM.

Where is the CEM 11+ taken?

The exam boards will depend on your local authority. Here are the lists of authorities that conduct exams followed by the different boards. 

  • CEM regions: Berkshire, Bexley, Birmingham, Gloucestershire, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Wolverhampton & Wrekin
  • GL regions: Bromley, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Kent, Lancashire & Cumbria, Lincolnshire, Medway, Northern Ireland
  • GL and CEM regions: Devon, Essex, Hertfordshire, Trafford, Wirral, Yorkshire

Which subjects are covered?

  • GL assessment: English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning/spatial awareness (schools can choose any combination of these to best suit their selection policy.)
  • CEM Assessment: verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and numerical reasoning (‘verbal reasoning’ encompasses many of the skills tested in the GL English exam, including comprehension. ‘Numerical reasoning’ involves the core maths skills needed for the GL exam.)

Prepare Your Child for the 11 Plus 

Make sure your child is prepared for the 11 Plus. Gaining access to grammar school really helps open doors for them, giving them a better education and access to more opportunities. Doing 11 plus mock exams and tests can really help with this. We at Achieving Success provide spaces and examiners to test your child. 

Our 11 plus grammar school programme covers the key content and skills for the CEM and GL exams. Birmingham and Warwickshire pupils sit the CEM exams which consist of two 45-50 minute papers and include: verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and maths questions. The classes are taught in 3 stages to maximise the chance of your child’s success. These stages are:

  • Stage 1 – Tutoring in relevant maths and English skills for the 11 Plus grammar school exams. Content and skill building across NumericaI, Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning
  • Stage 2 – Bespoke mock exams. Tutors assess their pain points and critical skills they need to develop before creating exams specific to these needs.
  • Stage 3 – 10 minute speed tests – combining robust accuracy with speed to prepare pupils for the high-stress exam environment

We also offer intensive 11 Plus holiday workshops. These will allow your child to have a teacher coach them on all the different areas of examination. As it is in a classroom setting, this will allow them to have the perfect environment to bounce off other students and really progress. Get in touch today to help secure your child’s future. 

When Should Your Children Start Preparing for GCSEs

When Should Your Children Start Preparing for GCSEs

GCSEs represent a major coming of age milestone for thousands of 16-year-olds across the UK every year. For many, GCSEs are the final traditional exam on their path to their first career. For others, the exams are a stepping stone to an exploration of a brand new sphere of learning.

As a parent, you want to help your child in everything that he or she partakes in. The current educational climate is now more competitive than ever, with university entry requirements rising every year. Your child will certainly be feeling the pressure and you’re going to want to support them as efficiently as possible.

It can be a difficult time for both you and your child. You don’t want to risk starting preparation too early and having your child burn out but you also don’t want them to leave it too late and start cramming. We will guide you on when is best to start preparing your children for GCSEs and some of the best ways you can support them along the way.

How Can Parents Make a Difference?

Sometimes a parent may feel powerless. That their children and their education will be determined by factors out of their control. This could not be further from the truth. Parental support is 8 times more important in determining a child’s academic success than
social class.

The good news is that you don’t need to be an expert in any of the subjects your child chooses in order to make a real difference. You also don’t need to give up your life and other responsibilities, you just need to know how best to spend the time you do have.

One of the hardest demands on students is that of understanding the long-term importance of doing the best they can and learning to shelve short-term fun at times in the interest of long-term benefits. Children will also differ in their levels of maturity, their ability to take responsibility for their learning, organisational skills and levels of motivation.

This is where parents come in. Your support, encouragement and interest can make a spectacular difference to your child’s motivation and ability to cope with the academic and organisational demands during the exam period.

How Have GCSEs Changed?

GCSEs were introduced in 1988, as the more student-friendly O levels. The new qualification established a national qualification for school leavers at 16 and offered a wider subject range – a welcome change to students with more specific learning interests.

GCSE grading worked on a letter scale, from A to G, with a GCSE C a rough equivalent to a C at O Level. This was changed by the government in 2016 after an overhaul of the GCSE exams.

So now instead of being graded with A, A, B, C, D, E, F or G, papers are now given a 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 grading. The highest three grades (9, 8 and 7) are replacements for A and A, with the top 20% of those being graded 9.

This might sound confusing, but essentially a new standard has been set. There are 3 top grades instead of 2 now, so in essence, the new level 9s are equivalent to an A**. This gives students more room to excel and achieve higher results.

However, there is a bigger emphasis placed on exams. The new courses include much less coursework than before, with only some of the more practical subjects like Dance, Art and Drama containing this element of assessment. Most exams will now also be taken at the end of a two-year course, removing the module system that was previously in place for some subjects.

Due to this, supporting your children with exams and revision is more important than ever.

How to Be There for Your Child

It is very important that your child can grow and learn things at his or her own pace, but if you are worried about situations, it is equally important to step in and take care of it. Unfortunately, it is a delicate subject, and it is crucial, as a mother or father, that you do not become too overpowering. In fact, this could have the opposite effect and adversely discourage your child from learning.

Therefore, you need to think about this on an individual basis. There are no real hard and fast rules in terms of timelines, as in our experience, some students will benefit from early starts and others won’t.

The following things are well worth considering in order to safely hit the happy medium with your child:

Start early

Prepare months ahead with new exercises and research questions help to stop dominating negative elements. Fear, anxiety, stress and pressure can be prevented, or at least dramatically reduced if your child is allowed to prepare long before the final exams take place.

Early can be a subjective term so you will have to think about how your children normally react to things. If they normally need prior warning and planning to feel comfortable, then plan earlier. If they get stressed easily and overthink when it comes to planning, don’t start too early.

Study Timetable

It is also very important to help your child prepare a detailed study timetable. Doing this will allow your child’s way of thinking to have a plan on what to learn, when and how to do so. It also allows your child time to explore places that are causing some confusion and get them into a more manageable of learning and tuition.

Get all The Necessary “Tools” Ready

Although it may sound quite simple, it is quite important to bring together all the necessary tools before your child actually sits down for a study session. Disruptions that can lead to leaving the study environment and look for things do not allow your child to sit in a highly focused state and thus takes your child longer to regain focus and make on track.

Tools don’t just equate to objects or apps. They can extend towards tutoring, with online tuition, high-quality private tutors in Birmingham, or online help guides are a good way to keep your child-focused.

Suggest Useful Revision and Anti-Procrastination Tools

Mobile phones can seem like your worst enemy when you think your child should be revising. Instead of banning technology in the house – be proactive and encourage ways they can incorporate their mobile phone into their studies.

For example, a student can use a phone as a timer to test how quickly they can get through a set of flashcards. There are even apps you can download that give you rewards if you don’t pick up your phone for a set amount of time.

Encourage contextual learning

Try sitting down with your teenager to think about ways they could apply what they are revising to real-life situations. For this to be even more beneficial, try being subtle about how you approach it.

Take a teenager who is studying Shakespeare in GCSE English. Over dinner, you could discuss cool ways you could adapt a Shakespeare play for a movie in the 21st century that you’d both actually watch.

If it’s science they’re struggling with, find some awesome science websites that you could browse together, that’ll peak their motivation for learning the subject. This relies on you being super proactive – but we promise it will be worth it.

Consider Private Tuition

If your child is struggling with a particular subject, and this is affecting their motivation to revise, they could benefit from a private tutor. In fact, research shows that a private tutor can help students improve by up to 3 grades. This is where GCSE Tuition in Birmingham comes in. 

Regardless of whether you are looking for 11 Plus Tutoring, GCSE Tutoring, SATS or Grammar School Tutoring in Birmingham – Achieving Success is the premier tutoring agency in Birmingham. We provide tutoring for all the main exams and core subjects, including English, Maths and Science.

All of our programs are completely bespoke and taught in actual schools by fully qualified teachers who teach Monday to Friday outside of our sessions. This means they are not only experienced tutors but are fully engaged with the current academic syllabus and can help with all the upcoming exams. Call one of our Birmingham tuition centres today.

Why is Vocabulary so Important For Your Child?

Why is Vocabulary so Important For Your Child?

Research demonstrates that between the ages of two and five years old, children build vocabulary at an accelerated rate. It is therefore essential that parents, carers and teachers place a great deal of emphasis on building strong vocabulary.

A broad and varied range of vocabulary enables students to build deeper levels of comprehension. Research has indicated that strong vocabulary leads to a greater level of creative thinking and the ability to provide description, thus aiding understanding. 

How Can Parents Help Children Develop a Strong Vocabulary?

1)    Use the library to book share:

Having access to an extensive range of books provides an excellent opportunity for parents to read to their child. It is therefore highly recommended by experts that parents make a habit of taking their child to the library. An environment surrounded by books encourages reading and the library setting has a positive impact on the child’s mindset; all while providing the perfect opportunity to use descriptive English language and engage the child’s imagination. Sitting to read a book in an environment free of the normal everyday distractions is a great way to develop a rich and varied vocabulary.

2)    Speak to your child using a variety of different words, particularly descriptive words: 

Aim to speak to your child in proper English while using subject specific language, taking care to integrate a varied range of adjectives into your speech. Children are great learners and this means they will either learn from your varied speech, or use a limited range of words because that is what they hear from you. Try to be as descriptive as possible when engaging with them; this will reflect well in their speech as well as their creative-writing abilities.

3)    When giving instructions to your child, add a range of vocabulary to get them familiar with different words:

The more words your child hears you say, the more their vocabulary will develop. Add additional words into daily instructions you provide such as:

“Can you please pick the small blue car with red and white stripes on the side up? It is the one that plays an exciting tune when you pull it back.”

If your child asks you a question in return such as “which teddy am I collecting?”, respond by adding further vocabulary in your answer, e.g. “it’s the small brown teddy with fluffy legs and an inquisitive look on its face. The teddy that you are collecting is grey in colour and has one eye that is green and one that is blue”.

Not only will this aid in terms of vocabulary but it will also help your child remember details and retain information.

4)    Use everyday opportunities to develop vocabulary:

For example, while your children are in the bath, emphasise language by developing key instructions. “Pour water into the big blue bath. First, pour a little, then pour more, finally pour it all!”

“Hold your sister’s hand as we watch the cars whizzing by like twinkling stars”

Children have an amazing ability to absorb new vocabulary wherever they are therefore we must use every opportunity to engage their active minds with new words and deep descriptions.

Why Choose Achieving Success Tutoring?

Building children’s vocabulary opens doors to a lifelong opportunity to learn but it requires careful planning and focus. Regardless of if your child plans on studying English literature or business, a wide vocabulary is important. 

All of our tutors are full-time teachers; they can therefore accurately recognise curriculum rich vocabulary. This allows us to help our students improve their speech with academic vocabulary that can truly set them apart from their peers. 

Achieving Success Tutoring offers a curriculum that bridges the gap between deep conversation and high-quality reading instruction. We offer a unique opportunity for pupils to engage with curriculum rich reading combined with a high level of Oracy. Through our range of expertly constructed courses, your child can engage in the best English tutoring in Birmingham as well as other subjects such as maths tutoring. 

 Through our tuition centres and bespoke teaching syllabus, we teach effective reading skills that enable our pupils to rapidly develop a deep level of vocabulary and ensures that they are able to access different aspects of the curriculum.

Achieving Success Tutoring nurtures students in a way that allows them develop their vocabulary independently. Primary and Secondary pupils are giving vocabulary lists which contain key words that are learnt and then their implementation is rigorously tested and practised in tuition sessions. 

A school-leaver should have a vocabulary bank of approximately fifty thousand words – which seems like a lot! However, Achieving Success Tuition can close the gap. By teaching a few-hundred key words well in the classroom, pupils can grow their vocabulary exponentially by learning related word families and having the tools to read independently. On average, this approach is shown to provide learning of approximately 3-5,000 words annually depending on consistency in reading; year upon year growth sees 50,000 words become achievable for each child we teach.

At Achieving Success Tutoring, we have the following principles in teaching English in Birmingham:

1)    Train teachers to become more knowledgeable and confident in explicit vocabulary teaching.

2)    Teach academic vocabulary explicitly and clearly, with coherent planning throughout the curriculum.

3)    Foster structured reading opportunities in a model that supports students with vocabulary deficits.

4)    Promote and encourage high quality dialogue in the classroom.

5)    Promote and scaffold high-quality academic writing in the classroom.

6)    Teach students independent word learning strategies.

Why Achieving Success is Your Best Option

Regardless of whether you are looking for 11 Plus Tutoring, GCSE Tutoring, SATS or Grammar School Tutoring in Birmingham – Achieving Success are the premier tutoring agency in Birmingham. We provide tutoring for all the main exams and core subjects, including English, maths and science. 

All of our programs are completely bespoke and taught in actual schools by fully qualified teachers with years of experience who teach Monday to Friday outside of our sessions. This means they are fully engaged with the current academic syllabus and can help with all the upcoming exams.

Contact us today for any further information regarding your child’s path to success.