18.06.2015, Minerva Towers

A select team of our tutors gathered at Minerva Towers yesterday to participate in a session on the 11 Plus lead by Adam Muckle (@ADMbar), professional tutor and 11 plus pre-test specialist. Adam is also a board member of the Tutors Association. The course addressed academic and pastoral elements of  tutoring the 11 plus alike.

The 11 Plus comprises the exams taken by children in their final year of primary school (Year 6) when they are aged 10/11. It is used an admissions test to independent secondary schools and remaining grammar schools in the UK. Children are examined in Maths, English, Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

After going through the curricular content of what is examined in Maths and English, tutors where given practical exercises in how to help pupils approach specific question types in Maths and English. Particular attention was given to techniques used to nurture in children a love of reading to help them build their vocabulary and improve their writing.

Key tips from the session:

1. Always ask parents/pupils what they are reading at the moment to paint a picture of the breadth of their reading

2. If they are not big readers, introduce them to Roald Dahl, CS Lewis, J.K Rowling and the like.

3. Mix things up! Alternate between a classic novel suited to their age and then something more fun and punchy

After the lunch break tutors were introduced to Minerva’s safeguarding policies by Olivia Raw, a qualified Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist offering her services to Minerva Tutors as a consultant on vetting procedures, SEN and staff development. This session covered the history of child safeguarding in the UK, signs of abuse in a child, what to do in the case of suspected abuse or negligence, best practices when tutoring and case studies.

Minerva Tutors(@minervatutorsuk) are committed to the Continued Professional Development of all their staff and place child safeguarding at the forefront of our services and staff development and vetting procedures.