Developing reading comprehension skills matters for all readers, not only for passing tests or exams but so they can fully understand and engage in what they are reading. There is a lot you can do at home to build these skills without your child even being aware that’s what you’re doing.

Read with your child. Children love being read to. If you don’t have time for anything else, reading is the key to developing your child’s comprehension and writing skills. You don’t have to read whole books, you could choose an extract to read together, then look up any new or unfamiliar words and add them to a notebook your child can revise from.

Visualise the text. Encourage your child to picture what they’re reading using the descriptions in the text. A mental picture helps them “see” the answers and gives a clearer sense of what’s happening.

Discuss what might happen next in a story. This helps with comprehension and also prepares them for the “continue the story” element of the creative writing paper. Sometimes there are clues in a passage, sometimes a character’s behaviour points to what happens next, it’s a fun exercise to try.

Discuss the characters. Questions about character are very common in comprehension papers. Discussing why a character behaves a certain way helps your child understand the story on a deeper level. You can try this with films and TV too.

Summarise what you’ve read. After a chapter, summarise it for your child, then as their confidence grows, ask them to do the same, aiming to make the story clear for someone who hasn’t read it.

It’s okay not to understand everything. Remind your child that adults don’t understand every word they read either, and often need to re-read passages to make sense of them. Encourage your child to slow down and re-read rather than racing through a book.

Read and write poetry with your child. Reading and writing poetry helps children use language carefully and builds skills that carry across the whole curriculum. The Story Room’s creative writing sessions build on language and poetry skills in a fun way (www.storyroom.co.uk).

Comprehension skills aren’t improved overnight, nor by doing endless past papers. Reading widely, building vocabulary and discussing what you’re reading are practical ways to develop these skills, and your child doesn’t have to do it alone.

At Succeed 11-Plus, we believe children should be encouraged and praised for reading books of their choice. That said, preparing for the 11+ comprehension papers means getting familiar with a wider range of language too. Reading classic and modern children’s fiction helps expand vocabulary (useful for Verbal Reasoning), improves grammar and spelling, and helps your child recognise literary devices they can use in their own writing.

Below is a guide to books suitable for Years 4, 5 and 6, covering a range of genres. Some titles are more challenging than others, so choose what suits your child, and it’s fine to read extracts rather than whole books if that works better. Titles marked with an asterisk (*) are better read together with an adult, due to content or subject matter.

Year 4 reading list

Year 5 and 6 reading list

Reading and writing poetry is good for children. Educational bodies such as the Poetry Trust have highlighted how it builds careful use of language and attention to detail, skills that benefit children across the whole curriculum, not just in exams.

We recommend reading poetry with your child through their 11-plus preparation, and beyond, because as well as being enjoyable, it helps familiarise them with different styles of poem written through the ages and builds vocabulary and analytical skills. A comprehension based on a poem can feel daunting for a child who hasn’t read much poetry before, so a little early exposure goes a long way.

Here’s a short list of classic poems your child could read as part of their preparation, ideally read aloud at home and discussed with family. Some tell a story, some are descriptive, but all are classics that have stood the test of time:

• The Way through the Woods; A Smuggler’s Song, Rudyard Kipling
• The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Robert Browning
• The Listeners, Walter de la Mare
• The Highwayman, Alfred Noyes
• You Are Old, Father William, Lewis Carroll
• The Scarecrow, Walter de la Mare
• Something Told the Wild Geese, Rachel Field
• Night Mail, W.H. Auden
• From a Railway Carriage, Robert Louis Stevenson

Many of these can be found in The Puffin Book of Twentieth-Century Children’s Verse (edited by Brian Patten).

The 11+ journey can feel like a daunting voyage. There’s an overwhelming amount of information out there, and making sense of it can feel like a mind-boggling task. As a parent, taking a systematic approach to your child’s preparation helps them stay happy and focused throughout the process.

Start by thinking honestly about whether this is a journey your child, and you as their main support, are willing to take on. Your child will need to complete extra work outside school, on evenings and potentially weekends, much of which won’t have been taught at school, and that work will need regular marking and correction. It’s also worth thinking carefully about which secondary schools you’re considering: are they nearby, mixed, grammar, partially selective, or independent? Finding the right school is just as important as the preparation itself, and school websites are a good place to start, including details of the type of testing your child will face. Schools use different test providers (such as CEM or GL), so the style of questions, and your child’s preparation, will vary depending on the schools you’re considering. It’s worth checking school websites regularly for any changes to entrance test dates and procedures, as these can shift from year to year.

How can I help my child prepare?

Starting too early can be counterproductive, children can grow tired of the extra workload, which affects motivation and, in turn, performance when it matters. We recommend gently starting the process in Year 4, giving children time to develop their natural skills and still enjoy school and the social side of it too.

Maths preparation

During Year 4, work with your child so they’re comfortable with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Reading an analogue clock face should become a natural part of their routine rather than feeling like work, the more maths shows up in everyday life, the more comfortable they’ll be when they meet mathematical problems containing those concepts.

English preparation

Your child needs a solid foundation in English before starting the 11+ process in earnest, and this can easily begin at home. Fill your house with materials that help: books, children’s dictionaries and thesauruses, flash-cards, word games and children’s newspapers. Read with your child and discuss what you’re reading, this builds comprehension, vocabulary and general knowledge, all of which help across every part of 11+ preparation.

Should I get a tutor, and when?

Good tutors are an invaluable resource, guiding your child’s preparation and making sure their time is used efficiently with a structured workload. That said, tutoring shouldn’t be over-relied on, tutors are there to enhance your child’s abilities and exam technique. Children who are “over-tutored” can struggle once they’re actually at the school they worked so hard to get into, having had too much help getting there.

Learning these words will help with the Verbal Reasoning and Comprehension papers. Each entry gives the word, its part of speech, a definition, and an example sentence.

Many children find the prospect of writing a story under strict exam conditions daunting. There’s a lot you can do with your child from an early age to lay the foundations for more confident writing, and a confident writer is a less fearful one when the 11+ creative writing paper comes around, they might even enjoy it.

Read with your child. If you don’t have time for anything else, reading is the key to developing your child’s writing and comprehension skills. Choose an extract from a book and analyse the language and literary devices the author uses together, this helps your child understand what good writing looks like so they can apply it themselves.

Help your child develop an enthusiasm for writing. Look for local creative writing workshops where your child can write alongside their peers and share their work, and listen to others’.

Look for creative writing competitions your child can enter. Children love competitions, and it motivates them to produce their best piece of writing.

Go on trips that inspire descriptive writing. At the park, point out the colours of the leaves, the sound underfoot, the way the sun shines on the pond, then ask your child to write about the experience at home. A gallery trip works well too, writing stories inspired by the paintings.

Keep a notebook of your child’s writing. Read their stories back to them and discuss them. Children are good at spotting their own mistakes and where a story could improve, and where they’ve written something great. Praise their writing, and help them see it as a life skill to be enjoyed.

Helena Steel, Founder of The Story Room, www.storyroom.co.uk

Mock exams are an excellent way of gauging how your child performs under timed conditions, and a valuable tool when used correctly. It’s important your child has had ample practice beforehand, working through past papers or the practice materials many school websites provide.

Before your mock

Reassure your child that the point of sitting the exam is to put into practice everything they’ve learnt, and to get familiar with the exam setting and timings, so they feel more confident on the day of their real exam.

After the mock

Don’t place too much importance on the results while you wait for them. Praise your child for taking part and give them a well-deserved break. Once results arrive, find a calm, quiet time to go through the corrections and any feedback together.

For the English and VR mock

Build on your child’s vocabulary and definitions, this helps them build a bank of words that commonly come up in comprehension and VR tests. For SPAG questions, look at where your child’s weaknesses lie and work through the explained solutions together as a learning tool. It’s also worth speaking to your tutor about these, or working through them at home, so the same mistakes aren’t repeated.

For the maths mock

Go through each incorrect answer with your child, every answer comes with a step-by-step explained solution. Make a note of the topics and question types your child found difficult, then revise those at home or with your tutor.

We want you to get the most out of each of our mocks. From mock to mock, you should start seeing an improvement, and we hope your child finds them a positive and helpful experience.

One or two hours a week with a tutor is generally not enough to get your child through the 11+, especially for the most competitive schools. Working with your child yourself can make the process more enjoyable and help them towards their goals. Many parents don’t think they have the skills or time to support their children, but every parent can help in some way. Here are a few ways to get involved:

Review your child’s work. Go through the corrections their tutor or school has made, together, so it reinforces what they’ve been taught. Note misspelt words to help them learn correct spellings, and write down any new vocabulary that comes up in a lesson.

Vocabulary. Developing a broad vocabulary is key to 11+ success, keep adding words to your child’s own dictionary or notebook of new words.

Read with your child. Reading is the key to developing comprehension and writing skills. Choose an extract to read together, then look up and note down any new or unfamiliar words.

Write with your child. In the early stages they may lack the confidence to write a story. Sit with them as they write, and every few sentences ask them to close their eyes and describe what they can see, smell, feel and hear next, this helps them find ideas and develop a descriptive piece using all their senses.

Talk to your child. Discuss news topics in an age-appropriate way, this keeps them up to date, builds general knowledge, and lays a foundation for discussion-style essays.

Times tables. Check your child’s times tables are solid, testing them again and again. They need to work through a maths paper swiftly and accurately, and shaky times tables will cause them to falter, even if they say they know them.

Sit with your child while they work. The 11+ journey can feel lonely for a child working alone in their room. Sitting nearby now and again, even doing your own work or reading beside them, helps them feel less alone. Be clear on where their tutor wants them to work independently, and where you can step in to help.

Encourage them to show their working out. Even though grammar school exams don’t award marks for working out, it helps your child spot their own mistakes, since many maths and verbal reasoning questions involve more than one step.

And finally, whatever you do, remember to praise your child every step of the way. Don’t put too much pressure on them, and do everything you can to keep them happy and relaxed throughout the whole process, in particular, try not to let your own stress rub off on them.