All selective secondary schools, whether private or grammar, place a heavy emphasis on considering their applicants’ quality of written communication. Students will be asked to produce fictional or non-fictional essays.
- What we try to achieve
- This course allows for all children, regardless of their background and location, to have equal academic opportunity. This course is universally available, and provides students with a firm, fundamental understanding of the approach that they should take to writing essays.
- Students will be given access to an essay manual that has been reviewed and honed over our many years of 11+ tutoring. They will be carefully guided through the introduction, main body and conclusion, and introduced to a variety of different styles of fictional and non-fictional writing. This course will build a student’s proficiency in descriptive and narrative pieces of writing in a variety of genres. Students will also gain experience in persuasive, argumentative and informative pieces, as well as letter writing and the production of articles.
- This course allows for students to directly benefit from the strong standard of teaching provided by AtoZ, even if they are unable to attend their classes. Students can send in their essays for detailed feedback that precisely identifies their strengths and suggests improvements for the weakness that can be directly applied to their next piece of writing.
- Our know-how + expertise
- AtoZ is a nationally renowned teaching facility. We were named Children’s Tutoring Company of the Year 2020/21 in London and South East by Prestige Awards London.
- AtoZ has a consistent, proven track record when it comes to selective school admissions. The percentage of students admitted to grammar schools has ranged from 88% to 100% each year since 2012. In 2020, the boys’ pass rate was 94%, while the 2020 girls’ pass rate was 98% – 101 students were admitted in all.
- AtoZ has a strong history of boys’ admissions to Wilson’s School, which was named ‘London State Secondary School of the Decade’ by the Times in 2020. In 2020, 33 AtoZ students were successful in their applications to Wilson’s – this is the equivalent of an entire classroom. Similarly, 31 students were admitted to Wallington High School for Girls.
- Step by step approach
In this course, students will find a template for an essay plan that will directly guide their essay. First, students are encouraged to write in some detail about each of their three key points: this is fundamental, as the introduction, conclusion and writing should all be based on this. Students then construct their introduction – this should be crafted to grab the reader’s attention while outlining the points that the essay will cover. The conclusion should act as a review and reflection on the points of the essay. Students are also strongly encouraged to make note of complex connectives, key phrases and key words that they will use in the different parts of the essay. They should tick these off as they use them when writing the actual essay, to ensure a strong standard of writing.