Leaders are Readers Blog

Why Summer School?

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

And why the Leaders are Readers Summer School?

The Leaders are Readers Summer School covers a year’s essential work in an intensive, yet vibrant, three weeks.

At the Leaders are Readers Summer School, teaching Maths and English for two hours each a day allows for intense focus on these subjects. This can be a big help when learning challenging topics which might have been tough to handle during a regular school when a lot of other subjects compete for lesson and homework...

Is Summer School Right for Your Child?

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

To find an answer to that question, it is a good idea to consider just what is the purpose of the summer school and decide whether or not that purpose suits your child's particular needs.

Some of the purposes of summer school are listed below. Will your child's needs be met there?

Revise the Previous Year's Work

An opportunity for:

Children who have missed out on school, perhaps due to illness, travel, or family break-up...

Does Learning to Read Early Truly Produce Lasting Advantages?

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Studies show that children from four months to three years learn faster than children aged four years and older, and this age bracket is the one that can benefit the most from an early education. If you are reading to and with your children at this early age, they will better be positioned to pick up on language and speech patterns, to learn words and sentences and to begin speaking early. Advances in these areas at an early age will allow them to remain ahead of their peers, and learn at a highly accelerated curve as they continue to master language and communication at an early age.

What is Early Reading?

Early reading is more than reading to and with your child. Learning to read early and independently by age three or four is the combination of decoding words accurately and effective comprehension skills borne out of good...

Six Weeks of Summer Holidays!

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Summer is a time for hope and wonder for most young children. It’s a time where they’ve put the previous year of school behind them, and do not have to worry about the next school year for at least two months. Many children wish to put the things they’ve learned as far back in their brain as possible – and focus on the important things like digging for worms, playing football, jumping in a pool or eating as much ice cream as possible.

Those Hazy Months of July and August

If your child is of this mindset – and they probably are once the sun is shining and the weather heats up – there are things that you can do to help prevent summer learning loss in your children. The hazy months of...

What Could Children Possibly Gain from Saturday School?

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

It may sound like a punishment for your young elementary age children – and they may protest it until they are blue in the face – but Saturday school may not be the drag that they are anticipating. While some may criticize Saturday school for being an ineffective overload, many others look to this resource as a way to keep their child sharp, to supplement their education and to further time spent under instruction.

Multiply your child’s educational opportunities

Saturday schools help to further the study that longer school weeks improve academic performance. If your children are attending school six days a week, they are multiplying their educational opportunities by as...

How to...Improve Your Child's Maths

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Even if the 11+ is not the goal for your child, maths holds a very important place in the life of a child and continues to be a vital cog right from early primary school until higher education and even plays a deciding factor in the choice of profession. Having said that, not every one can be a maths expert, but one can try to be maths literate at least. So, you could follow some simple steps to help improve your child’s numeracy:

Make concepts clear: The subject of maths survives on ‘concepts’. If your child has mastered the concepts of mathematics, nobody could stop him from excelling in the subject. Hence you should make sure that your child is thoroughly grounded in all the concepts and you should patiently go over the fundamentals if he gets stuck at any point.

How to...Improve Your Child's Comprehension Skills

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Reading comprehension requires motivation, a mental framework for holding ideas, concentration and good study techniques. So, in order to foster the skills of effective reading comprehension in your child, you could try the following:

Develop your child's general knowledge: Make efforts to broaden her background knowledge on different events and happenings. Get her to read newspapers, magazines, books and articles on world events. Subscribe to First News, an awarding-winning weekly newspaper for age 7-14 years.

How to... Improve Your Child's Chances at the 11+

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

11+ Successes

Leaders are Readers Success Rate 2011

Percentage who succeeded in the Stage 1 exams of their first choice school: 100%

Percentage who succeeded in the Stage 2 exams of their first choice school: 80%

Students attending the LaR 11+ programme performed very well in assessments for the following highly regarded schools:

Latymer School
Queen Elizabeth School for Boys
Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School

Top tips for parents - arising from recent years' 11+ entrance procedure: Vocabulary! Vocabulary! Vocabulary!

How to... Improve Your Child's Chances at 7+ Assessments

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

7+ Successes

Leaders are Readers Success Rate 2011

100%

Students attending the Leaders are Readers 7+ programme performed very well in assessments for the following highly regarded schools:

Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School
North London Collegiate School
University College School

Top tips for parents - arising from recent years' 7+ entrance procedure: Fluent reading ability, aptitude for comprehension including understanding of some complex vocabulary, story writing and mathematical skills, as well as a general mathematical reasoning ability appropriate for age 9, guaranteed that all candidates were called back for interviews at the above highly competitive schools.

How to... Improve Your Child's Chances at 5+ Assessments

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

5+ Successes

Leaders are Readers Success Rate 2011

100%

Students attending the LaR Reading Programme received offers from the following highly regarded schools listed below. 5+ candidates may also enrol on the 5+ Maths Programme and fluent readers may also enrol on the 5+ English Programme (Language Sense).

Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
Manor Lodge School

Top tips for parents - arising from recent years' 5+ entrance procedure: Successful candidates appeared to have in common alertness, maturity and lack of wilful behaviour which led to cooperative and disciplined comportment with the assessors, and sociable interaction with other candidates, enabling the candidates' strong reading and mathematical skills to be easily appreciated and assessed.

How to... Improve Your Child's Chances at 4+ Assessments

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

4+ Successes

Leaders are Readers Success Rate 2011

100%

Students attending the LaR Reading Programme received offers from the following highly regarded schools:

Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
North London Collegiate School
St Albans School for Girls
Radlett Preparatory

Top tips for parents - arising from recent years' 4+ entrance procedure: The students who received all of the offers at the above schools shared an ability to read well, willingness to cooperate with the assessors and lack of distractibility.