Welcome to Meta Prep, where metacognition comes first
METACOGNITION
Why is it important to teach children to think?
We offer 1:1 sessions and after-school classes that help children to master English, Maths & Reasoning and teach them how to problem solve. Our Cognitive Coach works with your child to develop their understanding of the key topics, study skills and motivate them to become a meta-learner.
Our approach is to focus on the development of explicit thinking skills and processes by equipping pupils with a Metacognitive Toolkit to prepare them beyond the 11+ exam. The four traditional disciplines: Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning are covered, during the course of Year 5, each week within our targeted curriculum.
To help support home study, we send a Metacognitive Notebook to each child to help develop explicit thinking skills and support their learning.
Start with a baseline Diagnostic Assessment in English, Maths, Verbal & Non-Verbal reasoning to assess gaps in knowledge.
English
The English component of the 11+ aims to assess children on their command of the English language and will test their Vocabulary, Grammar, Punctuation and Comprehension skills.
Children will learn all that they need to face the 11+ tests with confidence and competence. Beyond this, the curriculum aims to instill students with a life-long love of the English language, ignite their imagination and inspire bright young minds.
Maths
The Maths component of the 11+ aims to assess children on their confidence and ability to apply Numbers, Ratio & Proportion, Algebra, Measurement, Geometry and Interpreting Data, in a wide range of contexts.
Multi-step questions assess higher order thinking, whilst the length of the paper assesses a child’s ability to calculate at speed. Our lessons have an emphasis on knowing the basic facts and methods fluently, so that time and brain space is available for thinking through the higher order questions. During our lessons, children will be asked to think ‘around’ the topics, in order to build the confidence to tackle, even unfamiliar, questions accurately.
Reasoning (VR & NVR)
Reasoning contains questions which test verbal, non-verbal and spatial skills. The Reasoning Test looks at how well you can work out and apply rules and relationships between words, numbers and shapes. You will use certain skills to do this.
The first skill is noticing the relationship between things. The second is working out a new example of how that relationship can be created.
Verbal Reasoning: how well you can think using words and symbols
Non-Verbal Reasoning: how well you can think about the relationships between shapes, patterns and your ability to manipulate the shapes and space in your head.
Thinking & Interview skills
11+ assessments are seeking to look beyond candidates whose only skill is to regurgitate answers. What the research shows you is that behind all of the exam questions – and indeed most problem solving required in life – what is really being assessed is a pupil’s understanding of a number of core thinking processes.
Cognitive ability tests, interview questions that probe for higher order thinking skills and team exercises seeking out emotional intelligence are now universal assessment tools.
Our lessons develop the core thinking processes, using metacognitive visual tools.
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