Get Your Child’s 11+ Writing Exam-Ready Before Summer: The April Intensive and Mini Course Plan

The April holidays are the last calm stretch before 11+ prep really ramps up. If your child is in Year 4 or 5 and their writing still looks like a rushed homework, this is the window to fix it. I know this because I have spent years watching the same pattern: parents leave writing until the autumn term, then panic when their child cannot produce a coherent story under timed conditions.

Before I founded Geek School Tutoring, I was a journalist writing for titles including the Sunday Mirror magazine, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Woman & Home, BBC Good Homes and Retail Week. That means I know what it takes to produce clear, structured, engaging writing on a deadline. And I know how to teach those skills to children, because I have been doing exactly that for years through my tuition business and my online courses.

This April, I am combining the April 11+ Intensive with my 11+ Creative Writing Mini Course on Geek School Courses, so your child gets both daily live teaching and marked writing tasks they complete online with my personalised video feedback.

The Problem I See with Current Year 4 and 5 Writing

Children who are strong in verbal reasoning and maths often have writing that is not at 11+ standard. They have not practised writing under 20 to 30 minute timed conditions. They produce short, underdeveloped pieces with no paragraphing, flat vocabulary and endings that trail off because they ran out of time or ideas. Parents can spot that something is wrong, but they do not know exactly how to fix it because school reports say things like “developing well” while the writing itself would not survive a competitive exam.

As a journalist, I was trained to identify exactly what makes a piece of writing fail and exactly how to fix it. Not in vague terms, but line by line, word by word. That is the approach I bring to every child’s 11+ script I mark.

What Happens in the April Intensive

The April intensive is not a revision class where children sit in silence doing papers. It is a daily, small-group programme built around the skills that actually move 11+ marks. Each session focuses on 11+ English and creative writing: planning techniques, vivid description, sentence variety and exam-style timed tasks using the kinds of prompts that grammar and independent schools actually set.

I run these sessions the way I would run a features meeting in a newsroom. Every child gets a brief. They plan. They write. Then we look at the work together and I show them, in real time, what is strong and what needs to change. There is no guesswork, no vague encouragement, no “that is quite good, try to add a bit more next time”. It is specific, professional feedback delivered in a way children can immediately act on.

How the 11+ Creative Writing Mini Course Fits In

The intensive is powerful, but it is a short burst. The 11+ Creative Writing Mini Course on Geek School Courses is the structured follow-through that stops children from slipping back the moment the holidays end.

Before or during April, your child works through the online lessons and submits writing tasks. I mark every single piece with a personalised video, talking through their work like I would in a one-to-one lesson: what is strong, what is costing marks, what to change in the next piece. During the intensive, we build on exactly what I am seeing in those marked scripts. After the intensive, your child completes the remaining mini course tasks so the skills stick.

This is how I would have worked as a journalist developing a junior writer: short, focused assignments, detailed editorial feedback, then more assignments that build on the last set of corrections. It is a process that works because it is built on professional practice, not guesswork.

Who This Is For and Who It Is Not For

This combination of the April intensive and the 11+ Creative Writing Mini Course is for families who want a serious, structured push before the main 11+ season. Your child should be in Year 4 or 5, working at or above age-related expectations, and aiming for grammar or independent school entry. You should be willing to commit to daily sessions over April and to support your child in completing the mini course tasks at home.

It is not for children who are still far below age-related expectations in basic literacy. They need more foundational support first, and I am honest about that because I would rather direct you to the right help than waste your money on something your child is not ready for. That is the journalist in me: tell the truth, even when it is not what people want to hear.

Secure Your Child’s Place

If you want me to personally oversee your child’s 11+ writing this April, here is what to do. Secure a place on the April 11+ Intensive, then enrol them on the 11+ Creative Writing Mini Course on Geek School Courses so they have both the live bootcamp and the at-home editorial training they need. By the time we hit the summer term, your child will have had their writing shaped by someone who spent years writing for national magazines and who now runs one of the most respected 11+ tuition businesses in London. That combination does not exist anywhere else.