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Showing posts from May, 2020

A new virtual visit to our (hitherto!) secret weapon for the ISEB pretest

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More Virtual open days! Badminton school looking glorious in the sunshine

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These videos are part of Badminton's virtual open day offerings. The school has taken a usual visit schedule and broken it into a series of videos. Again, not a replacement for a school visit but a good overview of a school in which a number of my past students have thrived. 

Winchester College Election success!

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  This year, only one Hong Kong-based boy was chosen to join College, the prestigious scholars’ house at Winches ter College. He is Brandon and DBS student, Zachary. Only one Hong Kong-based boy was awarded an Exhibition, recognising academic excellence. He is a Brandon and GSIS student, Victor. Both boys are part of our selective Elite Scholars programme which trains our students to excel through lessons in critical thinking, writing, English, science, humanities, maths and even Latin. Our results speak for themselves. We have an incredible seven boys joining Winchester College Commoner houses in September and are very proud of all our boys and their teachers.  Congratulations to all our new Wykhamists!

Practice makes perfect - our secret weapon to ace the ISEB pretest

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For years now, we have been working on ways to help Brandon students excel in the ISEB Pre-test and UKISET. Now we are sharing our secret weapon! Pre-Quest is our new platform which provides hundreds of adaptive questions written by our teachers for each section of the ISEB Pre-test: English, maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning.  Each section is divided into units and each unit into different levels. Work your way through the levels using our tips and checking your answers as you go. Once you have finished, you can mix all the levels in a practice test. Not sure of your result? Try again and the questions will be different.  We have three stages - pre-test, pre-test plus and extension and all are provided in subscriptions which start at US$90 per month.  Conquer your pretest with Pre-Quest!  Watch our videos for overviews:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkKEw52lyyg - Overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQoW8girr1o - Non-verbal reasoning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8

Back to school; tips to consider as our schools reopen

The good news (for parents) is that Hong Kong schools are resuming for many primary and secondary students at the end of the month...  the bad news (for students) is that the timing is perfect for end of term exams!  Our children have been out of school for most of the year, so how do you manage the transition process?  Firstly, thinking about starting to enforce wake-up and sleep times. Many of my students have got used to a bit of a lie-in... there is a fascinating (academic) article on the effects of sleep on the teenage brain which was published in the Neuroscience & Behavioural Review if you are interested in something with which to back up your claim that 'sleep is good for you'!  It sounds basic but do school uniforms still fit? Do schoolbags still have the requisite bits of kit and are books assembled? In our Brave New World, think about packing hand sanitiser, masks and alcohol wipes. Answer practical questions (if you can) including how to handle using the lavato

Visit the UK's top schools without leaving home

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I am deeply impressed by the way in which schools are responding to our new world. Switching to on-line teaching is not an easy transition (try teaching an online class of students under the age of ten if you don't believe me!) but teachers are doing an amazing job of supporting their students.  I have a deep admiration for anyone who is trying to juggle homeschooling and working from home. One new development is the introduction of 'virtual open days' which allows parents to visit the school online, hear from the Heads and have interviews with admissions people. Of course, this is no substitute for seeing a school in action but it is better than nothing! Have a look at Cheltenham Ladies' video and join their open day : For anyone interested in a modern Catholic education, Downside is also doing a virtual open day on the 15th and 16th of May. Wycombe Abbey will be running a virtual Open Day on the 6th June; all the insight with none of the jetlag!