Thorogood English

Category: Tutoring Advice

Practical advice for parents choosing an English tutor, understanding how online tutoring works, and supporting their child’s English learning at home.

  • How Small Group Tutoring Actually Works: A Guide for Parents New to It

    Parents who are new to small group tutoring often come in with mental models from either school (“it’s like a small class”) or private tutoring (“it’s like one-to-one, just with a couple of other people”). Both models miss something important about what makes small group tutoring distinctively valuable — and what makes it work differently from either of those things.

    Here’s how it actually works, and what your child can expect.

    The Group Is Small Enough That Everyone Is Known

    In a class of 30, it’s possible to disappear. In a group of 6, it’s not. After the first two or three sessions, a good tutor teaching a group of 6 knows each student’s name, their level, their specific weaknesses, how they respond to feedback, whether they’re likely to be embarrassed to ask questions aloud, and what they were working on last week. This is a completely different dynamic from a school class — even a “small” school class of 20.

    This means that what looks like a group activity is actually, in practice, a series of differentiated individual interactions. A question posed to the group has a different follow-up depending on who answers and how. Feedback on a piece of writing addresses that student’s specific patterns, not generic advice pitched at the middle of the room.

    Students Learn from Each Other — Not Just from the Tutor

    One of the most underappreciated benefits of small group tutoring is peer learning. When one student articulates a reading of a text, another student hears an interpretation they wouldn’t have arrived at independently. When the group discusses a creative writing prompt, five or six different opening sentences get written and compared — each one modelling a different approach that the others can learn from.

    In English specifically, this is enormously valuable. Analysis is inherently comparative: understanding that your reading of a poem is different from someone else’s, and thinking about why, is itself an analytical skill that the exam rewards. Students who have practised articulating and defending their interpretations in a small group context are much better equipped for this in the exam.

    Sessions Are Structured — Not Open-Ended

    A well-run small group session has a clear structure: usually a brief review of previous work or feedback on submitted writing, a teaching element, a practice activity, and a clear summary of what to do before the next session. The pace is brisk — brisk enough that every student stays engaged — but not so fast that anyone gets left behind.

    Students who are used to school may be surprised by how directly the tutor addresses them — how often they’re asked a specific question, how much of the session involves them doing something rather than watching or listening. This active, participatory quality is one of the things that makes small group tutoring effective. It’s hard to coast.

    The Work Continues Between Sessions

    The session is only one part of what makes tutoring work. The other part is what happens in between: written work that students complete and submit, feedback that the tutor provides individually and returns before the next session, and the time the student spends reviewing that feedback and applying it.

    For parents: your role in this is to make sure the between-session work actually gets done. A student who doesn’t do the homework and doesn’t read the feedback isn’t getting the full benefit of the tutoring — they’re getting, at best, an hour of teaching and missing the feedback loop that translates teaching into improvement. Even five minutes of reviewing feedback before the next session makes a significant difference to what the student retains.

    What to Tell Your Child Before the First Session

    Three things: it’s okay not to know things (that’s why you’re there), it’s fine to say “I don’t understand” (in a group of 6, there’s always someone else who also doesn’t understand), and the more they contribute — even tentatively, even with answers they’re not sure about — the more they’ll get out of it. Small group tutoring rewards participation, and it’s the tutor’s job to make participation feel safe.

    Thorogood English groups are capped at 6 students and open with a free trial lesson. Join the waiting list for January 2027 — or get in touch with any questions.

  • Why Your Child’s IGCSE English Grade Isn’t What It Should Be (And What to Do About It)

    This is one of the most common things parents say when they contact a tutor: “She’s clearly very bright. She reads well, she communicates articulately, her teachers say she’s capable — but her English grades just don’t reflect it.”

    It’s genuinely common, and it’s usually fixable. The gap between a student’s evident capability and their exam performance in English almost always has a specific cause. Here are the most frequent ones.

    1. They Write Fluently but Don’t Respond to the Question

    Confident, fluent writers often fall into a particular trap: they write well, but they write what they want to write rather than what the question asks for. A question asking for a formal letter of complaint gets a thoughtful piece of writing that doesn’t look or sound like a formal letter. A comprehension question asking for specific evidence gets a beautifully written paragraph about the theme of the text without answering what was actually asked.

    The fix: teach the discipline of reading and re-reading the question before and during the answer. Strong writers sometimes feel this is beneath them — it isn’t. The question is the contract, and an answer that ignores it will always lose marks, regardless of its quality in other respects.

    2. They Analyse Content Rather Than Language

    “The writer thinks that climate change is serious” is content analysis. “The writer’s use of the verb ‘devastate’ — with its connotations of irreversible, catastrophic damage — emphasises the severity of the threat in a way that a more neutral word like ‘affect’ would not” is language analysis. IGCSE English Language questions almost always ask for the second, and many students who read well and think clearly are giving the first.

    The fix: explicitly teach the difference between writing about what a text says and writing about how it says it. Then practise language analysis on short extracts until the instinct to analyse language — rather than summarise content — becomes automatic.

    3. Their Writing Is Good But Not Structured for the Exam

    Some students write in a flowing, associative style that works well in casual contexts but loses marks in exams that reward clear paragraph structure, consistent register, and obvious form markers. A strong natural writer who doesn’t know how to signal the difference between a speech and an article in their writing will lose form marks — even if the content and language are excellent.

    The fix: study the conventions of each form explicitly. What does a formal letter look like? What does a speech opening sound like? What distinguishes a broadsheet article from a tabloid one? Practice writing in each form until the conventions are second nature rather than something to remember to apply.

    4. They Work Too Slowly Under Time Pressure

    Thoughtful students often lose time they can’t afford because they want to get every sentence right before moving on. In an exam where there are multiple questions with strict mark allocations, this tendency is costly. A student who spends 40 minutes on a question worth 10 marks and rushes the one worth 25 marks has, in effect, made the wrong bet.

    The fix: timed practice, repeatedly, until the pacing feels natural. Teach the rule of thumb: spend approximately one minute per mark. A 15-mark question gets 15 minutes; a 25-mark question gets 25 minutes. This feels mechanical, but it builds an instinct for time management that pays off under exam conditions.

    5. They Don’t Know What a High-Grade Answer Looks Like

    Many students have never seen a high-scoring IGCSE English answer. They produce work of broadly similar quality every time — not because they can’t improve, but because they don’t know what “better” looks like in concrete terms.

    The fix: study mark schemes and exemplar answers. Cambridge publishes past papers, mark schemes, and examiner reports — all of which are freely available and enormously instructive. Reading a mark scheme alongside an actual student response to the same question makes the gap between a 6 and a 9 legible and specific rather than vague and frustrating.

    All of the issues above are addressed directly in Thorogood English’s IGCSE English classes — with small groups that allow Jacqueline to identify each student’s specific gap and work on it with them. Join the waiting list for January 2027.

  • Setting Up for IGCSE English Success: A Year-by-Year Timeline for Parents

    Many parents first start thinking about IGCSE English in Year 10 or Year 11 — when the exam is close, when they’ve seen a mock result they weren’t expecting, or when a teacher has raised concerns. This is not too late, but it’s later than ideal. The students who perform best at IGCSE English have been building the underlying skills for years.

    Here’s a realistic year-by-year guide to what good preparation looks like.

    Year 7 and 8: Foundation Skills

    At this stage, the most valuable thing isn’t exam practice — it’s developing genuine literacy. The focus should be on reading widely and often (fiction, non-fiction, newspapers, online long-form writing), building vocabulary through reading and conversation, and developing the writing habit.

    In school, look out for how your child’s written work is being marked: are they getting specific feedback on vocabulary, sentence variety, and structure — or just a grade? If it’s the latter, this is a good time to consider supplementary support to ensure the underlying skills are developing well.

    Creative writing at home — even short pieces, even journalling — builds confidence and fluency that pays dividends in IGCSE creative writing responses several years later.

    Year 9: Introduction to Exam Skills

    In Year 9, students begin encountering the types of analytical and written tasks that appear at IGCSE. This is a good time to start familiarising with the exam structure — not intensive preparation, but awareness: What are the papers? What kinds of questions appear? What does an IGCSE-standard analysis paragraph look like?

    This is also an excellent year for vocabulary development — building a bank of precise, varied language that students can draw on in writing. Students who enter Year 10 with a strong vocabulary have a significant advantage over those who are still working at a basic word level.

    In Year 9, consider whether tutoring support is appropriate. Starting tutoring a year or two before the exam, rather than in the final push, gives time to address underlying skill gaps gradually rather than urgently.

    Year 10: Skill Development and First Timed Practice

    Year 10 is when the exam skills need to be developed systematically. This doesn’t mean exam practice from September — it means understanding each question type, developing the specific techniques each requires, and beginning to practise them under some time pressure.

    By the end of Year 10, students should have attempted at least two or three timed practice papers and received detailed feedback on them. They should know their weakest question types and have begun targeted work on improving them. For Literature students, they should be engaged with the set texts — not just for plot summary but for analytical reading.

    Year 11: Final Preparation and Consolidation

    Year 11 is for consolidation and exam preparation specifically. By January, students should know the exam format with complete confidence. By March, they should have completed at least four or five full timed papers and received feedback on each. The final weeks before the exam are for fine-tuning specific weaknesses, practising timing, and building confidence — not for learning new skills from scratch.

    Students who arrive in Year 11 without the underlying skills fully established will find it very difficult to develop them in the time available alongside their other subjects. This is why starting earlier — even just in terms of reading broadly and getting occasional feedback on writing — makes such a difference.

    The One Thing That Matters Most

    If there’s a single intervention that makes the most difference across all these years, it’s reading. Students who read independently, broadly, and regularly throughout secondary school arrive at IGCSE with vocabulary, analytical instinct, and writing fluency that tutoring alone cannot replicate in a short time. Everything else helps — but nothing helps as much as sustained, genuine engagement with books and writing.

    Thorogood English’s IGCSE English groups open in January 2027. Whether your child is in Year 9 with time to build foundations, or in Year 11 needing focused final preparation, small-group teaching with individual feedback is one of the most effective things you can do. Join the waiting list to secure a place.

  • How to Revise for IGCSE English: A Realistic 4-Week Plan

    IGCSE English revision confuses many students because it doesn’t look like revision for other subjects. You can’t read notes and learn facts. You can’t make flashcards. You can’t memorise a formula. English is a skills-based exam, and skills are improved through practice, feedback, and deliberate repetition — not through passive study.

    Here’s a realistic 4-week revision plan that actually works.

    Week 1: Know the Exam and Find Your Weaknesses

    Days 1–2: Go through the exam structure in detail. What papers are there? What question types appear in each? What are the mark allocations? Many students sit the IGCSE without knowing that the summary question is worth 15 marks and the directed writing is worth 25. Knowing the marks tells you where to invest your revision time.

    Days 3–5: Do a timed practice paper — the full paper, under exam conditions. Mark it against the mark scheme. Don’t focus on the overall mark; focus on which question types you underperformed in. This is your revision priority list for the next three weeks.

    Days 6–7: Read back through any marked essays or comprehension tasks you’ve had returned this year. Look for patterns: are there specific comments that appear repeatedly? (“Doesn’t use own words for summary”, “quote but no analysis”, “register shifts mid-piece”) These patterns are your specific targets.

    Week 2: Targeted Skill Practice

    Choose the two or three question types you most need to improve. Spend week 2 practising them specifically — not full papers, but isolated practice on these question types.

    If your weakness is language analysis: practise writing three-point analysis responses on short extracts. Check each one for specific language (has every point named a technique, given a quotation, and explained an effect — not just labelled one?).

    If your weakness is directed writing: practise writing one directed piece per day in different forms (letter, article, speech, report). Ask someone to check: does this look and sound like the form it’s supposed to be? Is the register consistent?

    If your weakness is summary: practise finding and transforming specific information from texts. After writing each summary, check how much of the original phrasing you’ve copied and replace it.

    Week 3: Full Paper Practice

    Do at least two more full papers this week, timed strictly. After each one, mark it carefully and note your improvement (or lack of improvement) in your target areas. Are the issues from Week 1 getting smaller?

    This week, also focus on time management. Do you know how long to spend on each question? Practise the discipline of moving on when your allocated time is up — leaving a question to come back to is better than running out of time on a question worth many more marks.

    For Literature: read through your set texts one more time, but actively — with a pen, noting key passages, character turning points, significant language choices, and thematic moments. These are your essay quotation resources. Spend time reading through your model essay structures and practising timed introductions and conclusions.

    Week 4: Fine-Tune and Consolidate

    Do one more timed paper. Compare your performance with the paper you did in Week 1. Where have you improved? Where do you still need to be careful?

    In the final days: don’t start new things. Practise the things you already do well to build confidence, and spend time on the specific one or two areas where you know you still lose marks. Read some of your best past work to remind yourself what your writing looks like when it’s going well.

    The day before the exam: don’t do a practice paper. Do something light — read a passage analytically, practise a single paragraph of directed writing, review the exam format. Then rest. The day of preparation has already happened. The exam is simply the performance of what you’ve been building for months.

    What Doesn’t Work

    • Reading textbooks or notes without practising — knowledge about language doesn’t transfer to exam performance without practice
    • Doing practice papers without marking them carefully — practice without feedback doesn’t improve anything
    • Focusing only on the question types you’re already good at — revision should address weaknesses, not reinforce strengths
    • Leaving creative writing to chance — even if you’re a strong creative writer, practise openings, endings, and specific techniques so they’re available on the day

    Thorogood English’s IGCSE English classes include regular timed practice and individual written feedback — the two things that actually move grades. Join the waiting list for January 2027 classes.

  • English Tutoring for Expat Families: Why IGCSE Is the Right Choice Abroad

    If you’re a British family living abroad — in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE, or anywhere else in the world — you’ve probably navigated the question of English qualifications more than once. The IGCSE offers one of the clearest and most internationally recognised answers. Here’s why, and how to make the most of it from anywhere in the world.

    Why IGCSE Works for Families Abroad

    The Cambridge IGCSE was designed with international families in mind. Unlike the standard GCSE — which is tied to the English national curriculum and primarily available through UK schools — the IGCSE is available globally, can be sat by private candidates, and is marked by Cambridge Assessment International Education regardless of where the student is based.

    For a family in Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, or Sydney, this means your child can sit a British qualification — one recognised by UK universities, and by universities across the world — without being in a UK school. Many international schools offer the IGCSE as their chosen British pathway precisely for this reason.

    The Specific Value of IGCSE English

    IGCSE English Language is not just about English as a first language — it’s about writing, reading, analysis, and communication in ways that benefit every student regardless of their future academic path. Universities and employers look for evidence of strong written English, and a strong IGCSE English grade (particularly A or A*) is universally understood as that evidence.

    For students who may apply to UK universities in the future — whether they’re British children living abroad or international students — GCSE/IGCSE English Language at grade C or above (or grade 4+) is typically a baseline requirement for any course. Getting this right matters.

    Common Challenges for Expat Students

    Families who’ve moved around often find that their children have studied different curricula in different countries — which can mean gaps in the specific skills the IGCSE tests. A child who’s been educated in an American system, for instance, will have different writing conventions than the IGCSE demands: different essay structures, different punctuation habits, different expectations around formality.

    Similarly, students in international schools that offer a mixed curriculum may not have had the consistent exposure to IGCSE-specific question types that students at dedicated British schools have had — which means exam preparation needs to include familiarisation with the format as well as subject knowledge.

    How Online Tutoring Solves the Problem

    The great advantage of online tutoring for expat families is the obvious one: location is irrelevant. A student in Kuala Lumpur can work with a teacher in the UK — getting the expertise of someone who knows the Cambridge exam inside out, in a timezone that works for their family, without any of the logistics of face-to-face sessions.

    Zoom sessions work across time zones with minimal friction. Written feedback arrives via email. The student’s progress is monitored and guided with the same attentiveness as any local student. The only thing that’s different is that the student and teacher are on different sides of the world — and for most purposes, that doesn’t matter at all.

    What to Look for in an Online IGCSE English Tutor

    For families abroad specifically: look for a tutor who knows the Cambridge IGCSE specifically (not just general GCSE knowledge), who has experience working with students across time zones, and who is clear about what feedback on writing looks like (because that feedback needs to happen asynchronously). A tutor who has worked as an examiner is particularly valuable — they understand the mark scheme not just in theory but in practice.

    Thorogood English is run by Jacqueline — a qualified teacher and former Cambridge examiner, currently based in Malaysia herself. She offers IGCSE English Language and Literature online, for students anywhere in the world. Join the waiting list for January 2027, wherever you are.

  • IGCSE vs A-Level English: What’s the Difference and How Do You Bridge the Gap?

    Many students who do well at IGCSE English find A-Level harder than they expected. This surprises them — and their parents. After all, English is English, isn’t it? Good readers and good writers should continue to be good readers and good writers at A-Level.

    This is true — but A-Level English asks for something additional and different from IGCSE, and students who aren’t aware of the shift often find themselves struggling in ways they don’t understand. Here’s what changes — and how to bridge the gap.

    The Biggest Change: You Have to Think About Language, Not Just Through It

    At IGCSE, language is a tool. You use it to read, write, and analyse literary texts. You are assessed on whether you can use it well.

    At A-Level English Language, language itself becomes the subject. You study how language works as a system: how meaning is made, how communication succeeds and fails, how language varies across contexts and communities, how it changes over time. This is a significant conceptual shift — from “what does this text say?” to “how does language construct meaning?”

    A-Level English Literature, meanwhile, requires a much more extended, independent engagement with texts — including contextual research, awareness of critical debate, and the ability to construct a sustained argument across a long essay rather than a paragraph-based response.

    What Stays the Same

    The fundamentals carry over. Close reading — noticing what specific language choices do, why a writer made this decision rather than another — is the core skill at IGCSE and it remains the core skill at A-Level. Students who have genuinely internalised that skill at IGCSE will find it transferable; they’ll need to apply it to different kinds of texts and in more complex ways, but the instinct is the same.

    Essay writing structure — clear argument, well-evidenced, logically sequenced — also carries over, though the level of sophistication expected increases significantly.

    What Gets Harder

    • Essay length and sustained argument: A-Level essays are longer and expect a more developed, independent argument — not a set of connected points but a genuinely exploratory analysis
    • Independent reading: A-Level Literature requires significant reading outside the set texts — criticism, context, related texts
    • Technical vocabulary: A-Level English Language introduces precise linguistic terminology (deixis, hedging, face-threatening acts, graphology) that has no equivalent at IGCSE
    • Time management: A-Level exams are longer and more demanding; students accustomed to IGCSE time management often need to recalibrate
    • Independent coursework: The language investigation and creative writing portfolio require self-directed work over an extended period — a different skill from timed exam performance

    How to Prepare Over the Summer

    If your child is moving from IGCSE to A-Level English, the summer between is a genuine opportunity. Some valuable things to do:

    • Read widely — novels, essays, long-form journalism, memoir. A-Level rewards breadth of reading in ways that IGCSE doesn’t always.
    • Start to notice language analytically in everyday life: how does an advertisement construct its appeal? What register does a text message from a friend use compared to a text from a parent?
    • If taking English Language: familiarise yourself with the basic linguistic frameworks (lexis, grammar, phonology, pragmatics, discourse) so they don’t feel alien in September
    • If taking English Literature: read at least one of the set texts before the course begins and engage with it thoughtfully — not to study it, but to read it as a whole and form your own response

    Thorogood English offers A-Level English Language in small groups from January 2027. If your child is approaching this transition, get in touch — and join the waiting list to secure a place.

  • What to Expect from Online English Tutoring: A First-Timer’s Guide

    If you’re considering online English tutoring for your child for the first time, you likely have practical questions: What does a session actually look like? What equipment do you need? Is it as effective as face-to-face? How does my child get feedback on their writing if everything is virtual?

    Here’s a straightforward guide to what online English tutoring involves — and how to help your child get the most out of it.

    What Equipment Do You Need?

    For online tutoring via Zoom or a similar platform, you need: a device (laptop, tablet, or desktop — a phone screen is too small for shared documents), a stable internet connection, and a quiet space where your child can focus for the duration of the session. A microphone and camera are standard on most modern laptops and tablets.

    Most tutors will share a document or presentation on screen during the session — your child will be able to see and interact with it on their own screen. For English tutoring specifically, your child should also have paper and a pen available: nothing replaces the habit of writing by hand for an exam that’s sat on paper.

    What Does a Session Look Like?

    A well-structured online English tutoring session typically moves between several activities: a review of work done since the last session, teaching or explanation of a concept or skill, practice (reading, analysis, or writing), and a brief wrap-up with clear guidance on what to do before the next session.

    In a small group session, the tutor will direct discussion, ask questions of different students, and create opportunities for students to respond to each other’s ideas — not just to the tutor. Good online tutors are skilled at managing this: using direct questions to involve quieter students, using breakout rooms for paired tasks, and reading the virtual room for signs of confusion.

    How Does Writing Feedback Work Online?

    This is the question parents ask most frequently — and it’s a reasonable one. The short answer is that written feedback works very well online, often better than in a face-to-face setting.

    Students submit writing (essays, directed pieces, creative writing) to the tutor between sessions — either by email, via a shared document, or through a learning management platform. The tutor marks it with detailed written comments — using track changes in a Google Doc, annotating a Word document, or writing separate feedback notes — and returns it before the next session. The session then includes time to discuss the feedback and address the specific issues it identifies.

    This process is arguably more efficient than face-to-face: the marking happens at the tutor’s own pace (not a rushed scan in the last five minutes of a session), the feedback is written down so the student can return to it, and discussion time is focused on the most important issues rather than whatever can be covered in the remaining minutes.

    How Do You Know If It’s Working?

    After the first few sessions, you should notice: your child coming away with clear tasks and a clear sense of what they’re working on; improvement (even small improvement) in the specific skills being targeted; your child being more willing to talk about their English work — a sign that they feel more confident and more capable.

    Ask your child these questions after sessions: “What did you work on today?” “Did you understand the feedback on your writing?” “Is there anything you found confusing?” Their answers will tell you whether the tutoring is genuinely landing.

    Tips for Getting the Most Out of Online Tutoring

    • Have your child sit at a desk — not a sofa — for sessions. Posture affects attention.
    • Close other browser tabs and put notifications on silent during the session.
    • Make sure any work set between sessions is done before the next session — feedback on incomplete work helps no one.
    • Encourage your child to ask questions during sessions, not just nod along. The best use of a tutor is the ability to ask “why” about anything.
    • Review feedback together occasionally — not to helicopter, but to understand what your child is working on and where they’ve improved.

    Thorogood English offers a free trial lesson so you and your child can experience online small-group English tutoring before committing to anything. Join the waiting list for January 2027 — or get in touch with questions.

  • What Is the Difference Between GCSE and IGCSE English?

    If you’re outside the UK, or if your child attends an international school, you’ve probably encountered both terms — GCSE and IGCSE — and found the distinction more confusing than it should be. Here’s a clear explanation of what each qualification is, how they differ, and which might be right for your child.

    The Short Version

    GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) is the standard secondary qualification in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) was developed by Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) as a version of the GCSE adapted for international students — students studying outside the UK, often at international schools or as home-educated students.

    Both are broadly equivalent in terms of difficulty and university recognition. The differences are in the content, structure, and who can take them.

    Key Differences in English

    Coursework

    GCSE English typically includes a coursework or spoken language component. IGCSE English Language is, in most versions, entirely exam-based. This suits some students better — students who perform better in exams than in coursework, for instance — and some schools prefer the clarity of pure examination assessment.

    Set Texts

    GCSE English Literature involves studying specific set texts chosen from a fixed list provided by the exam board. These are taught and examined directly. IGCSE English Literature also uses set texts, but the selection differs from GCSE — often including a wider range of international authors and contexts, which is appropriate for a globally-delivered qualification.

    Where You Can Take It

    GCSE is available in UK schools. Until recently, it was not available to home-educated students without significant difficulty. IGCSE is available to private candidates (students not attending a school that offers it) and is therefore widely used by home-educated students and families living abroad who need a recognised English qualification.

    University Recognition

    Both are recognised by UK universities. A Cambridge IGCSE at grade C/4 is considered equivalent to a GCSE at the same grade for entry requirements. Most university application systems treat them identically. The IGCSE is also recognised internationally — in the USA, Australia, Canada, and across Europe — which makes it valuable for students who may not eventually apply to UK universities.

    Which Is Better?

    Neither is “better” in any absolute sense — they’re different tools for different contexts. For a student at a UK school, GCSE is the natural choice. For a student at an international school, a British school abroad, or a home-educated student, IGCSE is typically the appropriate and available option.

    If your child is studying for IGCSE specifically, it’s worth ensuring that any tutors or tuition programmes they work with know the IGCSE structure and mark schemes — not just general English exam preparation — because the specific question types and assessment objectives do differ from GCSE.

    A Note on Cambridge vs Edexcel IGCSE

    The Cambridge IGCSE (offered by Cambridge Assessment International Education) is the most widely recognised and commonly taken IGCSE internationally. Edexcel also offers an International GCSE — sometimes called the iGCSE — which is a different qualification from a different board. Before preparing for any IGCSE English exam, confirm which board your child is registered with, as the paper structures, question types, and mark schemes differ significantly.

    Thorogood English specialises in Cambridge IGCSE English — both Language and Literature. Jacqueline is a former Cambridge examiner with detailed knowledge of the mark schemes and assessment objectives. Join the waiting list for January 2027 classes.

  • Teaching Your Child to Love Reading: The Single Best Investment for English Exams

    Ask any English examiner — at GCSE, IGCSE, or A-Level — what distinguishes the highest-scoring students from the rest, and you’ll hear the same answer: they read. Not just textbooks or revision guides. They read fiction, non-fiction, newspapers, novels. They read widely, often, and with genuine interest.

    This is not a coincidence. Reading is not a passive activity — it builds vocabulary, sharpens analytical instinct, expands familiarity with different styles of writing, and develops the internal sense of what good prose sounds like that no amount of grammar drilling can replicate. The students who read for pleasure tend to write better and think more flexibly than students who don’t — and the advantage compounds over years.

    So how do you build a reading habit in a child who’d rather be doing almost anything else?

    Start with What They’re Actually Interested In

    The single biggest mistake parents make is trying to build a reading habit with books they think their child should like — literary classics, prize-winning literary fiction, improving non-fiction. These are not bad books, but they’re rarely the books that turn a non-reader into a reader.

    The gateway book — the one that makes a child think “oh, I want to read another one” — is almost never a canonical text. It’s a funny book, an exciting book, a book about something they already care about passionately. Once a child is reading with genuine appetite, the range and ambition of what they want to read tends to expand naturally. The trick is getting them through the gate.

    Read Aloud Together — Even (Especially) to Older Children

    Reading aloud to children has a slightly unfortunate reputation for being a thing you stop doing once they can read independently. This is a shame, because it’s enormously valuable well into secondary school.

    When you read aloud to an older child — at bedtime, during a long journey, in those odd twenty minutes before dinner — you expose them to vocabulary and sentence structures that are more complex than what they might choose independently. You model what engaged reading sounds like. And you give reading a social, warm dimension that purely independent reading sometimes lacks, which matters enormously for children who associate books with solitude and effort rather than pleasure.

    Remove Competition from Devices

    This one is simple to say and hard to do: reading is in constant competition with more immediately rewarding alternatives. Screens, games, social media, streaming — all of these are designed by people who understand attention and dopamine, and they’re very good at their job.

    Creating conditions where reading is the natural default — a quiet time each evening without devices, a basket of books in the room where children relax, long journeys without screens — makes reading much more likely to happen. The competition is not between books and boredom; it’s between books and extremely engaging alternatives. You need to tilt the context.

    Books Before Bed

    The bedtime reading habit is probably the most valuable and durable of all. A rule of “twenty minutes of reading before the light goes off” — enforced as consistently as any other bedtime routine — will build a reading habit faster than almost any other single intervention, precisely because it creates a regular slot where there’s nothing else to do and a book is the most appealing option available.

    Children who read for twenty minutes every night before bed read for more than 120 hours a year. Over a primary school career, that’s an extraordinary volume of text — and every page of it is building the verbal intelligence that English exams reward.

    Talk About Books

    Children who grow up in households where books are discussed — where adults talk about what they’re reading, share opinions about characters and plots, argue about whether an ending was satisfying — absorb a set of analytical habits that transfer directly to English exams. They learn to form opinions about text, to find evidence for their views, to change their minds when someone makes a good point. These are precisely the skills that separate a C grade English response from an A grade one.

    You don’t need to conduct formal discussions. “What do you think of the main character? Do you think she made the right decision?” at the dinner table is enough. The point is treating books as things worth thinking and talking about, not just things worth completing.

    Thorogood English’s Reading List has curated recommendations for 11+, IGCSE, and A-Level students — books that stretch and engage young readers while building the vocabulary and analytical instincts that exams reward. Browse it here, and join the waiting list for January 2027 classes.

  • How to Help Your Child Prepare for the 11+ Without Burning Them Out

    The 11+ is one of the most pressurised educational moments in a child’s life — and one of the most pressurised for parents too. The competition is real. The stakes feel enormous. And in that context, it’s easy for preparation to tip over from focused and productive into relentless and counterproductive.

    Here’s how to support your child’s 11+ preparation in a way that’s effective, sustainable — and doesn’t teach them that learning is something to be feared.

    Start Earlier Than You Think — But Don’t Start Too Early

    The optimal window for structured 11+ preparation is roughly 12–18 months before the exam. Starting earlier than that often means children plateau before the exam arrives and feel burnt out by September of Year 6. Starting later than about six months before the exam makes it very difficult to cover enough ground comfortably.

    In Years 4 and 5, the most valuable preparation isn’t exam practice — it’s reading broadly and widely, developing vocabulary through conversation and books, and building the general confidence and curiosity that underpin strong 11+ performance. This is enjoyable preparation that doesn’t feel like preparation at all.

    Separate Preparation from Performance

    One of the most common mistakes in 11+ preparation is treating every practice paper as a performance rather than a learning opportunity. When a child gets a question wrong on a practice paper and the response is disappointment or concern, the child learns to fear mistakes rather than learn from them.

    The purpose of a practice paper is to find out what the child doesn’t know yet — and then address it. A low score on a practice paper in Year 5 is information, not a verdict. Treat it accordingly: “Let’s look at the questions you got wrong and understand why. That’s exactly what this practice is for.”

    Vocabulary Is the Foundation — Invest in It Early

    The 11+ English paper rewards strong vocabulary more than almost anything else — in comprehension, in writing, and in the vocabulary-specific questions that appear on some papers. The good news is that vocabulary builds gradually over time through reading and conversation; the bad news is that you can’t build it quickly through cramming in the final few months.

    The most effective vocabulary investment is reading books that are slightly challenging — books where the child encounters unfamiliar words regularly, has to infer meanings from context, and has the opportunity to ask “what does that mean?” Books written for adults but accessible to bright ten-year-olds (Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, Michael Morpurgo) are excellent. So are newspapers at a level slightly above what feels comfortable.

    Practice Under Conditions — But Not All the Time

    Timed practice under exam conditions is necessary preparation for the 11+ — the time pressure is one of the hardest aspects of the exam, and children who haven’t practised working at pace will struggle regardless of their underlying ability. But timed practice every day, relentlessly, is exhausting and counterproductive.

    A better rhythm: one or two timed practice sessions per week, with careful review afterwards; other sessions focusing on skill-building in areas of weakness without time pressure. The ratio should shift as the exam approaches — more timed practice in the final two months.

    Be Careful With Your Own Anxiety

    This is the hardest piece of advice to give — and receive — but it matters enormously. Children absorb their parents’ anxiety about the 11+, often without anyone saying a word. A parent who visibly stiffens when the topic comes up, who checks homework with tight-jawed concentration, who asks “how many did you get right?” before “how did it feel?” — that parent is communicating something about the stakes of failure that a child carries into the exam room.

    This is not a counsel of indifference — you care about your child’s future and that’s right and appropriate. But the most useful thing you can model is the belief that your child is capable, that mistakes are part of learning, and that the outcome of this exam does not define them. Children who sit the 11+ believing that their worth as people is contingent on the result do not perform as well as children who sit it knowing they’ve prepared well and will do their best.

    On the Day

    A good breakfast. An early night. Familiar clothes. A straightforward conversation: “You’ve prepared well. Do your best, read carefully, and if you get stuck move on and come back.” Then let them go.

    What you do on the day of the exam cannot meaningfully change the outcome. What you’ve done in the months before it can.

    Thorogood English’s 11+ English preparation groups are designed specifically for this — effective, focused, and confidence-building rather than anxiety-inducing. Small groups mean every child is known and supported. Join the waiting list for January 2027 places.