It’s November. The January entrance exams for your target independent schools are no longer a distant thought; they are right around the corner. You look at your child’s creative writing and a familiar sense of dread begins to creep in. It’s just not good enough, and you feel like you’ve run out of time.

First, take a deep breath. It is not too late. While a longer runway is always beneficial, a focused, strategic effort over the next 8 weeks can yield remarkable improvements. What you need is a clear, actionable plan that targets the specific skills required for these highly competitive exams.

This is your 8-week rescue plan. A week-by-week guide to building the sophisticated writing skills your child needs to impress the examiners at London’s top independent schools.

Week 1: Deconstruct the Exam Format

The Goal: To understand that not all independent school writing exams are the same.

The Task: This week is about research. You and your child need to become experts on the *exact* format for their target school. Is it a passage-based continuation like **Trinity** and **Dulwich**? A choice between a story and a description like **JAGS**? A two-essay challenge like **City of London Girls**? Create a summary sheet for each target school, detailing the task type, time limit, and mark allocation. This targeted knowledge is your first and most important advantage.

Week 2: Master the 5-Minute Strategic Plan For 11+ Writing Success

The Goal: To ensure every piece of writing is well-structured and directly answers the prompt.

The Task: Based on last week’s research, practise creating 5-minute plans tailored to the specific exam formats. For a JAGS descriptive task, this might be a mind map focusing on sensory details. For a Trinity passage-based task, it would involve identifying the theme and planning a story arc that reflects it. The plan is not just a story outline; it’s a strategic response to the specific question being asked.

Week 3: Advanced “Show, Don’t Tell”

The Goal To move beyond basic emotional descriptions to sophisticated characterisation and atmosphere.

The Task: Go beyond simple emotions. Take a concept like “The room felt ancient.” How can you show this? Describe the scent of dust and decaying paper, the way light struggles through grimy windowpanes, the feel of worn velvet on a chair. Challenge your child to describe a place or a person’s character without ever stating it directly. This is a hallmark of top-tier writing.

Week 4: Vocabulary in Context

The GoalTo use ambitious vocabulary that is both impressive and appropriate.

The Task: The “word of the day” approach is not enough. This week, focus on building thematic word banks. If you’re reading a passage about a storm, create a list of powerful words related to weather, sound, and fear. The key is not just learning new words, but learning which words to use in which context to create a specific mood or effect.

Week 5: Sentence Structure for Pace and Effect

The Goal: To use sentence structure as a tool to control the reader’s experience.

The Task: Teach your child how to vary their sentence length for effect. Short, punchy sentences to create tension. Long, flowing sentences to build a descriptive scene. Practise rewriting a simple paragraph to change its pace and rhythm purely by altering the sentence structure. Introduce the semicolon and the dash as tools for creating sophisticated connections between ideas.

Week 6: The First School-Specific Timed Practice

The Goal To apply the skills under the exact conditions of the target school’s exam.

The Task: Using a specimen paper from your target school, conduct a full, timed mock of the writing section. If the exam is 30 minutes, set a timer for 30 minutes. Enforce the 5-minute planning rule. The aim here is to experience the real pressure and identify where the timing challenges lie.

Week 7: The Feedback and Redrafting Loop

The Goal To turn mistakes into measurable improvement.

The Task: This is the most critical week. You must get expert, detailed feedback on the timed piece from Week 6. A simple score is not enough. You need to know *why* marks were lost and *how* to get them back. Once you have this feedback, your child’s task is to redraft the *same* piece, implementing every suggestion. This is where deep learning occurs.

Week 8: The Final Confidence-Building Mock

The Goal: To walk into the exam feeling prepared, confident, and in control.

The Task: Conduct one final mock exam with a different specimen paper. Your child should now be familiar with the format, confident in their planning, and armed with a toolkit of advanced writing techniques. The goal is to prove to themselves that they can do it. Compare this final piece to the one from Week 6. The improvement will be undeniable.

The Ultimate Shortcut: A Course Designed for Your Target School

This 8-week plan is a powerful framework, but it requires significant effort and expertise from you. If you want to accelerate this process and ensure your child is getting the most targeted preparation possible, our school-specific creative writing courses are your solution.

Each course is a condensed, expert-led version of this rescue plan, designed from the ground up for the unique demands of a single school. We provide the video lessons on the specific skills needed, the timed assignments that match the exam format, and the crucial, line-by-line personal video feedback that turns a panicked student into a confident writer.

Don’t let the November panic win. You have a plan. And if you need an expert to help you execute it, we are here.