As the 11+ has been postponed for a month I’ve been looking at resources including Atom Learning for Erin to use by herself that will keep her engaged and motivated until her exam date and beyond. Read on for an exclusive Atom Learning offer and Atom Learning Review.
Erin has spent much of lockdown preparing for the 11+ grammar test but as much of the focus for the test is on English and Maths it has helped her academic ability across all areas even if she doesn’t end up in a grammar school. We have used a range of resources and spent time preparing this Atom Learning review for others preparing for 11 plus selection.
Erin loves learning and using Atom Learning plus the CPG books I have mentioned previously and other resources she has been able to crack on with a good level of independent learning. We tend to both sit at the dining room and work, Erin on one laptop and me writing on another!
Who are Atom Learning?
Atom Learning is a Key Stage 2 adaptive online home learning platform for pupils, covering English, maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning – exactly what we need for the CEM 11+.
The platform, Atom Nucleus, combines high-quality, teacher-made content with sophisticated technology to keep students on their individual, optimal learning paths. This means that the algorithm that underpins the platform will assess how your child is performing and will adjust the questions they are shown accordingly. The adaptive nature of the platform is similar to the CEM Select computer assessments.
The platform is designed to consolidate the KS2 national curriculum and help those preparing for secondary school entrance assessments (think GL and CEM 11+, ISEB and UKiset etc). You can access Atom Learnings helpsheets, videos, pre-recorded and live lessons, mock tests and bank of over 35,000 questions through the monthly subscription.
5-day free trial and 10% discount
If you’d like to try out Atom Learning, click here to start a 5-day free trial. To receive 10% off your first payment, input my discount code (Emmaand3) when you start your trial to automatically have the discount applied if you choose to continue following the trial. You can cancel at any point during your free trial and will not be charged – so give it a go! As an Atom Nucleus subscriber you’ll be able to sign up to their new exam prep clubs – keep reading for more information!
Free Autumn Lessons and Exam Prep clubs!
Since March, Atom Learning has been offering free, online lessons to all KS2 students to ensure that everyone has access to high quality learning resources during the pandemic. These lessons continued through the summer and Atom Learning are about to launch their autumn back to school lessons!
The free, interactive maths and English lessons have been designed to complement and run alongside the KS2 curriculum.
If you’re interested in these free lessons (no need to have a subscription) then you can register through this link. These lessons will be running weekly from the 14th of September and will be a great way to supplement in-school learning.
What we’re super excited about in our household are the new clubs. As families are gearing up towards entrance exams Atom Learning are launching brand new clubs for Atom Nucleus users. The assessment-specific clubs will provide targeted preparation for the major 11+ tests, including the CEM Grammar School 11+, GL Grammar School 11+, ISEB Common Pre-Test, London 11+ Consortium and UKiset.
These Atom Learning clubs, led by admissions experts, will be running for 5 weeks throughout the autumn term. Each club will cover the key content areas of each assessment, as well as insider tips and practice techniques. I’m looking forward to Erin giving the CEM 11+ club a go and seeing how she improves over the course of the 5 weeks.
You can register for the Atom Learning Clubs here[1] (https://app.atomlearning.co.uk/atom-clubs)
Tracking Progress with Atom Learning
One feature of the platform I’ve found super helpful is the supervisor dashboard. From my supervisor page I can track how Erin is doing and see the results from her mock tests. As the grammar school 11+ is incredibly competitive it’s been hard to gauge how Erin is doing in relation to her peer group. Being able to analyse her mock tests results has been fantastic (you’ll receive a standardised age score, stanine and decile ranking) and I don’t have to do any marking!
Each time your child practices on Atom Learning their progress is recorded in their mastery of each subject. The dashboard also features how long they’ve spent on each topic, how many questions they’ve answered and gives your child weekly targets to hit learning up to their exam date. As we’re all so busy adapting to the new normal this supervisor dashboard gives you a great snapshot of how your child is doing and areas they need to work on.
Erin has really enjoyed using Atom Learning and I can see why. She can choose areas to focus on which gives her control of her learning journey. The regular rewards keep her motivated and encourage her to spend time on the platform.
As a teacher (in addition to being just a mum) I can see the value of the platform, it is highly intuitive and is stretching Erin to meet her potential. The more she uses Atom Learning the more she grows in confidence which is really important at this stage of her preparation.
I have used other online platforms and tutors over the year and this is one of the best. One to one tutoring on a laptop was hard for Erin, she felt more pressure to get things right and worried about getting things wrong so didn’t always push herself or take a guess. If you have a self-motivated learner this approach works wonders. I’d definitely recommend giving the free trial ago to see if it works for you.
We hope this comprehensive Atom Learning review has been useful for you. Read my other Education posts especially Brainstorming activities for students.
