ABOUT US

We are Charlie Brafman and Magnus McCullagh, expert tutors who specialise in the 11+ entrance exams. With over 20 years combined experience, we have worked with students who have won places (and scholarships) at some of England’s top selective schools, including St Paul’s, City of London, Henrietta Barnett, Dame Alice Owen, Latymer, QE Boys, Brighton College, Eton, Habs, UCS, Highgate, South Hampstead, Merchant Taylors... we could go on! Having taught one-to-one for many years now, and having taught online workshops for other organisations, we decided to launch ‘Which Is Why…’ so that we could reach more people than ever with our own teaching philosophies.

We love working with bright students and those who aren’t yet reaching their potential, figuring out exactly what is needed to provide big boosts in self-belief, motivation and results. We believe in combining a pragmatic approach to understanding the exam system and how to excel within its structure with a more holistic approach to education, ensuring that students develop skills that will stay with them throughout their academic years and beyond. Successful students are self-motivated, confident and enjoy their learning.

Follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/whichiswhytuition for regular updates and video clips where we will share our best tips and advice.

LAUNCHPAD

ALL SPACES NOW FULL! Follow us on Facebook or check back here soon for new courses and further info!

Online interactive workshops running from the 26th July to the 31st August

After your child’s long and well-earned break over the summer holidays, ‘Launchpad’ is designed to give them a running start for the new academic year. In our virtual classrooms, we will cover the most important aspects of creative writing and comprehension that your child will need to excel at the 11+. They will return to school equipped with key skills and a clear understanding of the road ahead and they can join us from wherever you might be each week, so long as there’s an internet connection!

‘Cracking Creative Writing’ and ‘Comprehension Crash Course’

We will be running two interactive and engaging courses, one focusing on comprehension work and one on creative writing. Each course will consist of six weekly lessons. Lessons will run for one hour and fifteen minutes with the class sizes capped at 16. There will be weekly homework that we will go over in class, building towards an assessment at the end of the course, which will be marked and returned via email with detailed feedback and suggested next steps.

The comprehension course will run on Tuesday mornings at 09:30 - 10:45 BST from 26th July to the 30th August.

The creative writing course will run on Wednesday mornings at 09:30 - 10:45 BST from 27th July to the 31st August.

Book early to avoid disappointment!

Each course will total 6 lessons/7.5 hours of tuition, costing £225.00 in total, or book in for both courses at a discounted rate of £400.00 for all 12 lessons/15 hours of tuition.

Click on the links below for more details:

During the term, we will be running further courses with priority for students who have taken part in ‘Launchpad’, covering advanced topics including complex grammar, non-fiction writing, poetry writing and comprehension, verbal and non-verbal reasoning and more. Join our Facebook group to stay in touch!

The creative writing course will be run by Charlie and will cover the following main topics:

What is creativity - how can we become creative?

‘Simple but exciting’ - what kinds of stories work best when time is of the essence?

How to come up with story ideas that work - what makes a good beginning, middle and end?

‘Show Don’t Tell’ - how to describe emotions and keep your reader engaged.

Poetic language and tone - metaphors, similes, personification, the five senses and when to use them.

What the examiners want to see: advanced grammar, openers, speech and more.

At the end of the course, students will write and submit an entire story typical of an 11+ assessment which will be marked to 11+ standards, with detailed feedback provided by Charlie.

The comprehension course will be run by Magnus and will cover the following main topics:

The different kinds of comprehension questions -  what they are and how to answer each of them.

Implication, Inference & Context - thinking like a detective to see what’s happening behind the words on the page.

Tone & Connotation  - how to gauge tone and interpret emotions.

Literary Devices - an examination of some of the different techniques used by authors, their effects and how to discuss them.

Exam technique - how to read mark schemes and optimise your answers.

Each week we will use a different 11+ extract to show how we can observe each of these topic areas in context. At the end of the course, students will take and submit an 11+ comprehension which will be marked to 11+ standards, with detailed feedback provided by Magnus.