Build Positive Habits at Home
Beginning the SEAG Transfer Test journey is a milestone for many families. Parents often want to support their children but are unsure where to begin or how much help is needed. There is a perception that preparation must involve long sessions, piles of books and constant revision. In reality, the most effective support comes from small, consistent habits that build confidence gradually. When children read regularly, practise the right skills and become familiar with SEAG question styles, they start the year feeling ready rather than overwhelmed.
Developing these habits early in P6, or even toward the end of P5, helps children approach the SEAG Transfer Test with calmness and clarity. The assessment rewards strong comprehension, secure punctuation, accurate spelling and confident number skills. Each of these areas grows naturally when learning becomes part of everyday life.
Improve Reading Comprehension for the SEAG Transfer Test
Reading is the most important habit parents can encourage because comprehension sits at the centre of the SEAG Transfer Test English paper. The advice is simple: read, read and read more.
Regular reading helps children absorb vocabulary, structure, tone and ideas without feeling as though they are studying. These skills form the foundation of strong comprehension.
Encourage your child to read a mixture of novels, short stories, news articles and factual texts. The reading level of many SEAG Transfer Test passages is similar to extracts from Stig of the Dump by Clive King and Sun and Moon by Katherine Mansfield. These texts offer richer vocabulary and deeper ideas, so becoming familiar with stories of a similar level is extremely helpful.
Children who read widely adapt more easily to unfamiliar texts under timed conditions, which is exactly what the test requires.
Using VIPERS at Home to Strengthen SEAG Skills
A strategy I use consistently in lessons is VIPERS, which stands for Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Sequence or Summarise. These are the core skills assessed throughout the SEAG Transfer Test English section.
Parents can build these skills naturally at home.
Vocabulary: Ask your child what a word means based on context clues.
Inference: Explore feelings or ideas that are suggested but not stated.
Prediction: Ask what may happen next and why.
Explanation: Discuss why something in the text matters or how it affects the story.
Retrieval: Ask simple factual questions to check understanding.
Sequence or Summarise: Let them retell events in order or summarise a chapter.
When these questions become part of everyday reading, children build the exact skills needed for SEAG comprehension.
Perfecting Punctuation for the SEAG Transfer Test
The SEAG Transfer Test specification places particular emphasis on punctuation accuracy. Children need to feel confident using commas, capital letters, full stops, inverted commas, apostrophes, colons, semicolons and parentheses. Wide reading helps children see punctuation used correctly again and again.
A useful habit is pausing at punctuation marks when reading aloud. This helps children hear how punctuation shapes meaning. Another effective activity is writing a short sentence with missing or incorrect punctuation and asking your child to correct it. This strengthens accuracy and is easy to try at home.
Encouraging your child to read their own writing aloud is also powerful, as natural pauses often reveal where punctuation should sit.
Spelling Takes Time in SEAG Preparation
Spelling improves with steady, focused practice rather than cramming. Begin by revisiting familiar spelling patterns and asking your child to spot mistakes in similar-looking words. For example, responsible or responsable. Which one is correct? Errors like this appear frequently across SEAG Transfer Test questions.
I maintain a bank of spellings shared by pupils over the years, many of which reflect real test experiences. Parents often find it useful to work from lists of a similar level. The goal is not to overwhelm children with long lists, but to build accuracy and understanding.
Children remember spellings more effectively when they write each word in a sentence, say it aloud and notice it during reading. Short, regular sessions build far stronger progress than long, irregular ones.
Start Early and Build Steady SEAG Routines
Parents often feel pressure during the SEAG Transfer Test year, but calm routines achieve far more than long sessions of revision. Ten minutes of reading, a short VIPERS discussion, five minutes of spelling and a quick punctuation check can be woven easily into daily life.
This is the exact approach I use with my pupils. I help children strengthen comprehension, build VIPERS skills, develop punctuation accuracy, improve spelling and master the English demands of the SEAG Transfer Test in a steady, confidence-building way.
Preparation should be manageable, not overwhelming. Children who feel calm and supported make faster progress than those who feel rushed. Small habits, introduced consistently, build the strongest foundation.
Over time, children become more confident in their reading, more accurate with their writing and more prepared for the challenges ahead. The SEAG Transfer Test journey becomes much less daunting for families who focus on these simple, effective routines.