By Abi | Home Star Tuition | Writing tuition for all children from international families
Flair for writing. It is a phrase that comes up often, particularly in the context of independent school entrance exams. Examiners look for it. Parents hope their child has it. Teachers mention it in reports without always explaining what it means.
But what does it actually mean? And – the question most parents really want answered – is it something a child either has or does not have? Or is it something that can be developed?
In my experience, it is very much the latter.
Flair is Not a Gift. It is an Accumulation.
The idea that flair for writing is an innate talent – something a lucky few are born with – is one of the most persistent and most unhelpful myths in education. I have worked with hundreds of children over the years, and I have yet to meet one who simply arrived with flair fully formed.
What I have seen, consistently, is this: flair is what happens when a child has read widely and deeply enough that the rhythms and structures of good writing have become part of how they think.
They reach for a precise word because they have encountered precise words. They construct a sentence with weight and movement because they have read sentences like that hundreds of times. They know, almost instinctively, when a paragraph needs to breathe – because they have felt that breathing in the books they love.
Flair, in other words, is reading made visible on the page.
Why Reading is the Foundation of Everything
This is not a new idea. Teachers and writers have said it for generations. But it bears repeating, because in the rush to prepare children for exams – to practise writing tasks, to drill technique, to mark and redraft – reading can quietly slip down the priority list.
It should not. Reading is not the supplement to writing tuition. It is the foundation of it.
A child who reads voraciously will, over time, absorb the structures of English prose without being explicitly taught them. They will notice how a skilled author builds suspense, or shifts tone, or makes a reader care about a character. They will encounter vocabulary in context – which is the only way vocabulary really sticks – and they will begin to reach for that vocabulary in their own writing.
This is why one of the first things I do when I begin working with a child is build them a reading list. Not a generic list of “good books for children.” A thoughtful, personalised list built around who they are – their interests, their personality, the things that light them up.
A child who loves animals gets something different from a child who is fascinated by history or obsessed with sport. The reading has to mean something to them, otherwise it will not do the work it needs to do.
A Nine Year Old in Shanghai and His Dragons
I have been working since September with a nine year old based in Shanghai. He is passionate about dragons and fantasy – seriously passionate, in the way that only nine year olds can be – and so that is exactly where we started.
Since then he has worked his way through a long and growing list of fantasy and adventure stories. And the difference in his writing is remarkable.
The vocabulary he reaches for now is richer. His sentences have more variety and more confidence. There is an adventurousness to his writing – a willingness to try something unexpected, to reach for an image, to take a small risk – that simply was not there before.
He is, in the very best sense of the phrase, beginning to show flair for writing. Not because he was born with it. But because he has been reading the right things, consistently, with genuine enthusiasm, for months.
Why This Matters for Entrance Exams
For children preparing for 11+, 13+, UKiset, or Common Entrance, this is not a peripheral concern. It is central.
The examiners reading entrance exam writing papers can tell, almost immediately, whether a child reads. The vocabulary is richer. The sentences are more varied. The ideas are more confidently expressed. There is a quality of engagement with language that is very difficult to fake and very easy to spot.
Broad, consistent reading is one of the most powerful forms of entrance exam preparation there is – and one of the most underestimated. It does not feel like revision. It does not look like exam preparation. But over months and years, it quietly builds the very qualities examiners are looking for.
For families preparing for selective UK independent school entry from abroad – in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Shanghai, or elsewhere – this is particularly worth bearing in mind. Children who are not immersed in an English-speaking environment every day need deliberate, curated exposure to high-quality English prose. A well-chosen reading list is one of the most effective ways to provide it.
The Reading List as a Teaching Tool
Reading lists are something I put considerable care into. They sit at the heart of how I work with children, and they evolve as the child grows – both in age and in confidence.
A good reading list for a child preparing for entrance exams might include:
Authors whose prose is precise and varied – who model the kind of sentence-level craft that transfers to a child’s own writing. Books that stretch vocabulary without losing the reader. Stories with strong narrative structure, so that the child absorbs, instinctively, how a well-constructed piece of writing moves. And, crucially, books the child actually wants to read – because reluctant reading produces very little of the deep absorption that flair requires.
The list is, in many ways, the quiet foundation beneath everything else we do together in lessons.
What You Can Do Now
If your child is aged 7 to 14 and you would like them to develop greater confidence, range and flair in their writing – whether or not they are preparing for an entrance exam – the single most useful thing you can do right now is this: make sure they are reading, regularly, in English, from books that genuinely interest them.
If you would like help building a personalised reading list, or if you would like to discuss writing tuition for your child, I would be very glad to talk.
Book a consultation at calendly.com/homestartuition
Abi is a Cambridge-educated, OFSTED outstanding writing tutor specialising in academic and creative writing for ambitious children from international families. She works with children aged 7 to 14 on academic writing, creative writing, and entrance exam preparation for 11+, 13+, UKiset and Common Entrance. She teaches online via Zoom, across all time zones.
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