VOCAB

Some of the words that have cropped up in my son's latest 11-plus practice test: ire, ode, taupe, rowan, balk. He's nine. At his age I'd have been stumped, too.

Should anyone be practising for the exam in any case? No. But then, everyone gets coached. Everyone who can afford it, that is. I admit to being a total hypocrite on this one. I don't believe there was such a thing as 11-plus tutoring when I was a child. If there had been, my mother wouldn't have been able to afford it. Now I'm giving my son an edge over kids like me. How ironic.