About Sheena Ager: 11 Plus Author and Course Creator

Sheena Ager writes her 11+ books as S. L. Ager. She created the Cadwaladr books after helping her own children prepare for grammar-school entrance tests in Reading, Berkshire.

Her first 11+ novel, Tangled Time, was written for her son, who was a reluctant reader. She wanted him to meet difficult vocabulary inside a story rather than through endless word lists. Tangled Time became the first book in The Cadwaladr Quests. She later wrote the four-book Cadwaladr Chronicles as a prequel series and an earlier starting point for Year 4 readers.

There are now seven Cadwaladr fantasy-adventure novels. Each has an on-page dictionary so children can understand unfamiliar words without leaving the story. Knowledge Nuggets explain SPaG, literary devices and inference as children read. The books are written for a wide range of 11+ tests, including GL, ISEB, SET, CSSE, Sutton, Tiffin, Future Stories (FSCE), CEM and independent-school entrance tests, as well as SATs.

Some of the workbooks were created with Education Boutique and XL Education and cover comprehension, vocabulary and creative writing. Parents can see the two starting points, the complete seven-book order and which workbooks need a novel on the reading-order page.

Sheena also created the 11+ Writing Course. It teaches story writing, narrative recount and description, alongside vocabulary, literary devices and SPaG. Children can follow the course from anywhere in the world and work through the lessons at any time. They receive personal feedback and can attend monthly live Writing Clinics. The teaching comes from real children’s writing and changes in response to what they submit.

Sheena runs free weekly comprehension, SPaG and vocabulary sessions for children who are reading her books. She has also run her 11+ Facebook group for around ten years. The group now has more than 10,000 members, and parents can share their children’s work anonymously if they prefer and receive feedback from teachers and tutors.

Sheena is honest with parents about what children find difficult, what they actually need to practise and what can wait. She does not want children writing from a tick list or stopping after every page to learn every word. She wants them to read, understand what they are reading and know why they are making each writing choice.