Give Your Child the Edge in NAPLAN, ICAS, Selective & Scholarship Exams
Our courses are excellent preparation for all major high-stakes English exams — including Selective Entry, Scholarship, NAPLAN, and ICAS — with techniques that transfer directly to every text type and comprehension challenge students will face.
Led by Amber Fox (30+ years teaching, plus 2.5 years at UNSW Global working directly on NAPLAN and ICAS assessment development) and Helen Cassar (40+ years teaching, former Assistant Principal).
Every piece of writing in Amber’s classes is personally marked by Amber, with detailed examiner-aligned feedback. Students in Helen’s classes receive feedback approved by Amber before it reaches you.
Proven Results
Why Clever Fox Holiday Courses Work
Excellent Preparation for All High-Stakes English Exams
Our holiday intensives are designed as comprehensive preparation for every major high-stakes English exam — including Selective Entry, Scholarship, NAPLAN, and ICAS. The skills taught aren't exam-specific tricks; they're transferable techniques that examiners across all four assessments actively reward. Students who master our frameworks are prepared not just for one exam, but for every English exam they will encounter.
Examiner-Informed Teaching
Led by Amber Fox — 30+ years' teaching experience, including direct work writing and reviewing NAPLAN and ICAS assessments at UNSW Global — and Helen Cassar, with 40+ years' teaching experience specialising in Gifted & Talented and ESL learners. Few holiday programs are taught by educators with this level of insider examiner experience.
Small Classes & Personalised Feedback
Every student receives examiner-informed guidance calibrated precisely to their skill level — not generic group instruction. Each piece of writing is personally marked with detailed feedback.
Structured, High-Impact Lessons
No guesswork. Clear frameworks. Measurable improvement. Students leave each day knowing exactly what they've learned and how to apply it.
Exam-Ready Without Burnout
Intensive learning, balanced workload, visible progress. Five days, two hours a day — enough to make a real difference, not enough to exhaust students before their exams.
Examiner-Informed Marking
Every piece of writing is assessed against the official NAPLAN marking rubric — the same framework used by national examiners. This gives students and parents a clear, consistent understanding of exactly how writing is evaluated in high-stakes assessments.
For Selective Entry, ICAS, and Scholarship exams, the broad rubric headings are publicly available, but the specific scoring criteria — what separates a top-band script from a mid-band one within each category — are not. This is where years of direct experience matters most. Amber has guided hundreds of students through these exams successfully, and her feedback reflects what examiners actually look for within each category.
The result: your child receives precise, criteria-based feedback — calibrated to the exact framework used in the exams they're preparing for, with clear next steps for development.
Course 1: Writing Intensive — Years 3 to 8
What students learn:
Narrative and persuasive writing — the core text types across NAPLAN, ICAS, Selective Entry, and Scholarship exams
Transferable formats — recount, description, diary, newspaper article, advice sheet, letter, email, and speech (all of which appear across the major writing exams)
Structured planning frameworks — TEEL, PEEL, and PETAL paragraphing
Advanced vocabulary, grammar, figurative language, and elaboration techniques
Time-efficient exam strategies for performing under pressure across any high-stakes writing exam
How they learn
Modelled plans and high-scoring exemplars demonstrated live
Daily writing tasks with clear success criteria
Student of the Day recognition to motivate and showcase excellence
Homework marked against the NAPLAN rubric with detailed annotations, score breakdowns, and 2+ pages of written feedback per piece
Five-Day Writing Schedule
Why This Course Delivers Results:
Comprehensive preparation — one course, four major exams (NAPLAN, ICAS, Selective Entry, Scholarship)
Focus on what examiners actually reward — not generic writing tips, but the specific techniques that earn top-band scores across every high-stakes exam
Skills transfer across all exam text types — students master one approach, apply it everywhere
Clear improvement pathways — students leave knowing exactly how to lift their scores
Confident, organised, exam-ready — students walk into every major writing exam prepared, not panicked
Course 2: Poetry Comprehension Intensive Years 5 to 8
Clever Fox's Ten Steps to Poetry Comprehension
Students learn a structured ten-step framework for analysing any poem they encounter in an exam:
Preview the Poem Read the title, predict the subject, and identify the poet.
Read the Poem Read multiple times, both silently and aloud, to absorb rhythm and meaning.
Create Mental Pictures Visualise what's being described — imagery is central to poetic comprehension.
Examine Word Choice Decode unfamiliar words using context clues; identify positive and negative connotations to determine tone and mood.
Paraphrase Restate the poem in your own words to clarify its content.
Analyse Structure and Organisation Examine the arrangement of lines and stanzas; notice punctuation, line breaks, and stanza patterns.
Identify Figurative Language Locate similes, metaphors, imagery, personification, hyperbole, and allusion — and explain what each contributes.
Make Connections Link prior knowledge and personal experience to interpret allusions and symbolism.
Identify Sound Devices Recognise rhyme, rhythm, repetition, alliteration, and onomatopoeia — and explain their effects.
Synthesise Use the analysis to determine the theme or central idea of the poem.
Comprehensive Course Notes
Students receive detailed course notes covering every major poetic device they’ll encounter in exams:
alliteration · allusion · hyperbole · imagery · metaphor · onomatopoeia · personification · rhyme · repetition · rhythm · simile · structure · symbolism · theme · tone and mood
Course Details
Why This Course Delivers Results
Structured framework — students learn a repeatable ten-step approach they can apply to any poem in any exam
Examiner-informed — taught with insider understanding of what selective and scholarship markers reward in comprehension responses
Mock exam format — students practise under genuine exam conditions, building confidence and timing instincts
Comprehensive coverage — every major poetic device, structural pattern, and analytical technique addressed