The devastating TRAP of believing that a pre-pre/nursery will get you the RESULTS you seek.

The clients who work with us here at CMT know that the pre-pre/nursery will have about 10% to do with the success that their child will have in their assessments. The clients who work with us here at CMT know that 90% of the work will come from what they will do at home with their children.

Our clients find this empowering.

They have full responsibility over the success of their child in any assessment.

None of us have control over how our children will do in the assessments. Not me. Not you and not a 10-12k per term pre-prep/nursery.

I speak to many (many!) parents who hand over this control to their children’s pre-prep and nurseries every single day. They drop their kids off and head off to work and they firmly believe that everything is being done by the very expensive pre-prep or nursery that they are sending their child to.

Well, they are wrong. Devastatingly wrong.

And even more devastating is the fact that how a child does in an assessment is irreversible. As in, you won’t be able to change the outcome. What you can change however is your attitude towards these assessments. What you can change is how seriously your take them. And what you can change is your belief.

I’ve supported hundreds of children who have never set foot in an ultra pricey pre-prep or nursery and who have had incredible success in their assessments. The reason for their success was because of the incredible support that they received from home.

This devastating belief that it is up to a Hampstead Hill or a Mulberry House or a Clowns or a BLS to have 100% responsibility in the success of your child.

It is very disempowering.

I worked for 3 years as a class teacher across the school at one of the schools that I have listed above. I have nothing terrible to say about the school (it has its faults like all schools don’t get me wrong) but the school that I worked at was 100% not solely responsible for the success of the children who passed their assessments. And guess what? When I was there, we never claimed to be.

Do you know who is responsible for the success of your child?

YOU.

And only you.

And if you do not like that, then continue to send your child to one of the above (or the countless others) and continue to give all of your power to these pre-preps/nurseries. Continue to not know how your child is doing in phonics. Continue to not know how your child is doing in maths. Continue to not know how your child is able or unable to answer questions. Continue to not know which letters of the alphabet or numbers your child is able to write. I could go on.

Because schools like Habs/NLCS/Westminster aren’t too interested in the pre-prep/ nursery that your child goes to. What they are interested in is how your child learns, how your child interacts and how your child behaves.

If you’re ready to take full control over the success of your child, join my Waiting List and receive the support that you truly deserve to have in any of your child’s assessments. We will be there for you every single step of the way.

What is the 'progress' we are aiming for in each area of learning when preparing for the 4+?

I received an exceptional question yesterday from a parent who did a Sample lesson with me last week.

Obviously, I will be taking time today to answer my client in depth but I wanted to share my thoughts about this with you too.

When I worked in schools as a full time teacher and as a senior leader, we would be set targets for our classes. Our students were expected to make a certain amount of progress. The more qualified we were, the higher the level of progress our classes were expected to make!

That’s ultimately what we were paid to do. We were first of all paid to look after our students and second of all we were paid to show their progress. A huge responsibility to have would you not agree?

Progress is very important.

We all want our children to make progress in the areas of learning that they (and we) are investing our time, energy and money on!

Progress is key.

As you might know, my 4+ Curriculum Programme is a 12 month programme. So it is obvious that if you have the full 12 months of the Curriculum Programme that your chid will be able to make way more progress than if they do the 3 month Programme.

Progress and time go hand in hand.

My students will never make as much progress in 3 months as they would in 12 months.

So let me share with you a very brief summary of the progress that I would expect a student of CMT to make after 12 months on my programme. Obviously each child is different and unique and the progress will be individual to them. Just to make that clear.

Communication and Language

To be able to answer L4 questions with ease, confidence and clarity. To have a broad and vast vocabulary.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

To be able to go into the 4+ assessment happily and confidently. Do be able to engage well with adults and children. To know how to react in difficult situations. To show emotional maturity.

Physical Development

To be physically strong (gross and fine motor control)

Literacy

To know their phase 2/3 and 4 phonics (single sounds and digraphs). To be reading cvc words with confidence and ease. To be able to write numbers 1-20 with perfect formation. To be able to write letters a-z with perfect formation. To hold their pencil ‘correctly’. To have a love for reading books.

Maths

To be at mastery of the whole of my CMT Early Years mathematics curriculum.

(Place value, addition and subtraction, geometry, length, capacity, weight, position, direction and time)

Understanding of the World

Show a deep curiosity and knowledge for the world around them.

Art and design

Be able to draw with confidence and independence whatever they are asked to draw. Be able to create and design something and know how to use the tools needed with confidence and independence.

Does this overwhelm you?

This excites me!

And if you want support with helping your child to make the progress that they deserve to be making, join me.

Passing these 4+ assessments has never been my end goal.

Passing the 4+ assessments is just the cherry on top.

My end goal is for my students to love learning. To have a passion for learning. To want to learn more, more and more.

The Intensive 3 Month programme will close on August 31st. Will your child make as much progress as they could have made if they had joined my 12 months programme? Probably not but it’s a great place to start and we’ve had incredible success for many of our students who have completed my Intensive 3 month programme.

3 Reasons Your Kensington Prep Assessment Prep May Not Work.

Kensington Prep is a very popular school that we prepare our girls for.

For our clients here at CMT this school will either be the first school of choice or the last school of choice.

The Ken Prep 4 plus Assessment is one we have been preparing our beautiful girls for for over 2 decades.

So you’ve applied to Kensington Prep and you’ve been to visit it. You’ve decided this is the school for your daughter. Perhaps you’ve prepared her a little bit. Perhaps you’ve been unsure about how to prepare her. Perhaps you’ve spoken to a few parents who have provided you with snippets of information about the Assessment (I would avoid listening to what other parents tell you about the assessments!). Perhaps you believe that because you send your daughter to nursery every day that this is assessment prep (it is not).

Now the Assessment is approaching and you are feeling more and more anxious about it. I don’t blame you. I would be feeling the same if it was truly the school that I wanted for my child.

This is a challenging school to get into. Not as challenging as the others we prepare for but challenging nonetheless.

A few important dates for you to keep in mind if you are applying for the 4+ at Ken Prep (2027 entry) 

• You can apply from birth and up until 23rd October 2026 (for 2027 entry) 

• Only parents of registered girls can attend their open day. 

• The assessment will take place in January 2027. They call it a ‘play based’ assessment. You can be sure that your daughter is not going to Ken Prep to be just observed ‘playing’.

The Ken Prep 4+ Assessment is around 60 minutes long. Your daughter will need stamina and focus to be able to last the full 60 minutes! We prepare all our girls to be able to go into Ken Prep and focus to the best of their abilities.

Being successful at Ken prep means preparing your daughter to be able to go in and answer questions well, focus, show confidence and independence, be able to interact well with children and adults and have the stamina to complete the full 60 minute assessment and complete it well! Being successful does not mean sending your daughter in for a ‘little play’.

3 Reasons Your Kensington Prep Assessment Prep May Not Work.

1. Your daughter isn’t prepared to go in and show how alert and focused she is.

2. Your child isn’t prepared to understand that she needs to go in and show how curious she is. Curiosity (believe it or not) is taught. It is practised. It is nurtured.

3. Your daughter isn’t prepared to go in and show her enthusiasm for learning.

This is EXACTLY what they will be observing. This is EXACTLY what they will be assessing.

If you are NOT preparing specifically for these three things then it is very likely that your 4+ Assessment preparation may NOT work.

We’ve never once had a student not pass this 4+ assessment. That says it all really.

Join my Intensive 3 Month Programme Today and support your daughter to be wildly successful in this 4+ assessment. Closing August 31st.

Which prep school should I choose for my child?

90% of our clients come to us because they want the best education for their children.

They want their children to go to the best schools so that they can give them the best possible shot in life.

They know that the best education will be the most valuable thing that they can offer their children in this life.

Perhaps they had the best education provided to them in their childhood and they are now successful and thriving.

Perhaps they did not have the best education provided to them in their childhood and they are laser sharp aware of the implications of this and how much more they had to struggle in order to be successful and thriving.

Don’t get me wrong, you can of course go to the best schools in the world and still struggle with life.

But let’s be real here.

The best education will support you to have the best possible chances in this life.

That is the truth whether you want to admit it or not.

And maybe you went to a terrible school growing up and you are now highly successful and thriving. You are the exception and not the rule.

Simple.

So back to my question.

Which non-selective prep school should I choose for my child?

A simple google search will bring up a multitude of offers for you depending on your location. When I search I get schools like Hendon Prep, Devonshire House, Chepstow House, Annemount, Broadhurst, Charterhouse Square. Durston House and Hampstead Hill to name very few.

If you are like any client of mine, you will know that the non - selective prep school that you choose is about of 10% importance compared to the importance of supporting your own child at home. What you do with your child at home is what will truly matter. And if you don’t agree - that’s fine. I’m not here to convince your of anything.

But I personally would never, ever, ever give all of the power to a school. Ever. I will take full control and full responsibility over the success of my child. Whatever I make the word ‘success’ mean to me.

I speak to far too many of you who are deeply disappointed that after investing over 300k in your child’s Primary education that they still were unable to get into your top school of choice. Yet when I ask you the question that leads most of you to hate me thoroughly (oh well!), you don’t like my response.

What did you do to support and prepare your child with their assessment?

‘Oh I left it up to the school, that’s what they were paid to do was it not?’

No, not quite actually.

Take full responsibility over the success of your child. I truly don’t care too much which prep school you choose. Selective or non selective, it truly doesn’t matter.

You want success in these assessments, invest your time, money and energy into preparing your children yourselves to have the success that they deserve to have. That is all.

Want to find out more about how we support hundreds of clients each year to have incredible success with their children’s curriculum acceleration?

Book your FREE Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today.

'My daughter already has a place at Pembridge Hall Prep so I'm not too fussed!'

Great!

So your daughter has a place at one of the most expensive non-selective schools in Notting Hill?

At £11,290 per term - 34k per year or 238k for the full Reception to Year 6 experience (that’s if prices don’t increase between now and then!), you are consciously choosing to make this an investment into your daughter’s education. At nearly 3k per month, this is a huge investment for most people I know!

A rather large school - this school operates as a three form entry school with typically 60-66 girls per year group (around 20 per class). Quite large class sizes in my opinion (for the rates that they charge!)

I personally teach many, many girls who attend this school. I know a lot about this school. A lot.

But I’m not here to talk about my knowledge of Pembridge Hall as a school.

What I’m talking about is the countless conversations that I’ve had these last few months with parents who call me and tell me that they are delighted to have a place at PH and that ‘they’re not too fussed’ about the other schools that they are applying to.

Why bother calling me then?

Why bother applying then?

Rather confusing.

If you’re so delighted about PH, great! Go there!

Why bother applying to other schools like Westminster, Glendower, Falkner House or Highgate?

If you’re truly ‘not too fussed about it’.

With that kind of attitude, what results do you really think you will achieve?

Not many. Sorry.

I’d like to talk to parents who ‘are bothered!’ and who want to take massive action to support their daughters to go to the likes of the schools I have listed above and truly shine. Parents who want to support their daughters to have the best of the best education by working with me and sending their daughters to the schools that they deem to be ‘the best’.

If you’re truly serious, this is your final chance to join my Intensive 3 month programme. It will close by August 31st 2026.

Join today and truly give your daughter the best possible chances for success in any 4+ assessment.

What is expected of my son in the Merchant Taylors' School 4+ Assessment?

A lot!

At MTS Expectations are high and places are low.

And also because most places are offered to boys already in the Nursery (those who got in at 3+). MTS have an internal priority. Which is obvious seeing as they have a Nursery. If my son went to the nursery, I would personally still prepare him for the 4+ assessment but I would be aware that he would have the priority over the external candidates.

So if MTS is truly a school that you dream of for your boy, send him to the nursery! If not, be laser sharp aware of the huge difficulties you will face to get him in at 4+.

Your son will have to be one of the ‘strongest applicants’ in order to even be considered for a place at Merchant Taylors. It is a group assessment with 10-15 other boys however your son will also be assessed on a 1:1 basis.

MTS write that their assessments are not challenging but I firmly disagree. They are challenging and a lot will be expected of your son. We know exactly what has come up historically in the MTS 4+ assessments. We know the boys who have passed and we know the boys who have not.

And we know exactly the reasons why.

Do you?

MTS will be looking for ‘teachability’ and ‘sociability’ so basically how easy your son will be to teach and how he is socially (with both adults and children). MTS are looking for boys who are focused and alert and who have the capacity to answer all questions asked to a very high standard. The nursery report will be very important for this assessment too.

I personally think MTS is very hard to pass because most parents do not understand that they need to start preparing their children at least 12 months before the assessment. By leaving it too late, you simply will not have time to cover all of the curriculum that needs to be covered. Therefore it will be very hard for your son to pass. Remember that they will be given an overall percentage based on the assessment criteria. You need to know what the criteria will be in order to be in with a chance of your son passing. If you don’t know the criteria, it’s up to you to either educate yourself and learn the criteria or to work with someone who knows it like the back of their hand!

If you are preparing for MT’s, we have incredible success. Each year we prepare at least 1-2 students and each year at least one of our students is offered a place to study at this school. Last year (2026 entry) we prepared 3 boys for this 4+ assessment and all 3 were offered a place! Considering they only had 6 places available last year for the 4+, this is pretty extraordinary (if I do say so myself!). Our results are real. Our results are honest. We know exactly how to prepare our boys to have incredible success in this 4+ assessment.

Book your Sample Week today.

'No special prep is needed' for the South Hampstead 4+ Assessment is like telling me 'no dieting is needed to lose weight'

If ‘no special preparation is needed’ for the 4+ at South Hampstead, why does the school have such high expectations of the girls in terms of their academic excellence?

If ‘no special preparation is needed’ at South Hampstead, why does the school have such high expectations of the girls in terms of their extremely high behavioural expectations?

With only 24 places and at least 240 girls attending this very popular 4+ assessment, are your really going to pay attention to absolute BS telling you that ‘no special prep is needed’. You can do what you want of course but then please don’t contact me after the fact and complain about it.

One of my students who I personally prepared for her 4+ Assessment at South Hampstead was initially placed on the Waiting List. She is a very bright little girl and she worked very hard to prepare for her 4+ Assessments at South Hampstead. She showed up every single week for 9 months to prepare for her 4+ Assessments at this school. She made a tremendous amount of progress and she was more than ready.

So why was she not offered a place immediately?

Why was she placed on the Waiting list?

When her mother had a discussion about it with the school, she was told that other girls were stronger than her daughter in terms of their phonetic abilities.

Ok, so that contradicts completely what South Hampstead say about ‘no preparation is advised’ doesn’t it? Also contradicts their statement that ‘girls are not asked to read or write in their assessment.’ Clearly, she was asked to read otherwise how would they have known about her phonics ability?

If my student wasn’t as strong as the other girls in terms of her phonetic abilities (and trust me her phonics were strong!) then what did the other girls show in order to have performed better or as the school said ‘to be stronger’ than my student? Do you really think that they did not have ‘special preparation’ in order to demonstrate such strong phonetic ability? And obviously to show everything else that they had to show in order to be offered a place to study there from Reception.

So to those of you who call me and tell me that you don’t need to prepare for South Hampstead because the school have told you not to, you do what you want and why call me in the first place? Don’t bother. I know that girls need to be thoroughly prepared to be in with a chance at South Hampstead. I’ve known it for years. And we will just continue to stay in our lane and continue to prepare our beautiful girls for this 4+ assessment.

Will you send your daughter to the South Hampstead 4+ Assessment with ‘no special preparation’? I think that is just mean and unkind actually. But you do you.

If you’ve left it to the last minute, fear not, we are here to support you every step of the way. Join our intensive 3 month programme.

You do not 'need' in- person lessons, you 'need' to understand the 4+ assessment process.

And this is where 95% of you get stuck.

Ask yourself this question and see what your answer is.

Why do I want an in person tutor?

Here are some answers that I’ve personally heard.

1. The assessments are in person therefore I want my child to practise in the same set up.

2. My child will not engage on a screen.

3. My child can’t have the relationship he/she could have if the teacher was in our house in person or if we could drop them to someone in person.

Let’s look at each of these.

And I’m not here to convince you that what I do is the best. I know that what I offer is the best. I’m here to invite you to re-think and actually have the success that your child deserves to have.

1. The assessments are in person therefore I want my child to practise in the same set up.

   Having a teacher come to your home is not the same set up as a 4+ assessment.

   Your child will become familiar with their teacher (who they should be seeing each week for at least a year) therefore it’s nothing like the set up of a 4+ assessment where your child will not know the assessors. Even if you send your child to group tuition, it’s still not the same set up. It’s not in the school that the assessment will take place and those are not the children that your child will be placed with.

   It is not the same set up.

2. My child will not engage on a screen.

   Your child could also not engage in person!

   Our students engage beautifully in our lessons and if they don’t, it’s simply because the expectations haven’t been explained carefully to them. Some new clients will initially tell me that their child ‘behaves better’ at their nursery or pre-school. The way they behave in front of them is exactly the way they would behave at nursery. Don’t delude yourself into believing that nonsense. If your child doesn’t ‘behave’, explain your expectations better. And the way children behave in lessons with me is exactly how they would behave in a 4+ assessment. Guess what? It’s up to you to put in the hard work and effort to support them with that!

3. My child can’t have the relationship he/she could have if the teacher was in our house in person or if we could drop them to someone in person.

   Not true. We have beautiful relationships with all of our students. The bonds we form are simply incredible.

In order to have true success in these top, elite 4+ assessments, you need to fully understand the process. It is vital that you work with a teacher who has real and actual experience with these top schools and who can tell you exactly why children have passed and why children have not passed.

Having someone come physically into your home who has zero experience with these schools will never make sense to me. Having someone come physically into your home who has zero early years experience will never make sense to me.

You are just sabotaging your child’s chances for the success they truly deserve.

That is all.

Do you do face to face tuition?

No.

Parents continue to ask me this.

No, no, no.

Let me tell you why (if you’re curious) in 3 simple sentence.

1. I am at full capacity and I have been for years now. For me, this means 45 students.

   It would be impossible for me to drive to 45 different homes in one week.

2. My personal rate for 1:1 tuition is £150/hr (inclusive of VAT). If I had to drive all around every day, you would be paying me £300 /hr to teach your child (I include travel time in my rate as any valuable teacher would!) Also, if I was driving around every single day, I would only be able to reach 2-3 children per day depending on their location! Which is exactly the reason I moved everything online in the first place. My mission is to support as many children as I can with their learning!

3. I have a 4 year old child myself - nothing more to be said there.

The parents who ask me if I offer face to face tuition are the ones who don’t know much about me … yet.

Those who know me don’t ask me this question.

They do not care that I do not offer face to face tuition.

Do you know what they care about?

RESULTS.

That’s what we are after here at CMT.

RESULTS.

We don’t care about inviting someone into our home and offering them tea and biscuits! We are after the results!

So if you want face to face tuition, you will find it. And most likely at a rate lower than mine. Great! Go for it!

Will those teachers be as qualified at me?

No (a teacher of my calibre wouldn’t be charging less than £150 p/hr).

Will those teachers have the experience that I have with your target schools?

Absolutely not.

Because if they did, they wouldn’t have the time to offer 1:1 in person tuition and they would be charging you at least £300 p/hr to teach your child on a 1:1 basis.

So if you’re truly after my support, you can continue to ask me this question and my answer will continue to be NO.

Face to face is totally unnecessary.

My best coaches and teachers are online.

My weight loss and fitness coach is the best in the world. She lives in a different country to me!

My business coaches are all online. They are the best of the best. They are also located in different countries to me.

I’ve had amazing counselling sessions online.

My son’s Italian school is online.

Time to rethink online tuition.

No one cares about being stuck in traffic for hours anymore. I certainly do not.

If you truly want the best of the best. This is it! I say that with certainty. I say that with clarity. I say it with love.

Also one more thing - what we do is basically ‘face to face’ because YOU are with your child and YOU are your child’s main teacher as you will be the one with your child every single week. Your teacher only sees your child once per week and this is not enough to have the success we want!

Book your Sample lesson and Sample Week today.

Join my Waiting List to secure a day/time with either myself or one of my amazing Senior Teachers.

Clients NOT suited to working with US.

Let’s save each other some heart ache and drama shall we.

As we are supporting more and more parents and students each and every year, I truly want to make sure that I am attracting the correct people into my world.

I speak from my heart. Everything that is written is written by me. I do not chat GPT or Claude a single thing in my beautiful business. I am passionate about what I do and so are my exceptional team of teachers.

I truly know that anyone who enters my world, will receive tremendous value. I know for a fact that I should be charging 3x what I currently charge for my programmes - at least! And most likely very soon, I will be changing my pricing completely!

Because you see, having the best possible education is the best gift we will ever give our children. In more ways than most likely you will ever truly know.

The best education will affect the trajectory of your child’s life.

Their happiness, their abundance, their mindset, their future wealth and their ability to simply have a choice! Ive just named a few.

So when clients come to me and say things like, ‘What do we need to do to get them into x school?’ 95% of the time these clients are not suited to working with us.

Because although ‘getting in’ is great and is the ultimate end goal of the clients who find us in the first place, for me it goes far deeper than that.

And those of you who know me well know this already.

For those of you who don’t, let me briefly explain.

A love for learning is what I’m after. A passion for learning. A hunger for learning. A desire for learning. This is what we instil into each and every one of our students every single day. It’s what I provide for my son every single day.

So if you ‘just want your child to get into a school’ but you’re not willing to put in the work needed, you are NOT suited to working with us.

There are many, many other companies for you.

Having one lesson, once a week is probably 10% of the work. 90% will come from what YOU do with your child at home during the time between the lessons. Obviously, we provide you with the learning which is bespoke and tailored to your child.

But what I can clearly see now that we support at least 100 children each year with their assessments, is that the clients who communicate with us daily, who send us their child’s learning, who ask for feedback, who ask for advice… Those are the clients who have the most success.

The clients who put in the work during the week (with our support of course), to support their children to have tremendous success not just in their assessments but in their learning will always be the ones who ultimately will have the most success.

Assessment Success is the Short Term Goal. Life long learning is the long term goal. And this is exactly why the majority of our clients stay with us throughout their children’s primary school education!

Preparing for an assessment? Book your FREE Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today and discover exactly how we can support your to support your child with their love for learning!

Why do so many boys fail their Habs' Boys' 4+ Assessment?

It’s important to mention, that their website still states that approx. 40 boys will be offered a place but last year more than this number were offered a place. So basically more than 40 places were available.

I won’t discuss the logistics of this as that’s not what I’m speaking about right now.

I also do not have all of the information regarding 2027 entry and the number of places that are available but it is my assumption that more than 40 places are available although they still specify 40 on the website at the point of me writing this.

Doesn’t for one second mean that you should ‘relax’ about this assessment! Absolutely not!

Many boys fail this 4+ assessment each year. Parents obviously don’t shout about this. Call it ego, call it devastation, call it what you will… It is not something that is openly discussed. In fact, I know of many parents that do not even share the fact that they are applying to Habs’ Boys’ School. They are aware that it will be very hard for their son to be offered a place and they wish to keep it quiet. I totally understand this.

Round one is a group assessment with some parts assessed as 1:1. It lasts approx. 90 minutes.

A lot is expected of your son in Round 1.

It is my firm belief based on my experience that they call back the vast majority of boys to Round 2. This is when many parents breathe out a sigh of relied. Do not do this! Great, your son has been offered Round 2! So what? You need to keep going! You have Round 2 to prep for.

You can breathe out a sigh of relief when your son is offered a place following Round 2! How about that?

Round 2 is a 1:1 assessment. A lot if expected of your son in Round 2 as well! Academically and behaviourally.

Parents will be spoken to also at the Round 2 stage. I encourage you to prepare for this! We prepare all of our clients for this part ;)

This school ‘strongly recommend against’ tutoring which is fascinating considering a very large amount of their cohort this year (and every single year for the last 20 years!) is made up of boys who were thoroughly prepared by us!

Boys fail this 4+ assessment because they are not academically and intellectually at the level needed to be when they attend this assessment. Boys fail this 4+ assessment because they are unable to demonstrate the behavioural traits that they need to demonstrate in their assessment.

Simply sending your son to nursery or pre-school full time is not 4+ assessment prep for this calibre of school.

Preparing for 2027 entry? Join our Intensive 3 Month Programme (closes August 31st).

Preparing for 2028 entry and beyond? Join our Waiting List today. As soon as you book, our Company Director will be in touch within 24 hours to ask your for your preferred day/time for weekly tuition (online) and she will let you know your start date.

What is needed for my child to pass their 4+ assessments?

A lot is needed depending on the school/s you are targeting.

Obviously a lot more is needed for the likes of Westminster, Habs (boys and girls), NLCS and South Hampstead (among other schools).

I’m going to share something very important with you.

I don’t do well with the following:

Pressure.

Rushed and frantic learning.

Negativity when it comes to learning.

Pushing a child to learn when they don’t want to.

Because you see, we are working with very young children here. And everything that I do comes only from love and affection.

For years, I have been saying that 4+ assessment preparation takes one full year (4 terms) of assessment preparation. So if you’ve left it to the last minute, that’s on you and not on me. And also, please keep the above emotions as far away from me as possible.

Pressure doesn’t work when it comes to learning (at any age). Children (and adults) learn best when they feel calm and relaxed. When they see that those teaching them are calm and relaxed. Children (and most adults) don’t learn well with pressure. You cannot force learning down a child’s throat. It does not work that way. I’ve never once pressurised my son into learning. And I’ve never once done it with the hundreds of students we support each year.

Rushed and frantic learning is something that I do not want to see.

Learning is calm, relaxed and happy.

Never push a child to do what they don’t want to do. They have to want to do it. Careful - I’m not saying that we don’t encourage children to do things that they don’t want to do. Of course we do. But there’s a way to do it and there’s a way not to do it.

4+ assessment preparation needs 4 full terms of assessment preparation tailored towards your schools of choice.

That’s all I have left to say on the matter.

My Intensive 3 month programme will close on August 31st 2026.

Join my Waiting List for the best 4+ assessment preparation available on the market right now (for 2028 entry and beyond)/

Why is my child not at the reading level that he/she 'should' be at?

There are so many schools of thought when it comes to reading.

Many parents I speak to tell me that it is vital that their child learn to read before the age of 4.

Other parents tell me that they would prefer to wait until their child is older.

You can choose the school of thought you wish to choose.

For me, it’s obvious.

And the reason it is obvious is because in my nearly 20 years working in schools across the country (private and state), I have seen the deep impact on children who have been unable to read from an early age. It literally holds them back in so many ways.

From fluency, to comprehension, to vocabulary to simply being able to read a worded problem on a test, not being able to read from an early age is detrimental on so many levels.

It is also the biggest cause for frustration for many parents.

It is also a huge cause of frustration for many teachers!

You see - if a child is unable to read (insert whatever age they are currently), they will need so much more support than if they are able to read. Obvious no?

So let’s look at the question again…

Why is my child not at the reading level that he 'should' be at?

You won’t like my answer.

If your child is not reading at the level that he/she ‘should’ be at then it is because they have simply not practised enough. I promise you reading is not practised enough in schools. I do not care which school your child is at.

Practising reading (to me) means sitting down 1:1 with a child for at least 30 minutes each day. Practising reading (to me) means absorbing every single word they try to read and supporting them to read the words they can’t. Practising reading (to me) means discussing the meaning of more complex words and depending on the age of the child, writing the words in a glossary together with their meaning and coming back to them time and time again.

So if you want your child to be a proficient reader. To be an avid reader. To be a fluent reader. You’d better believe that YOU will need to put in the work. No one else. YOU.

Many of you ‘don’t have time for this’. That’s fine. We all decide what we make time for.

If you would like to see true acceleration in your child’s reading, book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

Is your daughter really ready for her Haberdashers' Girls' 4+ assessment?

The question on the lips of those parents who are enquiring now (for 2027 entry) to find out about the preparation we provide to support our girls to be wildly successful at Habs’ Girls’ School. It’s a little late to be completely honest with you. But better to start now than never!

Each year, we typically send 5-8 girls to this school.

Girls who have been prepared by us.

Girls who have studied with us typically for 9-12 months are the ones who are most likely to have the best chances for success. The reason is obvious to me.

Is it obvious to you?

They’ve simply had more time to be immersed in the curriculum. They’ve simply had more time to practise the skills needed in order to be successful in this 4+ assessment.

Over 500 girls will apply each year for a precious place at Habs’ Girls’ School. With only 40 places on offer, how will you support your daughter to stand out from the crowd? How will you support your daughter to have that edge that she will need to have in order to be offered a place?

Do you even know how to answer those questions? If you do, great. If you don’t, we are here to support you every single step of the way.

Habs’ Girls’ really give nothing away on their Website about this 4+ assessment.

They tell parents ‘not to tutor’ their child which I find rather strange considering that so many girls currently at Habs Girls’ School were prepared by us! And I’m pretty confident many other girls who weren’t prepared by us were prepared by other teachers!

I’ve truthfully never, ever spoken to one single parent who didn’t tutor their daughter to support her to be successful in this assessment. And if you are one of these parents then you are the exception and not the rule and I wouldn’t go around shouting about it either. It is confusing to parents applying for this school.

They go on to say that ‘everything they have already learnt will be enough to show us their potential.’

Listen up! How can they show their truest potential if they have not covered the curriculum they need to have covered and be able to show the skills that they need to show?

That sentence doesn’t make sense to me.

Knowledge doesn’t just fall from a tree and land on your daughter’s head.

That’s not how learning works.

The only way your daughter will be really ready for the Habs’ Girls’ 4+ assessment will be if you have thoroughly prepared her. And no - sending her to nursery or pre-school is not 4+ assessment preparation.

Final chance to join my exceptional 3 month Programme.

Preparing for 2028 entry and beyond? Join my Waiting List.

Nothing but NLCS 4+ Success.

So you are thinking of applying to North London Collegiate for your daughter’s 4+ Assessments?

One of the hardest schools for girls to get into - rightly so! It is a brilliant school. It is a highly sought after school. However, it is also a very misunderstood school when it comes to the 4+ process (like most 4+ schools!).

Even our most brightest, highly academically gifted girls have historically had to put in a lot of work to even be in with the slightest of chances when it comes to this school.

So let’s have a look at each round at this school and gain a better understanding about why it is so hard to pass for the 4+ Assessment at NLCS.

Many parents go into the Assessment at this school very naively. Parents will call me and say things like…

‘I’m new to this Private School Malarkey!’

‘My daughter is 2/3/4! This is seriously not a thing is it?’

‘I have no idea what it will be truly like!’

They don’t know how hard it is to pass the 4+ Assessments at this school. Nothing wrong with this. We are all new to something at some point or another!

This is what the school’s website tells us about Round 1:

Play activities testing school readiness which lasts about an hour.  Children are grouped by age and there are about 12-16 children per group. Activities usually include pre-school tasks such as colouring, cutting and sticking.

So what exactly is school readiness?

School readiness is exactly what the two words tell you. How ready your child is for school.

They will be Assessing at least 20 different things however and not just the basic three things that they have written above and looking to see if your daughter can do things such as:

Listen well

Follow instructions

Complete tasks with enthusiasm

Show excellent focus and concentration

These are just a few.

The Assessors will be observing the girls and simply choosing the girls who are able to demonstrate these traits. If your daughter is unable to show these, she will not pass the first round at NLCS. Simple as that.

So the first round is a group activity. Your daughter will be with a big group of girls (up to 16) and she will take part in a variety of different early years activities.

This is what the school’s website tells us about Round 2:

A smaller group are recalled for the second round, which includes a group activity followed by one to one puzzles and games with a member of our teaching staff.

We are looking for children with a curiosity for learning and the confidence to have a go at something they haven’t seen before. They need to be able to listen to and follow simple instructions as part of a group or one to one with an adult.

In the second round your daughter will be in a smaller group (5-6 girls) and the Assessment will then become 1:1. Don’t be surprised if there will be a group of Assessors in the room with the girls. If your daughter is not prepared for this, it could be overwhelming for her, so prepare them.

What does curiosity for learning mean?

So I think this is the most important part of the Round 2 Assessment at NLCS and perhaps where certain girls do not quite show what they need to show in order to pass the Assessment.

A curiosity for learning IS taught.

It IS practised.

It IS refined.

Encouraging your daughter to be curious. To ask more questions and to want to know more is 100% something that you will practise with your daughter if you want her to stand a chance in this 4+ assessment.

That's what we do in our lessons. And especially if our students are preparing for NLCS.

So if you are preparing for NLCS at 4+. Be prepared. It’s not easy to get into. But with the right preparation, you will definitely increase your chances for success.

Final chance to join our 3 Month Intensive Programme is you are preparing your daughter for 2027 entry.

Preparing for 2028 entry and beyond? Join our Waiting List today.

My vast experience with the 4+ at St. Christopher's Hampstead and what you need to know.

Another 4+ school that parents seem to assume that their child will ‘just get into!’

Sorry if I burst your little bubble but each year many girls are unsuccessful to St Christopher’s Hampstead.

With only 35-40 places available why on earth would you have the thought that ‘all girls will pass this 4+ assessment!’ Hundreds and hundreds of girls will apply to this school. And yes St C will over offer based on the assumption that many girls will reject their offer but let’s be real, they wouldn’t be able to offer to all of the girls would they?

And if you are preparing for St C, most likely it is your back up choice and not your first choice. In that case, you should be preparing regardless as you would be preparing for the other 4+ schools that you are targeting.

Occasional places do become available at St C as girls can throughout the year apply for places at other schools. Some parents leave the country etc, etc.

At nearly 27k per year to send your daughter to this school, I suggest you invest in the preparation of your child.

I definitely wouldn’t send a child into this school completely unprepared.

St C has a strong sibling policy. They do have a little clause in their policy to allow for exceptions but for the most part, I’ve not heard of siblings not being offered a place at this school.

The majority of our clients will choose St Christopher’s School in Hampstead as their back up school. I’ve never had a client choose this school as their top school of choice. Last year, I had one student very briefly who was applying only to Highgate and was not successful. Her parents last minute applied to this school and she was successful. Would she have been had she not been prepared? Who will ever know!

If your daughter currently at St. Christopher’s, share your thoughts!

Brand new places have opened up to work with me from September 2026. Secure your spot today and give your child the highest possible chances for success in any assessment.

'Natural Ability' is truly NOT A THING at any age.

Is a child born with ‘natural ability’?

No, of course not.

Parents will often call me and tell me that their children will ‘naturally develop’ with time. That children will ‘naturally evolve and grow’ with age. Why are they calling me in the first place then? Leave them to it then?

Seems like their trying to ask for my reassurance. Well, I never give that to them.

It does not work that way. 

Natural ability does not exist. 

If a child is ‘able’ it is because they have put in the work. They have dedicated hours and hours of their time to be able to do the thing that they are able to do. 

Do you think that an amazing pianist is just ‘naturally able’? 

Perhaps they will tell you that they are. 

They are not. 

What they are able to do is put in the work, effort and dedication needed in order to become an able pianist. There is nothing ‘natural’ about it. They showed up every day. Day in and day out. They sat at that piano and they focused. They learned how to read the notes and they learned how to use their hands to play beautiful music on that piano. 

Do you think an amazing gymnast is ‘just naturally able and gifted’? What a load of nonsense. 

You know for a fact that they dedicated their life to being able to do those incredible amazing moves that they are able to do. 

I could go on but you get my point.

To be offered a place at a top, elite school like Westminster, St. Paul’s, Notting Hill and Ealing and South Hampstead, you’d better believe me and understand carefully how much hard work and effort goes into securing that offer. It has nothing to do with being ‘naturally able’. It has everything to do with being thoroughly prepared.

Many of you want to believe that 3 year olds go into a school like Westminster, have a little play and that they will just be offered a place. Delusional! Does not work like that! Many of you want to believe that your child is just ‘naturally able’ without putting the real effort needed to support them to develop any sort of ability. Many of you want to believe that you can send your child to a ‘top’ nursery or ‘top’ pre- school and they will do all of the heavy lifting for you. Nursery is baby sitting. Do you hear me? They can claim what they want but they have far too many limitations.

You want your child to have ‘ability’ in anything? You’d better believe that you need to put in the work.

Ready to give your child the best possible chances for success in any assessment?

Book your Sample Lesson with me today. Brand new places have just opened up from September 2026. You can have your Sample Lesson over the Summer break and if you are delighted we can get started as soon as your day and time becomes available.

Inside the new and improved CMT Curriculum programme.

From September 2026 there will be some changes to how we run things here at CMT. 

Current clients will still remain as per their current Tutoring Agreements for now but the Term Time model will apply.

All clients can still give their one month notice/4 weeks to stop working with us should they decide to.

We will now run on a Term Time model.

A full year will be 9 months of tuition/curriculum support. So clients will complete The Emerald, The Sapphire and The Diamond Curriculums. To complete the full year of the Curriculum Programme and to include the final programme of the full year (The Amethyst Curriculum) clients will therefore need 1 year and 3 months (or 4 full CMT terms).

A full 4 terms is needed for the preparation of the 4+.

A full 8 terms is needed for the preparation of the 7+. In addition to the above, we will also complete months 13-24 - The Ruby, Tanzanite, Pearl and Peridot Curriculum programmes.

A full 12 terms is needed for the preparation of the 11+. In addition to the above, we will also complete months 13-24 - The Ruby, Tanzanite, Pearl and Peridot Curriculum programmes. As well as months 25- 36 - The Adamite, Dolomite, Jasper and Magnesite Curriculums.

Terms will begin at your teacher’s discretion. Your teacher will inform you of when their term time in September begins. Then in January and finally in April. 

Your teacher will send you the termly dates before the term begins. You will receive a term in advance notice of your lesson/Curriculum support dates. 

My goal is that 12 weeks of Curriculum Support will be completed each term. So 36 weeks of Curriculum Support will be completed by the end of the full academic year. 

We will take a break at half term. 

We will take a break for Christmas and Easter.

During the breaks there will be no Curriculum Support and your teacher will be fully offline unless you arrange things directly with her and if she is able to continue this will be at her discretion.

Clients must commit to the weekly lessons. If clients are unable to make lessons due to sickness/holidays/ other circumstances then this lesson will still be recorded as completed. On the occasion that lessons need to be cancelled, your teacher will provide you with a 10-15 minute pre-recorded video (just for you and for your child) in which she will teach 2-3 concepts that she has planned and prepared for the lesson and then provide home learning as we usually do following the lessons. You will also continue to have full ongoing support during the week. 

On the rare occasion that your teacher is unable to attend a planned lesson as per her long term plan, it will be up to her to ensure that this lesson is rescheduled at a time convenient to you and that this is marked as complete upon competition. This will be reflected in your long term plan.

This new and Improved CMT Curriculum Programme will now ensure continuity and that even more progress can be made. You see - when lessons are stopped and started and when there isn’t that full commitment, true progress cannot be made. Learning doesn’t start and stop. Learning is ongoing. Learning is continuous.

This won’t be for everyone. It will be for the truly committed. It will be for the truly invested in their children’s education and learning.

And those are the exact clients I wish to attract into this beautiful business of mine.

Curious to find out more?

Book your FREE Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today and see how we can support you to support your child to have the success they deserve to have in any assessment.

Is your son really ready for Falkner House boys' 4+ Assessment?

The school you can apply to from birth if you want to!

They are still accepting applications however for the 4+ so if you didn’t sign up at birth and this is your dream school for your son - you still have some time to apply!

If you really want Falkner House Boys, you will do everything you can to ensure that your son is already at their Nursery (Falkner House Nursery). Not because if he goes to the Nursery he will be guaranteed a place but because he will definitely have a higher chance for success than if he doesn’t attend this Nursery. Just to make it clear - Many boys from the Nursery who apply for their place to study at Reception are obviously unsuccessful. They can’t accept everyone (the nursery has up to 48 children at any one time).

It is a 90 minute assessment so your son really does need to have the stamina to last for 90 minutes! To do all of the activities provided by the school to a very high level. To answer all of the questions to a very high level and to demonstrate just how ‘easy’ he would be to teach.

This is exactly what Falkner House is after.

Falkner House keep their assessment pretty hush hush and when my clients attend their Open Day (and it is also written on their website), they say that they don’t assess ‘formal skills’ such as Reading, Writing, Phonics and Arithmetic. Don’t let this confuse you and derail your assessment preparation. All of the boys who we prepare for their 4+ assessment at Falkner House go in being able to read and write to a very high standard. All of the boys who we have historically prepared for this 4+ assessment have gone in after having covered a broad an vast mathematical curriculum.

You will need to thoroughly prepare your son regardless of what they write. You need to ensure that your son can go in and communicate to a very high level. This is done through months and months and months of practise. Each year, on average we prepare 3 or 4 boys for this school.

This is a very family oriented school and if you have a sibling there, your chances for success will be higher but not guaranteed. Many siblings who have attended this 4+ assessment have not been offered a place.

We can support you to truly understand what you need to do to give your son the best possible chances for success in this 4+ assessment.

Is Falkner House your dream school for your son?

Join our Waiting List today (2028 entry and beyond)

Book your Sample Lesson Today (2027 entry).

What should we be focusing on to support our child to be offered a place? (4+)

Another question that I receive daily from parents who are preparing their children for their 4+ assessment.

Parents rarely like my answer to their question.

Parents who ask this question are looking for one answer but I have hundreds of answers for them and typically most parents would find 100 answers overwhelming.

I would too.

Here is my answer that parents do not like one bit.

There is not one thing that you should be ‘focusing on’. What you should have been focussing on over the last 10-15 months was covering a broad and vast curriculum which covers all 7 areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage in depth.

You see it’s kind of like asking me, ‘What should I be focusing on if I want to lose weight?’

There isn’t just ONE THING that you should be focusing on if you want to lose weight. If you truly want to lose weight (and keep it off), you will be focusing on hundreds of things over the course of 2-3 years that will support you to lose the weight (and keep it off!). You do not just focus on one thing briefly and cross your fingers hoping that you will lose the weight that you hope to lose.

It’s kind of like you asking me, ‘What should I be focusing on if I want to get wealthy?’

There isn’t just ONE THING. You get my point.

As a company, when we support and prepare children to have tremendous success in their 4+ assessments it really isn’t our end goal. If they get in - that’s great. That is the cherry on top. Our end goal is always supporting children to become lovers of learning. Supporting children who have a passion for learning. Supporting children who are hungry to learn. Supporting children who ask for more and more and more. That is our end goal.

So if you have 4+ assessments coming up in the next 3-6 months, focus your energy on supporting your child to be strong and confident in all 7 areas of the early years curriculum and then depending on your choices go deeper. Support them to be at mastery level of even more complex curriculum. And if you don’t know, work only with teachers who do know. And who can support you every step of the way.

Our Emerald Curriculum 3 Month Intensive Programme is for you if you are ready to take Massive Action and have less than 3 months left to prepare.

If you have plenty of time, join our Waiting List. Current available timings are listed for you. I will personally be in touch with you to confirm your start date as soon as received.