Who are the girls that get into South Hampstead at 4+?

We have been preparing our girls for their South Hampstead 4+ assessments for nearly 2 decades. We know exactly how to prepare our girls to go into their 4+ assessment at South Hampstead and have the highest chances for success.

So who are the girls that get into this very competitive school at 4+?

The girls who get into SHHS are girls who are very academically able. What I mean by this is that they have covered all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum at great depth.

They are girls who can:

communicate beautifully

listen perfectly well to adults

follow instructions perfectly

articulate their answers very well and have a very high level of vocabulary

socially interact very well with the other girls in the assessment

emotionally regulate themselves

demonstrate strong gross and fine motor skills

read to a very high standard

write to a very high standard

demonstrate a very strong aptitude for maths (the full maths curriculum)

show their knowledge and understanding of the world by being able to express their own opinions to a very high standard

show their creativity in their drawings

genuinely a pleasure to be around

I can picture very clearly one of my girls from last year (2025 entry) who was offered a place after being initially waitlisted. She would show up to each lesson with a big smile on her face. Some days she was more interested in joining me than others (we are all human after all!) but for the most part, she was delighted to see me and she was thrilled to see the activities that I had planned and prepared for her. She would answer all of my questions to a very high standard and would demonstrate a very high level of vocabulary. She knew all of her phase 2 and phase 3 phonics, she could blend and at the time she was learning her digraphs and trigraphs.

I can picture another girl that I prepared the year before who was offered a place (2024 entry). She was highly articulate and would answer all of my questions in detail and depth. She would extend her answers without prompting. She was highly intelligent and genuinely a delight to be with. She was mature, courteous, kind and caring.

I could give you many more examples!

So if you are preparing your daughter for her 4+ assessment at South Hampstead, begin preparing her at least 12 months before the assessment. Whether you choose to have formal support or not, leave yourself one full year to cover a full curriculum with your daughter. Support her with her questioning skills throughout the year and ensure that she is at the right level to go in and be offered a place to study at SHHS.

Join our Waiting List today.

The 'Admissions Routes Into Haberdashers' Boys' and Girls' School - My HONEST views.

It’s all a distraction UNLESS…

Your child already has a guaranteed place at Haberdashers.

Don’t even waste a second of your time thinking that this is some sort of shortcut into the school. If you would like your son or daughter to go to Habs - put the work in. If these ‘Admissions Routes’ support your child in any way, see it as the cherry on top of the pie. But do not see it as your Holy Grail. Do you know what your Holy Grail is?

Preparing your child for their assessments. That is all.

160 boys are welcomed to Habs in Year 7.

120 girls are welcomed to Habs in Year 7.

60 boys already in the school will gain automatic entry into Year 7 and will not sit the 11+ assessment. This leaves 100 places for external candidates.

60 girls already in the school will gain automatic entry into Year 7 and will not sit the 11+ assessment. This leaves 60 places for external candidates.

For September 2026 entry the school have a new ‘Priority Pathway’ agreement for Lochinver House students (as the two schools have now merged). There are two ‘pathways’.

2a - PRIORITY UNCONDITIONAL PATHWAY

Habs and Lochinver will analyse student’s results and achievements from year 3 to year 5 and a small number of places will be offered to LH pupils.

Small is key here. That tells me it really won’t be many. It’s up to you to clarify with Habs what this means. I would want a specific and factual number.

LH students will still need to sit the 11+ for benchmarking purposes but the result in the assessment will not affect their unconditional pathway offer

This sounds shiny, bright and alluring for LH parents. However, your child still needs to be prepared very carefully from Year 3! You see, they have to be performing very highly academic to even be considered for this pathway into Habs.

2b -

Habs and Lochinver will analyse student’s results and achievements from year 3 to year 5 and a small number of places will be offered to LH pupils. These students will still have to sit the Habs 11+ assessment and their results will be taken into consideration but they are guaranteed an interview.

So this pathway doesn’t mean very much at all to me.

The final pathway is simply students applying from all over the country to sit their 11+.

Ultimately for all of the routes (apart from the route where your child already has a place at Habs), you will need to prepare your child to the highest of standards. Your child will need to be exceeding academically in all subjects and you will still need to put in the work to prepare your child for their 11+ assessment.

Simple.

To have the highest possible chances for success, join our Waiting List and we will get started from January/February 2026. Once joined, the fee you paid will cover your registration fee when we begin and you will be notified immediately about your start date.

Lochinver House merging with Haberdashers - My Honest Views.

Lochinver House has now merged with Habs (boys and girls). But what does this even mean and why is there so much confusion about it?

First of all, there is so much confusion about it because neither schools are really giving much away about it. Even after their meeting with our current clients, we haven’t really been told much about what this merge truly means for our students.

Second of all, there is a huge misunderstanding from parents that I speak with that if their child gets into Lochinver that they will somehow have an ‘easier’ shot at getting into Habs at 4+/7+ or 11+.

I do not believe this to be the case.

They talk about the join being as a means to ‘improve their financial stability’ but to be honest, I’ve seen no changes in the popularity of Habs (boys and girls) since the new VAT imposition on school fees. In fact, I’ve only seen it become more popular! Perhaps they are referring to the ‘financial stability’ of Lochinver.

I firmly believe that the merge is more of a benefit to the schools than it is of any benefit to the parents.

Lochinver House now has a ‘priority pathway’ into Habs for their current pupils. This will be very alluring and very appealing to prospective new parents of Lochinver House. I encourage you to not just assume that because the two schools have merged that your child will somehow have a massive advantage over other students who do not attend Lochinver. They will still need to pass the assessment - whichever one that may be. Let’s see how many more places truly will go to students currently studying at Lochinver in 2026/2027.

The CMT Manor Lodge 4+ assessment results (2026 entry)

Results from the Manor Lodge 4+ assessment were released last week.

We’ve had incredible results this year. Again!

I am not surprised. We prepared 8 children for the 4+ assessment at Manor Lodge (even split between boys and girls) 5 were offered a place. 2 were waitlisted. 1 hasn’t been offered a place.

I believe that they had fewer applicants based on the assessment day itself. The assessment was very well organised. Children were grouped into groups of 20 and each child was sent off with one teacher into the forest garden. ML is one of the more ‘affordable’ private schools in the area with fees at £17, 310 per year (not including lunches for the infants). Their deposit is pretty high however (£1,800) because they are clearly aware that some parents will accept and then decline (this happens every single year). Many of our students who have passed ML are still waiting to sit other 4+ assessments and the other schools would be their preferences.

Myself and my team have personally been preparing our youngest students for Manor Lodge for many, many years. Before sending their children into the ML 4+ assessments, my clients are very well aware of the expectations at ML. We tell them openly about all of them based on our extensive experience, knowledge and understanding of this school.

Our clients are so happy with the ML results this year. They are delighted. You see, they know exactly how hard it was to pass this assessment this year.

Myself and my team of teachers prepared 8 children for ML (for 2026 entry).

All eight children worked very hard in preparation for this assessment. For most of them, it was their first assessment. For all of them, it won’t be their last. All 8 children started at different times of this year. Some started in February, some started in the summer and some started a couple of months ago. We are so proud of each and every one of them.

1.Stats

5/8 children passed the ML 4+ assessment.

2/8 children have been waitlisted.

1 child did not pass.

Our clients are yet to confirm if they will accept the offer at ML.

All of our students are still preparing for assessments at several other schools.

2. Key reasons for success at ML.

• Children who perform highly across the board (in all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum)

• Regular communication between parents and teacher during the week between the lessons.

• Consistent daily activity - Children completing all of the home learning sent every single day in preparation for this assessment.

• Super compliant children who would have followed instructions perfectly in the ML 4+ assessment.

• Amazingly behaved children who would have gone in and demonstrated the highest quality of behaviour to the teachers.

• Children who would have demonstrated that they would have been a delight to teach.

3. Key reasons for not being offered a place at ML.

• Less than 12 months of preparation time

• Children not fully demonstrating what was expected of them in the ML 4+ assessment in terms of their behaviour.

• Children not being fully compliant in the Manor Lodge 4+ assessment - eg. not following the instruction straight away or choosing to do their own thing.

All of our clients preparing for ML took the assessment process seriously. All of our clients preparing for ML were fully dedicated and committed to their children’s learning. All of our clients saw their children make accelerated progress in all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum during their time with us preparing for ML.

Congratulations to our amazing students who have been incredibly successful at being offered a place at ML. Now onto the next one.

To those of you whose children haven’t been successful at being offered a place at ML, please try your best not to let this get you down. You have other important assessments to focus on.

Join our Ultimate Emerald Curriculum programme (one month minimum commitment) to accelerate your child’s learning and ensure that they fully understand what is expected from them in their upcoming 4+ assessments.

This is the ONE comment that I do not accept from my son's nursery.

I speak to many of you who tell me that you love this ONE comment.

I do not.

It is very vague.

It doesn’t give me any information.

I feel like I’m being fobbed off.

This is the ONE comment that I do not accept from my son's nursery.

‘He did sooooooooo well today.’

Usually my son is collected by his amazing grandmother so I don’t actually get this comment myself at pickup - she does frequently.

I usually get this comment at drop off.

‘He did sooooooooo well today.’

And the reality is this.

I worked in nurseries all across the country for nearly a decade. It’s just a generic comment that we used to say to all parents. All children ‘do so well’!

So when I speak to some of you and you tell me that your child’s nursery tell you that ‘they did soooooooo well,’ and that your child’s nursery are convinced that your child will pass any 4+ assessment, it leaves me quite concerned.

Are you questioning this comment at all? Or are you just accepting it?

You see, when one of his teachers tell me this my answer is this.

‘What did he do that was so good?’

And I expect specifics.

I also ask very specific questions and not generic ones.

For example, I ask his teachers, ‘Could you please tell me which phonics he is learning and how he is progressing with them?’ and ‘Could you please tell me which numbers you focused on today and if he is picking up on them?’ and ‘Could you please tell me about his pencil grip,’ and ‘Could you please tell me and show me how he is holding his scissors and how you supported him to be able to cut with accuracy and precision?’

You don’t have to accept everything that you are told. I question everything that I am told. Not because I am doubtful - I firmly believe his nursery to be exceptional but because they are looking after the most important person in my life and I want specifics. I am sacrificing three full days without seeing my precious boy. I want to know specifics. Generic comments are unacceptable to me.

If you don't fully understand the game, how do you expect to win?

I’ve had several calls this week from very angry parents. They are angry that I’m no longer offering my programme on a 1:1 basis. I don’t need to explain my decisions to anyone but let me share with you why I decided to do this.

Clients that start with 3 months or less preparation time are usually (most often), the clients who are the most frustrated, annoyed and generally surprised with the assessment process. It usually doesn’t end well. Not always- we do also have amazing results with clients who start with us later in the process of assessment preparation. However, that is the exception and not the rule.

I want happy clients in my business. I want delighted clients. I want clients who will shout from the rooftop how amazing my business is. That is what I want. What I don’t want is p**sed off clients. What I don’t want is frustrated clients. And what I definitely don’t want is clients who will go around bad mouthing my beautiful business.

You see - the clients who work with my business, work with my business for one reason and one reason only. They are after a result. And that result is to have options. Options of where THEY want to CHOOSE to send their child to school. I work with my clients for one reason only too. I also want results. You see, their results are my results.

So if I have clients going around telling other parents that their child didn’t pass and they worked with my company, what will that person think? You see, people rarely tell the full truth. And the truth is that they started too late.

Oh but it’s always easier to find someone to blame isn’t it?

So that’s my reasoning, just in case you wanted to hear it.

If you are starting late, don’t be hard on yourself but do understand this. This is a highly complex process. Assessment preparation takes hard work, effort and complete dedications from all sides. The parents, the children and the teachers.

You do still have time and you can still have the results you desire.

Join our Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Fast Track Programme and be ready to prepare your child to be extremely successful in all of their assessments.

Do not let this dent your confidence.

I see this year after year after year and it is the hardest thing for me as a teacher and as the owner of this business.

Parents feeling sad, angry, shocked, disappointed and deeply frustrated at the fact that their child hasn’t been offered a place at Manor Lodge.

Yesterday, I spent most of my day on the phone (after having taught my 8 lessons for the day).

We had mostly very positive results yesterday. I’m not sharing them just yet because I want to give my dear clients the time and space to process the results. But what I will share is that this year, we prepared 8 children for the Manor Lodge 4+ assessment.

You see, it’s very important to understand very clearly that children will be rejected in this process of assessment preparation.

And it’s important to understand even better that we, as parents do not take rejection well. Especially when it comes to our children. I am the same.

We take it very personally. We make it mean things that it simply doesn’t mean and we let rejection get us down. Naturally, it will get you down. These are our precious children that we are talking about.

So I invite you to take the time to mourn the results - if your result was a negative one. I invite you to take a couple of weeks to really digest what has happened and then I invite you to put it to one side and put your focus 100% onto the other assessments that your child has coming up. Because you see, there is nothing you can now do about a result. But there is everything you can do about future assessments.

If you received a positive result, I invite you to not tell others that you did nothing to prepare for this assessment. Speak honestly. You put in the work. Because it’s just mean and unkind to go around telling people that all you did was ‘send your child in to play in the forest’ when that is a complete lie.

What is done, can’t be undone. What is coming up in the future, is 100% in your control.

For some of you, this is a wake up call. A reality check. A deeper understanding of this 4+ process. Not all applicants will pass unfortunately. That’s the nature of an assessment.

You have 2-3 beautiful months to go all in and prepare your child for their upcoming assessments. You have 2-3 months to fully understand the assessment processes at the schools that you are applying to and to fully understand what exactly is expected of your child in order to be in with a chance of being offered a place at your dream schools.

Our Curriculum Programme will be launching today as you are out of time to join us for our programme with weekly tuition. There is far too much to cover and you have to understand that his cannot be done with 2-3 months. What can be done, however is that you can take full ownership of this process and ensure that you have covered as much of the curriculum as possible with your child so that they can go in to any upcoming assessment and have the highest possible chances for success.

I see you and I understand your frustration. I am here for you every step of the way.

The reality of the 4+ at Highgate.

Hundreds and hundreds of children will have applied for the Highgate 4+ Assessment (2026 entry). About 500 children will be assessed this year.

This school is so popular that they have a Ballot system in place. This year for the first time in a very long time, all applicants were invited to attend the first round. Many of you make this mean that there have been fewer applicants. I know that this isn’t the case.

I’ve written several blogs about Highgate at 4+ so search for them!

After the first round 180 children will be invited to Round 2!

So to pass the first round will be VERY challenging!

If your child is able to pass the first round, they have a 1:3 chance of being successful at Round 2! Round 2 is tough. It is ‘play based’ but your child’s ability to play is not what is being assessed, let’s be very clear about this.

Round 2 has been described by my clients as ‘rigorous!’. HG have taken steps to address this after multiple complaints about the assessment process but it’s still very challenging. Their expectations are very high and our students are often ‘exhausted’ particularly after the second round.

Highgate talk about ‘learning readiness’ and that this is what is assessed in the first round. Basically how ready your child is to actually come to their school and learn!

Parents often ask me how Highgate assesses ‘learning readiness’?

It will be very obvious to the assessors which children are ready to come to their school. And this is what they will be assessing in the 4+ Assessment.

Sending your child to Highgate for their 4+ Assessment is a very complex process. One that you 100% need support with. Myself and my team of expert teachers will support you every step of the way. All of my clients have that slight edge over other clients because myself and my team have real and actual experience with Highgate. We have supported hundreds of students to have tremendous success at this school for nearly 2 decades!

Join our Waiting List today (2027 entry and beyond)

The Holland House 4+ assessment report (2026 entry)

Results from the Holland House 4+ assessment were released last week.

We’ve had incredible results this year. Again!

I am not surprised. All 6 of our students have passed the 4+ assessment at Holland House.

Holland House had a lot more applicants this year compared to previous years. It is one of the more ‘affordable’ private schools in the area with fees at £11,850 per year (not including lunches). Their deposit is very high however (£4,740) because they are clearly aware that some parents will accept and then decline (this happens every single year).

Myself and my team have personally been preparing our youngest students for Holland House for many, many years. Before sending their children into the HH 4+ assessments, my clients are very well aware of the expectations at HH. We tell them openly about all of them.

Our clients are so happy with the HH results this year. They are all delighted.

Myself and my team of teachers prepared 6 children for HH (for 2026 entry).

All six children worked very hard in preparation for this assessment. For most of them, it was their first assessment. For some it was their last. All six children are bright, vibrant, highly intelligent, articulate and just a pleasure to teach. I had no doubt in my mind that they would all be offered a place- and they were!

1.Stats

6/6 children passed the HH 4+ assessment.

2 of these children will definitely be going to HH.

The other 4 children are also preparing for assessments at several other schools.

2. Three key reasons for success at HH.

• Children who perform highly across the board (in all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum)

• Regular communication between parents and teacher during the week between the lessons.

• Consistent daily activity - Children completing all of the home learning sent every single day in preparation for this assessment.

3. Key reason for not being offered a place at HH.

• All of our students passed this year so I cannot comment on this.

All of our clients preparing for HH took the assessment process seriously. All of our clients preparing for HH were fully dedicated and committed to their children’s learning. All of our clients saw their children make accelerated progress in all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum during their time with us preparing for HH.

Congratulations to our amazing students who have been incredibly successful.

The Guildford High 4+ assessment report (2026 entry)

Results from the Guildford High 4+ assessment were released yesterday (18/10/25)

We’ve had superb results this year. Again!

I am not surprised. All 3 of our girls started last October preparing for this 4+ assessment.

I know how hard it is to pass the 4+ Assessment at this school. And that’s why I encourage my potential new clients to start working with us at least 12 months before their 4+ assessment at GH. We know that this is one of the earliest assessments (early October) so if you are preparing for GH for 2027 entry, the time to start is now.

Myself and my team have personally been preparing our youngest students for Guildford High for many, many years. Before sending their children into the GH 4+ assessments, my clients are very well aware of the expectations at GH. We tell them openly about all of them. You see, we know historically the calibre of girl who has actually passed and we have seen girls who have not passed. That’s the nature of an assessment. Someone will pass and someone will not pass.

Our clients are so happy with the GH results this year. Most of them are currently over the moon.

Myself and my team of teachers prepared 3 girls for GH (for 2026 entry).

All three girls are just a delight. They are funny, kind, caring, easy to engage with, wonderful to teach, thirsty to learn, inquisitive and hard working.

All three students started working with us at least 12 months before the 4+ assessment at GH.

1.Stats

Two girls have been offered a place at GH.

One of our girls has been waitlisted. Although it is rare that parents will decline a place at GH, it does happen and it will happen this year so I’m quite sure that our student will be offered a place. GH is not her first choice however and we are still working together to prepare her for Highgate and WUS. Highgate is her parents’ first choice of school. Of course, it was disappointing but also not. You see, all of the students that we have prepared who have historically been waitlisted at any 4+ school, have eventually been offered a place because they are always so high up on the waiting list!

2. Three key reasons for success at GH.

• Children who perform highly across the board (in all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum)

• Regular communication between parents and teacher during the week between the lessons.

• Consistent daily activity - Children completing all of the home learning sent every single day in preparation for this assessment.

3. Key reason for not being offered a place at GH.

• I spoke to several parents yesterday who called me to tell me the results of the GH 4+ assessment. There was a lot of heart ache and sadness. No one wants to read a letter that tells them that their child has not been successful. However, when you sign up for any assessment process that is what you are opening up your heart to and you have to be aware of this. The parents that I spoke to yesterday told me that they didn’t formally ‘prepare’ their daughters for the GH 4+ assessment and that they ‘sent them to nursery’. I’ve always said that a nursery alone cannot prepare children for their 4+ assessments. So the key reason is lack of preparation for the GH 4+ assessment.‘Unprepared’ girls are unlikely to be able to go in and demonstrate the skills that GH are assessing and to show their ‘readiness to learn’ which is ultimately what GH are assessing.

It is important to note that all of our girls’ parents put in at least 220 hours of dedicated focused learning with their daughters over the course of the year. They worked hard. They dedicated their time and attention to their daughters. They persevered when it got hard. They trusted in the learning process and despite a lot of negativity from their nurseries/friends/families, they continued. I admire their dedication. They are my ideal clients. They are the clients we want to be working with.

Both of our girls who have been offered a place, still have any more 4+ assessments coming up and we continue to prepare and work hard towards those.

My student who has been waitlisted - we will need to see if she is offered a place or not - I will update this blog once we hear. She is continuing to prepare for her other upcoming assessments. Usually they will let us know around mid/end of November once parents have accepted their places and paid their deposits.

Congratulations to our amazing girls who have been incredibly successful. And to all of our clients who trusted our process and went all in to support their children. This is not an easy assessment to pass at all. We are all so incredibly proud of you all!

To our beautiful girl who has been waitlisted, I know you will be offered a place anyway. Let’s focus on the other assessments!

To those of you who have received positive news - huge congratulations, your daughters did incredibly well, I hope you fully understand that. And to those of you who didn’t receive good news, keep going - you have other assessments to focus on!

A 'tutored' child V an 'untutored' child.

Perhaps I’ve been in my own little bubble for the last 4 years that we have been working so hard on this precious business or perhaps true to my character, I’ve really not paid attention to the opinions of others.

This will trigger many of you. So let me start by saying this. I do not write this post with the intention of triggering anyone. I write this post to explain the truth to you. The truth that no one else is brave enough to tell you to your face.

People will look down on what we do. They will turn up their noses. They will say ridiculous things like, ‘Oh, you don’t teach a 1/2/3/4 year old!’ and ‘Oh they’re just going in to play anyway! What will you even ‘teach’ them.’ People will totally undermine what we do and think that what they do is better than what we do. And guess what - they can do when they want.

What we do is truly amazing and very special. What we do is support all of our students and all of our clients to have the highest chances for success in their assessments. And for that, I am very proud and honoured. Our clients trust us. Our clients respect us. Our clients know how rare it is to find teachers like us who are willing and able to support their children with their learning.

Let’s take a look at part of a real Assessment feedback sheet and how a ‘tutored’ V an ‘untutored’ child would perform.

Assessment Criteria 1 at X school

Mark Making

Tutored child - Will have excellent pencil control and hold their pencil correctly. Will be able to write their name perfectly and write numbers accurately. Will be able to draw and effective and detailed picture.

Untutored child - Will not know what pencil control means (will scribble). Will not know how writer their name or will not know how to do it to the standard expected. Will not form their numbers correctly .

Assessment Criteria 2 at X school

Words and letters

Tutored child - Will be able to recognise all single letters and their corresponding sounds. Will be able to blend cvc words beautifully and with confidence.

Untutored child - Will not know all of their phase 2 and phase 3 sounds. Will not be able to blend cvc words.

Numbers and basic arithmetic

Tutored child - Will be able to identify and write all numbers to 20. Will have a strong understanding of mathematical concepts and number vocabulary. Will know how to do simple addition and subtraction.

Untutored child - Will not be able to identify all numbers and will not be able to write all numbers to 10. Will not have a strong understanding of mathematical concepts and number vocabulary. Will not know how to do simple addition and subtraction.

Let me be clear. What I mean by ‘tutored’ child is a child that has been taught how to do something.

What I mean by ‘untutored’ child is a child who has not been taught how to do something.

Obviously it’s not as simplistic as this and all children are different. For example, my son has been tutored since he was 17 months old and he still can write or identify numbers 1-5 and he doesn’t know his phase 2 and phase 3 phonics single sounds yet.

If a child is not taught how to do something, how will they know how to do it?

The Chigwell 4+ assessment report (2026 entry)

Results from the Chigwell 4+ assessment were released on Monday this week (13/10/25)

We’ve had mixed results this year.

I am not surprised.

I know how hard it is to pass the 4+ Assessment at this school.

Myself and my team have personally been preparing our youngest students for Chigwell for nearly 2 decades. Before sending their children into the Chigwell 4+ assessments, my clients are very well aware of the expectations at Chigwell. We tell them openly about all of them.

I am not surprised at the results we have had this year and neither are my clients.

We prepared 3 students for Chigwell (for 2026 entry). One boy and two girls.

All three children are highly intelligent, naturally inquisitive and just genuinely a pleasure to be with and to teach.

All three students started working with us at least 12 months before the 4+ assessment at Chigwell.

1.Stats

One child was not offered a place at Chigwell.

One of the girls was offered a place at Chigwell.

One of the girls has been waitlisted.

2. Three key reasons for success at Chigwell.

• Children who perform highly across the board (in all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum)

• Regular communication between parents and teacher during the week between the lessons.

• Consistent daily activity - Children completing all of the home learning sent every single day in preparation for this assessment.

3. Key reason for not being offered a place at Chigwell.

• Communication and language - The expectations for communication and language is very high at Chigwell. My student who was offered a place is highly articulate and is able to answer questions with confidence and clarity. She is able to sustain a conversation with adults, hold eye contact and communicate to a very high standard. My other two students also communicate beautifully and are developing their skills in being able to articulate themselves and sustain deeper conversations with adults and children. Believe me, both of my other students are incredibly strong and Chigwell would have been the lucky ones to have had both of them.

I honestly cannot think of any other reasons. All three of my students were prepared to the highest of standards by myself and my senior teachers and by their parents. All of their parents worked incredibly hard to provide their children with the best possible learning in preparation for Chigwell.

My student who passed will be accepting the offer and will be starting at Chigwell in 2026.

My student who has been waitlisted - we will need to see if she is offered a place or not - I will update this blog once we hear. She is continuing to prepare for her other upcoming assessments.

My student who was not offered a place - he is currently preparing for several other top schools and he will be offered a place at one or more of them because he is simply amazing.

Congratulations to all of our amazing students who have been incredibly successful. And to all of our clients who trusted our process and went all in to support their children. This is not an easy assessment to pass at all. We are all so incredibly proud of you all!

To those of you who were not successful, don’t let this get you down. Focus and move on. You have other Assessments to think about now. You don’t want negative energy as your child will pick up on that. If you work hard and take it seriously, you will be successful. And if you’re not, know in your heart that your child has made amazing progress and you are building a love for learning that goes far beyond any assessment.

'My child needs to work on social interaction so online lessons won't work. (4+)'

Somebody said this to me the other day.

Social interaction needs to be happening every single day and not just in your one lesson once a week. Regardless of having 1:1 in person or 1:1 online tuition support with assessment preparation.

Social interaction is just one very small piece in the huge puzzle of pieces that need to come together in order for your child to be offered a place at your target schools.

Our lessons are exclusively online. There’s a reason for that.

They work beautifully.

The other reason is that each year currently we support at least 50 children at any one time. It would be impossible to get from one lesson to the other! Also, out clients are all over the country and all over the world. We teach students from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Australia to name a few.

When parents are preparing their children for their 4+ assessment, there is this initial assumption that somehow online tuition won’t be ‘as good’ as in person tuition and that is simply not the case.

You see, you have so many factors to take into consideration.

Social interaction with other children in preparation for the 4+ assessment will obviously need to be worked on outside of your lessons. We are fully 1:1. I personally don’t think group tuition works for the preparation of any assessment.

Even if you are doing in person tuition currently, you need to be ensuring that every day you are providing your child with the opportunity to interact socially not only to prepare for this aspect of the 4+ assessment but because children are social beings and they love to interact in one way or another with other children.

Interacting socially with adults is important too. We do this beautifully in our lessons and we develop the most beautiful relationship with all of our children. One that is filled with kindness, laughter and above all safety.

Also, after doing this for nearly 2 decades, we know how to guide and support our clients and students to fully understand what they need to demonstrate in terms of social interaction and we support them to be able to go in a naturally show this.

The opportunity to work with teachers with at least 10 years of experience and expertise in the 4+ is one that is very rare in this world that we are living in.

Our 3 month intensive course has been designed especially for our clients who have assessments coming up in December 2025 through to January 2026. Book your sample lesson today. The 3 month programme will be closing on Friday 17th October 2025. After that point, you will only be able to receive curriculum only support from me (monthly programme with one month notice to complete).

You don't have a 4+ assessment prep problem, you have an understanding problem.

4+ assessment preparation isn’t about perfection. It’s about showing the schools what they want to see.

4+ assessment preparation isn’t about fairness. More than likely it will be a very unfair process.

4+ assessment preparation isn’t about sparing your feelings. Your feeling will not be spared.

If your child isn’t ready for their 4+ assessment - don’t send them in to one. ‘Hoping for the best’ is not a 4+ assessment preparation strategy.

If your child is unable to answer questions to at least a level 3 standard - don’t send them in. ‘Answer as best you can’ is not a 4+ assessment preparation strategy.

You’re hoping that the several hours of assessment prep that you did with your child will lead to success - well, it won’t.

Our successful students spend at least 30 minutes a day supporting their children with their learning (and yes- this is on top of nursery). Nursery to me really doesn’t count. I’ve taught in top nurseries. Without the highest quality assessment prep outside of nursery, you will not have the success that you imagine that you will have.

You see, the problem I’m seeing and experiencing currently with new clients that I’m speaking with or potential new clients interested in my services is that they really do not have an assessment problem. What they have, is an understanding problem. And if they are not willing to understand, it will all backfire.

If you’re willing to learn and be ‘teachable’, you will have success in so many more ways than you ever could have imagined - just as your child will if they are able to master the same.

Not knowing the story writing expectations in the 7+ will not help you.

We’ve had several children come to Sample lessons in the last few weeks and demonstrate their story writing skills. Sadly, writing is something in the school system (private and state) that is not taught to the highest of standards. All of our students have gaps in their writing. Either it’s their handwriting or it’s their ability to describe effectively or it’s their ability to use a variety of sentence openers or it’s their ability to structure a story.

These stories that are 100% NOT to be copied in the 7+ Assessments. They are simply here as guides to support students across the country to have the best chances of success in their 7+ Assessments. Remember that the assessors marking these assessments are experts and they will know if a story has simply been memorised and this will be an immediate fail.

So use my stories as a guide. Use them as a prompt to support you with supporting your child with their story writing.

Remember that your child’s writer’s voice needs to come out and flow naturally. I personally have marked assessments for the 7+ and I can tell when a story flows naturally and one that is forced (remembered and copied) Don’t do this. It will not help your child to be successful. Trust your child’s writer’s voice. Give them the time to develop their imagination and write the most exceptional story ever in their 7+ Assessment. 3 months before their assessment is possible but it is also stressful for everyone involved.

Story writing expectation #1. Know what makes an excellent introduction.

• It must always link to the title

Your child’s introduction MUST link to the title. If it doesn’t, it is likely that your child will go off tangent and the story will not be relevant to the title provided. This is a skill that thats hundreds of hours of practising and refining.

• It incudes these 3 things

Introduces the character

Introduces the setting

Introduces the problem

If your child includes each of these, they can’t go wrong!

• Must use higher level vocabulary and descriptive language.

Your child must use higher level vocabulary. As you can see in my introduction, I’ve chosen words such as ‘compelled’ and ‘intricate’. Of course, your child must know the meaning of these words as they could be asked! Don’t just put words in for the sake of it! Again this is ‘forced’ and not your child’s writer’s voice.

To show you clearly the expectations in an introduction, I hope you enjoy my introduction model to my story. It is called ‘The surprise’ - A story title that has come up several times in the 7+ Assessments in the last 20 years.

Enjoy!

The Surprise

The sky was a blanket of stars. Feeling excited, Tim knew something special would happen today. A kind and caring boy, Tim adored surprises. Surrounding him was a dark forest which contained a variety of trees. Some he had never seen before in his life. One particular tree caught his attention. This tree had leaves that were different to all of the others. Beautifully golden in colour, Tim felt compelled to touch one of the leaves. As he did this, he noticed that one of the leaves had intricate writing on it. It said one simple word - ‘Surprise!’

Join my 8 genres of writing Masterclass to ensure your child is strong in all 8 so that whichever comes up in their assessment, they are able to effectively write! Remember that although your child is likely to get a non-fiction piece of writing, it may also be a different genre to this!

'I can't imagine my child sitting online for 30 minutes at the age of 3!'

That’s because of all of that conditioning you’ve had that somehow having someone in the room is better.

It isn’t.

Some parents are really surprised when I tell them that all of our lessons are online. I guess perhaps because some parents have a view of what learning should look like with a 3 year old.

Perhaps an image of someone sitting with them in a room? Or is it perhaps because they don’t want to tell their friends and family that they are having lessons online? Are they afraid of that judgement? Do they want to people please? Are they afraid that they will just not understand?

As some of you might already know, I taught in person for over 15 years before moving everything online. The main reason for moving everything online was that I had to. Covid happened. My students still had Assessments to do and lessons had to continue. The other main reason for moving everything online is that I reached capacity and could no longer make it from lesson to lesson if I continued in person tuition. However, the most important reason for moving everything online is that I had a deep desire to support as many children as I could to be successful in the Assessments. I couldn’t do this if I continued with in person tuition.

My team of exceptional teachers who also teach 3 year olds are also amazing.

We have all had levels of success that we didn’t even imagine to be possible at 4+. This is because each year, we have at least 50 children on our books. This will only grow in the next 2-3 years. My goal for next year is to have 100 children on our books.

Online, we teach out students how to read beautifully. Before their 4+ assessment (if they start 12 months before), most of our students will be blending three letter words and they will know their phase 2 and phase 3 digraphs - quite an achievement, don’t you think? Now, all children are different and I do not guarantee this. For example, my son is 3 and 3 months and he is currently still learning his single sounds. This is not because he is less able than my students. This is because developmentally, he needs more time to learn how to read and that is absolutely fine. It wouldn’t be fine, however, if I were sending him to a 4+ assessment. I’m not by the way.

Teaching a child to read is not ‘just done in the lessons’ however. My clients take the full lean in supporting their children with their home learning every single day. You see one lesson, once a week won’t cut it (regardless of it being in person or online). It has to be practised and repeated daily. 85% of people that I speak to don’t want to do this or don’t have the time to do this or would prefer to delegate this. No judgement at all, we all have lives to get on with.

We develop amazing relationships with all of our students and our clients. You can read them here.

We cover so much in our very short 30 minute lessons with our students preparing for their 4+ Assessments and the time literally flies! We know what to cover, we know how to cover it and we are the best at what we do. I know this for a fact. Just wait until I release our results from this year’s cohort of students!

Our students love their lessons so much that 75% of our students continue with tuition even after the Assessments are over.

Interested to see how our Online lessons work? Curious to see why our success rates are so high?

Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today!

Today is the Guildford High 4+ Assessment and we are all very excited.

We have prepared 3 girls for their 4+ assessment at GH this year. We have supported all 3 of our girls to be able to go in and have the highest chances for success in the GH 4+ Assessment. You see, we have been preparing our girls for GH for many, many years and we know exactly what type of girl they are looking for. We have seen the girls who pass and we have also seen the girls who don’t pass.

The GH 4+ assessment needs 12 month of focused, targeted and bespoke assessment preparation. This is my firm opinion and belief. The students that we prepare who have 12 months of assessment prep are the ones who pass this assessment. I can update you once we receive our results this year! (2026 entry)

This year, all of our girls have had 12 months of 4+ assessment preparation for GH. This is exceptional.

GH write that their assessment process is relaxed, low key and friendly.

Listen to me carefully, no one cares about your daughter going in and ‘relaxing’. It is not a spa day. It is an assessment.

Not sure what they mean by ‘low key’.

And of course they will be ‘friendly’. Why wouldn’t they be?

To all of our girls going to their 4+ assessment today at GH - We are all so, so proud of you all. You are all beautiful, amazing an hard - working. You have all showed up every week - some of you twice per week to meet with your teacher and put in the work for your assessments. And regardless of what people have to say about it and all of the negative vibes that my clients have endured and had to put up with about ‘preparing their daughter’s for an assessment’, you are the ones who are in an amazing position now. You are the ones who have grown academically and emotionally. Because you see - the end result for myself and for my clients is not passing a 4+ assessment. The end result is creating and continuing to support our children to have pure love for learning that will go on and on and on.

That’s what we do here.

Go in and show them how it’s done girls.

Love, Maria, Emily and Helen x

Why we had 100% success at Notting Hill and Ealing (2025 entry)

1. We know it’s not a ‘play assessment’ and we know exactly what to tell our girls about it. In fact, we provide all of our clients with a clear script with exactly what to tell their daughters about the 4+ Assessment at this school.

   Here is what 85% of parents will tell their daughters…

   ‘You are going for a play-date!’

   ‘Go and have fun!’

   ‘You will play with some other girls!’

   We do not give this ‘advice’ to our girls. This gives all of our girls a huge edge over the other girls. You see, they know exactly what to expect in this 4+ Assessment and we support them to be able to go in to NHE and demonstrate exactly what they need to demonstrate. And they do it in a way that is natural to them. In a way that shows their true selves and in a way that is honest and sincere.

2. We prepare our girls thoroughly for this 4+ assessment.

   Preparation is 100% needed for this 4+ assessment.

   However you choose to prepare your daughter- just prepare her and prepare her to the best of your ability. We prepare girls for this assessment 12 months before the assessment date.

3. We prepare our girls to go in happy and delighted to be there. And yes, we have hundreds of strategies to support them with this.

   If your daughter is upset on the day she will most likely not pass. Not because she’s crying but because she won’t be able to show her truest potential if she is upset. Of course, the school will do their very best to calm her down and support her but there is only so much they will be able to do.

4. If English is not your child’s first language at home then it is up to you to ensure that her english is up to the standard that it needs to be in order to pass this 4+ assessment. Your daughter will be asked questions and she needs to be able to answer them to a very high standard. We do have many girls that we are currently preparing for their 4+ who do not have English as their first language.

We know what this school wants in their prospective new students and we prepare our students to be able to in and demonstrate exactly what they are looking for.

Join our Waiting List for 2027 entry today. Once joined, send us your preferred days/times and we will confirm your start date immediately.

Do not do this ONE THING if you are preparing your child for Chigwell (4+)

I’m not sure why but this is the one school that parents that I speak to really don’t take very seriously. First of all, the Chigwell 4+ Assessment is one of the earliest 4+ Assessments. It takes place in September. This year it will take place over a 3 week period beginning Monday 29th September 2025. So we are currently having several children attending their 4+ Assessment at Chigwell.

Our students have showed up every single week and put in the work with their teachers.

Our students have showed up every day and done their learning consistently with their parents.

I regularly speak with parents about Chigwell and I hear things like this…

 “My friend told me that her son got in without any preparation.”

 “My neighbour down the road told me that it’s absolutely insane to prepare a child for an assessment.”

 “I heard that the children just go in and play games.”

 So, first of all let’s be clear. This is all just noise. These are all just distractions from what you should be doing. What you should be doing is supporting your child with their 4+ Assessment preparations. What you shouldn’t be doing is being distracted by the opinions of others who most likely don’t have a clue what they’re even talking about.

Listen carefully, I’ve prepared at least 50 boys and girls historically for the Chigwell 4+ Assessment. I can tell you exactly why one child passed and why one did not. I can tell you that over the years, I have spoken to many a heartbroken parent whose child did not pass the Chigwell 4+ Assessment. After all, this is the school that they dream of for their child. This is the school that they had their hearts set on to send their child to.

 It is pure nonsense if someone looks you in the eyes and tells you that they did not prepare for the 4+ Assessment at Chigwell. Pure and utter lies. Oh they 100% prepared their child, they just perhaps don’t want to tell you that they did. I don’t know the reason why so please don’t ask me.

 Perhaps they feel embarrassed or ashamed that they prepared their young child for an assessment. Perhaps they just don’t want you to know about it. But these pure lies are very destructive.

Because most people trust their friends and relatives and what will they do? They will make the choice to not tutor their children and most likely their children will not pass.

 Now that’s just sad.

 Don’t do that. Don’t listen to the noise of others.

You want to send your child to Chigwell? Then take the process seriously. Prepare your children so that they can go into a 90-minute assessment and actually do well.

 So prepare your child properly. Take it seriously. And above all don’t complain about it when your child does not pass if you’ve not put in the time, effort and dedication needed to support them to actually go in and be able to pass.

Join our Waiting List for children preparing for 2027 entry today.

Teach your child to read in 5 simple steps.

Sorry but there are no 5 simple steps to teach your child to read.

And ignore anyone who tells you that there are 5 simple steps to teach your child to read!

Teaching each individual child how to read will be a completely different experience so there really isn’t just one simple way to do it.

This is one of the biggest frustrations amongst our clients and amongst parents that I speak to. They just want their children to be able to read. They just want to click their fingers and see their child reading.

It doesn’t work like that.

There is no magic formula to teach a child to read.

Do you know what there is?

There is hard work, effort, consistency, dedication, perseverance and a good attitude.

There you go - I’ve given you your 5 simple steps.

Effort

Consistency

Dedication

Perseverance

A good attitude

At any age, YOU must have all 5 of these if you want to support your child to be able to read.

Then you need to follow a tailored programme of study (not a generic one!). A tailored programme of study that is bespoke and created only for your child. This plan will have the books that your child will be reading and these will be updated frequently. This plan will have a spelling curriculum for your child. This plan will have a phonics curriculum for your child.

Once you have your plan. Go back to the 5 steps I told you about.

Are you putting the effort to to read with your child every single day for at least 30 minutes?

And don’t come at me that you don’t have time. You do have time. You can do 15 minutes at breakfast and 15 minutes at best time or whenever you have the opportunity to see your child.

Are you being consistent and reading with your child every day?

And don’t come at me that your child should be doing this at school, after all isn’t that what you send them there for? I don’t know why you send your child to school? It could be for many reasons but it is definitely not your child’s teacher who will be responsible to teach them how to read. Your child’s teacher has 20-30 + other children to teach. Take responsibility and ownership over your child’s reading. Trust me, no one else will ever care as much as you do!

Are you dedicated to your child being able to read well?

Or do you want to hand that over to someone else to? It’s up to you as your child’s parent to be dedicated to them learning how to read.

Do you persevere even when things get hard?

Do you persevere when your child just simply tells you that they don’t want to read? Do you persevere when your child is just not in the mood? Or do you just give in and give them what they want to do instead. Reading everyday is a non negotiable in my home. We read and there are no excuses there.

Do you have a good attitude about reading?

Do you speak positively about reading or are you negative about it? Do you praise your child as they read or do you tell them that they ‘should know that word’ or that they ‘should be quicker’ or that ‘you’ve done that digraph with them a million times!’ Your frustration will become their frustration just as your enthusiasm will become their enthusiasm.

Need support with teaching your child how to read? Book your Emerald Curriculum Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.