Toxic and unprofessional behaviour I've experienced as a teacher.

I had a fake comment placed on my Trustpilot account and I was very upset about it for a couple of days. I’m over it now and I have to accept that as CMT continues to grow - which it will, that people will have thoughts about me and the way I live my life. Surprise, surprise - nothing new eh!

But I think it’s important to call out the behaviours that I’ve personally experienced in my life. Undoubtedly this will resonate with many of you. Because if someone has taken the time out of their day to find me on Trustpilot and write that disgusting review, I think it’s important that I take a few moments out of my precious day to tell you my experiences too.

When I worked full time as a teacher at the top of my career (UPS 3), I remember vividly having to keep quiet about many things that I disagreed with. All the way throughout my 15 year career working in Primary schools across London (Private and State), I remember countless meetings where I did not agree with what Senior Leadership were saying and I had to bite my tongue. I was too scared to lose my job. I didn’t want to rock the boat. I wanted to be liked.

Well, I don’t care about any of those things any more. And it’s far more important to me to speak my truth and not accept what other people throw at me. Life is far too short.

Throughout my time as a teacher at school, if you disagreed with leadership, you’d be told that you had a ‘bad attitude’ or that ‘your attitude stinks’, if you made your point, certain members of the leadership team would literally roll their eyes. Some would look at each other and smirk or even laugh. Basically, you had to just be silent. Agree with everything you were told and just do your job!

I now work with the most amazing people ever. And I am delighted every single day to work with my clients and with my amazing students. I have a beautiful team of teachers and we all respect each other and listen to each other. But I do each year have 10% of behaviour which is toxic and unprofessional and so do my teachers.

And if you are on the other end of receiving behaviour that is toxic and unprofessional, I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to tolerate it. Find another job. Move on. Express yourself fully. Life is far too short.

You CANNOT prepare successfully for St. Paul's Girls' School without having a crystal clear benchmark.

St. Paul’s Girls’ School write that ‘There is no typical Paulina’. Completely agree.

The girls who pass the St. Paul’s Girls’ School 11+ assessment are definitely all completely different and unique.

They write that they are looking for ‘intellectually curious students who will enjoy learning in an academically stimulating environment.’ Completely agree with this too.

Girls who pass the SPG 11+ Assessment are 100% intellectually curious girls. And the environment at SPG is obviously academically stimulating.

There are 3 stages to this 11+ Assessment

1. Stage 1 – Cambridge Select Insight assessment
   (formerly known as CEM)

Assesses a child's academic potential and ability. It is a non adaptive test (same questions, same order regardless of ability). The girls will be able to go back and check their answers. 3 main skills are assessed- verbal ability (spag, vocabulary and comprehension), numerical ability (number, measurement, geometry and statistics) and non-verbal ability (visually analysing and solving problems). In order to be successful in this stage of the assessment, your daughter will need to be quick! She will also need to be laser focused and not get distracted. Your daughter will need to trust her instincts and not waste too much time on one question.

2. Stage 2 - Comprehension, English and Maths written assessments.

3. Interview

If you don’t have a crystal clear understanding of the benchmark when it comes to the calibre of girls being assessed this year, how will you ever accurately prepare your daughter to have the highest possible chances of passing this 11+ assessment?

Stage one is in November 2026 so you have about 8 months left to prepare. 6 months really if you factor in holidays and sickness etc. If your daughter passes the first stage, she will be invited to attend stage 2 which is typically in early January. If your daughter passes stage 2, she will be invited to interview. These are typically mid to end of January.

At their current fee rate, you are looking at investing £260,694 to send your daughter to this school from Year 7 - Year 13. Rates will of course rise so it will inevitably be more than this. Invest a very small percentage of this to actually preparing your daughter to have the highest chances of succeeding in her 11+ assessments.

Prepare from Year 3.

Prepare consistently.

Encourage a love for reading and maths.

Encourage a love for a sport or music.

Only work with teachers who actually know how to prepare for this 11+ assessment.

Preparing for the 11+ at SPG for 2027 or 2028 entry? Book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Lesson today.

Preparing for the 11+ at SPG for 2029 entry and beyond? Join our Waiting List today.

Manor Lodge 4+ Clarity for parents

Manor Lodge needs focused 12 month preparation.

Manor Lodge is not ‘just a school where your child will go in and play in their Forest garden!’

Manor Lodge is so over subscribed at 4+ that it will blow your mind when you see just how many children will attend the assessment.

Mumsnet does not give accurate information about this assessment so do not even waste your time reading the absolute nonsense on there (some comments are brutally honest on there but you need to know which ones are and which ones are not).

Many children will not pass this 4+ Assessment.

Many children will be Waitlisted following this assessment.

For many parents (not all), Manor Lodge will not be their first choice of school. Their first choice of school will typically by Habs or NLCS. Many of our clients kept Manor Lodge as their back up but ultimately ended up accepting their top schools of choice. The majority of our clients receive offers at their top schools of choice if they have the recommended 12 months of Assessment preparation that I recommend. Success is simply inevitable following our 12 month programme.

The Manor Lodge 4+ Assessment is just like any other 4+ Assessment at top, elite schools. It will be conducted on a 1:1 basis. Your child will need to separate from you happily. And your child will need to go in and demonstrate all of the skills and attributes that Manor Lodge will be assessing and looking for in their potential new students.

Do you even know what these skills and attributes are? Do you even know the level expected of your child?

We do.

And we will support you every step of the way tot ruly understand this 4+ Assessment and have the level of success that you dream of having.

Knowledge is power when it comes to anything in this life. Knowledge is definitely power when it comes to the 4+ Assessments. Empower yourselves with the knowledge and awareness needed in order to have the highest chances of passing the Manor Lodge 4+ assessment.

Book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Week today if you are preparing for 2027 entry,

Book your place on the Waiting List for our Signature Programme (The Emerald Curriculum which includes weekly tuition). Once booked, I will be in touch immediately to find out your preferred days and times for weekly tuition. The Waiting List fee forms your Registration fee when you begin so you are also locking in the current Registration Fee price.

9/40 boys starting Habs in Reception in 2026 were prepared by us.

I spoke to a parent yesterday and she seemed like she didn’t believe one of my results.

The Habs’ Boys’ School results (2026 entry into Reception).

Here at CMT, we prepared a huge number of boys for their 4+ assessment at Habs. You see, we actually prepared 10 boys but I didn’t hear back from one of my clients so sadly I cannot count her results! Did he pass or not? I will find out in September 2026!

Whether you wish to believe me or not is up to you. But we did prepare 10 boys for Habs last year. 9 of those incredible boys have passed and will be going to Haberdashers from September 2026.

9/40.

Exceptional!

I am so proud of our results. I am so proud of our beautiful boys who worked so hard to be able to go in and truly shine in their 4+ assessments at Haberdashers. I am so proud of my clients who, although at times found it hard, fully persevered and remained dedicated to their sons’ learning and growth. I am so proud of our exceptional teachers - Emily and Helen who worked tirelessly every single day to show up and teach our students. And I am so proud of me.

You think it’s easy to get into Habs Boys at 4+?

Well you are delusional. And you are wrong. It’s not easy at all.

The hours and hours of work we all put in to achieve these results, I guess you will never know. Only we will know.

I look forward to continuing to follow your journeys boys. Many of you, I look forward to continuing to teach.

If you are preparing for Habs for 2028 entry and beyond, join our Waiting List. This will form your Registration fee and as soon as you join, I will personally email you to find out your preferred dates/times for weekly tuition and when exactly we can start. Only in this way can you secure your day/time.

If you are preparing for Habs for 2027 entry and beyond, the only way to work with us currently is through our Ultimate Emerald Curriculum which had exceptional results with our Habs students too.

You need at least 12 months to prepare your children for Habs (boys and Girls).

Don’t delay - get started today!

Doing things completely wrong - Alima’s story

As parents, we struggle to admit when we are doing things completely wrong. We want the best of the best for our precious children. We want to provide them with everything and more. Sometimes we get things right but many times we get things wrong. 

Is this bad? 

Is this a problem?

No, of course not. We are all humans and guess what? We will get things wrong sometimes! And that’s okay. People will pretend that they never get things wrong and that their lives are picture perfect - it’s all an illusion. All of our lives will always be 50//50 - remember that before you compare yourself to little miss perfect down the road!

Getting things wrong is merely data. That’s all. It’s information. We learn and we move on. We try something else. Does it mean that the ‘something else’ that we try will be the right thing? Absolutely not, but we try anyway. 

Alima contacted me in February. She was in tears on the phone. She told me that she had been following me for several years and loved my work. She had learnt so much by just following me on my social media and reading all of my blogs every single day. But when it came to her son’s  4+ assessments, she didn’t listen to me. She didn’t believe me when I said that it would be challenging. She was doubtful of many of the things that I was speaking about. 

That is until her son was unsuccessful to all of her target schools at 4+ (including the likes of Habs’ Boys and UCS). It took me a while to help Alima to calm down. She was hysterical by this point. I told her to take a breath and to stop beating herself up. How was she to know? Why should she trust me - a stranger that she had never met? She had never been through the process until now. 

Once she calmed down, we spoke. Alima is now my client and has been for 12 months. We are preparing her son for his 7+ at the same schools that he was unsuccessful in at 4+. He is thriving. Alima sent her son to a state school and although it’s not what she thought it would be and she struggles with a lot of the dynamics there, she knows that it is just temporary. She knows her son will be wildly successful in his 7+. 

Book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Week and see the incredible progress that your child will make with their learning in just one week! 

Avoid wasting money on unnecessary learning resources.

I’m guilty of this too! And I hold up my hands! I do this too! 

Do you spend hundreds of pounds on resources that just sit in the corner of your child’s room completely untouched? Or perhaps you purchase something and you use it once with your child, lose a few pieces and then never touch it again? Sound familiar?

With the millions of resources on offer for our children, it can be really overwhelming to know which resources to choose for our children. 

You definitely do not need to feel overwhelmed. We take the guesswork out choosing which resources you need. We provide them for you! Everything you need in each area of learning, we will tell you exactly which resources to buy and we will provide you with all of the learning to print ahead of time. In this way, your weeks can be fully structured and organised in a way that will support your child with their learning acceleration. 

We all have busy lives. I would love to have this service provided to me! Obviously, I provide it for my own child just as I do for the hundreds of children that we are currently supporting with their accelerated learning or assessment preparations here at CMT. 

You no longer need to worry about which resources to use with your child, which learning you should be doing your child and how to support your child. We take the guesswork out of this. And we are here for our clients every single day (Monday to Friday 9-5) to support them to support their children with their learning acceleration or assessment preparation! 

Our results speak for themselves 

Want to see how it works? Book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Week today!

5 Mistakes You’re Making Preparing for the 4+ Assessments

Myself and my team speak to thousands of you each year. We hear many, many things. Many of you do things exceptionally well when it comes to preparing your children for their 4+  assessments and many of you are making at least one - if not more of these mistakes. 

If you realise that you’re making one or more of these mistakes. Please don’t be hard on yourself. We all make mistakes. It’s part of life (and if you’re not making mistakes, there’s a very good reason for that!) 

Mistake #1

Overlearning with your child. 

Although a lot of learning does need to take place when preparing for a 4+ assessment, you have to be careful not to do too much. Many parents that we speak to want to do learning when they feel like it. It doesn’t work that way. Nobody cares if you feel like it. What matters is that your child feels like it. There is no right or wrong here. The only way to know if you are doing too much is if you notice resistance in your child. They definitely should not be resistant. They should be open, happy and fully receptive to the learning being provided. 

Mistake #2

Not doing enough learning with your child. 

The polar opposite of mistake #1, we see this one all the time too. Parents will tell us, ‘Oh, I work all day!’ and ‘Well, they’re in nursery/pre-school all day!’ and ‘That’s what I’m paying all that money for isn’t it!’ 

Your child is your responsibility and if you make the decision to apply to a school such as Westminster, NLCS and Habs (boys and girls), you better understand clearly that no nursery or pre-school will fully have the responsibility to prepare your child to be successful. Understand that you must put in the work yourself. 3.5 hours per week to be precise. 

Mistake #3

Panic-mode

Going into panic mode is the default superpower of our brains. Your brain thinks panicking is useful. It is not. We all panic and we all catastrophise. We all think the worst will happen. It’s how we have been raised and conditioned. Well it isn’t helpful in this process. If you feel panic, your child will sense that and they will start to worry too. 

Mistake #4

Compare and despair 

Never compare your child to anyone else. Just don’t do it. I don’t care that so and so down the road is ‘already reading chapter books’ and your child is ‘still’ learning their phonics. Just focus on your child and where they are. 

Mistake #5

Listening to rumours 

99.5% of what you will hear will be pure lies or simply what someone else experienced. Drown out all the noise. And focus. You will lose energy focusing on what so and so told you. 

Avoid these 5 mistakes and if you catch yourself making one of these mistakes, be kind and compassionate with yourself. Brush yourself off and get back to focusing on what is important here which is preparing your child to go in and have the highest possible chances for success in their 4+ assessment. 

Book your Sample lesson and Sample week today. 

How to prepare your child to be very successful with the RGS 7+ Assessment

Each year we prepare several boys for the 7+ at RGS. We will also be preparing girls as they move to co-educational.

This year, the RGS 7+ Assessment will be on Saturday 7th November 2026.

This means that you have only 9 months remaining to prepare your child for this 7+ assessment. 9 months becomes 7 when you factor in holidays and illnesses!

Have you started preparing your child? I do hope so.

My suggestion, based on years and years experience is 2 full years of assessment preparation for RGS. The best results we’ve had have been from our students starting with us from the autumn term of their Reception Year.

If that’s not you, that’s ok. Just get started from this moment! As in today!

Your child will need to be very strong in their reading and in their comprehension. Our students who have passed this assessment at 7+ have been at a year 3/ year 4 level in terms of their reading. They are students who are avid readers and reading chapter books. Creative writing will be very strong. Our students will have written at least 10 stories before going to their 7+ assessment at RGS. Our students who have typically passed have had a very strong understanding about how to write stories to the level expected by the RGS assessors and they have been able to go in and skilfully do just that under timed conditions.

Your child will need to have excellent spelling and have a strong understanding of grammar. Again, our successful students have been those working at a year 3/year 4 level in their SPAG.

Your child will need to cover a broad and vast maths curriculum in order to stand a chance in this assessment (at a year 3 level.)

Your child will also have practised with many past 7+ papers. I’d say that our students who have passed this 7+ assessment will have practised at least 30 past papers and have gone through the answers and have a thorough understanding of where they have gone wrong and how to make improvements.

Prepare your child to be wildly successful by joining our Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Programme. Lock in and be committed. Fully focus and take massive action and see tremendous progress being made in all areas of learning.

On average children 'socialise' for 30-60 minutes a day at school.

I’m referring to KS1 and KS2 here.

If you haven’t worked in a primary school in the UK, you will never know the true realities of what it is like to be in a classroom. If you have worked in a school and you think that children ‘socialise’ for more than this amount of time - you are the exception and I’m delighted for your students if this is truly the case.

If you truly believe that ‘socialising’ happens in Primary schools, I have to tell you that I completely and utterly disagree.

Having worked in hundreds of schools across London for nearly 20 years, I’m going to paint a vivid picture for you about what ‘socialising’ looks like in Primary Schools.

Here is a great meaning of socialising for you.

Socialising for children is the developmental process of learning to interact, communicate, and build relationships with others, starting from infancy and extending into community integration. It involves developing empathy, understanding social cues, sharing, managing emotions, and learning to navigate diverse social situations.

Do you really think all of that can happen in a school environment?

In a typical classroom (KS1 and KS2), my students would come in between 8:30-9am and they would go to their desks. Depending on the behavioural issues in my classroom, I would set the noise level that I expected. Between 8:30 - 9 would be a golden time for my students to work on gaps and areas to develop further so usually they would come in, say hi to me, say hi to a couple of their classmates, sit down and get on with the learning usually in silence or at least quietly.

Between 9-10:30 we would have a lesson (maths or english). At 10:30 my students would go out to play for 15 minutes. By the time most of my students would have completed their tasks to the standard acceptable by the school, they would have already missed a few minutes of play. At play time, this would be their window for socialising, In my opinion morning break would be too rushed - for the teachers too!

11-12:30 would be another lesson (maths or English) and then reading typically. Most schools that I taught at, management would expect noise levels to be at silence whilst the children would do their learning and there is a very good reason for this! With noise comes lack of focus which equals to not the best quality learning!

12:30 - 1:30 would be lunch time. By the time my students had queued for their lunch, sat down to eat etc 20 minutes would at least have passed. Here I would be able to observe some lovely socialising whilst eating their lunch. After lunch they would go to play and here too, they could have the opportunity to socialise. Most playtimes however, teachers would be called to deal with behavioural issues.

1:30 -3:30 - more lessons and more learning. No socialising.

3:30 Home time.

So does socialising really happen in schools?

'My wife/husband/partner doesn't agree with online schooling.'

One of the hardest parts about having a child…

Coming to mutual agreements about what both parents want for their children.

Sometimes these visions are aligned and that’s a beautiful thing. But when these visions are not aligned and both parent have different visions of how they would like to raise their child, this is where difficulties arise.

When my son was a baby, myself and my partner had different ideas about how to support his health and well being. When my son would have a fever, my partner would want to immediately take him to the hospital. I experienced a huge trauma with hospitals when my son was born and I think very differently to him when it comes to hospitals. It would cause a lot of unnecessary arguments. Ultimately, we are just two human beings who want the ultimate best for our son. But those misaligned visions of how to support our son’s health and wellbeing really did create an unnecessary strain on our relationship in the early years of his life.

When it comes to my son’s education, we have mixed views. But for the most part we have come to a mutual understanding of the vision that we have for our son and his education (in his primary years anyway).

I have a few clients who are currently struggling with deciding the best course of action for their children. It’s a tough one and only they can decide of course. But ultimately it’s about doing what you feel is best for your child. It really is about drowning out what other people will tell you. Although they mean well, it’s truly none of their business.

Just be super careful with what you make sentences mean. Just because one partner doesn’t ‘agree’ with something doesn’t mean that they are right. Online schooling works beautifully. Online schooling gives you freedom. Online schooling can open up doors for your child that you most probably don’t even imagine. So a sentence like this really means nothing. It’s merely a thought. I don’t agree with a school dictating my life- telling me the time my child needs to wake up in the morning and telling me when I can go on holiday. These are just my thoughts, It doesn’t mean that I am right. I might change my mind after a few years! And guess what? That’s ok!

There is no right. There is no wrong. There is simply making a choice and being as happy about it as possible. Just choose. And then be ready to make changes if needed. Because that is the beauty of this life and remember this always. You can make changes at any time.

3 ways to support your child with early writing.

Teaching writing is hard. 

Teaching writing in the early years is even harder. 

Does that mean it has to be seen as negative? Absolutely not. Writing is hard and we do hard things! 

Parents will say to me, ‘Just wait until he’s 5/6/7/8 etc!’ Listen up - I’ve worked with thousands and thousands of children. Starting late with teaching writing is really not helpful for anyone. 

1. First of all, you want writing to be fun. You don’t want to be all negative about it. When you give your child something to write with (a pencil/crayon/felt tip) you want to be super excited about it. You want them to be excited about it. 

2. You must manage your expectations. So many of you want to give your child a pencil and expect them to write quicker that is even possible! It’s a process. First of all, your child needs to simply practise holding the pencil correctly. Then your child needs to spend many hours simply mark- making. 

3. Consistency over perfection. Even just 5 minutes of writing every single day will make the world of difference in supporting your child to be able to write. 

Remember that for most of these 4+ assessments, your child will be asked to write letters and to write numbers. So teach them! 

Book your Sample lesson and Sample week today. 

Prepare like a pro for the Manor Lodge 4+ Assessment (2027 entry)

So you have your heart set on Manor Lodge for 2027 entry? Or perhaps you see it as a ‘back up’ school just in case your child doesn’t get offers at your target school/s. Regardless, you will want to prepare for Manor Lodge like a pro.

Last year (this happens every year!), I had several heart broken parents who were unexpectedly told that their child did not get an offer for Manor Lodge. It’s a shame because this assessment happens very early (far earlier than some of the other 4+ assessments) and it can really put a damper on things! After all, most parents are working so hard to support their child to go into the 4+ Assessment and then they receive that dreaded letter. ‘We regret to inform you that we will not be offering your child a place at Manor Lodge’. Some students were also waitlisted.

Obviously, no one can guarantee that your child will pass this 4+ assessment at this very popular school but here is what I can guarantee. I can guarantee that if you prepare like a pro, your child will have a far higher chance of passing than if you do not!

Manor Lodge will be looking for:

Communication

Confidence

Collaboration

Curiosity

Creativity.

We prepare your child to be a pro in all of these areas! Do you even know where to begin to support your child to go in and show all 5 of these?

The sheer volume of people at this assessment generally overwhelms most parents (and the children!) so just be laser sharp aware that there will be a lot of children, a lot of teachers and a lot of parents! Speak to your child about this - please!

Manor Lodge school groups children by nursery groups which I personally completely disagree with!

‘Your child’s age will be taken into account’ does not mean that your child will be given some sort of pass just because they are born in the summer! It’s just information that Manor Lodge is providing you with. Do not take it to mean anything. It most likely will not mean what you think it means!

Prepare like a pro for Manor Lodge by starting 12 months before. So October of the year before! If you have a summer born baby, I would advise your to start earlier than that! At the time of writing this blog, you have about 7 months to prepare your child for this assessment. If you factor in holidays and sickness - you have about 5 months! Prepare like a pro for Manor Lodge by ensuring that your child is strong in all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum (not just one or two of them!). Prepare like a pro for Manor Lodge by understanding that this is not an ‘easy’ assessment to pass and fully preparing your child to be able to go in and truly shine.

Book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Week today and let’s get started!

Prepare for the 4+ Assessments at Westminster with Confidence and Clarity.

If Westminster is the school your truly desire for your son or daughter from Reception, go all in and ensure that your child will have the highest possible chances for success!

Do not go into this blindly. After all, you’re paying £300 for your registration fee. I’m sure you want to ensure that your child is as well prepared as they can possible be.

Yes, Westminster are most certainly looking for potential in their new boys and girls. And your son or daughter will 100% need to demonstrate this potential in their 4+ assessments! But how is potential shown? Is it just something one chid has and something another child doesn’t have? Absolutely not! Potential is 100% taught. Potential is practised daily. Potential is nurtured daily.

Yes, Westminster are looking for ‘natural ability’. But again. Is a child simply born with natural ability? Absolutely not. Even though parents will try to make you believe that their child is just ‘naturally clever’! Sure.

They write that in round one, they create an informal and welcoming environment. If you prepared for round 1 last year, I’ll let you comment on this one if you’d like to. It’s not my place to comment here!

Remember that 500 children will be assessed in Round 1. Out of those 500, 100 will be called for Round 2. So 400 children will be unsuccessful. Just important information for you to be aware of.

Westminster give nothing away about Round 2 on their Website. We know exactly what went down in Round 2! Nothing very different to your usual top 4+ Assessment schools. Very similar. With a few harder elements of learning added.

Your child will 100% need to be highly academic. Your child will 100% need to demonstrate exceptional behaviour. Your child will 100% need to demonstrate beautiful listening.

These are just 3 out of 100 other things that your child will need to demonstrate!

If you want to prepare your child for their 4+ Assessment at Westminster (2027 entry and beyond) with confidence and clarity, join our Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Week and have our expert support every single step of the way.

4 of our students were offered a place this year to study at Westminster! Have the success you deserve to have! Prepare for Westminster with Confidence and Clarity!

Don't make these THREE mistakes when preparing for the 4+ at South Hampstead.

We prepared a total of 7 girls for their 4+ Assessments at South Hampstead (2026 entry). 5 have passed.

South Hampstead is a very misunderstood school at 4+. Parents typically will start preparing for the 4+ at South Hampstead very late. 12 months of Assessment preparation is needed to be in with even the slightest of chances of being successful at this school. And if people tell you otherwise, nod and carry on!

We are currently only preparing 3 girls for their 4+ at South Hampstead which I have to say is very strange. Obviously you can do what you like but starting late will not help your daughter to be in with the highest possible chances of being offered a place at this school. Round 1 is in November. Round 2 is in January. So you have about 7 months to prepare for this school (if we factor in holidays and sickness etc).

South Hampstead call it an' ‘enjoyable visit’, and whilst it was ‘enjoyed’ by most of our girls, it definitely was not deemed to be ‘enjoyable’ by all of the girls.

It should not be ‘considered a play date’ so please do not even mention this word to your daughter.

Mistake #1

Starting late.

Yes, I know the school says that ‘no special preparation is necessary’ and ‘no formal knowledge is expected’. And if you wish to listen to this - great! You do that! We have been preparing for this assessment for many, many years and we know exactly what will be assessed and we know exactly what they are expecting! Prepare your daughter thoroughly for her 4+ at South Hampstead.

Mistake #2

Telling your daughter that she is going on a ‘play date’!

Mistake #3

Not teaching phonics and maths to the level expected in the South Hampstead 4+ assessment.

Preparing for the 4+ at South Hampstead (2027 entry), book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Week today and we will support you every step of the way to support your daughter to have the highest possible chances for success in her 4+ at South Hampstead.

Your mood will influence your child’s learning success.

It’s obvious to me but it’s not so obvious to many of you. 

How we feel when it comes to sitting down and learning with our children will influence how well the learning will go. 

If you’re feeling stressed out about the learning, do you think it will be a positive experience for your child? Of course not!

If you’re feeling annoyed at your child because they are not behaving in the picture perfect way that you imagine they should behave, do you think it will be a positive experience for your child? Of course not! 

I’m by no means perfect at this. I have my great days and I have my not so great days (just like all of you!) There are days I have a million things going on in my mind and I really don’t have the time nor the energy to sit with my son to do learning with him. He picks up on my moods instantly - just as your children will pick up on yours. 

You’re trying to teach your child, you have a great plan, you have all of your resources ready and you are good to go. But the minute you present the learning to your child, they show no interest. They refuse to do it. They would rather do anything else but what you’ve prepared for them. You feel frustrated, irritated and angry. What was the point? Why do I bother? I can just wait until he is 5/6/7/8 etc. You get into an argument with your child. You tell them that they ‘should want to do it!’. 

You are so wrong on all levels. 

The problem that you are trying to solve is that your child doesn’t want to do the learning that you’ve prepared for them. However - this is only a problem if you make it a problem. I don’t see it as a problem. I see it as data. It’s just information. My son doesn’t want to learn right now and that’s ok. I’ll try again later or tomorrow. I can just as easily go with his flow and do something that he feels like doing in that moment. 

We support our clients every step of the way when they encounter these sorts of problems - and believe me - they do! 

You don’t need to navigate the 4+ assessment process alone. We are there for our clients every step of the way. 

Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week Today.

Don't do THIS if you are applying for an Occasional Place.

Occasional places at top, elite schools do come up. Especially with the way our world is right now, they will most likely come up even more than ever before. Children will leave top schools for a variety of reasons. And when children leave, it is up to the schools to fill their spaces.

This is when an Occasional Place will open up.

The problem with Occasional Places is this. The schools will give you very short notice. You see, whilst most parents will give the full term’s notice needed in order to leave a school, some will not. Some will need to leave immediately. So what happens then? Yes, you’ve guessed it. The schools will give very short notice to the parents.

Typically (in my experience) they will give parents one month notice of when the assessment will take place but they can give as little as one week of notice time.

Here at CMT, we are currently preparing several girls for an Occasional Place Assessment at a top girls’ school which will take place next week. Parents were given about a week of notice time.

If you know that you will be applying for an Occasional Place at a top school, you must start preparing your child straight away. The minute you submit that application, you must start preparing.

People will say to me…

‘But they might not even be called for an assessment?’

‘That would be a waste of time preparing them if the assessment doesn’t even happen?’

Wrong attitude completely.

If you want to apply for an Occasional Place, great! Then get to work taking the massive action needed in order to support your child to be in with a chance of at least showing their best learning in the assessment.

Passing an Occasional Place is hard. Do not leave it down to ‘luck’. Do not leave it down to, ‘Let’s see how he/she does on the day!’

If you are truly serious about securing a spot at your dream school, book your Sample Week today.

This ONE THING truly breaks my heart when I teach my students.

I have students that I work 1:1 with from as early as the age of 2. Some of these students stay with me until they are 11. We work together for a very long time. Working with children on a 1:1 basis really allows me to get to know each and every one on a deeper level. I get to know what they like and what they dislike. I get to know their struggles and the things that they find easier to do.

I am able to support them in a way that no other teacher in any sort of school is able to. That’s not to take away from teachers that work at schools at all so please do not read it in that way. I worked in schools for over 15 years and I know how hard school teachers work every single day. But it’s very hard to support students the way that I support them 1:1 (even though I only see my students weekly) because school teachers are working with 16-30+ children every single day!).

Here is what typically happens that truly breaks my heart. When I work with students for a very long time, I see them from a very young age. At such a young age, they are not afraid to make mistakes. They give me answers with such confidence even if they are completely wrong. And they don’t care. They just listen to me asking them to try again and that’s exactly what they do. They laugh it off, they don’t take it to heart. It really just doesn’t matter!

As my students get older, I start to notice a shift. Now, of course all children are different and I am certainly not generalising but this is what tends to happen.

It gets to a point where we are in a lesson together and I tell them that one of their answers is wrong or that they need to try again and their behaviour changes. They’ll get teary. They’ll tell me that they don’t want to cross out the ‘wrong’ answer. They’ll get defensive with me. They’ll tell me that I’m wrong! They won’t listen to me explaining to them how to do it/change it.

This is heart breaking.

And this is something to really pay attention to and ask questions about.

Why is my child reacting in this way?

What can I do to support them to see that it is absolutely fantastic to get things wrong?

Why is failure so bad at such a young age? I’m talking about between the ages of 6-11. That’s when the shift in attitude towards failure becomes more evident to me in my lessons with my students.

Support your child to understand that they must fail hundreds of times a day and that it is fine.

Celebrate ‘failures’ as much as you celebrate ‘successes’!

Let’s raise children who are happy and delighted to ‘fail’. This will set them up for far greater success in the future. Don’t you think?

The HONEST truth about the Falkner House Girls' 4+ assessment 2026 entry)

We prepared 4 girls for the Falkner House 4+ Assessment. 2 girls were offered a place.

The 2 girls who were offered a place were already at the FH Nursery. Do not read that to mean that all girls who go to the Nursery are offered a place at Falkner House at 4+. That is 100% not the case and I have personally spoken to at least 5 parents whose daughters were at the FH Nursery and did not pass the 4+ assessment.

Of the two girls who were not offered a place at FH - one had over 12 months of 4+ assessment prep and the other had 3 months of assessment preparation. Both girls are exceptional. Both girls are highly articulate and highly intelligent. They are both going to exceptional schools but my clients were disappointed that their daughters were not offered a place at FH (understandably so).

So why weren’t they?

Obviously only FH will know this. Obviously FH will have their own way of selecting who they want to offer a place to.

It’s crystal clear that FH Girls’ school value their family connections and they clearly establish strong relationships with the parents and the girls at this school. I think that this definitely has something to do with the girls that they choose to come to their school from 4+ (Reception).

Regarding the characters of the girls, I would say that they are 100% looking for girls who are able to follow the instructions perfectly well in the assessment and for girls who are able to communicate to a very high standard. Of course they are assessing all of the other typical things that are assessed at 4+ but those two stood out to me the most with regards to this school in particular.

So does your daughter already need to be in the Nursery in order to be offered a place? I would say yes - based on this year’s results and based on my personal experience having spoken to many parents (obviously I’ve not spoken to all the parents in London who applied to this school!).

Does it mean that she is guaranteed entry just because she in at FH Nursery? No. And please do apply to other schools/ have your back ups. It’s never wise to apply to just one school in the 4+ assessment process anyway!

Does your daughter need to be able to follow instructions perfectly well? Yes!

Does your daughter need to have strong communication and language skills? Yes!

They write that they are looking for potential rather than attainment and I am of the firm opinion and belief that they are looking for both.

Preparing for Falkner House for 2027 entry? Book your Sample Lesson today.

A complete misunderstanding of what we do.

Some of you have a complete misunderstanding of what we do.

And that’s ok!

I’m not here to prove anything to anyone.

Believe what you want.

But I’m here to tell you my thoughts and deep beliefs around what we do and help you to see things differently (if you’d like to!). If you want to continue seeing things the way you wish to see things, you can stop reading this now!

I was at the gym the other day and I was dropping my son off at his club - it was his athletics club, which he adores. A lady came up to me holding her baby. I was holding my son’s hand at this point.

She said to me, ‘Just let him be a kid!’. She said it in front of him by the way.

I said to her - ‘I’ll drop him off and then you can speak to me in private if you wish.’

When I returned, she proceeded to lecture me for 5 full minutes. By that point I told her that I had actually dropped my son off so that I could sit for 60 minutes and do some work on my business and she had taken 5 precious minutes of my time!

Here is what she told me summed up for you.

She told me that ‘it wasn’t fair that I teach my son’, that ‘'he should just play!’ that ‘he will only be a kid once.’ She basically told he how I should raise my son. Which by the way is absolutely hilarious.

I will raise my son how I wish to raise my son and people really should mind their own business.

My son has had his very own, bespoke Curriculum Programme in place for nearly 2 years. My son adores waking up each morning and seeing the learning that I have taken the time out of my day to prepare for him. My son also plays outside in the woods and is so active. My son is constantly playing and we have a beautiful relationship with our son. We learn together in so many different ways.

Whatever deep traumas you have, perhaps work on those first before going around lecturing people that you don’t even know! If what I do isn’t for you - why are you watching my reels and reading my blogs?

I want to attract people who actually want to do learning with their children from a young age and not those of you who do not!

Obsess with 4+ success at NLCS

Last year, we prepared a record number of girls for their 4+ assessment at NLCS.

8 to be precise.

6 were offered a place.

Most of these girls will be going to NLCS this year.

We are so proud of all our girls. They all worked so incredibly hard.

Being offered a place at NLCS is definitely not easy. Far from it. With at least 500 applicants and only 40 places on offer, your daughter must be prepared to the highest of standards to truly go in and shine.

If you want to know the type of girl who passed the NLCS 4+ assessment this year, read on!

Now, I’m obviously not talking about all girls who passed this NLCS 4+ assessment but I am talking about 6 that did. Most of the 6 girls who passed had at least 12 months of assessment preparation. That’s the first thing that I will tell you. Only one of them did not. One of the girls had 3 months of assessment prep with me personally. What she then did with her parents, obviously only they will know but clearly they did an exceptional job!

Therefore 5 of our girls who passed had at least 12 months of 4+ assessment preparation. Several had way more than this!

I would say that what really set my clients apart from other parents that I would speak to about NLCS is truly that they were obsessed with being successful at this school. It was their dream school. To get their daughters into NLCS was something that they truly wanted for them.

The other thing that really set our clients apart from other clients is that they never made excuses. They were rarely negative about the 4+ preparation process. They really embraced it. They loved it. Their daughters loved it. They did the learning and they wanted more, more, more.

This obsession is truly something that I admire in my clients. I feel the same when it comes to my son. I am obsessed with his learning. I am obsessed with seeing the progress that he makes every single day. I am obsessed with providing him with the best of the best - always.

The girls who passed the NLCS 4+ assessment this year were all confident girls (some quietly confident), highly intelligent girls, girls who demonstrated exceptional listening skills and girls who were resilient and persevered at the more challenging tasks. Does this mean that the girls who didn’t pass did not show these traits? Not necessarily. Several of the girls who we personally prepared who did not pass, passed at Habs for example or at Westminster.

If you are preparing for NLCS for 2027 entry, you have exactly 10 months remaining to prepare your daughters. Included in those 10 months will be holidays and sickness so 10 months turn into 8 months most likely. I don’t think 8 months is enough time to prepare for the 4+ at NLCS but it’s better your start now then keep putting it off.

Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.