Ignore everything you read about the South Hampstead 4+ Assessment if you want any chance for success.

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

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

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

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

So why was she not offered a place immediately?

Why was she placed on the Waiting list?

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

Ok, so that contradicts completely what South Hampstead say about ‘no special preparation is needed’ doesn’t it? Also contradicts their statement that ‘girls are not asked to read or write in their assessment.’ Clearly, she was asked to read.

If my student wasn’t as strong as the other girls in terms of her phonetic abilities (and trust me her phonics were strong!) then what did the other girls show in order to have performed better or as the school said ‘to be stronger’ than my student? Do you really think that they did not have ‘special preparation’ in order to demonstrate such strong phonetic ability? I highly doubt it.

So to those of you who call me and tell me that you don’t need to prepare for South Hampstead because the school have told you not to, are you ready to question this now?

Or will you send your daughter to the South Hampstead 4+ Assessment with ‘no special preparation’? I encourage you to not do this.

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