My vast experience with the 4+ at St. Christopher's Hampstead and what you need to know.
/Another 4+ school that parents seem to assume that their child will ‘just get into!’
Sorry if I burst your little bubble but each year many girls are unsuccessful to St Christopher’s Hampstead.
With only 35-40 places available why on earth would you have the thought that ‘all girls will pass this 4+ assessment!’ Hundreds and hundreds of girls will apply to this school. And yes St C will over offer based on the assumption that many girls will reject their offer but let’s be real, they wouldn’t be able to offer to all of the girls would they?
And if you are preparing for St C, most likely it is your back up choice and not your first choice. In that case, you should be preparing regardless as you would be preparing for the other 4+ schools that you are targeting.
Occasional places do become available at St C as girls can throughout the year apply for places at other schools. Some parents leave the country etc, etc.
At nearly 27k per year to send your daughter to this school, I suggest you invest in the preparation of your child.
I definitely wouldn’t send a child into this school completely unprepared.
St C has a strong sibling policy. They do have a little clause in their policy to allow for exceptions but for the most part, I’ve not heard of siblings not being offered a place at this school.
The majority of our clients will choose St Christopher’s School in Hampstead as their back up school. I’ve never had a client choose this school as their top school of choice. Last year, I had one student very briefly who was applying only to Highgate and was not successful. Her parents last minute applied to this school and she was successful. Would she have been had she not been prepared? Who will ever know!
If your daughter currently at St. Christopher’s, share your thoughts!
