Who are the boys who have historically passed the 7+ at St Paul's?

Each year we prepare several boys for the 7+ at St Paul’s. We never work with more than 2 boys preparing for St. Paul’s and there are many reasons for this.

St Paul’s is one of the toughest 7+ Assessments to prepare for and it takes a lot of time, effort and dedication. My students don’t ‘just get a 30 minute lesson once a week’. They have ongoing contact with me throughout the week so that I can support them every single day with their assessment preparation (as do all of our clients).

Each years at least one boy who passes his 7+ at St Paul’s was prepared by us.

Doesn’t seem like much! But if you truly understood how hard this school is to get into, you would know that our results are out of this world extraordinary.

So who even are the boys who have historically passed the 7+ at St Paul's?

You see, it’s very important for you to know this if you want to send your son to this school at 7+. Otherwise, you are going in completely blind. Sure, you can listen to the whispers of others who claim they know what they are talking about but ultimately what you are looking for here is a firm offer from one of the best schools in the country.

I take this very seriously. And which is why I now only work with parents who are truly serious about getting their sons into St Paul’s (many of you are not).

These are the boys are who have historically passed the St. Paul’s 7+ Assessment.

They are working in line with the expectations of the year 3 curriculum (in maths and english).

They have a broad and vast vocabulary (think year 3/4)

They will be reading chapter books daily and writing new words to boost their vocabulary even further.

They have excellent, if not near perfect spelling.

They have beautiful, neat and cursive handwriting.

They take pride in their learning and their work.

They take full ownership and responsibility for their learning and their work.

They are fiercely independent.

They are kind and caring and are just generally wonderful to be around. They are quietly confident but very respectful of both teachers and other children.

If your son ticks all of these boxes, you can expect him to go in and most likely pass his St Paul’s 7+ Assessment. If not, get to work.

We have a brand new 3 month intensive preparation programme which will be perfect for you if you are preparing your child for the 7+ at St Paul’s. Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

A 7+ True Story (St Paul's, Latymer and UCS)

This is a true story. As in this is the story of my student - Thomas (changed his name obviously).

I write this story in the hopes of helping some of you to understand the complexities of the 7+ Assessments. With the hopes that you understand the importance of not starting late and with the hopes of you gaining a sharper insight into what is expected of our children in their 7+ Assessments.

Samantha (name changed) called me late September. It was a Sunday and I was on my way to have lunch with a friend of mine (who is also a current client!). As I was driving, my phone rang. I don’t usually pick up on a Sunday but on this occasion I did.

Samantha told me that she was preparing her son for St Paul’s, Latymer and UCS and asked if she was too late (her son was already in Year 2) . I told her that it was October in a few days. Of course, it was too late. The St Paul’s 7+ Assessment is at the end of November and The Latymer and UCS Assessments were in January (just for context). She appreciated my honesty and told me that she wanted to ‘have a go’ anyway.

I was very honest with her and told her that ‘have a go’ would not cut it. She would need to be serious about preparing her son and so would he. He would have 2-3 months of intensive preparation. She weakly said okay.

In hindsight, I should have thanked her and wished her well but I decided to work with Thomas. We did some intensive work together for one month and then the excuses started. ‘Thomas has a birthday to go to. Thomas is sick. Thomas is going on holiday.’

Thomas was not ready for his 7+ at St Paul’s, Latymer or UCS. Samantha started to become more defensive with me and when I spoke to her on her calls she started to become cold with me. I knew she wasn’t enjoying the process. I knew she had no intention of going all in. I rarely received Thomas’s home learning. He was reluctant to write stories and although he did try really hard, there was only so much we could do with 2-3 months together.

He was not offered a place at St. Paul’s, Latymer or UCS and Thomas is continuing at his state school. His mother was annoyed with me and we did not leave things on good terms. At least how I like to leave things when my clients stop working with me.

She expected him to get in because she didn’t fully understand (nor was she open to understanding) the process.

I’ve told Samantha that if she wants to prepare Thomas for his 11+ (he is not ready for 8+) that she would need to start tuition from the autumn term of Year 3 with weekly and consistent tuition. She was not impressed with my suggestion.

Our decisions shape the futures of our children. The quality of our children’s education should be a priority for all of us. That’s not at all to say that you can’t get a quality education at a state school - that’s not what I’m saying at all. That’s up to you to find a quality state school that provides the best education for your child. Not all State Schools are the same- as you know.

If you want to prepare for the 7+ and your child is currently in Year 1, it is too late (21st August at the time of writing this blog). And you have to take the process seriously.

The best time to start is the September when your child begins Reception.

That’s where I see the best results.

However, if you are late, stop procrastinating and just get started. Take the process seriously and go all in.

That is all.

Summer Born BS and the 4+ Assessments!

Just spend a few minutes scrolling on mumsnet and you will see a load of BS about ‘summer born’ children.

Oh what a ridiculous label to put on a child - on top of the many other labels sadly placed on children unnecessarily.

Your child is not ‘behind because they are summer born’. Stop using that as an excuse. It is absolute nonsense. If your child is ‘behind’, they are either ‘behind’ because they developmentally are behind or they are ‘behind’ because you’ve not put in the time, effort and dedication to support them to be where you would like them to be.

Sorry if that stings, but it is my opinion after having worked with thousands of children over the last 16 years.

Here is some summer born BS for you that you absolutely need to understand if you want your child to stand a chance in these top schools and they are in fact ‘summer born.

BS #1

Your child will be assessed differently because they are ‘summer born’.

Absolutely not. Why would they be? ‘Bla, bla, bla - they are a whole yearrrrrrrr behind their peers.’

Irrelevant in this context.

Your child will not be assessed any differently. The expectation will not be any different. These top schools don’t have time to be differentiating how they assess summer and autumn born children.

BS #2

The 4+ Assessments will be easier for summer born children.

Absolutely not.

And don’t waste one second thinking that you don’t need to put in the hard work, effort, grit and dedication into your child’s 4+ Assessment preparation that an autumn born parent will be putting in to prepare their child for their 4+.

BS #3

My child will be at a disadvantage because he/she is summer born.

The only reason they will be disadvantaged will be if you have not prepared them properly for their 4+ assessment. You can blame it on their age if you’d like but it really has absolutely nothing to do with this.

Don’t believe the BS. Ignore the noise and go all in to prepare your child to be very successful in their 4+ Assessments regardless of their date of birth.

We have a brand new 3 month intensive preparation programme which will be perfect for you if you are preparing your child for the 4+ at Highgate. Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

Prepare like a pro for the Highgate 4+ Assessment

Think over 500 boys and girls being assessed at 4+.

And this is after the ballot has been drawn! Who knows how many parents will apply for this extremely popular school at 4+. The thinking of my clients is that they just want to get their children in at 4+ so that they don’t need to worry about assessments further down the line. A wise choice indeed. And once they are in, they are in.

After Round 1, 180 children will be called back for round 2.

If your child is able to pass the first round it means that they have done exceptionally well and 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!’.

My students have told me that they were ‘exhausted’ after the second round and that it was ‘hard’! I don’t say this to scare you, I say this to you so that you are aware of what to expect.

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 over 16 years! And we know exactly what they are looking for and how to prepare our students to have the highest possible chances for success.

We have a brand new 3 month intensive preparation programme which will be perfect for you if you are preparing your child for the 4+ at Highgate. Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

95% of nursery practitioners would agree with me on this!

If you’ve never worked in a nursery, don’t come at me.

If you have ever worked in a nursery in any capacity, I know that you know what I’m talking about here.

Most of my clients have never worked in a nursery. I would say 98% of my clients have no clue what actually goes on in a nursery. They have the picture perfect view in their minds of what goes on in a nursery but more often than not, the view that they have in their mind is simply an illusion.

I started off working in a nursery when I was 18 years old. I worked in a little creche at the Nuffield gym that I was working at. We looked after children from the age of 6 weeks old all the way to 5 years of age. After gaining a lot of experience working with very young children at this creche, I went on to work at several different nurseries - all sorts of nurseries. Private nurseries mostly. I saw exactly what happens in a nursery!

So lately as I am speaking to more and more of you and with 4 plus assessments looming, I am fascinated to hear that so many of you are just not interested in investing just 30 minutes a week on tuition to prepare your children for their 4+ Assessments plus 30 minutes a day of doing formal learning yourselves with your children because your children go to ‘top Montessori nurseries’ from 8-6 every day.

Many of you want to purely rely on your children’s nurseries to do all of the heavy lifting. I find this fascinating.

This means that you think that so much learning goes on in a nursery setting.

Does it though?

Question this.

Your child is one of many! 1:8 is the ratio usually. It can be 1:13 however if your child is over the age of 3!

How much quality learning do you truly believe can be done with a 1:8 ratio?

I’m not taking away from what nursery practitioners do at all so hear me carefully. I value what my son’s nursery do for him but I would never, ever assume that they would be preparing him for a 4+ Assessment. Most of you do.

A nursery alone cannot prepare your child for a 4+ Assessment.

There are those days where several children are unwell and the teachers have to deal with that. There are those days where one or two children have bitten little Timmy on the arm and they need to deal with that. There are those days where noro-virus has contaminated the nursery and the teachers have to deal with that. There are those days when two teachers have called in sick and they need to mix pre-school children with the toddlers. There are those days when there are so many children running around screaming and shouting that the teachers need to deal with that.

So please give them a break and stop putting all the pressure on them. Put the pressure on yourselves. After all if your child passes their 4+ Assessment or not that is down to you and it is definitely not down to your child’s nursery.

3 ways NOT to pass the Highgate 7+ Assessment.

The Highgate 7+ Assessment is a very challenging Assessment.

50 children will have passed their 7+ Assessments in 2025 to join 60 children who are already in the Pre-prep. Hundreds of parents were very disappointed that their son or daughter did not pass their 7+ at Highgate. I spoke to many of them personally. They were disappointed because they simply didn’t understand the assessment well enough. They didn’t understand the expectations and they didn’t prepare their child to be able to go in a be able to pass.

Registration is now open for 2026 entry. Applications close at noon on 5/11/25.

So here are 3 ways NOT to pass the Highgate 7+ Assessment. Avoid these at all costs and guarantee the highest chances for success for your child.

Way #1 to NOT pass

Not having a full 12 months of 7+ Assessment preparation tailored specifically to Highgate.

Whether you choose to teach your child yourself or you invest in the support of a specialised teacher, it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that your child has the full 12 months of Assessment prep. Historically (and I have no idea why!), parents leave this assessment to the very last minute. And it’s just not enough time! Their child will most likely not pass without the full 12 months of preparation. Take this Assessment very seriously and if you don’t, do not expect Highgate to take you seriously!

Way #2 to NOT pass

Choosing a teacher who does not have real and actual experience with getting children into Highgate at 7+

Perhaps they choose a teacher based purely on the fact that they live near to them or perhaps they choose a teacher based on the fact that their fees were lower. If you work with a teacher who doesn’t have experience with actually supporting students to pass their Assessment at Highgate, how can you expect your child to be taught the curriculum relevant to the Highgate Assessment? This is not just about completing tonnes and tonnes of worksheets. This is about preparing for what has come up historically.

Way #3 to NOT pass

Assume that because your child has passed Round 1 that they will pass Round 2

Many parents simply stopped their lessons with us when they found out that their child passed their first round! Big mistake. Highgate call back MOST of the students from Round 1. Round 2 needs thorough and careful Assessment preparation (in conjunction with Round 1 prep and not as a standalone service!)

Don’t leave this one to the last minute please.

Preparing for Highgate for 2026 entry and beyond?

Join our Waiting List today. Once joined, you will be contacted immediately by our Company Director to choose your ideal time for weekly tuition from January/February 2026.

Can my summer born son do as well as an autumn born child in a 4+ Assessment?

100% yes. If not better!

Oh there is so much RUBBISH out there about ‘summer born’ children.

Why do we have to label children anyway?

My son is not a label. He is a human being.

Stop labelling children unnecessarily!

My ‘summer born’ baby (oh and by the way your child is considered summer born if they are born between April-August), can and would do as well (if not better) than any autumn born child in his 4+ Assessments.

How do I know this? I know this because he is excelling in all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum currently.

I am fully well aware that all children develop at different rates and I never ever compare children anyway. It is not useful.

So when I receive calls from parents who tell me that their child is not where ‘they need to be’ for a 4+ Assessment and they blame it on the ‘fact that they are summer babies’. They are just so wrong.

It has nothing to do with that.

If your child ‘is not ready’ for their 4+ Assessment, it’s because you’ve chosen to not prepare them to be ready for it. Sorry if that stings but it is my opinion.

Enough with these ridiculous excuses.

My son is definitely developing slower with his phonics than some of my students but that’s not because he is ‘summer born’, it’s because it took me longer to get him really and truly interested in learning sounds. That’s on me. I was rather lazy when it came to his phonics. I could have found more interesting ways to engage him but I didn’t. He didn’t enjoy learning phonics so I took a step back. Then I realised that this was really not a good idea if I want him to be reading in the next 12 months (which I do by the way!). Now, he is making tremendous progress and he WILL know his phase 2 phonics (single sounds) by the end of this month.

Summer born and autumn born will not be assessed differently and expectations will not be different so please do get that out of your heads.

Prepare your child and prepare them well for their 4+ Assessments.

That is all.

What are NLCS even looking for in the 4+ Assessment?

If you truly want your daughter to go to NLCS from Reception, you need to know exactly what NLCS will be looking for in the 4+ Assessment. If you don’t know this, how will you ever prepare her to go in and pass?

Your daughter will need thorough and bespoke tuition for NLCS. You absolutely must only work with a teacher who has real and actual experience with this school.

NLCS is one of the hardest schools to get into at 4+ (and 7+!) but today I am talking about the 4+.

Don’t ever underestimate how hard it will be to get into this school.

This school is so overly subscribed each year. Hundreds of parents want their daughter to go to North London Collegiate School. At least 500 girls will be applying to do their 4+ Assessment for 2026 entry. There are 40 places on offer!

Having visited it several times myself and even having lunch there once with the teachers, I have seen exactly what it is like to be at this school. Their facilities are exceptional and the grounds are just divine. I get it!

I have prepared hundreds of girls for the 4+ Assessment at NLCS over the last 15 years and what I’ve learnt is this. Passing the first round is very challenging. As in, it’s very hard to pass!

If your daughter does pass, passing the second round is also challenging but not as challenging as the first round (if you have the right support in place!)

If your daughter makes it to the second round, it’s because NLCS have seen that she is the right fit for their school. They have seen through assessing her that she will be able to thrive at their school. In the second round, they will be assessing her further, deeper and more thoroughly (way smaller groups than the first round).

NLCS have a very specific Assessment criteria in the sense of what they are looking for. Of course, I’m not going to give that away here!

We have supported girls to be very successful at gaining entry to NLCS for over 15 years. In fact, I supported one of my oldest students with her Spanish GCSE last year! She worked with me when she was 6 and I prepared her for her 7+ at NLCS!

Preparing for 2026 entry? Join our Waiting List today. Once joined, I will be personally in touch to choose your preferred days and times to begin from January/February 2026. The Waiting List fee will make up your registration fee once you start your package.

5 reasons boys failed their 4+ at Habs Boys (2025 entry)

Habs Boys at 4+ is a tough Assessment.

You may not believe that it will be but you would be very wrong.

It is not a ‘play based assessment’ or whatever you are making that phrase mean in your head. It simply isn’t. Sure, your son will ‘play’ but no one cares about your child ‘playing’. Do you really think their ‘playing’ is being assessed at this top boys’ school?

Oh and it’s an hour and a half by the way. I’ve never known my nearly 3 year old son to engage in focused ‘play’ activities for 90 minutes! Perhaps your child has? I doubt it.

The groups will be with children in close proximity of age but don’t for one moment think that your summer born son will be assessed differently to an autumn born boy. He won’t be.

I’m thrilled that Habs haven’t written that the second round will be ‘play based’. No, it is a 1:1 with your son in which your son will engage in focused activities with an assessor (a teacher or senior leader at Habs).

With 40 places available and over 500+ boys applying, you have to prepare thoroughly for this Assessment (for all 4+ Assessments!)

This is real feedback from real students who did not pass their 4+ Assessment at Habs Boys (2025 entry). I share it with you because some of you are not preparing thoroughly enough for this school and you have to if you want your son to pass.

5 reasons boys failed their 4+ at Habs Boys (2025 entry)

Reason #1

Didn’t show enough independence.

Reason #2

Reluctant to try when it was harder.

Reason #3

Didn’t answer the questions immediately when asked.

Reason #4

Didn’t speak enough when spoken to.

Reasons #5

Didn’t consistently follow the instructions.

As you can see none of these are curriculum focused. So you must’t only prepare your son to be academically able. You must focus on your son in a holistic way and support him to demonstrate what the assessors are actually looking for in order for your son to be offered a place!

Join our 3 Month Bespoke Intensive 4+ Emerald Curriculum to fast track your son’s chances for success at Habs’ Boys’ School. Work with the best of the best to ensure that your son is as ready as he can possibly be to pass this 4+ Assessment.

Your child not enjoying doing something is not a reason not to do it.

Hear me out!

I’m referring to those of you preparing for a 4+ Assessment here (others too but let’s focus on 4+ for this blog).

I hear my own clients and potential new clients telling me this…

‘I’ve tried to do x with her/him but she/he just doesn’t like doing it.’

Do you think my son has always liked doing the things that he now is so amazing at doing?

No, absolutely not!

Do you think it meant that I didn’t do those things?

No! I did them anyway.

At the end of the day, if you are preparing your child for a 4+ Assessment and they don’t like to do something that they have to do in their 4+ Assessment, you’re going to have to find strategies to support them to want to do those things anyway!

Saying to me that your child doesn’t want to do phonics or writing just means nothing if you are preparing them to go to their 4+ Assessments in the next 2-5 months!

So your child is not interested in writing at the moment? Is that a reason to not do it?

No!

It is a reason to do it! To find strategies to support them to be interested to do their writing!

So your child is not interested in drawing at the moment? Is that a reason to not do it?

No!

You see where I’m going with this!

Your child is not always going to enjoy doing things.

Then comes the whining - ‘But my child is only 2/3 - this is just not fair!’

Then don’t send them to a 4+ Assessment!

Simple!

Join our Emerald Curriculum Intensive 3 Month programme to give your child the highest chances for success in their 4+ Assessments. This is your full 3 month commitment to providing your child with the support that they need to be able to go in a show their truest potential in any and all of their 4+ Assessments.

Top 3 LIES about the UCS 4+ Assessment

So you have your heart set on UCS for your son. You’ve decided this is the school you want to send your son to. You’ve visited the school and this is it! You’re feeling so excited and you believe that your son is ready for his 4+ Assessment and that he will ‘just be offered a place’.

Will he though?

Are you sure?

Doubts start to crop up in your mind…

You’re not alone, don’t worry and it is perfectly normal to fear the unknown.

To me it is not an unknown.

Myself and my team have been preparing boys for the 4+ Assessment at UCS for over 16 years!

I speak to parents every single day about the 4+ at UCS and here are the Top 3 LIES about the UCS 4+ Assessment. We have prepared hundreds of children to be very successful in their 4+ Assessment at UCS.

LIE #1

‘No preparation is needed for this play date assessment’

What a LIE.

Believing this is like believing that dieting is not needed in order to lose weight.

I have no more to say about this.

LIE #2

‘UCS will be able to tell if my child has been tutored and if they do, he will not pass’

What a LIE.

If your son is not tutored he will not pass.

It is really very simple.

Either you prepare his yourself or you have someone else prepare him, you must prepare him.

LIE #3

‘You don’t need to do much to be offered a place at UCS.’

What a LIE.

Sure, go and tell that to the hundreds of parents who are rejected each year following their son’s 4+ Assessments.

You need to do A LOT actually in order to have any chance of passing this 4+ Assessment.

Preparing for the UCS 4+ Assessment for 2026 entry? We have an incredible new course launching from September 2025. It will be on Mondays at 4pm with Emily Armstrong and will be open to the first three children who join the Waiting List.

5 important facts about the 4+ at South Hampstead.

Is South Hampstead a school you dream about for your daughter?

Would you love to send your daughter to South Hampstead at 4+?

Then do yourself a favour, sit back and relax and listen to what I have to say.

I have been preparing girls for this school for over 16 years. This means that for 16 years, I have seen what works and I have seen what doesn’t. This means that for 16 years, I have seen the calibre of girl that will pass this assessment and sadly I have seen and spoken to hundreds of parents of girls who have not passed.

I know exactly what is expected of the girls in their 4+ Assessments and so do my team of exceptional teachers.

1. There are only 24 places on offer at 4+.

Each year hundreds and hundreds of girls will sit their Assessment at this school.

This year at least 250 girls sat their Assessment at South Hampstead. Your daughter therefore will typically have a 1:10 chance of passing this assessment. Two of our girls this year have passed their Assessment at South Hampstead.

2. You should NOT consider it a ‘play date’

It is not a play date.

That is all I have to say.

3. Special preparation IS necessary.

South Hampstead are looking for very strong phonics and reading skills and very strong mathematical skills in their girls. How will your daughter pass without ‘special preparation’?

4. Formal knowledge IS expected.

A lot will be expected of your daughter in her 4+ Assessment for South Hampstead. Prepare her to a very high standard.

5. To be offered a place at 4+ is something exceptional.

If you have been offered a place, you are in a very privileged position and I hope you are aware of that.

We have exceptional success with South Hampstead at 4+ every single year. This year both of our students have been offered a place to study at South Hampstead and will be starting from September 2025.

‘Maria helped us with preparing our daughter for the 4+ assessment at SHHS. She is a summer baby and not in a nursery that formally prepares kids for the 4+. She comes to every lesson prepared but also flexible with content to suit the mood of our 3 year old. She is very patient and encouraging. The exercises she shares after the lessons are also useful to continue progress. All in all we are very happy especially after we got the offer from the school.’

Preparing for 2027 entry and beyond? Join our Waiting List today.

How does entry into Dulwich Prep work?

Dulwich Prep call their 2+ room ‘Fledglings’. Children are not assessed to gain entry into Dulwich Prep at 2+. Entry into Dulwich Prep at 2+ is on a first come, first served basis. So you have to be quick - basically!

There are only 16 places available at Fledglings! Dulwich Prep will only accept 30 registrations. This is really not much at all considering the sheer volume of parents that will be applying to send their sons to this school. If they exceed 16 applications - a ballot will be held to choose the children who will be offered a place into Fledglings.

It is important to note that although girls are welcome into Feldglings and the Nursery, Dulwich Prep is for boys only from Reception.

Entry into reception is not guaranteed even if your son has a place at 3+. Your son will be assessed internally at 4+.

At Reception there are 30 new places available in addition to the places offered to the children coming up from 3+.

It is a tough 4+ Assessment and to be offered a place your son will have to pass all of the the criteria that the school has in place to a very high standard.

The boys who we have prepared who have passed their 4+ Assessment at Dulwich Prep have been boys who have been able to demonstrate maturity, boys who have been calm, boys who have followed instructions perfectly and boys who can show that they are very ‘teachable’.

Boys who have passed the 4+ Assessment at Dulwich Prep have all been the ones who had a full 12 months of assessment preparation and knew exactly what to expect in their 4+ Assessment.

The boys who have historically not passed their 4+ Assessment at Dulwich Prep have been the boys with less than 3 months of assessment preparation, the boys who didn’t follow instructions, the boys who were not compliant and the boys who didn’t demonstrate maturity.

If you are preparing your son for the 4+ at Dulwich Prep for 2027 entry and beyond, join our Waiting List today.

3 ways to NOT pass the Merchant Taylors’ Prep 3+ Assessment.

1. Believe that just because your child is two (or 3!) that it will just be an ‘easy’ assessment. It won’t be. 

Many parents I speak to are so sure of themselves. They just know that their child will just be offered a place! After all they have the money to pay for a Merchant Taylors’ education. Well so do the other 300 or so parents applying! 

One parent last week literally was in shock when I told her that I’m currently preparing 5 other boys for their MTP 3+ Assessment (myself and my team) and that her child will be up against them! They’ve been with us since January of this year! Their parents are determined to get them a place there to study and not have to do the 4+ (which is virtually impossible given the number of places available!) 

2. Send your child in with virtually no assessment preparation. 

When parents say things to me like ‘But Maria, my son is two!’ And ‘What can they even ask two year olds to do? I know there and then that they will be bitterly disappointed. Nothing I can say will change their minds (and I don’t have time to do that anyway). They are so convinced that their child will just go in and play - after all that’s what Merchant Taylors’ have told them! They haven’t done the work needed. They haven’t dedicated their time and effort to preparing them every single day for their 3+ Assessment. It won’t end well for them. Sadly.

3. Not prepare your son to know exactly what MTP are looking for. 

And yes even though your child is 2 or 3, they will totally understand you when you explain it to them. 

If you don’t know exactly what MTP are looking for, work with specialist teachers who do. Work with teachers who have real and actual experience of supporting boys to be very successful in their 4+ Assessments. 

Preparing for the 3+ for 2026 entry? Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

Preparing for the 3+ for 2027 entry? Join our Waiting List today. Once joined, our Director Maria Mazarese will be in touch to discuss ongoing lessons.

Prepare for the 4+ at Guildford High like an expert in 3 easy steps.

The first thing GHS tell you about the 4+ is that they don’t expect their girls to read and write and if you believe this, you would be very wrong. Our girls who pass their 4+ Assessments at Guildford High at 4+ go in knowing exactly how to read and write! Oh and by the way, they have historically always been asked to read and write!

GHS will be ‘assessing your daughter’s readiness to learn.’

Don’t over think this. ‘Readiness to learn’ simply means how ‘ready your child is to learn!’ Basically= ‘How easy your daughter will be to teach”.

Very, very simple.

And GHS assess this over two 45 minute assessments!

They say that they look at language, number, manipulative and general cognitive skills and social interaction.

This is a very early 4+ Assessment that generally takes place in October! So I do hope that you’ve been preparing thoroughly for this one!

So how can you prepare for the 4+ at Guildford High like an expert in 3 easy steps. Here you go!

1. Start at least 12 months in advance with a bespoke, tailored programme of study that will give your daughter the highest possible chances for success at Guildford High School. (So October of the Year before the Assessment). If your daughter will be sitting for 2027 entry, begin from October 2025!

2. Ensure your daughter knows all of her phase 2 and phase 3 phonics and knows how to blend. Cover a broad and vast maths curriculum and cover all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum at depth.

3. Prepare your daughter to be able to go in calmly and demonstrate maturity.

If you are preparing for 2027 entry and beyond for Guildford High School, join our waiting list today.

3 ways to pass a 3+ Assessment at Merchant Taylors' Prep School

1.Fully understand that you must prepare your 2 year old for their 3+ Assessment at MTP. And if you don’t believe this, you can just stop reading this right now.

This isn’t for you.

If you do believe, keep reading!

We are currently preparing 5 boys for their 3+ Assessment at MTP (2026 entry) . All five boys started with us between January - March 2025. Some are spring/summer born and some are autumn/winter born. We have achieved so much together in these last few months.

These parents were all very sceptical before working with us. They just couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that they actually had to prepare their 1 or 2 year old for a 3+ Assessment. But they had all been loyal followers of mine for years and they believed everything that I was saying and they chose to invest in their child’s education and prepare them fully before sending them into their 3+ Assessment at MTP.

2. Do not stay with your child if you want them to have any sort of chance of passing.

I have nothing more to say on this.

3. Prepare your son to be able to do the following:

• Follow instructions to a very high standard.

• Be able to speak to adults that they’ve never met before in their lives.

• Be able to answer questions to a very high standard.

• Show that they can socialise within a small group of children (what I mean by this is that they can play nicely, share, take turns, listen to others and show respect and kindness).

• Speak very well. Boys who pass their 3+ at MTP have a very high level of vocabulary and are able to articulate themselves very well.

Preparing for the 3+ for 2026 entry? Book your Sample Lesson today.

Preparing for the 3+ for 2027 entry? Join our Waiting List today. Once joined, send us your preferred days and times and when you’d like to begin.

Why investing in your child's education is one of the most important things you can do - Part 5

Part 5 - My career

After completing my PGCE which I studied at Goldsmiths, I landed my first job. It was at a lovely little pre-prep in Hampstead - The Mulberry House School. I had no idea what I was getting myself into!

For three years I was working from 7am - 7pm (It’s an extended day school so we would work until the kids stayed at school) and we worked long after they left. I learnt a lot from my first school and it was definitely and positive experience for me. I decided to leave mainly because I wanted half terms! But I also decided to leave because I wanted experience with the older year groups.

I went on to work at George Eliot school in St John’s Wood and let’s just say there was a big incident with the Head teacher which forced 8 of us teachers to leave. I stayed there for 3 years.

I then went on to work at Preston Manor in Wembley. This was mostly a positive experience until I reached the top of my teaching career and they were trying to force out all of the more expensive teachers to replace them with newly qualified teachers! There was no where for me to go from here. I had no interest in working in management (and there were no roles anyways!) and in order to maintain UPS 3 (the highest paid teaching status) I was expected to do at least 10 hours extra on top of my actual hours, I decided that enough was enough. I handed in my notice the week I found out I was pregnant!

I had always been tutoring on the side of working full time (along with 6 other jobs I did on the side) Teaching does not pay well! I moved everything online after covid and I’ve never looked back.

I don’t regret my education but I know I could have had better and that’s why it is so important to me that all of my students receive the best possible education for them.

Was I ready for the world of work when I started my career? No, I wasn’t - my school didn’t prepare me properly or well enough.

Did I know what I wanted to do after I graduated? No I didn’t.

My students deserve better than this and this is what we provide them with. The best education possible for them.

Why investing in your child's education is one of the most important things you can do. Part 4

My University Experience - Part 4 2/2

My success at UCL became my failure. I kept having the narrative that I just wasn’t ‘good enough’ and that I didn’t ‘belong here’. And of course it was pure and utter nonsense. I ended up completing my first year at UCL and transferring to Reading.

I lived in Halls which I didn’t love. I was never really aligned with the lifestyle of going out and staying out late (took me a while to realise this!) But I love my sleep! I love to be in bed early and I love to just read books and relax! On my third year I did my Erasmus year in Bologna. This year I loved so much! I met my current best friend in the whole wide world and I made some beautiful friends that I still speak to. I didn’t study much at all as I found it all very ‘easy’ and I completed my studies by January. The rest of the year was pretty much a vacation and I did have a lot of fun. My final year at Reading, I lived in a house with 5 other girls and it went very well.

I graduated with top marks and I received my degree.

Once completed however, I was completely lost. I couldn’t get a single job (and I was applying for hundreds!). I didn’t have ‘experience’! Well how could I have experience? I had just graduated.

I wanted desperately to interpret law but all the doors just closed on me.

My peers were offered jobs. They went to better schools that me, got better grades than me and had connections. I had none of that!

I did a law Post grad course for one year and tried again. Still nothing.

That’s when I decided to do my PGCE. I specialised in Early Years. I was naturally very gifted. I had always worked with young children from the age of 18 (working in a Nuffield Gym creche for 7 years, teaching swimming to young children and also working as a nanny). It came naturally to me and at 25 I landed my first teaching job at a top prep school - The Mulberry House School. I worked so hard for 3 years preparing children for their 4+ and 7+ Assessments and we had amazing results.

I will always speak words of positivity to my son. I will always tell him that he is ‘more than good enough’. I will always tell him that he can be whatever he wants to be and I will provide him with the stepping stones to get there. It is the privilege of my life to provide him with the best education possible for him and to be able to provide my students with the same.

When I think of the thousands of students I’ve now personally helped to secure places at amazing schools, I feel proud. I’m so incredibly proud of myself and I’m so proud of them. I know that I’ve helped to provide them with what they need to have the success that they want and to make it that little bit easier for them. So that they don’t have to struggle as much as I did. They will struggle as that’s part of life but having extra opportunities and have doors opened for them is what I know I was able to help them with.

Why investing in your child's education is one of the most important things you can do. Part 3

Part 3 - My University Experience 1/2

One of my clients said something which totally matches what I am going to write about today.

‘Success isn’t what is damaging, it’s the narrative around it.’

Whether done intentionally or not, as a child my narrative was that I was not good enough. That’s what I was brought up hearing. I wasn’t the ‘brightest girl in the class’, I wasn’t the ‘most gifted in anything really!’. And what I did was just never ‘good enough'.’

I didn’t get into the best secondary school. I wasn’t in the top set at school. I was too thin. I was too fat. I didn’t have enough friends. I wasn’t the ‘popular’ girl. All of these messages as a young, fragile girl growing up in a world that will chew you up and spit you out if you are not strong enough would never lead to anything positive.

I lost my father when I was 11. He died in a terrible car accident in Sicily. My mother raised us alone and I know that she did her very best. It was hard for her too. She had lost her husband and was left with 2 very young children to care for. However, I lacked that guide. And I 100% didn’t have it at school.

So when I went to University, I was literally thrown in the deep end. I remember it clearly- I had turned 18 and I had pretty much finished my A levels. And I just stood at the top of the stairs of my child hood home and balled my eyes out. I had no idea what I was going to do.

You see, my education had never taught this one fundamental.

Independence.

And now I had to go to uni? Alone? Figure things out for myself?

I wanted to go to Oxford or to Cambridge to study Italian. Well actually, I wanted to study Law but I was just told ‘no’. Although my grades were good, they were not good enough for these universities and definitely not good enough to study law. The teacher who wrote the recommendations simply refused to write me one. So guess what? I applied without her recommendation and guess what? I was rejected from both!

So despite everyone telling me that I ‘wasn’t good enough’, I applied to UCS and I got a place to study there.

However, even though it is an excellent University, I just felt completely out of place. Everyone who I saw around me was just so amazing and brilliant and I just felt like a fraud. I felt that I shouldn’t be there. As a result of this, I quit after one year and transferred to the University of Reading.

University is such a huge investment and I paid for it all myself - I got a student loan which I understood nothing about at the time! I want my son to go to university to study something that he truly loves first and foremost but also something that will actually support him to be able to enter a career pathway that is financially abundant. And I will guide him every step of the way to do this (if he wants to of course!) and I will always be by himself as he figures things out.

Because without the best quality education from the early ages all the way through to 18, don’t expect your child to just wake up and know what they want to do, to know how to be independent and make choices for themselves, to know the meaning of the words ‘grit’ and ‘fortitude’, to know how to handle failures. It doesn’t work this way.

That’s why I’m writing this 5 part series. In the hope that it will help someone to understand the power of the best quality education possible for our beautiful children. They deserve only the best of the best. And it is up to us to provide it for them.

Summer Born V Autumn Born in the 4+ Assessments

So your child is summer born and they are going to be doing their 4+ Assessment in the next 2-6 months. You breathe in a sigh of relief because the school you desperately want to send your child to has told you that your child will be grouped in terms of age. You imagine that this means that your child will be assessed differently to their winter born peers and you would be wrong about this.

Children are grouped into age groups (at most 4+ Assessments) but please don’t take this to mean that they will be assessed differently to their peers who are older than them. They won’t be.

I’ve never spoken to one single parent who has ever told me that their child was assessed differently compared to a child who is winter born. They are assessed in the exact same way.

The Assessments will not be different for your child just because they are summer born.

Why would they be?

Do you really think that these top independent schools have the time to differentiate their Assessment procedure for summer born children? No they do not.

Prepare your child in the exact same way as a child who is nearly a year older than them will be prepared.

If you don’t, it is highly likely that they will not be ready for their 4+ Assessments and it is very likely that they will not pass.

Their percentage will be adjusted to give them their final mark but only ever so slightly.

At the end of the day, if your child is unable to fulfil the criteria of the school assessing them, they will not pass - regardless of their age.

Book your Sample Lesson today.