The harsh truth about the 4+ at The Hall that most of you would prefer not to hear.

50 boys are admitted into Reception at The Hall.

A large amount of children compared to other schools at 4+.

Perhaps this will put you at ease. It shouldn’t.

Competition to get into The Hall is fierce.

With parents registering their children to sit their 4+ Assessment at birth, I can see why they are very over subscribed. The Hall encourage parents to register their sons at the very letest before their son’s second birthdays. Registration fee to register your child to attend the 4+ asessment at The Hall is £180.

The Hall refer to their Assessments as playdates. They absolutely are not playdates.

In their Admissions policy they write…

The Hall has a selective admissions procedure, and the school needs to be confident that a boy will be able to benefit from the wide and fast-moving curriculum.

This makes it very clear to me what type of boy they are looking for in the 4+ Assessment.

Is it clear to you?

Please note that there are no other major intakes to this school but if your heart is set on sending your son here, you may register for an occasional place which do come up occasionally and need thorough preparation.

The Hall has one round at 4+. It is a very challenging Assessment and the only boys that I’ve ever known who have passed have been thoroughly prepared for at least one year (this is the minimum for this school).

I prepared a little boy for the Hall last year. His mother signed up for one of my packages in November (his Assessment to the Hall was in January). Her son was no where near ready for this Assessment and I told her as much. She insisted we only meet weekly. He did not pass and she was shocked. I wasn’t.

You want your son to go to the Hall? So do hundreds and hundreds of other parents. Prepare your son and prepare him well. If you don’t, I wouldn’t even bother sending him in.

Be extremely successful in the Manor Lodge 4+ Assessment.

We’ve had amazing success at Manor Lodge for years and years and years.

Parents love this school. Parents tend to adore their open day and fall in love with the school itself. They love the extensive grounds and the fact that they are told that a lot of the learning takes place outside. They love the head teacher and the teachers that they meet. Overall, I hear a lot of positive things about Manor Lodge.

First of all it is important that you are laser sharp aware about what exactly Manor Lodge are even assessing when it comes to the 4+ Assessment. So many of you want to send your child here but don’t truly know the expectations.

They will be assessing:

• Confidence

• Communication

• Collaboration

• Creativity

• Curiosity

The 4+ Assessment for Manor Lodge takes place in October (17th October 2025) - therefore it is one of the earliest 4+ Assessments. You have 2 weeks from now left to prepare your child to go in and pass this 4+ Assessment.

In my vast experience, what I’ve noticed is that parents start far too late preparing for the 4+ Assessment at this school. Perhaps they haven’t planned their time correctly, perhaps they don’t imagine their child will have any difficulty in being offered a place or perhaps they just don’t understand the 4+ Assessment process. For whatever reason, parents starting too late preparing their child for Manor Lodge, usually does not lead to positive results. I do not say this to scare you. I say this to inform you. And this has been my personal experience doing this for over 16 years.

Interestingly, Manor Lodge group children by their nursery which I don’t personally think is the best idea. Children tend to become overly ‘confident’ when they see their nursery peers and sometimes this can lead to behavioural issues. Obviously this is not in our control but please do prep your child by telling them that there will be children they know and telling them your behavioural expectations.

‘Your child’s age at the time will be taken into account’ means nothing. Disregard this comment completely please. Your child’s age is your child’s age and that is all.

The 4+ Assessment at Manor Lodge lasts 45 minutes. Be aware that this is a very over subscribed school and competition will be fierce. Picture hundreds and hundreds of children all at Manor Lodge on the same day! Tell your child about it and prepare them for this. My son would hate to be in a place with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of children.

Don’t assume that because it is in the forest garden that your child will just be running around and having fun and playing in a forest. Your child is going to be assessed. And your child will need to meet all of the criteria to a very high standard. No body cares about how much fun they have in the forest.

I suggest you cover all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum to a very high standard. I suggest that you don’t forget about physical development as this is an important aspect of this 4+ Assessment. I suggest you give yourself at least 12 months of preparation time for Manor Lodge (if you are considering ML for 2027 entry and beyond). 30 minutes a day of focused learning with your child every single day for 12 months (to the best of your ability).

I will be running a curriculum sprint for the Manor Lodge 4+ Assessment and this will be open to 5 very lucky students. I will be charging £97 for the Curriculum sprints and current clients can join for half the price (£48.50). This will launch on Friday 3rd October. Email me to be the first to register (office@creativemindstutors.com).

Why we have such amazing success at Chigwell (4+)

Chigwell is a very popular school that we prepare for every single year. It is one of the earlier Assessments so you must ensure that you start preparing a lot earlier. The Chigwell 4+ Assessments are currently taking place for 2026 entry (2 week period from 29th of September) We have just opened up our Waiting List for children going to the Chigwell 4+ Assessment for 2027 entry and beyond.

We prepare all of our students for their Chigwell 4+ Assessment to the highest standards. I know that all of our students are equipped with the skills to be able to answer any question that they are asked, to be able to complete any activity and to be able to go in and truly thrive.

We have such incredible success year after year after year because we do the following exceptionally well.

1. We teach our students HOW to answer questions well and we practise this skill every single week and they practise it every single day with their parents.

   Your child will need to communicate exceptionally well to be offered a place at Chigwell. I wouldn’t recommend sending your child in to this assessment if they are unable to do this. Communication and language are both key in this 4+ Assessment.

2. We focus on listening skills.

   Your child will need to listen and engage with a story and demonstrate high levels of listening. Listening also includes how your child responds to what they have heard.

3. We cover all of the EYFS curriculum to a very high standard.

12 months is needed to have success in this 4+ Assessment. Do some of our client have success with less time than this? Absolutely. But some do not.

The Chigwell 4+ Assessment is not easy.

Chigwell at 4+ is very over subscribed.

Chigwell will be looking for something specific in their students.

If you don’t know what they are looking for, work with someone who does.

We have supported hundreds of children to be very successful at this school.

Here is a testimonial from one of my clients whose son has started at Chigwell last year…

I would highly recommend Maria!!! SHE IS SIMPLY THE BEST!

We knew we wanted to send our son to a school that required him to sit the 4+ assessments. I did not know what was needed to prep him. I searched online and came across creative mind tutors. After having read their blog posts on their website, i had a discovery call with Maria. During this call she listened to me and I instantly knew she would be right for us. Her knowledge of the curriculum is outstanding.

We started with her curriculum sprints and then embarked on weekly tutuion sessions online. Maria was kind, patient and structured. She knew exactly what needed to be done and was aware of the timeline we had.

Our son got offers from all the schools we applied to and I am so grateful to Maria for making the whole experience fun and enjoyable for little children.

Thank you so much Maria!

Join our Waiting List today.

What you honestly need to know about the Guildford High 4+ Assessments.

Guildford High will have high expectations of your daughter at 4+ even though they write that their assessments are ‘low key’. What does that even mean anyway?

Guildford High say that they do not ‘expect girls to be able to read and write’ when they go to their 4+ Assessment. However, I will tell you that all of our girls who have historically passed this 4+ Assessment have been able to read and write.

Guildford High tell you that they will be assessing:

language

number

manipulative skills

cognitive skills

social interaction

They will be assessing far more than just these 5 things!

Guildford High call their assessments ‘Readiness Assessments’ - basically how ready your daughter is to start at their school.

One of the earliest girls’ assessments, you will want to start preparing your daughter for this assessment at least 12 months before. So basically the October of the year before the Assessment.

Parents will argue with me that they shouldn’t prepare their daughter for this assessment. That’s for them to decide.

Parents will argue with me that the school have told them not to prepare so why should they? That’s for them to decide.

Parents will argue with me that the nursery their daughter goes to is more than enough and that they don’t need to do anything extra. That’s up to them to decide. Let’s see how many of our girls will pass this year! And I will let you know that they have all had at least 12 months of assessment prep for GHS!

If you are planning to send your daughter to The Guildford High 4+ Assessment (2027 entry), join our Waiting List today. The waiting list will be your Registration fee. Once joined, I will be in touch to choose your preferred days and times. Once these become available, we can get started.

Have the success you want to have in the Forest 4+ Assessment!

So you have your heart set on Forest Prep School. It is a school that you have visited and it is one that you love. Now what?

You have about 3 months left until your child’s 4+ Assessment.

If your child truly ready?

With 64 places available to join Forest in Reception, perhaps you are thinking your child will be ‘just fine’ after all 64 is a rather large amount of children being offered places at this school. Not really.

With hundreds upon hundreds of children applying for this sought after school, you want to ensure that your child is ready for this 4+ Assessment. I keep hearing that schools are ‘tracking less’ applications. I’m not convinced. And even if they are, should this mean that you should take your foot off the gas? That is of course up to you. I wouldn’t if I were you!

Forest actually ‘request that you do not prepare your child for their 4+ Assessment'.’

90% of parents will follow this request. Most of these parents will not be successful in being offered a place at this school.

I know this for a fact. This is not just my opinion.

You do as you wish.

Here are 6 ways to guarantee success in the Forest 4+ Assessment.

1. Ensure your child is able to hold their pencil ‘correctly’. Make sure that they are excellent at drawing pictures (detailed and precise and follow the instruction given) and make sure that your child is able to write their name with accuracy and precision and with the correct letter formation.

2. Ensure that your child is able to identify all colours and shapes. Make sure your child is able to complete a pattern.

3. Ensure that your child knows all of their phase 2 and 3 phonics (doesn’t matter which phonics programme your use). Your child should be decoding by the time of the assessment and read simple cvc words. Your child should know rhyming words and how to identify them within a series of other words. Eg. Which word rhymes with cat?

4. Ensure that your child is able to count (at least to 10). Make sure that your child is able to identify numbers and that your child can do simple addition and subtraction.

5. Ensure that your child is able to interact with other children and adults. Make sure that they know how to share and take turns. Social and emotional questioning is very important at this school.

6. Ensure that your child is able to settle quickly when you drop them off to this assessment. We have hundreds of strategies to support our students to be able to do this!

We are looking for at least 75% as an overall percentage to pass this 4+ Assessment.

Very high expectations indeed.

Last year ALL of our students that we prepared were offered a place at Forest!

Preparing for 2027 entry and beyond? Join our Waiting List today to begin with us from February 2026.

You cannot have a 'buffet' selection of teachers when preparing for an assessment.

It doesn’t work.

You are wasting your money.

You are over complicating an already very complicated process.

You will not have the results that you want or that you think you will have.

This happens every year to me - especially with the 7+. Clients will reach out and want to work with me and then they will have a ‘freak out’ moment. They will see that little Jane down the road has an in person tutor coming three to four times a week. They will see that little Timmy down the road is going to a 7+ Saturday class for 4 hours every week.

It’s that ‘FOMO’ moment.

‘If they’re doing it, maybe I should be doing it too?’ And ultimately, we want the very best for our children. And I’m not judging at all, you can obviously do what you want to do. I’m just speaking to you through my experience of doing this for over 16 years.

Pick one teacher and that’s it. Commit to that one teacher. Everything else is noise. Everything else is a distraction.

When I was new at this, one of my clients asked me to teach her child English and she told me that she would get an in person teacher for maths because her child ‘just could not focus!’. Absolute nonsense. Her child was doing amazingly in both maths and English online with me. It was such a mess. My client gave myself and this other teacher emails to exchange with each other. It was such a waste of time. At one point, I wasn’t happy with the level of maths his maths teacher was setting him and it became a huge tension between all of us. He did not pass his 7+ Assessments.

This year, I’ve had students go to various 7+ camps over the summer and now a few clients have told me that they are working with multiple teachers including myself.

It doesn’t work.

It’s not a ‘buffet of teachers’ process.

Choose one teacher, commit to them and go all in.

Stop comparing yourself to others. Stop listening to the opinions of ‘well meaning’ neighbours.

Just prepare your child to the best of your ability with one teacher.

That is all.

Habs’ girls and NLCS 4+ Assessment – A true story

Parisa contacted me in October last year. Her daughter was sitting her 4+ at Habs and NLCS. She initially booked a Mock Assessment with me. Her daughter, Sabeena was not ready for the Habs’ girls 4+ Assessment which was coming up in a few weeks following the Mock Assessment.

You see, she was a lovely, bright and switched on girl but she was unable to follow instructions as well as was needed for her to pass her 4+ Assessment at Habs. She had a very strong character (which is an amazing thing of course) and in the Mock assessment, she was telling me what to do! Listening wasn’t good (as good as it needed to be for her assessment) during the story time and following instructions needed a lot of work.

Her phonics were very strong but they could have been better. Maths was very strong. Physically she was very strong. Cutting was good but she lost interest halfway through and ripped the paper.

Her parents were both incredibly receptive of my feedback and they did wish they’d started sooner. We didn’t have time to begin tuition for Habs and Parisa’s daughter was not offered a place. In fact, she did not pass the first round. That’s when her mother got super serious. She signed up to my package of lessons and joined all of my NLCS intensive courses. She was fully determined to get her in!

With focus, dedication and commitment, Sabeena was indeed offered a place to study at NLCS and she started there a couple weeks ago! She adored our lessons together and I adored working with her and her mother.

You have to be willing to put in the work and the effort if you would like to have any sort of chance of passing the 4+ at either of these schools.

NLCS and Habs girls 4+ Assessment preparation (2026 entry)– A true story.

Thomas contacted me in June this year. He was super keen and eager when we first started talking. He sent me the most in depth emails about his desire to support his daughter to be offered a place to study at NLCS and Habs at 4+. His daughter is a summer baby and I asked him ‘Why he had left it so late to start?’. He didn’t like that I asked this. He had a million excuses for me. If your child is summer born, you must start earlier, not later. His daughter is one month younger than my own son (who is July born). I started formal learning with my son at 17 months.

We had our Sample Lesson and Tania (my student) really struggled to sit still for more that 1 minute. She didn’t know any phonics. She could count to 10 but couldn’t identify any numbers. Her vocabulary was very limited. She would have regular tantrums in our lessons and I was very patient and calm. The biggest problem Thomas had was that he wouldn’t allow Tania to get things wrong. He also answered for her. There were times in our lessons when she would pause to think and he would just answer for her. When I called him out on it, he didn’t like it. He was super defensive with me. ‘I’m just helping my daughter!’ He wasn’t though.

Thomas would contact me every day – at least 3x a day to get information from me. He really did use his 24/7 contact with me very well!

After 1 month of meeting, the excuses started coming. Tania was unwell. Tania had a party. Tania had a doctor’s appointment. And she started missing a lot of lessons. I knew that they  weren’t doing the learning every day since ‘Tania went to nursery full time anyway’.

Thomas handed his one-month notice last month.

I was and I am very disappointed. All of that hard work and effort from all sides for what?

She is not ready for any 4+ Assessments let alone NLCS and Habs. And the opportunity to support her was just taken away from me.

I do hope that her parents make the decision to not send her to those 4+ Assessments. I really wouldn’t see the point and it would only be detrimental to her and her wellbeing.

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.

If you’ve left it to the last minute, fear not, we are here to support you every step of the way. Join our intensive 3 month programme.

A Merchant Taylors 3+ True story.

Reyna contacted me mid August. She was desperate for support with her son’s 3+ Assessment. ‘I’ve heard that you are the best of the best' she told me in our initial phone call. ‘I’ve heard you’ve supported many boys to be successful in their 3+ at MT’s’.

Yes, this is true.

With the 3+ at MT’s being early November however, I told her very clearly and very honestly - she had left it too late.

Reyna assured me that her son was good! He went to nursery full time. And it was a Montessori Nursery.

Highly irrelevant.

Reyna was furious at me for saying this. ‘I’ve spent a small fortune on his amazing nursery.’

Highly irrelevant. It’s safe to say that Reyna really didn’t like me even before she started working with me!

At 3+, MT’s are looking for:

1) Signs that children will take direction from one of the teachers and respond to them.

2) Signs of sociability.

3) Language development.

Very clear, very concise and very transparent.

Her son, Shil met with me on our first lesson. Reyna hadn’t followed any of my instructions prior to the lesson beginning. I had asked her to have a clear, empty area for Shil. I had asked her to join on a laptop. I had asked her to be in a quiet area of the house. I had asked her to explain to her son what would be happening.

Shil joined the lesson with Reyna and she had joined on her phone! I don’t need to say any more about that! Shil joined the lesson and was playing lego on the floor. Of course, he had no desire to stop his precious lego play to come and speak with me. Reyna had a meltdown in the lesson. She started saying things like…

‘Online doesn’t work for Shil!’

‘I knew it!’

‘You get him to listen to you, isn’t that what I’ve paid for.’

She was so angry that at one point, I actually had to tell her to calm down and invite her son to go to another room.

Reyna is a classic example of a parent who doesn’t want to put in the work herself. A classic example of a parent who just wants to send her child to a ‘top’ nursery and for them to do the work.

It does not work like that.

Shil is not ready for his 3+ and I told her as much. He will not pass and I told her as much.

He was unable to demonstrate to me in any of our 5 lessons that he could follow instructions. engage in a story and listen well. Reyna handed in her notice after the first lesson.

I feel nothing but love and compassion for her. All she wants is to support her son to get into the best school according to her. He won’t. And she needs to put in the work - not her son’s nursery.

If you are ready to go all in and support your son to pass his 3+ Assessment at MT’s. Join our brand new 3 month Intensive Programme today.

PS. All children (that I know) are waitlisted at 3+ after their assessment. I’ve never known of any to be offered places after being on the waitlist.

PPS. We are not interested in children not passing their 3+ Assessment, what we want is success! That is what truly drives our business. What we want is parents to be raving about us and not moaning about us! What we want is to support thousands of children each year to be wildly successful in all of their assessments and go to the best of the best schools for them.

If you are preparing for the 4+ at Manor Lodge, don't miss this!

Stop dreaming of your child passing their 4+ Assessment at Manor Lodge. Create the results that you desire.

The Manor Lodge 4+ Success Programme helps you create the success your child deserves to have in their 4+ Assessment at Manor Lodge - real plans, real systems, real support and real success.

Get everything you need in one place.

The Manor Lodge 4+ Success programme

You will receive step by step instructions telling you exactly what to do to support your child with their 4+ Assessment at Manor Lodge. No more second guessing. You will know exactly what to expect and so will your child.

Personalised Help and Support

Daily live Q&A’s and expert feedback to keep you moving toward preparing your child for their 4+ Assessment at Manor Lodge.

Preparing for the 4+ Assessment at Monor Lodge can feel impossible when you’re doing it on your own.

You want your child to be offered a place at Manor Lodge but you’re:

❌ Second-guessing what you need to do in order to prepare them.

❌ Watching others make progress with their child’s learning whilst you’re struggling to support your child to learn their phonics or master their maths.

❌ Using resources that you find on Twinkl that are highly irrelevant.

❌ Throwing money on over priced group tutoring that simply won’t help your child.

That's why I created The Manor Lodge 4+ Success Programme. To tell you the right things to do at the right time so you can support your child to have the success that they deserve to have in their Manor Lodge 4+ Assessment.

Create the results and success you want.

Step 1: Join the Manor Lodge 4+ Success Programme

Step 2: Take action.

Say goodbye to overwhelm and confusion. I will tell you exactly what to do and when to do it so you know your next step. Always.

Step 3: Set your child up for success in their Manor Lodge 4+ Assessment.

Prepare your child and prepare them well for the Manor Lodge 4+ Assessment.

It's all inside this Programme. Everything you need to ensure you have covered all of the curriculum that you need to cover with your child.

You'll get: 

✅ A complete maths and english curriculum (one month worth) tailored specifically to Manor Lodge.

✅ Done-for-you resources to complete daily with your child in preparation for the Manor Lodge 4+ Assessment

✅ Access to expert support by our Company Director to answer every single question you have relating to Manor Lodge and their 4+ Assessment.

The Manor Lodge 4+ Assessment will be on Friday 17th October 2025 so we have exactly one month remaining to prepare for this assessment.

The Manor Lodge 4+ Success Programme will launch on Wednesday 17th September 2025.

• Each week, you will receive a 30 minute video from our Company Director Maria Mazarese telling you exactly what to do with your child that week.

• You will receive tailored and bespoke resources for your child to complete.

• You will have 24/7 access to Maria to ask any questions relating to the assessment or relating to your child’d learning.

• You will receive a tailored and bespoke plan based on your child’s level and ability following a very detailed form that you will be asked to fill out.

We are opening 3 places only for this Intensive programme and you have until this evening to join.

How quitting slows you down when preparing for an Assessment.

When things get tough as you prepare your child for their 4+ or 7+ Assessments, it can be tempting to quit.

Quitting feels easy.

Instant relief.

But quitting is a habit and it will slow you down.

And if you practice quitting, you get better at quitting. And if we show that we are quitting in front of our children, they will also get better at it.

Quitting prevents us from getting what we want. And what we want here is assessment success.

When we quit, we commit to living a life by default instead of deliberately. This means that we are not the ones in control of what we truly want for our children. And what we truly want is for our children to have the best learning experiences possible for them. What we want is for our children to go to the best schools possible because we know how incredibly important the bst eduction is for our children.

However, some of you that I speak to on a daily basis choose to sit back and ‘go with the flow’, ‘see what happens’ instead of crafting the intentional life of our dream and supporting our children to have the best learning experience possible for them.

It’s easier to quit.

But easier isn’t better.

And if we want to live extraordinary lives, we have to stop quitting.

At least 5 of my very own clients decided to quit in the month of August. And it’s the saddest thing ever for me. And not financially. It’s the saddest thing for me because their children were making extraordinary progress in their learning but my clients were too frustrated, too annoyed and too worried to see it. I don’t judge them. I don’t blame them. In fact, I feel nothing but love and compassion for them. I know that in their minds they are doing wha they think is best for their children. Everything we ever do in this life is for the best of our children.

But they simply decided to stop. They quit on their children’s assessment preparation. And they had a lot of very good excuses for it.

Listen, I get it ok. Life happens. But if you quit halfway or 3/4 of the way through your journey, it won’t be helpful to you or to your child.

There will be times that this process will be frustrating. There will be times that your child just ‘does not get it!’ and there will be times that your child will get things very, very wrong.

Know this in advance and expect it. In fact, support and teach your child to become experts at failing. What an amazing life skill to teach our children. Because if we are not failing at least once a day are we really making progress?

Commit to the next 3 months and give your child the highest chances for success in their assessments. We are fully committed to witnessing all of our clients get as many offers as possible from their target schools. Are you committed to receiving those offers?

Should you tell your child if they've passed an assessment or not?

Students will fail their 7+ Assessments. This does not mean they they are failures. This means that they have failed a 7+ Assessment. That’s the nature of an assessment. Some will pass and some will fail. Some will do well and some will not.

I advise all of my clients to not tell their children if they have passed or failed. They are going to a new school to complete some learning just as we do every single week in our lessons. They are going to show the best of their best abilities and they are going to try their best in the learning that they complete. I encourage all of our clients to not tell their children the outcome of their assessment. If they pass, great. If they don’t pass it’s disappointing but onto the next one. 

If they pass, my clients can have a discussion with their children about the new school that they will be going to. Usually my students are more upset about leaving their current school than the fact that they’ve passed an assessment to be honest. 

There is absolutely no need to tell our children whether or not they have passed or failed. If they ask, then absolutely tell them the truth- but I wouldn’t use the words ‘pass’ or ‘fail’. If you’ve been discussing the assessment as I advise my clients, your children will simply ask you something like this. ‘How did I do at x school?’ And you can tell them the truth. ‘You tried your best and I am very proud of you.’ Usually, in my experience, children do not ask this question.

When you have all of the school options in your hands, you can have a conversation with your child and ask them where they would like to go. But they really don’t need to know about the assessments that they did not pass. What benefit is it to them to know this information?

Also, some assessments are super early and if your child knows that they haven’t passed, it could discourage them for future ones. This is absolutely not what we want. Obviously you will be discouraged but it’s up to you to not show that to your child. You need to be putting all of your energy into the future assessments not the past ones. If your child doesn’t pass, brush yourself off, tell your child that they did so, so well and onto the next one. 

If you are truly serious about supporting your child to be wildly successful in all of their 7+ Assessments,  join our 3 month Intensive programme and let’s all be committed and dedicated in supporting your child to have tremendous success in all of their 7+ Assessments.

Everything you need to know about the 4+ at Manor Lodge (2026 entry)

Manor Lodge is a very popular school that we prepare our clients to have tremendous success at.

It is a highly sought after school. Parents tend to adore their open day and fall in love with the school itself. They love the extensive grounds and the fact that they are told that a lot of the learning takes place outside. They love the head teacher and the teachers that they meet. Overall, I hear a lot of positive things about Manor Lodge.

First of all it is important that you are laser sharp aware about what exactly Manor Lodge are even assessing when it comes to the 4+ Assessment.

They will be assessing:

• Confidence

• Communication

• Collaboration

• Creativity

• Curiosity

The 4+ Assessment for Manor Lodge takes place in October (17th October 2025) - therefore it is one of the earlier 4+ Assessments. You have 1 months from remaining to prepare your child to go in and pass this 4+ Assessment.

In my vast experience, what I’ve noticed is that parents start far too late preparing for the 4+ Assessment at this school. Perhaps they haven’t planned their time correctly, perhaps they don’t imagine their child will have any difficulty in being offered a place or perhaps they just don’t understand the 4+ Assessment process. For whatever reason, parents starting too late preparing their child for Manor Lodge, usually does not lead to positive results.

Interestingly, Manor Lodge group children by their nursery which I don’t personally think is the best idea. Children tend to become overly ‘confident’ when they see their nursery peers and sometimes this can lead to behavioural issues. Obviously this is not in our control but please do prep your child by telling them that there will be children they know and telling them your behavioural expectations.

‘Your child’s age at the time will be taken into account’ means nothing. Disregard this comment completely please.

The 4+ Assessment at Manor Lodge lasts 45 minutes. Be aware that this is a very over subscribed school and competition will be fierce.

Don’t assume that because it is in the forest garden that your child will just be running around and having fun. Your child is going to be assessed. And your child will need to meet all of the criteria to a very high standard.

I suggest you cover all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum to a very high standard. I suggest that you don’t forget about physical development as this is an important aspect of this 4+ Assessment. I suggest you give yourself at least 12 months of preparation time for Manor Lodge. 30 minutes a day of focused learning with your child every single day for 12 months.

Book your Sample Lesson today.

Join our Waiting List for 2027 entry - Simply purchase via the link. I will then email you to discuss your preferred times. As soon as that time becomes available, we will begin. Curriculum only option can begin when you tell me. The £100 credit will be deducted when you are charged for your first curriculum package (it will count as your Registration fee)

What is really expected in terms of spellings and handwriting in the 7+ Assessments?

Pretty much perfection is what is expected. 

Your child will need to know how to spell all of the Year 1 and 2 words perfectly well. 

Your child will need to know to to spell all of the High Frequency words perfectly well. 

Your child will need to know most of the Year 3/4 spellings words. If your child is given a spelling test, expect the level of most words being assessed to be Year 3 and 4 spelling words. 

When your child writes a story in their 7+ Assessments, the level and quality of their spellings and handwriting will be assessed. You must always keep in the back of your mind that your child will be up against the brightest minds in the UK. How will their handwriting compare to the handwriting of others? How will their spellings compare to the spellings of others?

Many of you ask if handwriting should be joined or not? Of course it should be and of course it will be. And if it isn’t because you just don’t have the time for your child to master cursive handwriting, then please ensure that their writing is the neatest and the best that it can be. Do not force cursive handwriting - it will not end well. And ultimately, if the assessors cannot mark your child’s writing, then that would be even worse wouldn’t it? Messy, unclear. poorly formed cursive writing will not cut it. 

Handwriting needs to be neat, legible and perfectly joined. 

Spellings need to be as perfect as can be. A knowledge of spelling patterns needs to be well embedded into your child’s mind. A deep understanding of suffixes and prefixes is needed. A deep understanding of double letters is needed. I could go on!

A parent said to me today, ‘I understand that the expectations at these schools will be quite high.’ 

That is an understatement. The expectations will be extraordinarily high. 

Know that. 

Understand that. 

Expect that. 

If you are truly serious about supporting your child to be wildly successful in all of their 7+ Assessments,  join our 3 month Intensive programme and let’s all be committed and dedicated in supporting your child to have tremendous success in all of their 7+ Assessments

How to prepare for the maths part of the 7+ Assessments with less than 3 months to go.

I would hope that you’ve been dipping into the year 2/year 3 curriculum with your child and revising concepts from the year 2/3 curriculum consistently and frequently over these last few months. I don’t believe you can rush the maths curriculum for the 7+ Assessments so this is very important. The last three months should be all about completing test papers to the level expected of your child in their 7+ assessments. This does differ from school to school and the 7+ Assessments provided for free online are very inaccurate and old (from over 15 years ago!) They also do not reflect the level of difficulty of the 7+ Assessments.  

The last 3 months should also be about learning new concepts from the year 3/4 maths curriculum. They certainly shouldn’t be spent learning year 2 mathematical concepts such as telling the time or calculating halves and quarters. If this is the case, it’s okay just keep going. Don’t let this dishearten you. Now that you know what is expected of your child in their 7+ Assessments, you can put a clear and structured plan in place to truly support them to cover a well rounded, broad and vast curriculum to give them the highest chances for success in their 7+ Assessments. 

Your child needs to be at mastery (greater depth) in all of the year 2 curriculum. This is my minimum baseline. If my students are not at greater depth in the Year 2 curriculum, when they begin their 3 month intensive programme of study, we go all in to support them to get there. The next step needs to be to cover the Year 3 curriculum (all of it!). Now, you might be saying - hey, this is far too much. Yes it is! Don’t think of it in this way. See it as a challenge. One that you are willing to go all in on. There is not half hearting this. And if you do, we have no interest in working with you. 

Your child deserves to go into any 7+Assessment equipped with the knowledge and understanding to be able to answer any question asked of them. 

Problem solving needs to be strong. Reasoning needs to be strong. Your child needs to know all of their times tables (not just the 2x, 5x and 10x tables) and I really don’t care if the schools have told you that this is ‘all’ your child needs to know. Ignore this. How can your child find fraction of quantity, for example 1/4 of a number or 3/4 of a number, if they don’t know their 3 and 4x tables? And let me be crystal clear with you. Preparing for the maths 7+ curriculum takes at least 2 years of Assessment preparation so if you haven’t done so, get started now. Stop making excuses and go all in to ensure that your child is in the best position possible to happily and comfortably sit any 7+ Assessment and have the highest chances for success. 

If you are truly serious about supporting your child to be wildly successful in all of their 7+ Assessments,  join our 3 month Intensive programme and let’s all be committed and dedicated in supporting your child to have tremendous success in all of their 7+ Assessments.

How to prepare for the reading comprehension part of the 7+ Assessments with less than 3 months remaining!

All of our current 7+ students have had at least 6 months of assessment preparation so far (2026 entry), with some students having joined us at least 12 months ago - some even earlier than this. For 2027 entry and beyond, our students have started preparing for their 7+ Assessments since before they even started Reception. Of course, that is a much nicer, more calmer process than starting three months before the 7+ Assessments. It’s obvious that starting three months before is going to require a lot more effort, time per day spent on learning and amount of time reading each day and boosting vocabulary. 

Vocabulary is key when preparing for the reading aspect of the 7+ Assessments. Our students meet with their teachers every single week (some twice per week) and complete a variety of genres of comprehensions. In this way, they have a huge boost in their vocabulary. Your child needs to be completing a vast range of fiction and non fiction texts as well as different types of poetry. Some schools- like Highgate at 7+ for instance, expect their students to complete two different reading comprehensions and they are different genres. Also, it’s not about children knowing the meaning of every single word that comes up in the text. This would be impossible. Rather, it’s about children having had enough practise to be a able to infer the meaning of any word within a text. To be able to identify if the word is a noun, an adjective, a verb or an adverb in order to be able to answer all of the questions in the 7+ Assessment papers or at least as many as they possible can in order to achieve the highest percentage marks.

You also need to prepare your child to have stamina when it comes to their reading comprehension. This can only happen through reading longer comprehension passages and over time getting progressively quicker. Remember that your child will be timed and they will need to complete as much of the paper as they possibly can in the timeframe allocated to them. Usually, children lose a lot of marks because they leave 5-10 marks worth of questions blank simply because they run out of time. 

If you have less than 3 months, I suggest you purchase the English Bond Books (at least age 7-8 for the 7+). We aim for the 8-9 before our students go to their 7+ Assessments. I suggest you work through the tests with your child consistently and frequently. I can’t tell you how many per week. I would need to meet your child in order to be able to tell you that! I then suggest that your child reads chapter books every single day for at least 30 minutes a day and keeps a glossary of new words. Every time your child reads, they should be placing new or unfamiliar words into a glossary and you should be asking them frequently what the words in that glossary mean. 

If you are truly serious about supporting your child to be wildly successful in all of their 7+ Assessments,  join our 3 month Intensive programme and let’s all be committed and dedicated in supporting your child to have tremendous success in all of their 7+ Assessments.

Is 3 months enough time to prepare for a 7+ Assessment?

In my opinion and in my experience - it is not enough time. This is not to say that your child cannot be very successful in their 7+ Assessments having started ‘late’ preparing for them. But be very clear that your assessment preparation journey will be intensive. Very intensive. And not all children will handle this type of intensive preparation well. Some will, some will not. Your child will need to put in the work and be dedicated and fully commit to the process (and yes 6 year olds can 100% be dedicated and committed). We’ve supported hundreds of children to be very successful in all of their 7+ Assessments. Trust me, success doesn’t come to those who are not dedicated and committed! You will also need to be dedicated and committed to putting in the work. Just as our clients who take the full 12 months of Assessment preparation are. There is a huge difference in our results based on how dedicated and committed out clients and students truly are in the 7+ Assessment preparation process.

That’s also why I created our Emerald Curriculum Intensive 3 month programme. It was to ensure that the calibre of clients that we attracted were and are truly serious about having the best results. Too often, we have attracted clients who join around the September/ October point for Assessments in December/January time and even though they started ‘late’, they would be constantly cancelling for this and that reason or not showing up at the last minute. Basically, not serious about getting their child into their target schools. Perhaps they weren’t truly invested? Perhaps they were ‘fine’ with the schools that their children currently attended. Perhaps they just wanted to ‘give it a go’. We are not interested in working with these types of clients. You see, what we are after are the results. Because guess what? That’s what drives us forwards as a business? Results are what we are after and of course that our students have the best possible learning experience in preparation for their 7+ Assessments.

Children not getting into their schools of choice is really not what I’m interested in. It doesn’t help my reputation as a company and it doesn’t attract the highest calibre of clients which is what I am personally after.

We are serious about getting our students into their target schools are 7+. Are you?

If you truly are, join our 3 month Intensive programme and let’s all be committed and dedicated in supporting your child to have tremendous success in all of their 7+ Assessments.

Schools DON'T want tutored children!

Are you sure about that though?

Are you really certain about that?

Some of you seem to think that this is just a fact.

It’s not.

Tell me, what do these schools want then?

Let me tell you exactly what they want.

Children who can hold their pen/pencil correctly

Children who can draw perfectly well and to a very high standard

Children who can write then name

Children who can correctly write numbers 1-10 (to 20 for some)

Children who know all of their phonics and in some schools children who can read (decode and blend)

Children who know their rhyming words

Children who can identify numbers to 10 (to 20 for some)

Children who can work independently

Children who can work as part of a team

Children who can share

Children who are kind

Children who are nice to be around

Children who listen

Children who follow instructions

I could go on.

Now you tell me this, if you don’t support your children to be able to do all of the above to a very high standard, what chance will they have at being offered a place at your target school?

It will be very low.

Make ‘tutoring’ mean something negative if you wish. Tutoring is merely preparation. We prepare our students to go into any 4+ Assessment and show exactly what the assessors are looking for.

More than that however, we are preparing children to have a love for learning which goes far beyond any 4+ Assessment.

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+ (2026 entry) Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

A lack of understanding about the 4+ Assessment will lead to failure.

On average I speak to 20 parents a day who are preparing their children for an assessment. As a company, we specialise in the preparation of the 3+, 4+, 7+ and 11+ Assessments.

This blog will focus specifically on the 4+ Assessment.

First of all, let me start off by saying this. We all only want the best for our children. They are our entire worlds. So please do not read any of my words as an attack on you as a person or on your choices as a parent. I am merely writing this blog to share with you some of the things that I hear which are just completely incorrect and which ultimately lead to failure in the 4+ Assessments.

As a business, all I want is for my clients to be incredibly successful. As a teacher, all I want is for my students to go into any 4+ Assessment and shine. As a mother, all I want is for my students and my own child to have the best possible experience when it comes to their learning.

A lack of understanding about the 4+ Assessment will lead to failure.

You MUST understand the 4+ Assessment process at each of the schools that you are sending your child to. If you don’t, your child is highly likely to not pass that assessment. It really is as simple as that.

The 4+ Assessments are a highly complex process that require time, effort, focus, dedication and perseverance. The 4+ Assessments require your full commitment to supporting your child to have the highest chances for success. The 4+ Assessments will require YOUR time and effort and not just the time and effort of others.

The Prepare for Your Dream Schools by Friday Challenge is back and it’s going to be even better than ever. If it is your dream to support your child to be very successful to pass their 4+/7+ or 11+ Assessments at your schools of choice, don’t miss out. There are very limited places remaining for the 4+ group of parents. Join today!