The reality of the 4+ at Highgate.

Hundreds and hundreds of children will have applied for the Highgate 4+ Assessment (2026 entry). About 500 children will be assessed this year.

This school is so popular that they have a Ballot system in place. This year for the first time in a very long time, all applicants were invited to attend the first round. Many of you make this mean that there have been fewer applicants. I know that this isn’t the case.

I’ve written several blogs about Highgate at 4+ so search for them!

After the first round 180 children will be invited to Round 2!

So to pass the first round will be VERY challenging!

If your child is able to pass the first round, 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!’. HG have taken steps to address this after multiple complaints about the assessment process but it’s still very challenging. Their expectations are very high and our students are often ‘exhausted’ particularly after the second round.

Highgate talk about ‘learning readiness’ and that this is what is assessed in the first round. Basically how ready your child is to actually come to their school and learn!

Parents often ask me how Highgate assesses ‘learning readiness’?

It will be very obvious to the assessors which children are ready to come to their school. And this is what they will be assessing in the 4+ Assessment.

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 nearly 2 decades!

Join our Waiting List today (2027 entry and beyond)

The Holland House 4+ assessment report (2026 entry)

Results from the Holland House 4+ assessment were released last week.

We’ve had incredible results this year. Again!

I am not surprised. All 6 of our students have passed the 4+ assessment at Holland House.

Holland House had a lot more applicants this year compared to previous years. It is one of the more ‘affordable’ private schools in the area with fees at £11,850 per year (not including lunches). Their deposit is very high however (£4,740) because they are clearly aware that some parents will accept and then decline (this happens every single year).

Myself and my team have personally been preparing our youngest students for Holland House for many, many years. Before sending their children into the HH 4+ assessments, my clients are very well aware of the expectations at HH. We tell them openly about all of them.

Our clients are so happy with the HH results this year. They are all delighted.

Myself and my team of teachers prepared 6 children for HH (for 2026 entry).

All six children worked very hard in preparation for this assessment. For most of them, it was their first assessment. For some it was their last. All six children are bright, vibrant, highly intelligent, articulate and just a pleasure to teach. I had no doubt in my mind that they would all be offered a place- and they were!

1.Stats

6/6 children passed the HH 4+ assessment.

2 of these children will definitely be going to HH.

The other 4 children are also preparing for assessments at several other schools.

2. Three key reasons for success at HH.

• Children who perform highly across the board (in all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum)

• Regular communication between parents and teacher during the week between the lessons.

• Consistent daily activity - Children completing all of the home learning sent every single day in preparation for this assessment.

3. Key reason for not being offered a place at HH.

• All of our students passed this year so I cannot comment on this.

All of our clients preparing for HH took the assessment process seriously. All of our clients preparing for HH were fully dedicated and committed to their children’s learning. All of our clients saw their children make accelerated progress in all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum during their time with us preparing for HH.

Congratulations to our amazing students who have been incredibly successful.

The Guildford High 4+ assessment report (2026 entry)

Results from the Guildford High 4+ assessment were released yesterday (18/10/25)

We’ve had superb results this year. Again!

I am not surprised. All 3 of our girls started last October preparing for this 4+ assessment.

I know how hard it is to pass the 4+ Assessment at this school. And that’s why I encourage my potential new clients to start working with us at least 12 months before their 4+ assessment at GH. We know that this is one of the earliest assessments (early October) so if you are preparing for GH for 2027 entry, the time to start is now.

Myself and my team have personally been preparing our youngest students for Guildford High for many, many years. Before sending their children into the GH 4+ assessments, my clients are very well aware of the expectations at GH. We tell them openly about all of them. You see, we know historically the calibre of girl who has actually passed and we have seen girls who have not passed. That’s the nature of an assessment. Someone will pass and someone will not pass.

Our clients are so happy with the GH results this year. Most of them are currently over the moon.

Myself and my team of teachers prepared 3 girls for GH (for 2026 entry).

All three girls are just a delight. They are funny, kind, caring, easy to engage with, wonderful to teach, thirsty to learn, inquisitive and hard working.

All three students started working with us at least 12 months before the 4+ assessment at GH.

1.Stats

Two girls have been offered a place at GH.

One of our girls has been waitlisted. Although it is rare that parents will decline a place at GH, it does happen and it will happen this year so I’m quite sure that our student will be offered a place. GH is not her first choice however and we are still working together to prepare her for Highgate and WUS. Highgate is her parents’ first choice of school. Of course, it was disappointing but also not. You see, all of the students that we have prepared who have historically been waitlisted at any 4+ school, have eventually been offered a place because they are always so high up on the waiting list!

UPDATE- She was offered a place!

2. Three key reasons for success at GH.

• Children who perform highly across the board (in all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum)

• Regular communication between parents and teacher during the week between the lessons.

• Consistent daily activity - Children completing all of the home learning sent every single day in preparation for this assessment.

3. Key reason for not being offered a place at GH.

• I spoke to several parents yesterday who called me to tell me the results of the GH 4+ assessment. There was a lot of heart ache and sadness. No one wants to read a letter that tells them that their child has not been successful. However, when you sign up for any assessment process that is what you are opening up your heart to and you have to be aware of this. The parents that I spoke to yesterday told me that they didn’t formally ‘prepare’ their daughters for the GH 4+ assessment and that they ‘sent them to nursery’. I’ve always said that a nursery alone cannot prepare children for their 4+ assessments. So the key reason is lack of preparation for the GH 4+ assessment.‘Unprepared’ girls are unlikely to be able to go in and demonstrate the skills that GH are assessing and to show their ‘readiness to learn’ which is ultimately what GH are assessing.

It is important to note that all of our girls’ parents put in at least 220 hours of dedicated focused learning with their daughters over the course of the year. They worked hard. They dedicated their time and attention to their daughters. They persevered when it got hard. They trusted in the learning process and despite a lot of negativity from their nurseries/friends/families, they continued. I admire their dedication. They are my ideal clients. They are the clients we want to be working with.

Both of our girls who have been offered a place, still have any more 4+ assessments coming up and we continue to prepare and work hard towards those.

My student who has been waitlisted - we will need to see if she is offered a place or not - I will update this blog once we hear. She is continuing to prepare for her other upcoming assessments. Usually they will let us know around mid/end of November once parents have accepted their places and paid their deposits.

UPDATE - She was offered a place!

Congratulations to our amazing girls who have been incredibly successful. And to all of our clients who trusted our process and went all in to support their children. This is not an easy assessment to pass at all. We are all so incredibly proud of you all!

To our beautiful girl who has been waitlisted, I know you will be offered a place anyway. Let’s focus on the other assessments!

UPDATE- She was offered a place!

To those of you who have received positive news - huge congratulations, your daughters did incredibly well, I hope you fully understand that. And to those of you who didn’t receive good news, keep going - you have other assessments to focus on!

A 'tutored' child V an 'untutored' child.

Perhaps I’ve been in my own little bubble for the last 4 years that we have been working so hard on this precious business or perhaps true to my character, I’ve really not paid attention to the opinions of others.

This will trigger many of you. So let me start by saying this. I do not write this post with the intention of triggering anyone. I write this post to explain the truth to you. The truth that no one else is brave enough to tell you to your face.

People will look down on what we do. They will turn up their noses. They will say ridiculous things like, ‘Oh, you don’t teach a 1/2/3/4 year old!’ and ‘Oh they’re just going in to play anyway! What will you even ‘teach’ them.’ People will totally undermine what we do and think that what they do is better than what we do. And guess what - they can do when they want.

What we do is truly amazing and very special. What we do is support all of our students and all of our clients to have the highest chances for success in their assessments. And for that, I am very proud and honoured. Our clients trust us. Our clients respect us. Our clients know how rare it is to find teachers like us who are willing and able to support their children with their learning.

Let’s take a look at part of a real Assessment feedback sheet and how a ‘tutored’ V an ‘untutored’ child would perform.

Assessment Criteria 1 at X school

Mark Making

Tutored child - Will have excellent pencil control and hold their pencil correctly. Will be able to write their name perfectly and write numbers accurately. Will be able to draw and effective and detailed picture.

Untutored child - Will not know what pencil control means (will scribble). Will not know how writer their name or will not know how to do it to the standard expected. Will not form their numbers correctly .

Assessment Criteria 2 at X school

Words and letters

Tutored child - Will be able to recognise all single letters and their corresponding sounds. Will be able to blend cvc words beautifully and with confidence.

Untutored child - Will not know all of their phase 2 and phase 3 sounds. Will not be able to blend cvc words.

Numbers and basic arithmetic

Tutored child - Will be able to identify and write all numbers to 20. Will have a strong understanding of mathematical concepts and number vocabulary. Will know how to do simple addition and subtraction.

Untutored child - Will not be able to identify all numbers and will not be able to write all numbers to 10. Will not have a strong understanding of mathematical concepts and number vocabulary. Will not know how to do simple addition and subtraction.

Let me be clear. What I mean by ‘tutored’ child is a child that has been taught how to do something.

What I mean by ‘untutored’ child is a child who has not been taught how to do something.

Obviously it’s not as simplistic as this and all children are different. For example, my son has been tutored since he was 17 months old and he still can write or identify numbers 1-5 and he doesn’t know his phase 2 and phase 3 phonics single sounds yet.

If a child is not taught how to do something, how will they know how to do it?

The Chigwell 4+ assessment report (2026 entry)

Results from the Chigwell 4+ assessment were released on Monday this week (13/10/25)

We’ve had mixed results this year.

I am not surprised.

I know how hard it is to pass the 4+ Assessment at this school.

Myself and my team have personally been preparing our youngest students for Chigwell for nearly 2 decades. Before sending their children into the Chigwell 4+ assessments, my clients are very well aware of the expectations at Chigwell. We tell them openly about all of them.

I am not surprised at the results we have had this year and neither are my clients.

We prepared 3 students for Chigwell (for 2026 entry). One boy and two girls.

All three children are highly intelligent, naturally inquisitive and just genuinely a pleasure to be with and to teach.

All three students started working with us at least 12 months before the 4+ assessment at Chigwell.

1.Stats

One child was not offered a place at Chigwell.

Two children have been offered a place (one after being Waitlisted)

2. Three key reasons for success at Chigwell.

• Children who perform highly across the board (in all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum)

• Regular communication between parents and teacher during the week between the lessons.

• Consistent daily activity - Children completing all of the home learning sent every single day in preparation for this assessment.

3. Key reason for not being offered a place at Chigwell.

• Communication and language - The expectations for communication and language is very high at Chigwell. My student who was offered a place is highly articulate and is able to answer questions with confidence and clarity. She is able to sustain a conversation with adults, hold eye contact and communicate to a very high standard. My other two students also communicate beautifully and are developing their skills in being able to articulate themselves and sustain deeper conversations with adults and children. Believe me, both of my other students are incredibly strong and Chigwell would have been the lucky ones to have had both of them.

I honestly cannot think of any other reasons. All three of my students were prepared to the highest of standards by myself and my senior teachers and by their parents. All of their parents worked incredibly hard to provide their children with the best possible learning in preparation for Chigwell.

My student who passed will be accepting the offer and will be starting at Chigwell in 2026.

My student who has been waitlisted - we will need to see if she is offered a place or not - I will update this blog once we hear. She is continuing to prepare for her other upcoming assessments.

My student who was not offered a place - he is currently preparing for several other top schools and he will be offered a place at one or more of them because he is simply amazing.

Congratulations to all of our amazing students who have been incredibly successful. And to all of our clients who trusted our process and went all in to support their children. This is not an easy assessment to pass at all. We are all so incredibly proud of you all!

To those of you who were not successful, don’t let this get you down. Focus and move on. You have other Assessments to think about now. You don’t want negative energy as your child will pick up on that. If you work hard and take it seriously, you will be successful. And if you’re not, know in your heart that your child has made amazing progress and you are building a love for learning that goes far beyond any assessment.

'My child needs to work on social interaction so online lessons won't work. (4+)'

Somebody said this to me the other day.

Social interaction needs to be happening every single day and not just in your one lesson once a week. Regardless of having 1:1 in person or 1:1 online tuition support with assessment preparation.

Social interaction is just one very small piece in the huge puzzle of pieces that need to come together in order for your child to be offered a place at your target schools.

Our lessons are exclusively online. There’s a reason for that.

They work beautifully.

The other reason is that each year currently we support at least 50 children at any one time. It would be impossible to get from one lesson to the other! Also, out clients are all over the country and all over the world. We teach students from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Australia to name a few.

When parents are preparing their children for their 4+ assessment, there is this initial assumption that somehow online tuition won’t be ‘as good’ as in person tuition and that is simply not the case.

You see, you have so many factors to take into consideration.

Social interaction with other children in preparation for the 4+ assessment will obviously need to be worked on outside of your lessons. We are fully 1:1. I personally don’t think group tuition works for the preparation of any assessment.

Even if you are doing in person tuition currently, you need to be ensuring that every day you are providing your child with the opportunity to interact socially not only to prepare for this aspect of the 4+ assessment but because children are social beings and they love to interact in one way or another with other children.

Interacting socially with adults is important too. We do this beautifully in our lessons and we develop the most beautiful relationship with all of our children. One that is filled with kindness, laughter and above all safety.

Also, after doing this for nearly 2 decades, we know how to guide and support our clients and students to fully understand what they need to demonstrate in terms of social interaction and we support them to be able to go in a naturally show this.

The opportunity to work with teachers with at least 10 years of experience and expertise in the 4+ is one that is very rare in this world that we are living in.

Our 3 month intensive course has been designed especially for our clients who have assessments coming up in December 2025 through to January 2026. Book your sample lesson today. The 3 month programme will be closing on Friday 17th October 2025. After that point, you will only be able to receive curriculum only support from me (monthly programme with one month notice to complete).

You don't have a 4+ assessment prep problem, you have an understanding problem.

4+ assessment preparation isn’t about perfection. It’s about showing the schools what they want to see.

4+ assessment preparation isn’t about fairness. More than likely it will be a very unfair process.

4+ assessment preparation isn’t about sparing your feelings. Your feeling will not be spared.

If your child isn’t ready for their 4+ assessment - don’t send them in to one. ‘Hoping for the best’ is not a 4+ assessment preparation strategy.

If your child is unable to answer questions to at least a level 3 standard - don’t send them in. ‘Answer as best you can’ is not a 4+ assessment preparation strategy.

You’re hoping that the several hours of assessment prep that you did with your child will lead to success - well, it won’t.

Our successful students spend at least 30 minutes a day supporting their children with their learning (and yes- this is on top of nursery). Nursery to me really doesn’t count. I’ve taught in top nurseries. Without the highest quality assessment prep outside of nursery, you will not have the success that you imagine that you will have.

You see, the problem I’m seeing and experiencing currently with new clients that I’m speaking with or potential new clients interested in my services is that they really do not have an assessment problem. What they have, is an understanding problem. And if they are not willing to understand, it will all backfire.

If you’re willing to learn and be ‘teachable’, you will have success in so many more ways than you ever could have imagined - just as your child will if they are able to master the same.

Not knowing the story writing expectations in the 7+ will not help you.

We’ve had several children come to Sample lessons in the last few weeks and demonstrate their story writing skills. Sadly, writing is something in the school system (private and state) that is not taught to the highest of standards. All of our students have gaps in their writing. Either it’s their handwriting or it’s their ability to describe effectively or it’s their ability to use a variety of sentence openers or it’s their ability to structure a story.

These stories that are 100% NOT to be copied in the 7+ Assessments. They are simply here as guides to support students across the country to have the best chances of success in their 7+ Assessments. Remember that the assessors marking these assessments are experts and they will know if a story has simply been memorised and this will be an immediate fail.

So use my stories as a guide. Use them as a prompt to support you with supporting your child with their story writing.

Remember that your child’s writer’s voice needs to come out and flow naturally. I personally have marked assessments for the 7+ and I can tell when a story flows naturally and one that is forced (remembered and copied) Don’t do this. It will not help your child to be successful. Trust your child’s writer’s voice. Give them the time to develop their imagination and write the most exceptional story ever in their 7+ Assessment. 3 months before their assessment is possible but it is also stressful for everyone involved.

Story writing expectation #1. Know what makes an excellent introduction.

• It must always link to the title

Your child’s introduction MUST link to the title. If it doesn’t, it is likely that your child will go off tangent and the story will not be relevant to the title provided. This is a skill that thats hundreds of hours of practising and refining.

• It incudes these 3 things

Introduces the character

Introduces the setting

Introduces the problem

If your child includes each of these, they can’t go wrong!

• Must use higher level vocabulary and descriptive language.

Your child must use higher level vocabulary. As you can see in my introduction, I’ve chosen words such as ‘compelled’ and ‘intricate’. Of course, your child must know the meaning of these words as they could be asked! Don’t just put words in for the sake of it! Again this is ‘forced’ and not your child’s writer’s voice.

To show you clearly the expectations in an introduction, I hope you enjoy my introduction model to my story. It is called ‘The surprise’ - A story title that has come up several times in the 7+ Assessments in the last 20 years.

Enjoy!

The Surprise

The sky was a blanket of stars. Feeling excited, Tim knew something special would happen today. A kind and caring boy, Tim adored surprises. Surrounding him was a dark forest which contained a variety of trees. Some he had never seen before in his life. One particular tree caught his attention. This tree had leaves that were different to all of the others. Beautifully golden in colour, Tim felt compelled to touch one of the leaves. As he did this, he noticed that one of the leaves had intricate writing on it. It said one simple word - ‘Surprise!’

Join my 8 genres of writing Masterclass to ensure your child is strong in all 8 so that whichever comes up in their assessment, they are able to effectively write! Remember that although your child is likely to get a non-fiction piece of writing, it may also be a different genre to this!

'I can't imagine my child sitting online for 30 minutes at the age of 3!'

That’s because of all of that conditioning you’ve had that somehow having someone in the room is better.

It isn’t.

Some parents are really surprised when I tell them that all of our lessons are online. I guess perhaps because some parents have a view of what learning should look like with a 3 year old.

Perhaps an image of someone sitting with them in a room? Or is it perhaps because they don’t want to tell their friends and family that they are having lessons online? Are they afraid of that judgement? Do they want to people please? Are they afraid that they will just not understand?

As some of you might already know, I taught in person for over 15 years before moving everything online. The main reason for moving everything online was that I had to. Covid happened. My students still had Assessments to do and lessons had to continue. The other main reason for moving everything online is that I reached capacity and could no longer make it from lesson to lesson if I continued in person tuition. However, the most important reason for moving everything online is that I had a deep desire to support as many children as I could to be successful in the Assessments. I couldn’t do this if I continued with in person tuition.

My team of exceptional teachers who also teach 3 year olds are also amazing.

We have all had levels of success that we didn’t even imagine to be possible at 4+. This is because each year, we have at least 50 children on our books. This will only grow in the next 2-3 years. My goal for next year is to have 100 children on our books.

Online, we teach out students how to read beautifully. Before their 4+ assessment (if they start 12 months before), most of our students will be blending three letter words and they will know their phase 2 and phase 3 digraphs - quite an achievement, don’t you think? Now, all children are different and I do not guarantee this. For example, my son is 3 and 3 months and he is currently still learning his single sounds. This is not because he is less able than my students. This is because developmentally, he needs more time to learn how to read and that is absolutely fine. It wouldn’t be fine, however, if I were sending him to a 4+ assessment. I’m not by the way.

Teaching a child to read is not ‘just done in the lessons’ however. My clients take the full lean in supporting their children with their home learning every single day. You see one lesson, once a week won’t cut it (regardless of it being in person or online). It has to be practised and repeated daily. 85% of people that I speak to don’t want to do this or don’t have the time to do this or would prefer to delegate this. No judgement at all, we all have lives to get on with.

We develop amazing relationships with all of our students and our clients. You can read them here.

We cover so much in our very short 30 minute lessons with our students preparing for their 4+ Assessments and the time literally flies! We know what to cover, we know how to cover it and we are the best at what we do. I know this for a fact. Just wait until I release our results from this year’s cohort of students!

Our students love their lessons so much that 75% of our students continue with tuition even after the Assessments are over.

Interested to see how our Online lessons work? Curious to see why our success rates are so high?

Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today!

Today is the Guildford High 4+ Assessment and we are all very excited.

We have prepared 3 girls for their 4+ assessment at GH this year. We have supported all 3 of our girls to be able to go in and have the highest chances for success in the GH 4+ Assessment. You see, we have been preparing our girls for GH for many, many years and we know exactly what type of girl they are looking for. We have seen the girls who pass and we have also seen the girls who don’t pass.

The GH 4+ assessment needs 12 month of focused, targeted and bespoke assessment preparation. This is my firm opinion and belief. The students that we prepare who have 12 months of assessment prep are the ones who pass this assessment. I can update you once we receive our results this year! (2026 entry)

This year, all of our girls have had 12 months of 4+ assessment preparation for GH. This is exceptional.

GH write that their assessment process is relaxed, low key and friendly.

Listen to me carefully, no one cares about your daughter going in and ‘relaxing’. It is not a spa day. It is an assessment.

Not sure what they mean by ‘low key’.

And of course they will be ‘friendly’. Why wouldn’t they be?

To all of our girls going to their 4+ assessment today at GH - We are all so, so proud of you all. You are all beautiful, amazing an hard - working. You have all showed up every week - some of you twice per week to meet with your teacher and put in the work for your assessments. And regardless of what people have to say about it and all of the negative vibes that my clients have endured and had to put up with about ‘preparing their daughter’s for an assessment’, you are the ones who are in an amazing position now. You are the ones who have grown academically and emotionally. Because you see - the end result for myself and for my clients is not passing a 4+ assessment. The end result is creating and continuing to support our children to have pure love for learning that will go on and on and on.

That’s what we do here.

Go in and show them how it’s done girls.

Love, Maria, Emily and Helen x

Why we had 100% success at Notting Hill and Ealing (2025 entry)

1. We know it’s not a ‘play assessment’ and we know exactly what to tell our girls about it. In fact, we provide all of our clients with a clear script with exactly what to tell their daughters about the 4+ Assessment at this school.

   Here is what 85% of parents will tell their daughters…

   ‘You are going for a play-date!’

   ‘Go and have fun!’

   ‘You will play with some other girls!’

   We do not give this ‘advice’ to our girls. This gives all of our girls a huge edge over the other girls. You see, they know exactly what to expect in this 4+ Assessment and we support them to be able to go in to NHE and demonstrate exactly what they need to demonstrate. And they do it in a way that is natural to them. In a way that shows their true selves and in a way that is honest and sincere.

2. We prepare our girls thoroughly for this 4+ assessment.

   Preparation is 100% needed for this 4+ assessment.

   However you choose to prepare your daughter- just prepare her and prepare her to the best of your ability. We prepare girls for this assessment 12 months before the assessment date.

3. We prepare our girls to go in happy and delighted to be there. And yes, we have hundreds of strategies to support them with this.

   If your daughter is upset on the day she will most likely not pass. Not because she’s crying but because she won’t be able to show her truest potential if she is upset. Of course, the school will do their very best to calm her down and support her but there is only so much they will be able to do.

4. If English is not your child’s first language at home then it is up to you to ensure that her english is up to the standard that it needs to be in order to pass this 4+ assessment. Your daughter will be asked questions and she needs to be able to answer them to a very high standard. We do have many girls that we are currently preparing for their 4+ who do not have English as their first language.

We know what this school wants in their prospective new students and we prepare our students to be able to in and demonstrate exactly what they are looking for.

Join our Waiting List for 2027 entry today. Once joined, send us your preferred days/times and we will confirm your start date immediately.

Do not do this ONE THING if you are preparing your child for Chigwell (4+)

I’m not sure why but this is the one school that parents that I speak to really don’t take very seriously. First of all, the Chigwell 4+ Assessment is one of the earliest 4+ Assessments. It takes place in September. This year it will take place over a 3 week period beginning Monday 29th September 2025. So we are currently having several children attending their 4+ Assessment at Chigwell.

Our students have showed up every single week and put in the work with their teachers.

Our students have showed up every day and done their learning consistently with their parents.

I regularly speak with parents about Chigwell and I hear things like this…

 “My friend told me that her son got in without any preparation.”

 “My neighbour down the road told me that it’s absolutely insane to prepare a child for an assessment.”

 “I heard that the children just go in and play games.”

 So, first of all let’s be clear. This is all just noise. These are all just distractions from what you should be doing. What you should be doing is supporting your child with their 4+ Assessment preparations. What you shouldn’t be doing is being distracted by the opinions of others who most likely don’t have a clue what they’re even talking about.

Listen carefully, I’ve prepared at least 50 boys and girls historically for the Chigwell 4+ Assessment. I can tell you exactly why one child passed and why one did not. I can tell you that over the years, I have spoken to many a heartbroken parent whose child did not pass the Chigwell 4+ Assessment. After all, this is the school that they dream of for their child. This is the school that they had their hearts set on to send their child to.

 It is pure nonsense if someone looks you in the eyes and tells you that they did not prepare for the 4+ Assessment at Chigwell. Pure and utter lies. Oh they 100% prepared their child, they just perhaps don’t want to tell you that they did. I don’t know the reason why so please don’t ask me.

 Perhaps they feel embarrassed or ashamed that they prepared their young child for an assessment. Perhaps they just don’t want you to know about it. But these pure lies are very destructive.

Because most people trust their friends and relatives and what will they do? They will make the choice to not tutor their children and most likely their children will not pass.

 Now that’s just sad.

 Don’t do that. Don’t listen to the noise of others.

You want to send your child to Chigwell? Then take the process seriously. Prepare your children so that they can go into a 90-minute assessment and actually do well.

 So prepare your child properly. Take it seriously. And above all don’t complain about it when your child does not pass if you’ve not put in the time, effort and dedication needed to support them to actually go in and be able to pass.

Join our Waiting List for children preparing for 2027 entry today.

Teach your child to read in 5 simple steps.

Sorry but there are no 5 simple steps to teach your child to read.

And ignore anyone who tells you that there are 5 simple steps to teach your child to read!

Teaching each individual child how to read will be a completely different experience so there really isn’t just one simple way to do it.

This is one of the biggest frustrations amongst our clients and amongst parents that I speak to. They just want their children to be able to read. They just want to click their fingers and see their child reading.

It doesn’t work like that.

There is no magic formula to teach a child to read.

Do you know what there is?

There is hard work, effort, consistency, dedication, perseverance and a good attitude.

There you go - I’ve given you your 5 simple steps.

Effort

Consistency

Dedication

Perseverance

A good attitude

At any age, YOU must have all 5 of these if you want to support your child to be able to read.

Then you need to follow a tailored programme of study (not a generic one!). A tailored programme of study that is bespoke and created only for your child. This plan will have the books that your child will be reading and these will be updated frequently. This plan will have a spelling curriculum for your child. This plan will have a phonics curriculum for your child.

Once you have your plan. Go back to the 5 steps I told you about.

Are you putting the effort to to read with your child every single day for at least 30 minutes?

And don’t come at me that you don’t have time. You do have time. You can do 15 minutes at breakfast and 15 minutes at best time or whenever you have the opportunity to see your child.

Are you being consistent and reading with your child every day?

And don’t come at me that your child should be doing this at school, after all isn’t that what you send them there for? I don’t know why you send your child to school? It could be for many reasons but it is definitely not your child’s teacher who will be responsible to teach them how to read. Your child’s teacher has 20-30 + other children to teach. Take responsibility and ownership over your child’s reading. Trust me, no one else will ever care as much as you do!

Are you dedicated to your child being able to read well?

Or do you want to hand that over to someone else to? It’s up to you as your child’s parent to be dedicated to them learning how to read.

Do you persevere even when things get hard?

Do you persevere when your child just simply tells you that they don’t want to read? Do you persevere when your child is just not in the mood? Or do you just give in and give them what they want to do instead. Reading everyday is a non negotiable in my home. We read and there are no excuses there.

Do you have a good attitude about reading?

Do you speak positively about reading or are you negative about it? Do you praise your child as they read or do you tell them that they ‘should know that word’ or that they ‘should be quicker’ or that ‘you’ve done that digraph with them a million times!’ Your frustration will become their frustration just as your enthusiasm will become their enthusiasm.

Need support with teaching your child how to read? Book your Emerald Curriculum Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

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.