Parents have been so 'proud' to tell me this one sentence...

Are you ready for it.

Drum Roll please…

‘We have done no tutoring in preparation for these 4+ assessments.’

Said with a hint of superiority.

Said with a hint of ‘I told you so!’

Listen up.

So your child has passed their 1st round at a 4+ assessment?

Congratulations.

Take a moment to celebrate and then get to work.

Oh but hang on, you supposedly did no work to prep your child for the 1st round?

So now, you most likely believe that you have to exert the minimum effort (ie. do nothing) to prepare your child for their second round?

Well, you would be so incredibly wrong.

And so many of you will want to prove me wrong.

And that’s just really, really sad.

Because, you see, what we do goes far beyond preparing for a 4+ assessment.

What we do, is prepare our students to be lifelong lovers of learning. We prepare our students from such a young age to be able to write, read and to be very advanced with their maths. And do you know what? Most of our clients continue long after the 4+ assessments have completed.

So if you’ve truly done nothing to prepare your child for their 4+ assessments, just keep it to yourself and stop undermining the efforts of all of the parents out there who have put in the work. Who have woken up each morning to print the resources for their children, who have thought carefully about the resources they want each month to support their children with their learning and who have truly supported their children to go in and shine in their 4+ assessments.

Because ultimately these are assessments.

Ultimately these top schools will choose the children who score the highest.

Who will score the highest?

The child who can answer questions exceptionally well or the one who cannot?

The child who can hold their pencil and write or the one who cannot?

The child who can focus beautifully whilst the teacher is reading or the one who cannot?

Oh please, wake up and see that this is a competition. See that your child must be prepared. If not by me, then by you.

People would rather lie to you than tell you the truth

Remember that – always.

No one owes you anything.

In this 4+ assessment process, trust no one but yourselves.

Do not trust your neighbour down the road that you’ve known for two minutes, do not trust your best friend of 20 years. Trust no one.

Because I think there is too much pride going around.

Do you know how many parents have told me that their children have passed the first round at Westminster that I truly believe are lying to me?

At least 10.

Well they can’t lie to me after round 2. Because many of my students will pass and I will know who is in their class! How sad to lie about something like that.

Is it to do with pride? It is to do with disappointment? Is it to do with frustration? Is it to do with fearing judgement? If it to do with sadness that their child didn’t pass? Is it to do with feeling guilt?

Whatever it has to do with, trust no one.

You don’t even need to trust me to be fair. Trust yourself and your gut feelings as your child’s mother or father. Do what is best for them. That is all.

No one owes you a single thing.

Drown out the noise. Focus only on preparing your child to the best of your ability.

Trust yourself and your partner/wife/husband. That is all.

Contradictory views about the Habs' Boys' 4+ Assessment.

All of our boys have now attended their Habs’ Boys’ 4+ Assessment and we excitedly await results this Friday (19th December 2025).

There are a lot of contradictory views to mine about the Habs’ Boys’ 4+ assessment and I wanted to truly shine a light on some of these so that if you are preparing your son for his assessment for Habs’ Boys’ for 2027 and beyond that you are laser sharp aware of what will actually be expected of your son and how to really prepare him to the best of your ability.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to this very, very popular boys’ school.

1. Thorough preparation is needed.

2. Just send my boy in to play (after all it is a play based assessment)

Interesting then that in this play based assessment our boys were asked to do the following (obviously I’m not giving you a full list but just a flavour for you):

• Counting and identifying numbers to 20

• Drawing

• Geometry

• Writing

• Lego

• Reading

• Listening

• Vocabulary

• Drawing

• Phonics

So, you decide if you want to ‘send your boy in to play’ and let me know if he is able to do all of the above (which is a fraction of what came up).

If you are preparing your son for 2027 entry and beyond, join our Waiting List today.

My Deep Hatred for the Traffic Light Systems used in Schools.

When I worked in schools, we would be forced to use the ‘Traffic Light’ system as a tool for behaviour management.

I hated it from the start.

So how it works is that all children would start on green.

In the early years we used their pictures and as they got older we would just use their names. All schools have their own systems in place but the concept is a simple one.

Their task was to remain on green for the whole day. If they ‘misbehaved’ or did something that went against their ‘classroom agreement’ such as not listening, answering back or whatever, they would move down to the amber light. If they continued, they would move to red. Once they would get to red, they would be sent to the Head teacher and there would be consequences (whatever those would be).

I think that most teachers use the traffic light system out of desperation.

It is just so hard to manage 30 children and this is a way of exerting control.

The problem is that I just really never agreed with this method of behaviour management. I hated shaming the children. I hated that they would get to amber or red and everyone in the room could see their names there. I just didn’t like it at all. Oh and guess what? My students did not like it either.

I much preferred to just have a conversation with the children about anything that I didn’t agree with and try to sort it out in that way. And they same went for them by the way. If there was something that they didn’t like about what I was saying, they would have the opportunity to tell me and I would always listen.

Today, my son said to me that he was on the ‘sad face’. And I just felt heart broken.

I had put so many children on the ‘sad face’ in my 15 years teaching in primary schools and now some one had put my son there. I asked him, ‘What did you do?’

He said, ‘Mama, I wouldn’t cross my legs when the teacher asked me to.’

I asked him why he didn’t.

His reply was simple, ‘Mama, I don’t like to cross my legs, it isn’t comfortable,’

Fair enough my love.

Did that really warrant him being on the sad face? No.

Does a child who talks whilst doing story writing warrant them being on the amber or red light? No.

It’s a method of control that I just completely disagree with and it’s shaming at its finest. I am not okay with it. Not one bit.

What are your thoughts?

3 things parents do wrong when preparing for The Guildford High 4+ Assessment

We prepared 3 girls for their 4+ assessment at Guildford High this year.

Each year we prepare several girls for their 4+ assessment at Guildford High and each year we have exceptional results.

This is because we have been preparing girls for their 4+ assessments at Guildford High for nearly 2 decades.

We are highly experienced and we know exactly what has come up historically. That places us amongst the best of the best when it comes to preparing our girls for this incredibly challenging 4+ assessment. I don’t write that to scare you or to impress you. I am simply stating facts.

Here are 3 things parents do wrong when preparing for The Guildford High 4+ Assessment.

1. They start too late.

   GH holds one of the earliest 4+ assessments out of all of the schools that invite students to attend a 4+ assessment.

   This year, the 4+ assessments were held over two days (all girls attend both days) and the assessments were on the 9th and the 12th of October. So in order to have the full 12 months of assessment preparation that I strongly recommend for this school, parents should have started preparing two months ago. We currently only have two girls who have started preparing for their 4+ assessments who have already started (not preparing for this school) .

   Don’t be surprised then if your daughter is not offered a place if she doesn’t have the correct length of time to cover the vast curriculum that you need to cover with her in order for her to have any chance for success at this school. If you are preparing your daughter for 2027 entry, join our Waiting List. We won’t have a full year but let’s maximise the time that we do have remaining before the assessment in October 2026. Once you join the Waiting List, send your preferred days at times to our Company Director and she will organise the rest for you (office@creativemindstutors.com)

2. They don’t understand what will be assessed.

   It’s easy to get confused about this. By reading the website and by attending the open day at this school, it seems so low key and straight forward. However, not all girls are offered a place to study at this school following their 4+ assessment. This therefore tells you that this is a competition. This therefore tells you that your daughter does need to go in and shine. If you don’t understand what will be assessed, how will you ever prepare your daughter to go in and pass the 4+ assessment at Guildford High?

3. They don’t clearly explain their expectations to their daughters.

   They tell them to ‘go in and play’ and ‘to go in and have fun’ but that’s not what they’re going in to do. What they’re going in to do is show the teachers why they would be lucky to have them there as their students. What they’re doing is going in and showing why they are ready to start at Reception at GH. What they’re doing is going in and competing with the hundreds of girls being assessed for one of the places available to study there.

It is not an easy process.

It is not as straightforward as you’d like to think it is.

Prepare your daughter and prepare her well for the 4+ assessment at Guildford High.

What Will Come Up In The 4+ at The Hall?

I’m sure there will be lots of ‘well informed’ people who can give you a list of 30-40 bullet points of things that will come up in the 4+ assessment at The Hall.

 So what if you are given this information?

 Is it truly helpful?

 No, not really.

 You see, someone can tell you that puzzles will come up. Ok, so what?

Does this information sheet that they’ve handed you also tell you about what the assessors are even looking for when they are assessing puzzles? Probably not.

 Someone can tell you that your child will be asked to draw something? Ok, so what?

 To what quality and standard will your child have to draw? How does what they draw compare to other boys also attending The Hall 4+ assessment? How will they be expected to hold their pencil? What will the expectations of colouring be?

 Someone can tell you that your child will have a story read to them. Ok, so what?

 What will be the expectation of your son during that story time? How will he be expected to answer questions? How do the other boys also going to The Hall answer questions?

 Comparatively, where does your son stand?

 Can that little sheet give you all of the answers to those questions.

 I highly doubt it.

 So you can be very well ‘informed’ about what will come up at The Hall for your son’s 4+ assessment but it’s not as important as knowing how your child will need to complete the activities. That is what is important.

 And if you don’t know – work with teacher who does and who can support you every step of the way to have tremendous success with this school.

Asking me what will come up in The Hall 4+ assessment shows me that you have not prepared your son to the best possible standard. Because if you had, you would know exactly what will come up in the assessment. You will have been preparing for it for the last 12 months with a curriculum fully tailored to exactly what will be coming up.

Change the quality of your questions. What will come up really doesn’t matter. Our boys are so well prepared for their 4+ assessments at The Hall that they will be able to handle whatever comes up and more!

Join our 4+ Success Programme for The Hall and take your son’s learning to the next level and give him the highest chances for success in his 4+ Assessment in January. I’ve opened only 3 places and I will be closing it once full.

What should we practise for the Habs 4+ assessment next week (boys and girls)?

Nothing really. Not the week before the assessment.

Sorry if that is not what you want to hear but it is the absolute truth.

 What your child should be doing in the lead up to their 4+ assessment at Habs (boys or girls) is relaxing and keeping calm.

 The only thing you should really be doing is discussing your key expectations of them in their assessment next week.

 Many parents miss this very important piece.

 By not telling your child what you personally expect from them in how they behave in the 4+ assessment next week, you are missing a huge piece to the 4+ assessment success puzzle.

 If your child is not aware of what you expect from them, how will they ever know what they need to go in and actually demonstrate?

 By not telling your child what you personally expect from them in how they complete all of their tasks in the 4+ assessment next week, you are missing another huge piece to the 4+ assessment success puzzle.

 It’s all well and good to practise writing their name, writing numbers to 10 and reading etc but that should have been done consistently over the last 12 months anyway.

 To all of our students attending their 4+ assessments next week, go in and shine! I know you will all do so incredibly well.

 Also, tell your child it’s a ‘play date’ if you want them to go in there and ‘play’. That’s not what we will be telling our students.

 Oh and I really don’t care that they’ve written that it’s ‘play based’.

Irrelevant.

Stop trying to predict what will come up in the 4+ assessments.

Here is a question that I have on repeat lately.

What will come up in round 1?

What will come up in round 2?

And what it shows is fear.

And what you must not feel in this process is fear.

Understandably, you are going to have a mixture of emotions when preparing for the 4+ assessments at any of your target schools. It is an emotional process and one that leaves you feeling rather vulnerable. After all, we are talking about your precious child here. We are talking about potentially being rejected by a school/schools that you truly would love your child to go to.

I get it!

However, you will never be able to predict what will come up in your child’s 4+ assessment so it’s a rather pointless question to ask. And even if someone were to give you a list of 30 bullet points of activities that potentially may or may not come up, what use is that to you - truly?

Two better questions to ask yourself (and ones that you should ask yourselves throughout your 4+ preparation journey and not the week/ months before) could be…

What can I tell my child that will help them to understand exactly what is expected of them when they go to their 4+ assessment at x school?

How can I ensure that I am covering all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum consistently and frequently in the lead up to my child’s 4+ assessment?

It’s normal to feel fear and anxiety in this process. But be careful as your child will pick up on these emotions and it will impact how they feel and behave. Have your feelings and own them but I would prefer my clients to go into this process feeling calm, empowered and knowledgeable. We support our clients to have a selection of schools so that they have the schools that they love that they are applying to and some safety options. This allows them to calm down and know that they will have options. And even if they don’t get their dream school or schools, they know that they can try again and 7+.

Learning is an ongoing process and not one that just stops after the 4+ assessment preparation process. And this is the reasons most of our students continue with us long after their assessments have completed. And those who stop often come back to us later down the line.

You have one final product that you can purchase to help to support you to support your child with their assessments (2026 entry. Check it out and receive the best of the best support from our Company Director for the next 4 weeks.

'Online tuition will not work because the assessments are in person!'

Tell that to the thousands of parents that we’ve supported over the last 5 years completely online.

Myself and my team personally speak to several parents each week who are so convinced when they tell us this. They state it as a fact and it is simply not a fact. It is merely their opinion. And their opinion couldn’t be further from the truth.

You see, the reason we have the success that we have is because of our experience. We are all very experienced teachers. Cumulatively, we have over 60 years of teaching experience. We have prepared children for all of these top schools for nearly 20 years now and we have data. We know what works and we know what doesn’t. We know the children who pass and the children who do not and we know the reasons why.

Choosing a teacher that can come into your house is great but I promise you this. A teacher with our level of experience and expertise would not have time to be coming into your house to teach your child for one hour. I promise you that.

So if you have a teacher coming into your house just make sure that a) this teacher knows the schools that you are applying to and their expectations, b) has real and actual experience preparing children for the school that you are applying to.

If not. you are really just inviting someone into your home to play with your child. You can do that yourself.

Does the teacher set you home learning each week? Do you have ongoing communication with your teacher to discuss your child’s progress, regressions and achievements? Do you know exactly what to expect from every single assessment that you are sending your child to?

If you answered no to any of these questions, it’s time to question your thought that online tuition will not work. Online tuition works. Just look at our results! Just you wait to see our results this year!

Book your Sample Lesson today.

The realities of the City 7+ Assessment.

 Our boys did so well in their City Round 1 7+ assessment. We are so incredibly proud of all of them. They all put in the work and were consistent in showing up to their lessons each week and completing the home learning set for them each week. They were dedicated and committed and so were our clients and each week it was a delight to see the progress that they each were making and continue to make. So why did some children pass and some children not pass the 7+ assessment at City?

I will be publishing our results once we have the results of the second round.

As with any assessment, you will always have children who pass and you will always have children who do not. It is a competition and it is a percentage game. I have always said this. In order to pass the first round, your son will have had to have scored the percentage threshold set by City which I believe to be around 80-85%.

If your child did not pass, it is because they did not achieve this percentage threshold.

That is the only reason for your child not passing.

So, if you have City coming up in the future for your child’s 7+ assessment, here is some advice for you (if you’d like to listen to someone who has been preparing boys for City for nearly 2 decades and has seen what works and what does not).

1.        Start early. 2 years before. When your child has just started Reception. Can children be successful with less prep time than this? Yes, but it really will depend on their child and their capacity to pick up new concepts quickly. All children are different and some take longer to grasp new concepts than others.

2.        Prepare them to be exceptional at reading. Expose them to hundreds of texts and all of the question types. Do this repeatedly and consistently over the course of the 2 years preparation time that you will need in order to successfully prepare your child for City. Have a reading list that you choose books from and read, read and read some more. Your child must be reading chapter books before the City 7+ assessment and have a broad and vast vocabulary.

3.        Prepare them to be exceptional at maths. Have an excellent maths programme that you will use. Don’t over think this. Just choose one and stick to it. Cover all of the Year 1 (mastery level), Year 2 (mastery level )and Year 3 curriculums (expected level) and some of the year 4 curriculum (expected level). If you don’t know which curriculum you should cover, work with someone who does and who can support you. Cover all areas of the maths curriculum. All of them.

4.        Prepare your child to be exceptional at writing. Your child should have written at least 10 stories before going to their City 7+ assessment. These stories should be at the standard expected at City. If you don’t know the standard expected, work with someone who does.

5. Prepare for round 2 as you prepare for round 1 and do not just wait to see if your child has been successful before preparing for round 2. You will not have enough time.

Passing the first round does not mean that your child will pass the second round. So be sure to prepare them thoroughly.

Join our City Round 2 7+ Success Programme launching next Monday to have the highest possible chances for success. We have prepared hundreds of boys for this 7+ assessment over the last 20 years and we know exactly what to expect and how to prepare our boys to know exactly how to show up and show their truest potentials.

Which activities will come up in The 4+ assessments (first round)?

I am asked this question about 20 times per day.

I have a very detailed page all about it on my website.

Take some time to read about it if you’d like.

Potential new clients and some of our own current clients sometimes don’t like it when I tell them that what will come up in the first round will be everything that we have covered together in our 12 month programme.

What some clients or potential new clients want is to be told exactly what will come up.

Obviously I can tell you this. See website link.

Ultimately, that is why I spent tedious hours and hours creating my very own 4+ curriculum programmes. In the 12 months that my clients work with us, they will have covered such a broad and vast EYFS curriculum that their children will be able to go into any 4+ assessment and complete any activity that they are exposed to.

Also, it’s not just about HOW the activity is completed that is important. What will be just as important will be your child’s behavioural traits. Are they kind, calm, focused and engaged?

This can be taught by the way. 100% it can.

Some parents seem to forget how ultra competitive this process is. Your child will be one of hundreds and hundreds of children.

So rather than ask which activities will come up, perhaps the better question to ask would be this one.

What can my child go in and demonstrate to the assessors that will make his stand out from the rest?

That’s a far more interesting question to ask me.

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

Before teaching maths and english, teach your children basic manners.

I’ve worked with thousands of children over the last 20 years.

I’ve seen children who know how to behave beautifully.

I’ve seen children who really do not.

And I truly believe that there is no point in teaching your children to be super academic if they don’t even have the basic manners down.

And I would like to see this improving over the next 20 years and not deteriorating (which I firmly believe is what will happen).

The first piece when teaching your child good manners is that you have good manners yourself. If your child observes you not having good manners, it’s kind of obvious that they will copy that behaviour. Don’t act all surprised about it.

If you are rude to people because you have some sense of entitlement or whatever your problem with life is, guess what? Your child will be rude to people too.

Model the behaviour that you would like your child to demonstrate to their peers.

The second piece is explaining the behaviours that you would like to see your child demonstrating. If you don’t explain it to them, how will they ever know.

And do not have double standards about this. If you expect these behaviours from your child, you must expect the same from yourself too.

Basic manners to me personally consist of the following:

Being kind to everyone and not just to who you feel like being kind to.

Being polite to everyone and not just to who you like being polite to.

Treating everyone with respect regardless of who they are.

Not believing that you are somehow better than someone - you are not.

Being gentle and calm when speaking to others and not speaking aggressively under any circumstances.

If someone is rude to you, you don’t need to match their energies. I know this is really hard.

It’s something that I’ve really worked on for years and I’m still not perfect at it but I’m certainly much better.

I want my son to show all of these basic manners to others. It is very important to me. And I teach him everyday how he can show up in his daily life.

Everyday, he makes me so proud.

We all have times in our lives where we go through something or whatever. Still show manners otherwise just be quiet.

Have you heard about Tutor Trauma?

It’s a real thing.

 I’m speaking to more and more of you lately who have experienced it.

 You work with someone who says they are a teacher. You work with someone who says they can support you with your child’s assessment and it’s just all smoke and mirrors.

 Some of you have experienced Tutor Trauma and for that I’m sorry.

 However, let me tell you something. Do not take your Tutor Trauma out on myself or my teachers.

I am the best there is – I know I am. My teachers are the best out there too – I know they are.

I know that we can achieve success with any child that we work with. Just give us the right amount of time and the commitment to actually show up every single week to do the work and just you wait and see what we can achieve together.

 A few of you have taken your Tutor Trauma out on me this year and it is unacceptable. I will be far less tolerant to any of this sort of treatment next year.

Perhaps you got frustrated in one of our lessons because your child just ‘wasn’t getting it!’ or perhaps I cancelled one time because I was sick or my child was sick and you took it to mean that I was ‘just like the other teacher’.

 Well, I am not.

 Working with myself or one of my teachers is a privilege. Do not ever forget that. Just like it’s a privilege for us to be working with all of our amazing clients. We never take them for granted and they never take us for granted. The relationships we have are out of this world.

 So if you have experienced tutor trauma – whatever that may have been for you, please don’t let that stop you from working with the best of the best teachers. If you have experienced tutor trauma, I’m sorry that you have but don’t let that stop you from supporting your child from having the best learning experience with us.

We will support you every step of the way with whatever schools you are thinking of for your child.

 Our results every single year speak for themselves.

 Join our Waiting List today.

10 things you can do to ensure success in your child’s 4 plus assessment?

1.        Start at least 12 months before the Assessment dates – Some children will need more than this but this is my minimum baseline. Any less than this and we may not have enough time to develop the skills that need to be developed in order to pass the 4+ assessments.

2.        Read 5-10 books a day (fiction and non-fiction)- You need to read a variety of books but you can also read the same books over and over again and ask a variety of questions about the books. This is the best way to boost vocabulary in my opinion. If you think 5-10 are too many books, go for what feels right for you – just be consistent with it.

3.        Ask your child L3 and L4  questions from as early as possible – and if you do not know what these are, work with a teacher who does. L1 and L2 questions will not cut it.

4.        Encourage your child to go into more detail when they give you their answers – never accept the bare minimum. Challenge your child to give you more, more and more! They can do it if they are given the opportunity to do so.

5.        Teach the ‘correct’ pencil grip from 17 months of age. I cannot tell you how important this is.

6.        Teach your child phonics from 17 months of age. Some children will pick them up quickly, others will take longer. Know which schools will expect your child to know their sounds and which ones do not. Even if they do not expect your child to know their phonics - teach them. Know which school will expect your child to be blending.

7.        Teach your child their numbers 1-10 from 17 months of age. Again, some children will pick this up quickly and others will not. Some children are super interested in numbers, and some are not. It will come with time and maturity.

8.        Take your child to new and unfamiliar places weekly from at least a year before their 4+ assessments. This is the biggest mistake that I see parents make in this process. They send their child to nursery and they think that this is enough. Well it is not. Your child is familiar with their nursery. Your child needs to go to new and unfamiliar places and have that sensation of being left somewhere new and uncomfortable to them and know that you will always come back to collect them and that there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

9.        Encourage your child to observe the world around them and share with you their observations. Talk constantly about the world around you as you are with your child. Observe the moon, the sun, the trees, the weather etc.

10.  Explain to your child your expectations of them in their 4+ assessments. If you don’t do this how else will they know?

Have extraordinary success by working with us in 2026. We will support you every step of the way to have tremendous success in your child’s assessments.

Join our Waiting List today. This will form your registration fee when we are ready to get started. Simply join and tell us a few days/times that work for your child for weekly lessons. You will receive confirmation of your start date within 24 hours.

It's dog eat dog out there.

Here is the meaning of ‘dog eat dog’ for you.

Fierce competition in which people are willing to harm each other in order to succeed.

Sadly, this is the world around us right now and I want no part of it.

And I want my son to have no part in it either.

You see, what I am seeing around me lately makes me want to pack my suitcases and move to a remote island somewhere and just live off the land and be autonomous.

And this is most likely the reason why I choose to have a very small circle of real friends and family around me. Friends and family who uplift me. Friends and family who value me. Friends and family who love me. Friends and family who are kind and loving to my son.

I feel a lot of compassion for most of you at the moment. Because it’s really not your fault. Most likely, it’s how you were raised. I was raised the same way. The school I went to - in particular my secondary school raised me to believe that life is a competition. That there were the girls who were excellent and there were the girls who were not (I went to a terrible state convent school).

It could be seen immediately through the streaming of the classes. It was a 7 form entry school and it went from the top class to the bottom class. I do remember the names of the classes (they went from A-Z). A being the top and Z being the bottom. I was in the ‘second top’ class.

The school raised us and conditioned us to know who was the best of the best and who wasn’t. And to be honest - most schools do this. And if yours did not - you are lucky.

But that is how I was conditioned and through what I’m currently seeing around me, I will need to presume that that is how you were conditioned too.

Life it NOT a competition.

Life should NOT be dog eat dog.

We should uplift each other and not tear each other down.

We should celebrate each other’s successes and not be jealous about them.

But, I get it- life is hard.

And ultimately it is survival of the fittest.

But it is never okay to talk in a derogative way about a child. Ever.

Perhaps you were not taught that at school. I will teach it to you here.

Do not under any circumstances speak in a negative way about any child. Ever.

If your child passes their assessments, it doesn’t make them better than a child who does not.

If your child passes their assessments, keep it to yourselves and stop bragging about it.

If your child passes their assessment, do not talk down about other children who have not.

Does it make you feel good about yourself?

No, it doesn’t.

What it does, is show me that you are not happy in life. That is all.

Let’s lift each other up and not tear each other down. Life is far too short for that.

The very HARSH realities of the Highgate 4+ assessment (Round 1 update) 2026 entry.

Yes, it’s true that you will need to prepare your child to the highest of standards but even after that, you cannot guarantee that your child will pass their first round at Highgate.

You must still absolutely start working with an expert in the 4+ assessments 12 months before the first round at Highgate but even after that, you cannot guarantee that your child will pass their 4+ assessment at Highgate.

So I read all of these blogs (my own included up to this point) that support parents to understand the 4+ process at Highgate but then I roll my eyes. It really is not enough to simply prepare our children to the highest of standards for the Highgate 4+ assessment. That has been very clear to me this year in particular.

You see, this year for the first time ever, we prepared 10 children for Highgate and results so far have been exceptional. But there have been a few surprises. And it is important that these tutoring companies (including my own), share with you the truth about their results and not just the positive ones but also the negative ones (as I always do by publishing a detailed report of our achievements for each individual school that we prepare our students for). This builds trust for my company. When companies only share their positive results it leaves parents doubting. Obviously not everyone will be successful.

Do you know that Highgate have their own special criteria when choosing the children that they will invite back for Round 2?

Did you know that they automatically offer second round assessments to children of staff and to siblings. At this point, I really do not think this is fair at all and I believe they should remove this from their Admissions Policy. The fair point is that children need to demonstrate their ‘readiness for learning’ at Highgate. This should be applicable to all children and not just the children who do not have siblings there.

Two of our girls did not pass the first round at Highgate who absolutely would have demonstrated ‘readiness for learning’. So why did they not pass?

Because they are not siblings and because they are not children of staff.

There is no other reason.

And these siblings and these children of staff, were they as academically ‘ready to learn’ as our two students who were not offered round 2. I’m here to tell you that of the ones I know of - the answer is a hard no.

I believe that 240 children have been called back for Round 2 (they say 180). So if your child has passed round 1, they will now have a 1:4 chance of passing round 2.

Again siblings and children of staff will have the preference.

Obviously we have prepared children who are not siblings who have passed the first round.

If there are 60 places and there are so many siblings and children of staff attending this year, what will your child need to demonstrate in order to pass?

Everything I always talk about.

But ultimately, I’m sorry to say but based on what I’ve seen so far, it will not be a true and fair assessment of academic capability.

So if you are sending your child to Highgate for 2027 entry, I encourage you to prepare them to the highest of standards (they will undoubtedly be attending other schools too) but have the knowledge and understanding of everything that I have written above so that it doesn’t blind sight you or shock you when your highly academic and gifted child doesn’t make the cut because they have over offered to siblings and children of staff first.

After all it is very clear in their policy.

If you don’t agree with the policy, that’s up to you to decide what you’d like to do.

What do you truly want for your child’s future?

What do you truly want for your child’s future?

 I think that this is a very important question to really take deliberate time to stop and reflect upon. For most of us, sending our children to private school is a huge decision. Financially and emotionally, it is a massive decision – for most of us.

 Living in the UK, I see that there are three options for our children.

 1. Go to a state school.

2. Go to a private school.

3. Be home schooled.

I have taken deliberate time to really analyse and question everything when it comes to my son’s education.

 Do I want him to go to a state school?

 100% no.

 I worked in hundreds of state schools and I do not want him there. I do not want him to be one of 30 children in a class. I do not want him away from me every day from 9-3:30. Those are my two main reasons for not wanting to choose the state school option for my son. I do have countless other less significant reasons based on my experience in the school system (state and private) for 13 years.

 Do I want him to go to a private school?

 Not right now, no.

 The schools that I would consider for my son currently would cost between 30-35k per year. If he were to stay in those schools until age 11, I would be looking to invest between 245k- 300k (depending on fees increasing and paying for all of his extra- curricular activities plus his lunches). Could I personally afford to spend 3k a month on his education? Yes, I could. Do I want to spend that money on a private school education? I personally do not.

 Do I think the quality of education is better in a private school than in a state school?

 Yes I do. But only because of the fact that there are fewer children to teach 16-20 children compared to 30 children. You do not get better teachers in private schools compared to state schools.

 I think that you find exceptional teachers in both state and private schools. You also find teachers who are not so exceptional in both. My personal opinion.

 Do I want him to be home schooled?

 Currently, yes. As I’ve been the one solely in charge of his curriculum since he was 17 months old, I would like to continue to teach him. I know that I am the best person to teach him right now.

 Socially, it will be up to myself and his father to figure out what we can do so that our son has opportunities to interact daily with other children and have the opportunity to create his own close friendships. We will figure it out. Our son is a very social boy and adores being in the company of other children of different ages so this will be a priority in terms of his education.

 How I envision his home school experience looks something like this:

 Morning study time with me or with our Online School (60 minutes)

 Mid- morning activity – tennis, football, swimming or a sports activity of his choice. I would get help with this to allow me to continue with my work.

 Lunch with me

 Afternoon activity – as above.

 Evening activity – In the evening, he will continue to be cared for my his dedicated grandparents as this is the time that I currently work.

 Night time – with me!

 This is my current vision for his learning experience from September 2026. I also plan to travel a lot with my son and with his father. I don’t want to be limited by term times. I want to travel as and when I feel like it and not when the school tells me that I can.

 What do you truly want for your child’s future?

The Merchant Taylors 4+ Assessment (2026 entry) Update.

First of all it is very important that you know that at this school only 6 boys will pass the 4+ Assessment (2026 entry).

Here is what the school says about their 4+ Assessment process:

Candidates are invited to school in groups of 10-15 boys for a session that lasts about an hour.

• The assessments are informal and are based on the Early Learning Goals of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. 

• All assessments activities will be very similar to activities that children carry out in their current nursery.

• We contact nurseries to provide written reports for all candidates.

• We are looking for teachability and sociability in our 4+ assessments. We are not looking to find out what the children know but whether they have the potential to flourish in our learning environment.

Let’s look at some of these points together.

Obviously the 4+ assessment will be informal - they are assessing 3 and 4 year olds. I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Assessment activities will be similar to those carried out in your child’s current nursery but the activity per se isn’t that important. What is important is what is being assessed whilst your son is being assessed. Do you even know what that is?

Teachability and sociability will 100% be assessed.

MTP are 100% looking at what the boys already know and they are looking at their learning potential.

MTS are therefore looking for a very specific type of boy who will ‘flourish’ at their school.

Last year, we prepared two boys for their 4+ assessment at MTP and both of them are currently studying there now! If you are preparing for this school and you know that there will be hundreds of applicants for 6 places, what are you doing to give your son that slight edge over all the others?

Join our Merchant Taylors’ Prep School Success Programme and give your son the opportunity to truly go in and show the assessors what they are looking for.

What is NLCS even looking for in their prospective new girls?

Your daughter will need thorough and bespoke tuition for NLCS. You absolutely must only work with a teacher who has real and actual experience with this school. Working with an ‘eyfs specialist’ won’t cut it. Sorry if that offends anyone, it is the truth.

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

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

This school is so overly subscribed each year. Hundreds of parents want their daughter to go to North London Collegiate School at 4+.

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

I have prepared hundreds of girls for the 4+ Assessment at NLCS over the last 20 years and what I’ve learnt is this. Passing the first round is very challenging. As in, it’s very hard to pass!

If your daughter does pass, passing the second round is also challenging but not as challenging as the first round.

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

In my experience passing the first round is the hardest part. Get this right and it will be straight forward to pass the second round - especially if you work with us.

NLCS have a very specific Assessment criteria in the sense of what they are looking for.

Work with a teacher who knows this well and who can actually support your daughter to gain entry into this school. And do not ask me ‘What is the one thing that my daughter needs to do in order to pass the NLCS 4+ assessment?’

There isn’t one thing. There are hundreds of things that she has to do and hundreds of things that she has to demonstrate in her 4+ assessment at NLCS.

We have supported girls to be very successful at gaining entry to NLCS for nearly 2 decades. In fact, I supported one of my oldest students with her Spanish GCSE a couple of years ago! She worked with me when she was 6 and I prepared her for her 7+ at NLCS!

Join our NLCS 4+ Success Programme today. 3 places available.

The Royal Grammar School 7+ Assessment Results.

Results from the RGS (boys) 7+ assessment were released yesterday to our clients.

We prepared 2 boys for the 7+ assessment at RGS. Both of our boys were offered a place.

Both of our students who have been offered a place at RGS are still preparing for other 7+ assessments.

Myself and my team have personally been supporting our students for the RGS 7+ assessment for many, many years. Our clients know exactly what RGS are looking for in their prospective new students.

Both boys started preparing 18-24 months before their 7+ assessment.

1.Stats

2 boys passed the RGS 7+ assessment.

Our clients are yet to confirm if they will accept the offer at RGS.

Both of our students are still preparing for assessments at several other schools.

2. Key reasons for success at RGS.

• Boys who are highly academic across and working at an 'expected’ Year 3 level.

• Boys who have mastered the Year 2 curriculum.

• Boys who are able to articulate themselves very well and sustain high levels of conversation with both adults and children.

• Boys who are able to write beautifully (handwriting).

• Boys who have excellent spelling abilities.

• Boys who are able to write stories to the standard expected at RGS.

• Boys who are able to answer comprehension question with ease.

• Boys who have strong inference skills.

• Boys who are able to summarise.

• Boys have are excellent with their verbal and non verbal reasoning.

I could actually list hundreds more and this does not do justice to just how much our boys who passed have achieved but you get my point.

Both clients who we prepared for the RGS 7+ assessment took the process seriously and all knew how challenging it would be to be offered a place at RGS. Both of our clients fully trusted out process and fully did the work that they have to do each and every day to support their sons to get the the level that they got to.

You most likely have no idea just how much work we all put in.

Congratulations to our students who have been incredibly successful at being offered a place at RGS. Now onto the next one.

To those of you whose children haven’t been successful at being offered a place at RGS please try your best not to let this get you down. You have other important assessments to focus on.

Join our Ultimate Emerald Curriculum programme (one month minimum commitment) to accelerate your child’s learning and ensure that they fully understand what is expected from them in their upcoming 7+ assessments - this programme will officially close on November 30th at 11 am sharp. This is your final chance to work with real experts who know and fully understand the 7+ assessment process and can help you to achieve the results that you want to achieve.