Preparing for Habs and don't know where to start?

You’d love your child to be offered a place at Habs but you don’t even know where to start?

I hear from parents and potential new clients every single week who had their hearts set on Habs (boys and girls) but their children were not successful in the assessments (this could be 4+, occasional places or 7+). I’ve never personally heard of a child not being successful at 11+ (not ones we’ve prepared anyway!) Parents don’t typically contact us after the 11+ . They typically contact us way before the 11+ if they know my principles! 

Last year, we prepared a record number of children for Haberdashers (boys and girls) 17 to be precise. 9 boys and 8 girls. All of the boys that we personally prepared were offered a place at Habs - Amazing! And 5 of our girls were offered a place at Habs - Exceptional! 

We have a bespoke, tailored curriculum for each individual student and we know exactly how to prepare for this school. We know exactly what is expected. We know exactly the calibre of students who have been successful at being offered a place at this school.

Do you? 

Do you know why boys and girls were unsuccessful at being offered a place at this school? 

Well, we do. And we support our clients every step of the way to ensure that their children are as ready as they possibly can be to go in and truly shine in their 4+, 7 + and 11+ assessment at this school. 

Last year, we prepared 5 children for their 7+ at Haberdashers. 4 boys and 1 girl. Out of the 4 boys, 2 were offered a place and my girl student was also successful. Again, exceptional results seeing as they offer such few places at 7+! 

If you don’t know where to start and are preparing for Haberdashers for your son or your daughter for 2027 entry book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Week today. 

Preparing for 2028 entry and beyond? Join our Waiting list.

Is it important to support our children to choose their A level subjects?

Yes I do.

Others will disagree with me vehemently.

That’s great.

Disagree with me all you want. It’s what I strongly believe.

Although my son will only be 4 in July this year, I already have this on the forefront of my mind.

People will tell me to ‘Stop it!’ and ‘He’s still so little!’ but if someone had thought so carefully about my A level subjects as I’m already thinking about his perhaps I wouldn’t have had to struggle so much between my 20’s and my 30’s!

I’ve been speaking a lot about this with my clients and on my social media and there are very mixed views.

I have parents telling me how important it is to support our children to choose their A level subjects and other parents telling me that children should follow their passions and only choose A levels that they are ‘enthusiastic about’.

Sure, you need to love what you study. But ultimately if the A levels you choose are not going to support you to get into the University that you will ultimately want to go to and study what you ultimately wish to study then is there even any point?

If you know you want to study medicine then you know you will need to be studying Chemistry, Biology, Maths and most likely Physics. If you know you want to study Law then you will need to be studying English Lit, History, perhaps languages and perhaps sciences.

If you know that to even be in with a chance to study at top universities you will need AAA then where you choose to send your child to school to study will be very important won’t it?

To me it is very important to support my son to choose his A level results and to steer him in the direction of ‘being passionate’ about the subjects that he will eventually need to study and support him to the best of my ability to achieve the grades that he will need to achieve.

This life is a competition. Most often not a fair one! We all know this already.

2027 4+ entry to Guildford High?

So you have your heart set on Guildford High?

Perhaps you’ve even moved house to make this a possibility!

Perhaps you plan to move house to make this a possibility?

Perhaps you’ve started preparing your daughter? Perhaps you have? I do hope it’s the latter!

I know exactly what GHS write on their website so you don’t need to tell me! Our girls who have historically passed this 4+ assessment have gone in being able to read and to write. By reading I mean reading cvc words with confidence and some digraph words and by writing I mean being able to write their name perfectly and write numbers 1-10 (at a minimum).

GHS have 2 45 minutes assessments at 4+. GHS say that they assess ‘readiness for learning’. Sure. Amongst hundreds of other things that they will be assessing.

At the point of writing this blog GHS haven’t yet updated their admissions guide for 2027 entry.

The 4+ assessments are super early for GHS (October 2026). So you have 6 months left to prepare. Factoring holidays and sickness (you, your child and your teacher), you have about 4 months left to prepare!

Starting now preparing for GHS for the 4+ is really not something I would ever advise you to do. But it’s better to start now if you haven’t yet started! Even better would be to start with 12 months of assessment preparation time for this school.

My opinion based on facts (ie. girls who have passed this assessment histrically).

Also, just because ‘assessments are reflective of the girls’ ages’ doesn’t mean that the assessment will be ‘easier’ for your summer born girls so do get that thought out of your heads!

Key take aways

• Prepare as early as possible (at least 12 months before).

• If you haven’t already started preparing, start now.

• Don’t listen to people telling you this is an ‘easy’ assessment to pass. Why would it be east? This is an exceptional school with exceptional results.

• Don’t listen to people who WILL tell you that their daughter just went in and ‘played’ and was offered a place.

  Join our Waiting List for 2028 entry and beyond.

  Book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample week for support with 2027 entry.

The pre- prep is 1% important. The level of prep is 99% important when it comes to the 4+.

Yet what do most of you do?

You fixate on choosing the ‘best’ nursery or pre-prep for your child.

It doesn’t exist.

You spend a small fortune sending your children to a ‘top pre- prep’ in the hope that they will do the job of preparing your child for their 4+ assessments at top, elite schools. Why should they?

Most of my clients are dissatisfied with the pre- preps or the nurseries they choose. Often they are deeply frustrated and often they don’t see their children making the progress that they believe they should be making.

Is this a fault of the nurseries or pre-preps?

No. Absolutely not!

And hear me carefully, I am not speaking negatively about these establishments. They just cannot provide the 1:1 attention that children need to have in order to truly be successful in their 4+ assessments at top, elite schools.

And if your child went to one of these ultra pricey nurseries or pre-schools and you did nothing with them at home and your child passed at the likes of Westminster, Notting Hill and Ealing, Habs or NLCS then you are the exception and not the rule. And I personally wouldn’t go around shouting about this either!

I personally worked at a ‘top pre-school’ for 3 years. They currently charge nearly 10k per term for the ‘privilege’ of sending your child there. The teachers are exhausted there. I would get to work at 7am and I wouldn’t leave until 7pm every single day. It was the lowest paid teaching job that I have ever had. To expect those teachers to be responsible for the success of each individual child is simply ludicrous.

Children who were successful from that school were the ones who had 1:1 support from home. And I know this as a fact. We are currently preparing 5 children who attend this particular pre-prep.

Do as you please. If you have 10k a term to spend - great! Do it! But be delighted with the pre-school or nursery you choose!

And invest in quality tuition and support alongside the thousands you’re spending on pre-school or nursery fees.

And don’t be so shocked, frustrated or annoyed if your child is not offered a place at the school or schools you desire. Remember that this is a competition. And it certainly is not a fair one!

Book your FREE Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today.

Over supporting your child will not give you the results you imagine.

I’ve taught at schools before where you would open children’s books and see the most immaculate, pristine learning. No mistakes just flawless. Senior Leadership would be delighted. I would not.

When I would ask the teachers if the work was independent or guided, they would tell me guided. Yet this was not written anywhere on the pages of pristine, immaculate learning.

When Senior Leaders would open my books, they would see a mixture of learning. Immaculate and pristine and raw. The raw learning was the learning where I would just leave my students to do their thing. This was the best type of learning in my eyes and it still is. This is the learning where I can truly see what my students can do and what they cannot do. This is the learning where I can make plans for how to support them better. But to them, this learning was ‘messy and unacceptable!’

One of the many reasons I left teaching!

In our lessons, we see this over supporting all the time. And it’s something we nip in the bud pretty quickly. I get it. But it’s not helpful. When I teach my students, I am only interested in their answers. Only theirs. We all want to support our children with their learning and we can. But we need to find the most effective way to do it.

Giving your child the answer is not helpful.

Telling them that they are ‘wrong’ is not helpful.

Telling them off when they get something ‘wrong’ is not helpful.

Getting frustrated and visibly showing them this frustration is not helpful.

Here is what you can do that will be incredibly helpful and will lead you to the results that you desire.

1. Let them be ‘wrong’. Say things like, ‘That’s ok, you tried your best now let’s try again. What else could the answer be?’

2. When your child gets something wrong, do not tell them that they are wrong. Let them figure it out for themselves.

3. See ‘failure’ as you see ‘success’. If my student doesn’t ‘fail’ multiple times in my lessons, my lessons are pitched incorrectly.

4. If your child gets upset or frustrated at getting something wrong, let them. Speak to them about it. Be curious about it. Do not tell them to stop it.

I want my students to be as delighted when they get something wrong as they are when they get something right.

A child getting something correct all the time could mean a multitude of things. Such as the lesson is simply far too easy for them or that the teacher is helping them far too much. Keep an eye on this.

We need to stop seeing failure as a negative. Without failure, none of us reading this blog would have had the success that we have had!

And keep in mind that many teachers out there see failure as a negative thing. I would stay as far away from these people as possible.

Support your child but do not over support your child. There is a subtle difference that will make a world of difference to your child’s future results.

Beware of fake Tutoring Agency Results.

I’m not here to talk badly about other Tutoring Companies at all. And obviously it’s up to you who you choose to work with. But let me tell you something. I do this because I actually want all children to be successful. Whatever that will eventually mean to them as individuals. Whatever it means to their families. No one knows what ‘success’ means for each individual parent. The meaning will be different for everyone.

And when I see families sabotaging their chances for success because they choose a Tutoring Company who charges less than me but that seemingly has ‘better’ results than me, it makes my blood boil.

Not because I’m not the one getting paid.

But because of the fact that they are lowering significantly the chances for their children to have the success that they deserve to have in their futures.

Going to the best schools possible is very important to my clients. They want the best of the best for their children. They know that having the best education possible will open doors for their children that perhaps they themselves didn’t have opened for them.

I know that’s exactly how I feel.

Amazing grades don’t define you as a human, sure.

Where you go to school will not define you as a human, sure.

But your grades and where you go to school will inevitably open doors for you that most likely would be held tightly closed if you were to have a different reality. Those are my thoughts.

So when I see lists of schools that certain Tutoring Agencies disclose that they have prepared for, I roll my eyes whilst some of you stand in awe. Those lists have been copied and pasted (in the exact order) from google. It’s very easy - just google ‘4+ list of schools in London’ and ‘7+ list of schools in London’. It’s the same list they used!

And when I read that you claim to have prepared 10 children for the 4+ at Westminster and all 10 got in, it literally makes my blood boil. You are lying. You are being dishonest. You are deceiving parents. Again, obviously it’s up to parents to see through these lies. But most parents are new to this. How would they know? So out of 36 students, 10 who passed were prepared by you? Total and utter BS.

And when I read that you claim to have prepared 10 children for NLCS and all 10 got in, I mean who on earth would believe you?

But people do.

Careful.

See past fake results.

Do your research on who to work with.

Sample 4-5 agencies/teachers before making your decision.

This decision is far too important.

Do not do this if you are preparing for the 7+ at Westminster.

So you have your heart set on Westminster for the 7+?

I get it, circumstances will be different for everyone so if you are completely unable to do this one thing, that’s fine. I get it. Things happen in life. Family members get sick, we get sick, spouses need to move for work etc, etc. Things change that are completely out of our control and that’s ok.

But if it is in your control and we know with certainty and clarity that you want a school like Westminster for our child at 7+, here is one thing that you must not do.

Start preparing too late for this 7+ assessment.

And by late, I mean anything later than the autumn term of your child’s Reception Year.

I have already personally started preparing several girls and boys for their 11+ at St. Paul’s. They’ve not even started in Reception yet! We have a lot of work to do and guess what? We are busy working hard! People will have something to say about it. We don’t care about what they have to say! We care about the journey that we are embarking on with our students. We are about the results! And we care about supporting each and every single one of them to have the highest possible chances for success.

It’s not walk in the park, ok?

Hope you understand that. Getting into a school like Westminster at 7+ will take hard work, effort and total dedication from everyone involved. That’s you, your child and your teacher!

So find the best teacher possible. Find the best private tutor possible and go all in. You want a top, elite school for your child? Get serious about it then.

Some parents are obsessed with tutors coming into their homes. Here is what they really should be obsessed with.

Getting results.

That should be your one and only obsession when it comes to choosing your private tutor for your child.

We receive calls every single day from parents who are desperate to work with us. They know the results that we achieve and they know what they want for their children. They are crystal clear on that. They know that they want to provide their child with the best opportunities possible. We receive other calls every day from parents who specifically ask me if I provide ‘in person tutors’.

Well, no I do not. And there is a very good reason for that.

It is unnecessary.

You will be paying 1.5 times my personal hourly rate to have someone with my level of experience coming into your home to tutor your child.

The quality of all tutors is not the same. Far from it. I tutored in person for 7 years. My level of experience then is no where near my level of experience now. Yes, I got great results. But no where near the results that I get now for my clients.

So careful with this obsession. Think about it carefully. Why do you really want a tutor coming into your home? Is it because you just want to leave them in a room with your child and have an hour to yourself (I get that!)? Is it because you want to offer them tea and biscuits? If it because you think your child will develop a better relationship with this person?

It’s all simply not true.

All I want is for children all over the world to work with the best teachers possible. All I want is for children all over the world to make the progress that they deserve to be making with their learning. All I want is for children all over the world to have the best possible chances for success in any assessment that they go to.

So think carefully about this in person obsession. It could be costing you your child’s results.

Also, this is not anything against in person tutors. I’m certain you can find great teachers who will come into your home and as I said I was an in person tutor for many years so please don’t get offended by my words if this is you!

How to achieve incredible success in the Falkner House (Boys) 4+ Assessment.

So you have your eyes set on Falkner House Boys’ School for your son?

You’re probably asking yourself questions like these…

‘Will he pass the 4+ assessment?’

‘Do I really need to prepare him?’

‘Is nursery enough?’

Let me answer these questions for you.

‘Will he pass the 4+ assessment?’

Only if you prepare him to the highest of standards to go in and show the teachers at FH exactly what they are looking for in their prospective new boys.

‘Do I really need to prepare him?’

You do.

‘Is nursery enough?’

It is not. I really don’t care if you’re spending 5k per term on a prestigious nursery. That’s good for you and that’s great for your child (if he likes it there!) but it is not enough.

FH Boys are still accepting new applications for 2027 entry. So if you would like to apply, apply soon. Parents will have registered their sons for FH Boys from as early as birth.

FH are looking for potential and attainment. Not just potential.

The assessment is certainly fun and the school is definitely very family focused. But having fun in the assessment doesn’t equate to your son being offered a place at Falkner House.

Their main objective - they write - is for boys to be happy and successful at Falkner House. And this is the feedback that they gave to many parents that were no successful at securing a spot here in the last few years. That their son wouldn’t have been able to thrive in their school environment. Harsh feedback - but feedback that is regularly given.

FH do have a sibling policy but be aware that every year there are siblings that do not pass. Parents often relax because they already have a child there. Do not do this. Prepare your child as though you do not have another child already there. In fact, FH even encourages parents to apply for other schools and not just FH which is very good advice indeed!

Going to the nursery also does not guarantee an offer of a place to study at FH from Reception.

I’ve spoken to many disappointed parents who thought that going to the nursery would be enough to secure their son a place at the school from Reception. It was most certainly not enough in many cases.

So if you want to have incredible success in the 4+ Assessment at Falkner House, the main thing that I would suggest you work on with your son is his communication and language skills. I would laser focus on this. And I would start from as early as possible to work on this with him (around from when he is 17-18 months old). Communication and Language has been the area of learning that has been fed back most to parents of boys who were not successful at this school.

Obviously work on the 6 other areas of learning that will be assessed but laser focus on that one in particular.

And if you’re not sure where to start, work with exceptional teachers who will support you every step of the way. Teachers who will not only teach your son but who will also guide and support you with the whole 4+ assessment process.

Book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Week today. The only way currently to work with us for 2027 entry.

For 2028 entry and beyond, join our Waiting List and send me your preferred day/time for weekly tuition and I will send confirmation of start date immediately.

Holland House 4+ Assessment Facts (2026 entry)

Holland House is another very popular school that we prepare our students for at 4+.

Holland House have an Open Morning this Saturday, if you are interested in this school for your child at 4+. Contact the registrar at Holland House to book your place to attend the Open Morning.

This is one of the earliest 4+ assessments. Last year, we prepared 6 children for HH and 6 children passed the 4+ Assessment at HH. 2 of these children will be attending HH from September 2026.

The children we prepared for HH, for the most part had less than 12 months of assessment preparation for HH. Does this mean that it is an ‘easy’ assessment to pass? No.

Does this mean that you shouldn’t thoroughly prepare your child for the Holland House 4+ Assessment? Absolutely not.

With less than 6-7 months left until the Holland House 4+ Assessment, your time to begin preparing your child to truly go in and shine is now. Whether it is your first choice or whether it is your back up choice, it doesn’t matter. Start preparing your child. Don’t assume that ‘everyone passes’. I don’t know who told you that. But it is simply not true. Why would they have a 4+ assessment if everyone would pass? Makes zero sense!

The only way to work with us this year to prepare your child for the Holland House 4+ Assessment is through our Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Programme.

Book you Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Week today.

Toxic and unprofessional behaviour I've experienced as a teacher.

I had a fake comment placed on my Trustpilot account and I was very upset about it for a couple of days. I’m over it now and I have to accept that as CMT continues to grow - which it will, that people will have thoughts about me and the way I live my life. Surprise, surprise - nothing new eh!

But I think it’s important to call out the behaviours that I’ve personally experienced in my life. Undoubtedly this will resonate with many of you. Because if someone has taken the time out of their day to find me on Trustpilot and write that disgusting review, I think it’s important that I take a few moments out of my precious day to tell you my experiences too.

When I worked full time as a teacher at the top of my career (UPS 3), I remember vividly having to keep quiet about many things that I disagreed with. All the way throughout my 15 year career working in Primary schools across London (Private and State), I remember countless meetings where I did not agree with what Senior Leadership were saying and I had to bite my tongue. I was too scared to lose my job. I didn’t want to rock the boat. I wanted to be liked.

Well, I don’t care about any of those things any more. And it’s far more important to me to speak my truth and not accept what other people throw at me. Life is far too short.

Throughout my time as a teacher at school, if you disagreed with leadership, you’d be told that you had a ‘bad attitude’ or that ‘your attitude stinks’, if you made your point, certain members of the leadership team would literally roll their eyes. Some would look at each other and smirk or even laugh. Basically, you had to just be silent. Agree with everything you were told and just do your job!

I now work with the most amazing people ever. And I am delighted every single day to work with my clients and with my amazing students. I have a beautiful team of teachers and we all respect each other and listen to each other. But I do each year have 10% of behaviour which is toxic and unprofessional and so do my teachers.

And if you are on the other end of receiving behaviour that is toxic and unprofessional, I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to tolerate it. Find another job. Move on. Express yourself fully. Life is far too short.

You CANNOT prepare successfully for St. Paul's Girls' School without having a crystal clear benchmark.

St. Paul’s Girls’ School write that ‘There is no typical Paulina’. Completely agree.

The girls who pass the St. Paul’s Girls’ School 11+ assessment are definitely all completely different and unique.

They write that they are looking for ‘intellectually curious students who will enjoy learning in an academically stimulating environment.’ Completely agree with this too.

Girls who pass the SPG 11+ Assessment are 100% intellectually curious girls. And the environment at SPG is obviously academically stimulating.

There are 3 stages to this 11+ Assessment

1. Stage 1 – Cambridge Select Insight assessment
   (formerly known as CEM)

Assesses a child's academic potential and ability. It is a non adaptive test (same questions, same order regardless of ability). The girls will be able to go back and check their answers. 3 main skills are assessed- verbal ability (spag, vocabulary and comprehension), numerical ability (number, measurement, geometry and statistics) and non-verbal ability (visually analysing and solving problems). In order to be successful in this stage of the assessment, your daughter will need to be quick! She will also need to be laser focused and not get distracted. Your daughter will need to trust her instincts and not waste too much time on one question.

2. Stage 2 - Comprehension, English and Maths written assessments.

3. Interview

If you don’t have a crystal clear understanding of the benchmark when it comes to the calibre of girls being assessed this year, how will you ever accurately prepare your daughter to have the highest possible chances of passing this 11+ assessment?

Stage one is in November 2026 so you have about 8 months left to prepare. 6 months really if you factor in holidays and sickness etc. If your daughter passes the first stage, she will be invited to attend stage 2 which is typically in early January. If your daughter passes stage 2, she will be invited to interview. These are typically mid to end of January.

At their current fee rate, you are looking at investing £260,694 to send your daughter to this school from Year 7 - Year 13. Rates will of course rise so it will inevitably be more than this. Invest a very small percentage of this to actually preparing your daughter to have the highest chances of succeeding in her 11+ assessments.

Prepare from Year 3.

Prepare consistently.

Encourage a love for reading and maths.

Encourage a love for a sport or music.

Only work with teachers who actually know how to prepare for this 11+ assessment.

Preparing for the 11+ at SPG for 2027 or 2028 entry? Book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Lesson today.

Preparing for the 11+ at SPG for 2029 entry and beyond? Join our Waiting List today.

Manor Lodge 4+ Clarity for parents

Manor Lodge needs focused 12 month preparation.

Manor Lodge is not ‘just a school where your child will go in and play in their Forest garden!’

Manor Lodge is so over subscribed at 4+ that it will blow your mind when you see just how many children will attend the assessment.

Mumsnet does not give accurate information about this assessment so do not even waste your time reading the absolute nonsense on there (some comments are brutally honest on there but you need to know which ones are and which ones are not).

Many children will not pass this 4+ Assessment.

Many children will be Waitlisted following this assessment.

For many parents (not all), Manor Lodge will not be their first choice of school. Their first choice of school will typically by Habs or NLCS. Many of our clients kept Manor Lodge as their back up but ultimately ended up accepting their top schools of choice. The majority of our clients receive offers at their top schools of choice if they have the recommended 12 months of Assessment preparation that I recommend. Success is simply inevitable following our 12 month programme.

The Manor Lodge 4+ Assessment is just like any other 4+ Assessment at top, elite schools. It will be conducted on a 1:1 basis. Your child will need to separate from you happily. And your child will need to go in and demonstrate all of the skills and attributes that Manor Lodge will be assessing and looking for in their potential new students.

Do you even know what these skills and attributes are? Do you even know the level expected of your child?

We do.

And we will support you every step of the way tot ruly understand this 4+ Assessment and have the level of success that you dream of having.

Knowledge is power when it comes to anything in this life. Knowledge is definitely power when it comes to the 4+ Assessments. Empower yourselves with the knowledge and awareness needed in order to have the highest chances of passing the Manor Lodge 4+ assessment.

Book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Week today if you are preparing for 2027 entry,

Book your place on the Waiting List for our Signature Programme (The Emerald Curriculum which includes weekly tuition). Once booked, I will be in touch immediately to find out your preferred days and times for weekly tuition. The Waiting List fee forms your Registration fee when you begin so you are also locking in the current Registration Fee price.

9/40 boys starting Habs in Reception in 2026 were prepared by us.

I spoke to a parent yesterday and she seemed like she didn’t believe one of my results.

The Habs’ Boys’ School results (2026 entry into Reception).

Here at CMT, we prepared a huge number of boys for their 4+ assessment at Habs. You see, we actually prepared 10 boys but I didn’t hear back from one of my clients so sadly I cannot count her results! Did he pass or not? I will find out in September 2026!

Whether you wish to believe me or not is up to you. But we did prepare 10 boys for Habs last year. 9 of those incredible boys have passed and will be going to Haberdashers from September 2026.

9/40.

Exceptional!

I am so proud of our results. I am so proud of our beautiful boys who worked so hard to be able to go in and truly shine in their 4+ assessments at Haberdashers. I am so proud of my clients who, although at times found it hard, fully persevered and remained dedicated to their sons’ learning and growth. I am so proud of our exceptional teachers - Emily and Helen who worked tirelessly every single day to show up and teach our students. And I am so proud of me.

You think it’s easy to get into Habs Boys at 4+?

Well you are delusional. And you are wrong. It’s not easy at all.

The hours and hours of work we all put in to achieve these results, I guess you will never know. Only we will know.

I look forward to continuing to follow your journeys boys. Many of you, I look forward to continuing to teach.

If you are preparing for Habs for 2028 entry and beyond, join our Waiting List. This will form your Registration fee and as soon as you join, I will personally email you to find out your preferred dates/times for weekly tuition and when exactly we can start. Only in this way can you secure your day/time.

If you are preparing for Habs for 2027 entry and beyond, the only way to work with us currently is through our Ultimate Emerald Curriculum which had exceptional results with our Habs students too.

You need at least 12 months to prepare your children for Habs (boys and Girls).

Don’t delay - get started today!

Doing things completely wrong - Alima’s story

As parents, we struggle to admit when we are doing things completely wrong. We want the best of the best for our precious children. We want to provide them with everything and more. Sometimes we get things right but many times we get things wrong. 

Is this bad? 

Is this a problem?

No, of course not. We are all humans and guess what? We will get things wrong sometimes! And that’s okay. People will pretend that they never get things wrong and that their lives are picture perfect - it’s all an illusion. All of our lives will always be 50//50 - remember that before you compare yourself to little miss perfect down the road!

Getting things wrong is merely data. That’s all. It’s information. We learn and we move on. We try something else. Does it mean that the ‘something else’ that we try will be the right thing? Absolutely not, but we try anyway. 

Alima contacted me in February. She was in tears on the phone. She told me that she had been following me for several years and loved my work. She had learnt so much by just following me on my social media and reading all of my blogs every single day. But when it came to her son’s  4+ assessments, she didn’t listen to me. She didn’t believe me when I said that it would be challenging. She was doubtful of many of the things that I was speaking about. 

That is until her son was unsuccessful to all of her target schools at 4+ (including the likes of Habs’ Boys and UCS). It took me a while to help Alima to calm down. She was hysterical by this point. I told her to take a breath and to stop beating herself up. How was she to know? Why should she trust me - a stranger that she had never met? She had never been through the process until now. 

Once she calmed down, we spoke. Alima is now my client and has been for 12 months. We are preparing her son for his 7+ at the same schools that he was unsuccessful in at 4+. He is thriving. Alima sent her son to a state school and although it’s not what she thought it would be and she struggles with a lot of the dynamics there, she knows that it is just temporary. She knows her son will be wildly successful in his 7+. 

Book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Week and see the incredible progress that your child will make with their learning in just one week! 

Avoid wasting money on unnecessary learning resources.

I’m guilty of this too! And I hold up my hands! I do this too! 

Do you spend hundreds of pounds on resources that just sit in the corner of your child’s room completely untouched? Or perhaps you purchase something and you use it once with your child, lose a few pieces and then never touch it again? Sound familiar?

With the millions of resources on offer for our children, it can be really overwhelming to know which resources to choose for our children. 

You definitely do not need to feel overwhelmed. We take the guesswork out choosing which resources you need. We provide them for you! Everything you need in each area of learning, we will tell you exactly which resources to buy and we will provide you with all of the learning to print ahead of time. In this way, your weeks can be fully structured and organised in a way that will support your child with their learning acceleration. 

We all have busy lives. I would love to have this service provided to me! Obviously, I provide it for my own child just as I do for the hundreds of children that we are currently supporting with their accelerated learning or assessment preparations here at CMT. 

You no longer need to worry about which resources to use with your child, which learning you should be doing your child and how to support your child. We take the guesswork out of this. And we are here for our clients every single day (Monday to Friday 9-5) to support them to support their children with their learning acceleration or assessment preparation! 

Our results speak for themselves 

Want to see how it works? Book your Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Sample Week today!

5 Mistakes You’re Making Preparing for the 4+ Assessments

Myself and my team speak to thousands of you each year. We hear many, many things. Many of you do things exceptionally well when it comes to preparing your children for their 4+  assessments and many of you are making at least one - if not more of these mistakes. 

If you realise that you’re making one or more of these mistakes. Please don’t be hard on yourself. We all make mistakes. It’s part of life (and if you’re not making mistakes, there’s a very good reason for that!) 

Mistake #1

Overlearning with your child. 

Although a lot of learning does need to take place when preparing for a 4+ assessment, you have to be careful not to do too much. Many parents that we speak to want to do learning when they feel like it. It doesn’t work that way. Nobody cares if you feel like it. What matters is that your child feels like it. There is no right or wrong here. The only way to know if you are doing too much is if you notice resistance in your child. They definitely should not be resistant. They should be open, happy and fully receptive to the learning being provided. 

Mistake #2

Not doing enough learning with your child. 

The polar opposite of mistake #1, we see this one all the time too. Parents will tell us, ‘Oh, I work all day!’ and ‘Well, they’re in nursery/pre-school all day!’ and ‘That’s what I’m paying all that money for isn’t it!’ 

Your child is your responsibility and if you make the decision to apply to a school such as Westminster, NLCS and Habs (boys and girls), you better understand clearly that no nursery or pre-school will fully have the responsibility to prepare your child to be successful. Understand that you must put in the work yourself. 3.5 hours per week to be precise. 

Mistake #3

Panic-mode

Going into panic mode is the default superpower of our brains. Your brain thinks panicking is useful. It is not. We all panic and we all catastrophise. We all think the worst will happen. It’s how we have been raised and conditioned. Well it isn’t helpful in this process. If you feel panic, your child will sense that and they will start to worry too. 

Mistake #4

Compare and despair 

Never compare your child to anyone else. Just don’t do it. I don’t care that so and so down the road is ‘already reading chapter books’ and your child is ‘still’ learning their phonics. Just focus on your child and where they are. 

Mistake #5

Listening to rumours 

99.5% of what you will hear will be pure lies or simply what someone else experienced. Drown out all the noise. And focus. You will lose energy focusing on what so and so told you. 

Avoid these 5 mistakes and if you catch yourself making one of these mistakes, be kind and compassionate with yourself. Brush yourself off and get back to focusing on what is important here which is preparing your child to go in and have the highest possible chances for success in their 4+ assessment. 

Book your Sample lesson and Sample week today. 

How to prepare your child to be very successful with the RGS 7+ Assessment

Each year we prepare several boys for the 7+ at RGS. We will also be preparing girls as they move to co-educational.

This year, the RGS 7+ Assessment will be on Saturday 7th November 2026.

This means that you have only 9 months remaining to prepare your child for this 7+ assessment. 9 months becomes 7 when you factor in holidays and illnesses!

Have you started preparing your child? I do hope so.

My suggestion, based on years and years experience is 2 full years of assessment preparation for RGS. The best results we’ve had have been from our students starting with us from the autumn term of their Reception Year.

If that’s not you, that’s ok. Just get started from this moment! As in today!

Your child will need to be very strong in their reading and in their comprehension. Our students who have passed this assessment at 7+ have been at a year 3/ year 4 level in terms of their reading. They are students who are avid readers and reading chapter books. Creative writing will be very strong. Our students will have written at least 10 stories before going to their 7+ assessment at RGS. Our students who have typically passed have had a very strong understanding about how to write stories to the level expected by the RGS assessors and they have been able to go in and skilfully do just that under timed conditions.

Your child will need to have excellent spelling and have a strong understanding of grammar. Again, our successful students have been those working at a year 3/year 4 level in their SPAG.

Your child will need to cover a broad and vast maths curriculum in order to stand a chance in this assessment (at a year 3 level.)

Your child will also have practised with many past 7+ papers. I’d say that our students who have passed this 7+ assessment will have practised at least 30 past papers and have gone through the answers and have a thorough understanding of where they have gone wrong and how to make improvements.

Prepare your child to be wildly successful by joining our Ultimate Emerald Curriculum Programme. Lock in and be committed. Fully focus and take massive action and see tremendous progress being made in all areas of learning.

On average children 'socialise' for 30-60 minutes a day at school.

I’m referring to KS1 and KS2 here.

If you haven’t worked in a primary school in the UK, you will never know the true realities of what it is like to be in a classroom. If you have worked in a school and you think that children ‘socialise’ for more than this amount of time - you are the exception and I’m delighted for your students if this is truly the case.

If you truly believe that ‘socialising’ happens in Primary schools, I have to tell you that I completely and utterly disagree.

Having worked in hundreds of schools across London for nearly 20 years, I’m going to paint a vivid picture for you about what ‘socialising’ looks like in Primary Schools.

Here is a great meaning of socialising for you.

Socialising for children is the developmental process of learning to interact, communicate, and build relationships with others, starting from infancy and extending into community integration. It involves developing empathy, understanding social cues, sharing, managing emotions, and learning to navigate diverse social situations.

Do you really think all of that can happen in a school environment?

In a typical classroom (KS1 and KS2), my students would come in between 8:30-9am and they would go to their desks. Depending on the behavioural issues in my classroom, I would set the noise level that I expected. Between 8:30 - 9 would be a golden time for my students to work on gaps and areas to develop further so usually they would come in, say hi to me, say hi to a couple of their classmates, sit down and get on with the learning usually in silence or at least quietly.

Between 9-10:30 we would have a lesson (maths or english). At 10:30 my students would go out to play for 15 minutes. By the time most of my students would have completed their tasks to the standard acceptable by the school, they would have already missed a few minutes of play. At play time, this would be their window for socialising, In my opinion morning break would be too rushed - for the teachers too!

11-12:30 would be another lesson (maths or English) and then reading typically. Most schools that I taught at, management would expect noise levels to be at silence whilst the children would do their learning and there is a very good reason for this! With noise comes lack of focus which equals to not the best quality learning!

12:30 - 1:30 would be lunch time. By the time my students had queued for their lunch, sat down to eat etc 20 minutes would at least have passed. Here I would be able to observe some lovely socialising whilst eating their lunch. After lunch they would go to play and here too, they could have the opportunity to socialise. Most playtimes however, teachers would be called to deal with behavioural issues.

1:30 -3:30 - more lessons and more learning. No socialising.

3:30 Home time.

So does socialising really happen in schools?

'My wife/husband/partner doesn't agree with online schooling.'

One of the hardest parts about having a child…

Coming to mutual agreements about what both parents want for their children.

Sometimes these visions are aligned and that’s a beautiful thing. But when these visions are not aligned and both parent have different visions of how they would like to raise their child, this is where difficulties arise.

When my son was a baby, myself and my partner had different ideas about how to support his health and well being. When my son would have a fever, my partner would want to immediately take him to the hospital. I experienced a huge trauma with hospitals when my son was born and I think very differently to him when it comes to hospitals. It would cause a lot of unnecessary arguments. Ultimately, we are just two human beings who want the ultimate best for our son. But those misaligned visions of how to support our son’s health and wellbeing really did create an unnecessary strain on our relationship in the early years of his life.

When it comes to my son’s education, we have mixed views. But for the most part we have come to a mutual understanding of the vision that we have for our son and his education (in his primary years anyway).

I have a few clients who are currently struggling with deciding the best course of action for their children. It’s a tough one and only they can decide of course. But ultimately it’s about doing what you feel is best for your child. It really is about drowning out what other people will tell you. Although they mean well, it’s truly none of their business.

Just be super careful with what you make sentences mean. Just because one partner doesn’t ‘agree’ with something doesn’t mean that they are right. Online schooling works beautifully. Online schooling gives you freedom. Online schooling can open up doors for your child that you most probably don’t even imagine. So a sentence like this really means nothing. It’s merely a thought. I don’t agree with a school dictating my life- telling me the time my child needs to wake up in the morning and telling me when I can go on holiday. These are just my thoughts, It doesn’t mean that I am right. I might change my mind after a few years! And guess what? That’s ok!

There is no right. There is no wrong. There is simply making a choice and being as happy about it as possible. Just choose. And then be ready to make changes if needed. Because that is the beauty of this life and remember this always. You can make changes at any time.