Do children ‘naturally’ have the skills that these top schools are looking for?

No. 

Parents will often call or message me and tell me that their children will ‘naturally develop’ with time. That children will ‘naturally evolve and grow’ with age. 

It does not work that way. 

Natural ability does not exist. 

If a child is ‘able’ it is because they have put in the work. They have dedicated hours and hours of their time to be able to do the thing that they are able to do. 

Do you think that an amazing pianist is just ‘naturally able’? 

Perhaps they will tell you that they are. 

They are not. 

What they are able to do is put in the work, effort and dedication needed in order to become an able pianist. There is nothing ‘natural’ about it. They showed up every day. Day in and day out. They sat at that piano and they focused. They learned how to read the notes and they learned how to use their hands to play beautiful music on that piano. 

Do you think an amazing gymnast is ‘just naturally able and gifted’? What a load of nonsense. 

You know for a fact that they dedicated their life to being able to do those incredible amazing moves that they are able to do. 

To be offered a place at a top, elite school like Westminster, St. Paul’s, Notting Hill and Ealing and South Hampstead, you’d better believe me and understand carefully how much hard work and effort goes into securing that offer. 

Most of you want to believe that 3 year olds go into a school like Westminster, have a little play and that they will just be offered a place. Delusional! Does not work like that!

Final 8 places for our 3 month intensive programme (2027 entry). Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

3 ways to choose the best nursery for your child if you are preparing for the 4+ assessments.

My own clients ask me this question every day. 

Parents I speak to ask me this question every single day. 

I asked myself this questions every single day before choosing a nursery for my son (although he has not been preparing for an assessment) 

It is one of the most important decisions that you will make in your child’s early years. Their experience of nursery is so important. 

The question is this one. 

Which nursery should I choose for my son which will be the most academic? 

 My answer may surprise you but here it is! 

Academic nurseries do not exist. They are an illusion (or they are marketed very well!)

So here you are…

3 ways to choose the best nursery for your child if you are preparing for the 4+ assessments. 

1. Choose a setting that has teachers that you love (you’ll obviously need to get to know them for a little while before deciding).

2. Choose a setting that you love. Perhaps it has a lovely outdoor area, perhaps it has small class sizes. Perhaps it has an ambiance that you adore. Perhaps the teachers are very nurturing and kind with their students. Perhaps the children look delighted to be there, happy and comfortable.

3. Choose a setting that your child is delighted to go to every single day (this one may also take a little while but it shouldn’t take ages and will obviously depend on how old your child is.

   That’s it! 

   Don’t overthink it. 

More expensive does not equate to more academic.

More expensive does not equate to highly academic.

More expensive does not equate to a higher quality.

You will be the one providing your child with the curriculum that they need to be covering in preparation for a 4+ assessment.

It really is no one else’s responsibility. 

Final 8 places for our 3 month intensive programme (2027 entry). Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

Should you start 4+ preparation or not?

The all-important question asked by tens of thousands of parents every single year.

 Sadly, only a very small percentage of parents will make the decision to start 4+ assessment prep.

 I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and I believe that only 12% of parents will make the conscious decision to go all in and prepare their children for their 4+ assessments themselves.

 That means that 88% of parents will choose not to.

 They will either pass that job over to their child’s nursery or pre - school or they will simply choose to believe the nonsense out there that ‘children do not need to be prepared for a 4+ assessment!’ or that ‘their child is simply too young to be learning!’

88% of parents will leave assessment prep down to chance and luck and sadly for them, it simply doesn’t work that way and most often, it won’t work out the way they hope it will for their child.

 Because regardless of the ridiculous comments that people will tell you, you do need to prepare your child and you do need to prepare your child well for their 4+ assessments – especially if you are preparing for top, elite schools like Westminster, Habs, South Hampstead and NLCS.

 And sadly for you, your child will have competition. And their competition will have been prepared. Thoroughly. Most likely prepared by us!

 So if you are preparing for a 4+ assessment at top, elite schools, please do prepare them thoroughly for their 4+ assessments and see assessment prep as more than just preparing to pass an entrance exam. See it as your child developing a love for learning that will go far beyond any 4+ assessment.

 We have a brand new 3 month intensive preparation programme which will be perfect for you if you are preparing your child for the 4+ (2027 entry) Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

Children need high quality input to truly show what they are capable of.

No child is born naturally smart. There is no such thing. People will tell me that I’m wrong and that of course children are born smart.

Well, I disagree completely. And it that’s what they believe- cool.

 I believe that high quality input is needed in order for children to truly show what they are capable of.

 Without the quality input, how will children ever be able to truly show what they are capable of?

 So many of you just expect your children to be able to do this and to be able to do that without really putting in the work to support them to be able to do this and to be able to do that.

 Let me give you some examples.

 You expect your child to be able to read but do you put in the work for 1-2 hours a week to support them with this? (notice I am asking if you do the work, not our child’s nursery/pre-school).

Do you show your child the phonics sounds frequently to support them with learning them?

Do you show your child cvc words and practise reading the cvc words with them?

 You expect your child to be able to identify numbers 1-10 but do you show them the numbers every single day? Do you ask your child to identify different numbers frequently?

 You expect your child to be able to answer higher level questions but do you practise these questions frequently with your child? Do you model high quality answers to your child? Do you take the time to explain to them the types of answers that you are looking for?

 High quality input means providing high quality learning to support your child with being able to truly demonstrate what they are truly capable of.

 You need to put in the work first. Not the nursery/school you send them to. You and only you. Think of the input of the school and very tiny percentage compared to what your child will get from working 1:1 with you. That will help you to reframe how you think about ‘quality input’.

 We have a brand new 3 month intensive preparation programme which will be perfect for you if you are preparing your child for the 4+ (2027 entry).

Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

When should you remove a child from their nursery/pre-school?

When your intuition tells you to.

 As a mother or as a father, you will know intuitively when it is the time to remove your child from their nursery/pre-school.

 Let me tell you about my experience and the circumstances that led me to removing my son from his nursery.

My son has attended two nurseries in his life so far. He started at his first nursery when he was 9 months old. It was definitely not what I wanted but I decided that I needed some time to continue with my work so I enrolled my son into our local nursery and he went part time 3 days a week (15 hours a week). If I were to have another child, I wouldn’t send them to nursery until they would have the ability to speak.

This is something that is very important to me now after having experienced him going to nursery from such a young age (and with what I’ve seen going on in this country in nurseries).

Nothing ‘bad’ per se happened in his early years but I definitely never felt happy or comfortable leaving him there at such a young age. Between the ages of 2-3, my son continued at this nursery and he was still going on a part time bases. My son started talking very early on (way before the age of 2) and he was able to articulate well his day to me. The first red flag was when we started potty training.

He was really great at going to the toilet with us at home and we rarely had accidents. At nursery, he would have accidents daily and every single time that I collected him, he would have been changed. When I questioned the nursery about their systems for taking children to the toilet they would get very defensive with me and they would claim that they were doing ‘everything right’.

One evening my son told me that he had asked his teacher to go to the toilet and his teacher had asked him to wait. His teacher went over to deal with another child and left my son for a ‘long time’. I get it ok. I get it. I’ve worked in nurseries. It’s hard. But this was a big red flag to me.

The other main red flag was that when I would drop him off to nursery, he would often be very resistant to going in. He would often cry and said ‘no mama’. I didn’t notice the warmth and care that I wanted to see from his teachers. Often they would just tell him to ‘Come in!’ and ‘Stop it now!’.

That’s when I decided to move him.

 And it’s the best decision I’ve ever made for him when it comes to his nursery choice.

 He goes in happily and in fact will often ask me to go back to nursery- even on the weekends. He adores his teachers and I see the energy that each his teachers have. The amount of love and warmth they all show to their children is truly amazing. I adore them too.

We are so delighted with them that he will continue there next year too (will be his Reception year).

 We have a brand new 3 month intensive preparation programme which will be perfect for you if you are preparing your child for the 4+ (2027 entry) Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

Can a child who ‘doesn’t listen’ pass a 4+ assessment at a top, elite school?

No, of course not.

 That’s obvious isn’t it?

 A child who ‘doesn’t listen’ will go into a 4+ assessment and do something like this…

 They will enter the room and not hear or listen to the instructions given by the assessor/s. For example, let’s say that the assessor asks this child, let’s call him Gabriel, to go to the lego table and take a seat. Little Gabriel decides to go to the table that he likes the look of – let’s say for example that he wants to play with the construction.

He completely ignores the request of the assessor. You can think for yourselves how this would go down.

 Next little Gabriel is asked to move from the construction table and go to the maths table. This time he listens and he takes a seat. The assessor asks his to point to the number 3 and Gabriel points to the number 5 (even though he knows full well which one is the number 3). The assessor asks him to count the objects and instead he grabs one of the objects and throws it to the other side of the room.

You can think for yourselves how this would go down.

 Gabriel is then asked to complete a puzzle that has been laid out on the floor and he simply looks at the assessor and says ‘No!’.

You can think for yourselves how this would go down.

 These are not made up examples, just by the way.

Your child needs to demonstrate superb listening skills to be in with a chance of passing a 4+ assessment at a top, elite school. We support our students every single day to develop their listening skills and to understand what is expected of them when it comes to their listening skills in the 4+ assessments that they will be attending.

Also, I don’t believe that children simply ‘don’t listen’. It’s not a character trait that they are born with!

 We have a brand new 3 month intensive preparation programme which will be perfect for you if you are preparing your child for the 4+ (2027 entry) and you’ve not got long left!

Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

My 3 year old has a ‘difficult temperament’ - how can I support them with their 4+ assessments?

Let’s be real here. It’s very rare that you will find a 3 year old who is a ‘little angel’ all the time.

And if you do, these ‘little angels’ are definitely the exception.

Also, I don’t believe that any child is a ‘little angel’ 100% of the time and if parents tell you that their children are ‘little angels’ all the time, they are either delusional or they are liars. Or perhaps they associate a different meaning to those words than you do.

 Because guess what?

 Every single child will have behaviours that are 50/50.

That is just the nature of the world we live in.

 50% of the time your child will demonstrate positive emotions and positive behaviours.

 50% of the time your child will demonstrate negative emotions and negative behaviours.

 Your child having a ‘difficult temperament’ however you interpret that to be will just be your child demonstrating their 50% negative side of emotions.

 So what is a ‘difficult temperament’ anyway? And how can you support your child with this ‘difficult temperament’ when it comes to the 4+ assessments.

 My clients have described ‘difficult temperaments’ in their children from things ranging from:

 Not showing good listening

Not following instructions

Not sitting still to do their learning

Not engaging in conversation with new adults of new children

Not wanting to do their learning.

 Now, when it comes to the 4+ assessments, obviously we can never predict what sort of mood your child will be in on the day of the assessment but what we can do is support them to be in the best position possible to understand what will be expected of them behaviourally in the 4+ assessments.

 A child who understands what is expected of them will be in a far better position than a child who has simply been told to ‘just go in and play!’ – that’s for sure!

 A child with a ‘difficult temperament’ is not the issue, I’m telling you this as a fact.

All children attending a 4+ assessment will have the 50% side of them which will have this ‘difficult temperament’.

Of course, it’s important that they don’t show this side too frequently in the assessment. That definitely wouldn’t go down well. What they want to show and demonstrate is the side of them that would be a delight to teach and a pleasure to be around.

The teachers conducting the assessment will be laser sharp aware that all children will have 50/50 temperaments.

 We have a brand new 3 month intensive preparation programme which will be perfect for you if you are preparing your child for the 4+ (2027 entry) Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

10 things my 3 year old studied this week.

My son has a bespoke monthly plan of learning in place that I have created only for him just as each and every one of our students here at CMT have their own bespoke and tailored programmes of study. He is currently on his very own CMT Ruby Curriculum.

Each week, I dedicate 3.5 hours of learning time with my son (minimum). Usually, it is way more than this.

I intentionally block out time in my calendar to learn with him. Currently, Monday mornings he is with me so I can dedicate 1-2 hours of focused time to his learning. We will typically study together from when he wakes up to when I need to leave to get to work. Tuesdays, he is with me the whole morning until 1pm so we can typically do 1-2 hours of focused learning together. He is at nursery from 8-6 Wednesdays – Fridays so on these days we typically do 20 minutes of focused learning whilst we have breakfast together (this alone adds up to 60 minutes).

Saturdays are full working days for me so we don’t tend to have time to study together but I will always ensure that we read together or do some maths with breakfast even if it’s only 10 minutes.

Sunday mornings he has his classes (athletics and dance) and then we go to church and have quality family time together.  Every night before bed, we always read together for 15-20 minutes. We easily get 3.5 hours of learning together each week which is what I recommend to all of my clients who begin their journey with us.

Here are 10 things my son studied this week:

1.     Segmenting and blending. My son is learning how to read cvc words. I teach him by providing him with flashcards that I ask him to read and I also have books for his level that he reads to me. I use physical books and online books.

2.     Number recognition to 10 – My son is learning to recognise numbers 5-10 currently.

3.     Going into more detail when answering L4 questions. I am encouraging him to extend his answers further when answering L4 questions.

4.     Answering philosophical questions – P4C is something that we do with all of our students (age 3+) once they get to their CMT Amethyst Curriculum. Questions like – Is it still winning if you cheat? And is it better to give than to receive?

5.     In science, we have been learning about the human body and specifically about how we digest our food.

6.     Play doh creations – my son and I made boats out of play doh.

7.     Lego – My son received a new Lego set so he spent time following the instructions and making it.

8.     Cutting – We are working on precision and accuracy when cutting.

9.     Writing – My son is currently learning how to write his name and we are focusing on capital J and lower case o.

10.  Learning capital letters. Now that my son is learning how to read, he is being exposed to more capital letters. Since we mostly focused on lower case letters in his very early years, some of these are quite new to him so he needs to be exposed to them frequently.

With my signature programme (The CMT Emerald Curriculum), it is so easy to keep on top of what your child is learning and my clients simply need to print the resources that their teachers personally plan and prepare for them personally.

 Imagine being able to support your child to succeed in so many different areas of learning each and every week?

 We have a brand new 3 month intensive preparation programme which will be perfect for you if you are preparing your child for the 4+ (2027 entry) Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

Why is it considered ‘bad’ to have high expectations of our children?

When you show others that you have high expectations of your child, why 9/10 times are you looked upon as the villain?

Why is it considered ‘bad’ to have high expectations of our children?

 Any why do so many people underestimate what children are capable of in the early years in particular?

 I think there are different schools of thought here.

 School of thought #1

 Believing that there is some magical age much further down the line when children will be ‘ready’ to learn.

 People will often say to me, ‘Why bother starting so early?’ and ‘Why don’t you just wait until he is 4/5/6/ insert whatever number you want!’

 When I ask them the opposite, ‘Why didn’t you start earlier?’, people will often get defensive and sometimes rather offensive.

 They will see it as an attack on them for not having started formal learning with their children earlier! So one could argue that it can also be seen as an attack when people are challenging you about your decision to start teaching your child early!

There is no magical age to start just FYI. Just pick when you want to start doing formal learning with your child and get going. Don’t bother wasting your time on what other people think of you or of your child. Do you know whose opinion matters most? Yours. I’ve honestly never once wasted even a moment caring about what others think of me when it comes to raising my child.

 School of thought #2

It actually makes some people feel uncomfortable.

When they see how much you are doing with your child and how amazing the progress is that your child is making, it may genuinely make some people feel uncomfortable.

This is quite sad because we should celebrate achievements and not be envious of them!

School of thought #3

It causes negative comparison

 Negative comparison is when you compare your child to another child and feel negative about it.

Perhaps it causes people to feel that they ‘should have done more with their children’.

 I firmly believe that you must never compare one child to another and I never, ever do.

 The only emotions I feel when I see a child succeeding are positive ones. I find it rather odd that anyone would feel anything other than positive when they see that a child is succeeding.

If you consider it ‘bad’ when someone has high expectations of their children, that’s your choice.

That’s up to you. It’s not ‘bad’ to have high expectations of your child. I have high expectations of my child in all aspects of his life.

There’s no timeframe needed.

Start having high expectations of your child from as early as you want.

And it is not bad to have high expectations of your child.

You stay in your lane and let others stay in theirs.

We have a brand new 3 month intensive preparation programme which will be perfect for you if you are preparing your child for the 4+ (2027 entry) Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

The TRUTH about The South Hampstead 4+ Assessment

‘No special preparation needed’ at South Hampstead? Don’t be so sure of this.

If ‘no special preparation is needed’ at South Hampstead why does the school have such high expectations of the girls in terms of their phonics knowledge?

If ‘no special preparation is needed’ at South Hampstead why does the school have such high expectations of the girls in terms of their mathematical ability?

If ‘no special preparation is needed’ at South Hampstead why does the school have such high expectations of the girls in terms of their ability to answer questions?

One of my students who I personally prepared for her 4+ Assessment at South Hampstead a couple of years ago was initially placed on the Waiting List following her 4+ Assessment at South Hampstead. She was (and still is!) a very bright little girl who worked very hard to prepare for her 4+ Assessment at South Hampstead. She showed up every single week for 9 months to prepare for her 4+ Assessment at this school. She made a tremendous amount of progress and she was more than ready for her 4+ Assessment at South Hampstead.

So why was she not offered a place immediately?

Why was she placed on the Waiting list?

When her mother had a discussion about it with the school, she was told that other girls were stronger than her daughter in terms of their phonetic abilities (the school doesn’t divulge this information to everyone by the way).

Ok, so that contradicts completely what South Hampstead say about ‘no special preparation is needed’ doesn’t it?

If my student wasn’t as strong as the other girls in terms of her phonetic abilities (and trust me her phonics were strong!) then what did the other girls show in order to have performed better or as the school said ‘to be stronger’ than my student?

Do you really think that they did not have ‘special preparation’ in order to demonstrate such strong phonetic ability? I highly doubt it. Many of the girls who did pass were prepared by us! Their phonics were not massively better than this student’s phonics.

So to those of you who call me and tell me that you don’t need to prepare for South Hampstead because the school have told you not to, are you ready to question this now?

Or will you send your daughter to the South Hampstead 4+ Assessment with ‘no special preparation’? I encourage you to not do this. If you choose to do this then that is on you isn’t it?

And no, I’m not writing this to scare anyone. I’m writing this to inform you of my opinion of the 4+ at South Hampstead. That is all.

Book your Sample Lesson today.

The TRUTH about the Glendower 4+ Assessment

The school is looking for many important traits in their prospective new girls.

I’m going to share with you 9 main skills that Glendower will be assessing in their 4+ Assessment (you are welcome).

1. Ability to cooperate

2. Ability to be flexible

3. Ability to have a go

4. High levels of english language

5. High levels of numeracy skills

6. Knowledge of phonics

7. Ability to follow instructions

These are all very important and your daughter must be prepared to a very high standard in order to be able to demonstrate these 9 skills.

But the most important thing that your daughter MUST demonstrate in order to pass the 4+ Assessment at Glendower is this…

Confidence.

Now when I say confidence, I don’t mean that your daughter has to be loud nor does she have to be able to talk to people that she doesn’t know as though they are her best friends. What I mean is a quiet confidence to go into her 4+ Assessment and just shine. To confidently try all of the activities set out for her. To confidently answer all of the questions asked of her. To confidently look the assessors in their eyes and converse with them.

Confidence is key in the 4+ Assessment at Glendower.

Preparing for Glendower for 2027 entry? Book your Sample Lesson today (with a Senior Teacher) or with our Company Director (last few remaining times for 2027 entry).

Not sure where to start? Book your FREE Assessment Consultation Discovery Call and have all of your questions answered by an assessment specialist teacher.

Is it possible to get into top schools without tutoring?

No. 

I do not have much to say about this. 

You want your child to secure a place at a top school at the likes of Westminster, St. Paul’s, Habs or Notting Hill and Ealing?

You will tutor them. 

Which basically means that you will teach them. 

Which basically means that you will support them to be very successful. 

Which basically means that without tutoring or teaching or supporting, your child will have a minuscule chance of having any chance for success in their assessment. 

I’m noticing a trend lately.

A wishy-washy attitude around the preparation of children for their assessments. 

A total lack of clear direction. 

Which I completely understand by the way, but at the same time my thought on it is this…

If I were to commit to preparing my child to get into a school like Westminster or St. Paul’s, I would 100% commit. I wouldn’t 75/60/55/35% commit. 

I wouldn’t think things like this…

‘Oh well, if he doesn’t pass, he can just stay where he is!’

Or 

‘It’s no big deal if he passes or not!’ 

It is a big deal and sure, he can stay where he is but if you have those sorts of thoughts, I suggest you do not even bother embarking on an assessment preparation process. You would only be wasting your time, your child’s time and your teacher’s time. 

Assessment preparation is hard work for everyone involved. 

If you’re not fully committed, please don’t bother. 

We have a brand new 3 month intensive preparation programme which will be perfect for you if you are don’t have too much time left before your child’s assessment (2027 entry) Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

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

60 boys are admitted into Reception at The Hall each year.

A large amount of children compared to other schools at 4+ you might be thinking.

Perhaps this will put you at ease.

It shouldn’t.

Competition to get into The Hall is fierce. Although this will be downplayed by both the school and others telling you about this assessment. Do not let this confuse you.

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

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

In their Admissions policy they write…

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

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

Is it clear to you?

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

We have personally prepared many boys to be very successful for Occasional Places at The Hall too! And they are currently studying there right now.

The Hall has one round at 4+. It is a very challenging Assessment and the only boys that I’ve ever known who have passed have been thoroughly prepared.

I prepared a little boy for the Hall last year. His mother signed up for one of my packages in November (his Assessment to the Hall was in January). Her son was nowhere near ready for this Assessment and I told her as much. She insisted we only meet weekly. He did not pass and she was shocked. I wasn’t.

You want your son to go to the Hall?

So do hundreds and hundreds of other parents. Prepare your son and prepare him well. If you don’t, I wouldn’t even bother sending him in. And I also wouldn’t be surprised, devastated, shocked or upset if he doesn’t pass.

Book your Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today and find out how we can support you every step of the way to have tremendous success in any assessment or with your child’s curriculum acceleration.

10 ways to guarantee failure in the Forest 4+ Assessment.

1. Believe that you don’t need to specifically prepare your child for their 4+ Assessment at Forest.

2. Not teach your child the correct pencil grip.

3. Not support your child with their pencil control (accuracy and precision). This will have to be near perfect for this assessment.

4. Not support your child to be able to draw a variety of different pictures to a very high standard. If you don’t know what this means, arrange a call with me and I will tell you!

5. Not teach your child all of the colours (not just the basic ones).

6. Not teach your child all of their shapes.

7. Not support your child with knowing how to complete patterns.

8. Not support your child to know all of their phase 2 and phase 3 phonics (single sounds)

9. Not support your child to be able to read (segment and blend).

10. Not teach your child how to rhyme and to identify rhyming words.

The social and emotional aspect of the Forest Assessment is very important and is weighted quite heavily.

The percentage you are looking at for your child to safely pass their 4+ Assessment at Forest is around 80%. Anyone who scores between 75%-80% is usually Waitlisted. They do have quite a large Waitlist as a lot of the children go to Chigwell (if they are successful to both that is!).

Anything under 75% and your child will not be offered a place - in my opinion!

Stakes are high! Prepare your children well.

We have a brand new 3 month intensive preparation programme which will be perfect for you if you are preparing your child for the 4+ at Forest (2027 entry) Book your Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.

A word on bullying...

Merriam-Webster defines bullying as: "acts of written or spoken words intended to intimidate or harass a person or to cause physical harm to a person or his or her property.

The Collins English Dictionary defines it as "the repeated use of threats or violence in an attempt to harm or intimidate others

Bullying in schools is defined as repeated, intentional behaviour that causes physical or emotional harm, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.

All quite complex definitions to wrap your heads around.

So let me give you mine.

My definition of bullying is any form of intimidation, annoyance and aggravation caused to a child who is trying to enjoy their school experience.

It does not need to happen multiple times. It can happen a few times. It can happen only once.

This used to really upset me up when I worked in schools in London (State and Private). Bullying was very black and white. There were no grey areas. It’s in the grey areas that bullying happens.

I’ve worked with children from Nursery through to Year 6. Before I qualified as a teacher I taught sixth form languages. I’ve seen bullying. I’ve witnessed bullying. I’ve had to deal with hundreds of cases of bullying.

I was also heavily bullied as a child.

Hard to admit but I was.

It’s also hard for the child being bullied to admit this.

We all want to have this fairytale school journey and when it’s not a fairytale, typically we try to hide it or pretend it’s not even happening.

Because I was so heavily bullied as a child (in both Primary and Secondary school), I have zero tolerance for it. It rarely happened in my classrooms and if it did, it was quickly nipped in the bud. Quicker than the said bully would have time to continue doing what he'/she were doing.

For teachers, bullying is a tricky one.

Bullying means taking time out of the timetable to educate students about not bullying.

Bullying means countless meetings with parents dealing with their concerns (rightly so!).

No one wants to hear that their child has been bullied at their school. No one.

And it makes my blood boil.

And if your child is experiencing bullying know this…

It is down to the school to support you and your child to ensure that the behaviour in the classroom is appropriately managed. Because that is what bullying comes down to. And I’m sorry if that offends any one. I do not care.

If there is bullying, it’s down to the behaviour in the classroom not being appropriately managed.

Children not understanding the behavioural expectations and little things being tolerated or even worse not even noticed by the class teachers/support staff/senior leaders.

So if your child is telling you about negative experiences happening to them, arrange to speak to the class teacher and the head teacher immediately and get this nipped in the bud straight away,

No child should be going to school and being afraid of being picked on, annoyed or harassed. No child.

The TRUTH about the Westminster 4+ Assessment

If you’re planning to send your son or daughter to the 4+ at Westminster (2027 entry), I encourage you to take the preparation process seriously. 

And no, sending your child to a pricey pre-prep is not 4+ assessment preparation. I really don't care what this ‘amazing’ pre-prep will tell you. They will tell you the they will prepare your child for their 4+ at Westminster. And I’m here to tell you that that is not enough. I’ve worked in many of these ‘amazing’ pre-preps. It’s not enough. And thinking it’s enough will lead to disappointment. 

I find it laughable that a headteacher of a top pre-prep will go around telling parents that they ‘don’t need to tutor’ and that simply sending their kids to their prep - school will suffice when they are not even the ones getting their hands dirty. They are not even the ones doing the teaching. They are not the ones day in and day out with all of the pressures on top of their shoulders that the teachers have at these particular pre-schools. And if you are a head teacher who is day in and day out in the classrooms supporting these children - obviously I am not referring to you. I’m referring to the majority of head teachers that I have personally worked with.

Please. 

Here is what taking the preparation process seriously looks like in case you’re curious…

It looks like showing up every single day for your child. 

It looks like dedicating 3.5 hours of learning per week with your child. 

It looks like showing up for your weekly lesson each and every week with your child. 

It looks like actually understanding what your child is learning in each area of the EYFS curriculum and fully understanding their areas of strength and their areas of weakness. 

It looks like not simply handing your child over to a pre-prep or nursery and crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. After all 'you’re spending a FORTUNE!’ so for sure it will go well!

Sure, for you and all of the other kids in that pre-prep if that’s your logic. That is simply not the case.

If you don’t take the preparation process seriously for the Westminster 4+ assessment, what are your chances of having the success you hope to have? 

Very slim. 

500 applicants. 

32 places. 

We know the calibre of students that they are looking for. 

Do you?

Book your Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today and find out how we can support you every step of the way to have tremendous success in this 4+ assessment. 

The TRUTH about the Highgate 4+ Assessment (2026 entry).

The Highgate 4+ Assessment (2026 entry) ruffled a lot of feathers in many different ways. It wasn’t what any of us were expecting. And especially me! I have been personally preparing children for Highgate for over 20 years. But this year was surprising and it has definitely changed how myself and my team now view this 4+ assessment. 

I’m not here to speak negatively about any 4+ school so that’s not what I’m going to do. I actually really like and respect Highgate as a school. I know and still teach many children who currently go to this school. They are very happy and thriving at this school.

I also know many teachers who work at this school. I have a lot of respect for them too just as they do for me.

But what I will tell you is this…

Do not just choose this school as your 4+ school. Have a variety of other options too. I hope I’ve made myself crystal clear.

If you don’t already have another child studying at the school at the time of your child sitting the 4+ assessment at this school, know and understand that chances for them passing will be slim.

Not impossible but slim. We did prepare children who did not have siblings and who did pass last year but they were the exception and definitely not the rule (not for 2026 entry entry anyway).

We will not teach children from now on who are only applying to this school.

And there is a very good reason for that. 

Book your Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today and find out how we can support you every step of the way to have tremendous success in this 4+ assessment. 

The TRUTH about the Merchant Taylors' 4+ Assessment.

First of all, it is very important that you know that at this school only 4-6 boys will pass the 4+ Assessment (2027 entry). I’m yet to hear how many will pass this year and once I do I will confirm this with you. Typically MTS will confirm this at their open days when they know exactly how many places they have on offer for their potential new boys.

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 assessment 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.

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

Most of our boys who sat Assessment at this school made it to the Waitlist. They were all offered a place! Many of our clients will choose Habs over MT if offered both so places on the Waiting List often become available. I’m not boasting at all but basically if there were only 4 places available last year, 3 were offered to the students prepared by us!

If you are preparing for this school, I would highly encourage you to focus on the ‘teachability’ and ‘sociability’ aspect when preparing your son for Assessment at this school.

So supporting your son to go in and show how ‘teachable’ he is … eg. excellent listening, amazing focus, superb manners etc and then obviously to demonstrate that he is highly academic.

Sociability will be your son going in and showing that he is able to interact to a very high level and standard with both the teachers and the other children in the assessment. 

Book your Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today and find out how we can support you every step of the way to have tremendous success in this 4+ assessment. 

You don’t quit 4+ assessment prep - you stop building habits.

You may be surprised to hear that I work with some parents who quit. Not many. But there are some. Especially now that we are supporting around 200 parents every single year with 4+ assessment preparation.

Some simply stop.

But they’re not just ‘quitting’. They’re not just ‘stopping’.

What they’re doing is completely stopping building the habits needed to support their children to be successful not just with their assessments but with their learning in general. Now, I obviously will never know if they enlist the help of someone else once they stop working with us but for the most part, they simply stop.

They want to hand over the responsibility to the child’s nursery or pre-prep and I don’t think this is wise at all. You never want to hand over the responsibility of your child’s success to another person. The responsibility of your child’s success is yours.

Only yours. 

Understand that. And understand that very well from as early as possible.

Why should a nursery or a pre- prep care as much as you about the success of your child? Tell me?

Why? 

Because you’re paying them money? 

Well, actually you’re not paying the teachers are you? The teachers are on their own salary provided by the nursery/pre prep/ school, You are funding the business or the school or the nursery.

That is all. 

Having money does not equate to 4+ assessment success. All of the clients we work with here at CMT have money.

That’s obvious, no? 

If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to afford a 30k - 50k education yearly for their children. 

When you stop supporting your child with their 4+ assessment preparations you stop building the daily habits of reading with them daily, of doing numbers with them daily, of questioning daily or writing daily etc, etc. When you stop building the habits it’s obvious that your child will never make as much progress as the child who is doing these things every single day or for 3.5 hours a week (which is what I recommend to our clients). 

Our clients know that daily habits will support their children to not only be wildly successful in their 4+ assessments but to also be wildly successful in the progress that they make with their learning in general. 

For your challenge today, I would like you to play ‘Pom pom avalanche’ with your child. It’s very simple. Grab a colander, some pom poms and pipe cleaners (all things you can quickly buy off Amazon). Fill the colander with pom poms and turn the colander upside. Place pipe cleaner through the holes of the colander. Invite your child to remove the pipe cleaners. As they remove them, some of the pom poms should fall to the table. Excellent for fine motor control and focus and concentration. 

Book your Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today and find out how we can support you every step of the way to have tremendous success in this 4+ assessment. 

Don’t give up before it feels natural and simple.

It’s so easy to just give up. 

But is it the right thing to do? 

No, it is not. 

Giving up might give you that sense of relief initially but its a false sense of relief.

Before learning feels ‘natural and simple’, you will need to go through some very uncomfortable experiences. 

Your child might not want to do what you’ve asked them to do. 

Your child might refuse to hold their pen and write. 

Your child might tell you that they do not want to hold the scissors in the way that you have shown them. 

Your child might throw the play doh at you rather than make what you have asked them to make. 

It may take your child months/years to learn to identify numbers. 

It may take your child months/years to learn any of their phonics.

Will you give up? Or will you keep going? 

That is what distinguishes the successful amongst you. 

Those of you who give up will never have the success that our clients who keep going will have.

Our clients who put in the work. Our clients who are fully dedicated and take full ownership over their child’s learning. 

It won’t feel ‘natural and simple’ for a long time.

Are you willing to keep going until it does? 

For today’s challenge, I’d like you to play a game called ‘Light and Dark Silhouettes’. Find a dark corner in your home. This could be inside a tent or you could make shift one with chairs and blankets. Turn on some calming music and ensure it is super dark. Grab a torch or another source of light and go inside the tent! Let your child experiment with light and dark and create silhouettes inside the tent. They can do this with their hands or with other objects. 

Book your Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today and find out how we can support you every step of the way to have tremendous success in any assessment or with your child’s curriculum acceleration.