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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

South Hampstead School 4+ assessment

34 replies

missravda · 30/10/2013 11:58

hello, does anyone have experience with SHHS in terms of the 4+ assessment process? My DD is going there next week so any tips are highly appreciated. Thanks!

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nannyj · 03/11/2013 23:52

I have! I took one of my charges when I was their nanny. They look for confidence, my little girl cried when she had to leave me to go in the room. It's all quite singing and dancing tbh. She also had an assessment at St Christopher's which was more low key.

missravda · 04/11/2013 21:20

Thank you, nannyj! I have low expectations as my little one gets quite shy in new situations. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Thanks again.

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september10 · 06/11/2013 20:27

Missravda are you willing/able to share what happened?! very many thanks

missravda · 07/11/2013 10:40

Sure, september10, they have a new headmistress who made extra effort to relax the girls: they had balloons, books, toys to make them feel so welcome that my DD went in without even saying goodbye, she didn't want to leave and wanted to go in with the second group. The whole assessment was a fun play for the girls. Maybe there is a change in the whole assessment process at SHHS as there was no pressure and it was all very gentle. I was very happy, even if DD doesn't go through at least I know it was a fun day that she enjoyed.

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runmammarun · 07/11/2013 19:28

Missravda - did DD say what she did when inside? Pleased to hear they are making the separation part easier..

nannyj · 07/11/2013 21:36

Wow that's great news. :-)

missravda · 07/11/2013 22:19

runmammarun, my daughter wouldn't share much but I could see they did some drawings as we were all handed the masterpieces afterwards. The only thing she shared was that she played with dolls but I have no idea what was involved (I suspect there was some kind of a structured play). Sorry not sure if this is helpful. The key thing is that they were all relaxed and the girls had fun throughout the process.

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runmammarun · 22/11/2013 18:15

Has anyone heard back about first round yet? they said 2 weeks and its been 2 weeks now..

missimperial · 22/11/2013 19:16

my daughter went in a couple of weeks back as well. nothing as yet either. waiting with bated breath ;-)

coldatchristmas · 23/11/2013 20:24

Does anyone know how many got through to the second round and how many sat? We got the letter and my daughter didn't get called back so I was just wondering how tough it was this year.

Tableforfour · 24/11/2013 00:01

They usually see 250 and call back half. Unless it has drastically changed, they take girls who have been well prepared by their preschools, however touchy feely they pretend try to be.

missimperial · 24/11/2013 03:22

They have a strong preference for children from the local pre preps I.e. Mulberry , Hampstead Hill & Devonshire House et al. Which makes up the bulk of their intake at both 4 & 7.

coldatchristmas · 24/11/2013 19:11

Thanks Missimperial and tableforfour. We are not at either of those prep schools. In fact we were the only ones from our nursery sitting. I hope this is not an indicator of things to come as she is sitting for nlcs in jan. not being in top half of 250 (regardless of which prep school she goes to) is not a good sign..

sprinkle81 · 24/11/2013 19:46

my daughter didn't get through to next round either. received letter yesterday. other girls we know haven't heard yet...

Tableforfour · 25/11/2013 05:37

Ditto NLCS, if her nursery is more free play than structured you may struggle, sorry. I would do lots of sitting still and concentrating with her between now and January. They all say they are looking for bright kids not trained ones but I would take that with a pinch of salt.

LensPens · 06/01/2014 16:05

Sorry to jump on this thread but interested to know people's thoughts on how helpful local pre-preps are for assessment preparation (eg Devonshire, Northbridge) when their preference would obviously be for their pupils to stay at their schools rather than move at 4 or 7...

dogberry123 · 31/01/2014 14:21

Would also be interested to hear about that LensPens...I can't imagaine they'd be too keen on kids moving which is making me think about looking elsewhere for 2+?

Budj · 31/10/2016 22:31

Is anyone doing the 4 plus this january 2017?
I cant find a thread about it - help!

2017madness · 01/11/2016 13:45

Yes, that's us. Typically the postings start about now given the first round at SHHS is fast approaching.

Budj · 01/11/2016 22:50

I was wondering when the discussions would all start!
South Hampstead started on Monday - any ideas of what they are asking?

2017madness · 02/11/2016 10:53

We are going in later in the week so I'm afraid I can't help! Presumably more of what is on these threads from past years, but if anyone else can shed some light, that would be much appreciated!

angelpuffs · 02/11/2016 11:09

We are doing SHHS later this week too- good luck everyone!

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Mummywow · 07/11/2016 23:37

My daughter went last week - has never been so quiet after and told me nothing!! Do they tell them not to tell us about it?!

angelpuffs · 08/11/2016 11:18

Haha- it would seem so! My daughter said she dressed up but that's all she told me

2017madness · 08/11/2016 11:48

The thing is even if you know what happened, it doesn't help you at all in terms of preparing or in terms of assessing how your daughter actually did! And they change it from day to day... Apparently they also asked some kids to do puzzles and they did some singing.

Now we wait with baited breath for the results! Good luck everyone!

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