Pre-prep visit/assessment- need advice!

[Mangomaniac]

We are looking and very interested in a local prep-prep independent school. DD is 4yrs with view to start in sept.

We have now been given an 'appointment' but not given any details other than we should all 3 attend. I am really new to all this and this is the only school we want to consider due to proximity (do not live in a good catchment for state schools). I have looked on their website and it is described as a visit/assessment.

Should I ask the school if my daughter will be assessed and if so what it may involve? Also, does anyone have any ideas of what happens at these assessments, visits. I would at least like to explain to my DD where she has to go and what she may have to do. I think we are so ill prepared.

Also I know it sounds silly but should she dress smart or casual?

In terms of ability, at her current nursery, she listens attentively to stories, enjoys painting, singing. She recognised all her letters this time last year but has lost interest lately and seems to be more interested in colouring and art. She is getting the concept of addition and subtraction and most of all loves books and really enjoys quoting extracts from her favourite books. Not sure if based on all of this, whether the school would accept her, given she only counts up to 14 without making mistakes and does not recognise all her letters. I do not push her at home so it is basically whatever she learns at nursery. Do you think she has a chance?

I imagine it very much depends on the school that you are going to. My DS is the same age and did two of these recently. Both were pretty similar and were at popular but non-selective schools (I imagine it might vary elsewhere). At both he spent a couple of hours with the class. I got the impression that they mainly wanted to see that he joined in and played well. At one of the schools he was certainly asked to look at numbers and letters and was able to identify them as the teacher told me this. However, I think this was more to see where he was rather than to filter out those who couldn't. The feedback we were given was essentially concerned with how well he could join in with the class (sitting for group time, taking part in singing etc), how well he played with the others (sharing etc) and how well he concentrated on what they were doing. We were offered a place at both.

Hope that is helpful!

Oh and we told him he was going to have a play with the other children to see if he liked the school and the toys they had. He was really happy to go in. TBH I would worry about sending my 4 yr old to a school that selected 4 yr olds on the basis of how many letters they could recognise or how far they could count!

What's the school - bound to be someone here who knows it - and have you read the 3+,4+,5+,7+ support thread? Lots of advice there. Is this in the N London private school madness area?!