4+ assessments 2023

[Agirlcanhope2023]

Thought I’d set up a thread for those of us sitting our DS/DD for the 4+ in 2023 (for September 2024 start date). Anyone had any assessment day(s) yet?

Hurray! look forward to meeting you all in September!

We have accepted Saint Christopher’s too! what a day! Looking forward to meeting everyone in September

For anyone on the WL to enter Hereward House or Arnold House (like our DS) - it looks like getting into Hereward House is a lot harder. Unlike Arnold House's WL where the boys are ranked based on their assessment, Hereward will look for a WL boy with a particular personality and birthday that will balance their class. But fingers crossed we are hoping either school for our DS

DOn't those two have different entry points? Arnold House 3+ and Hereward House 4+?

We were told the same the SHHS waitlist wasnt touched much, I know so many parents rejected it in our nursery. I think they did over offer a lot. We will be sitting 7+ :(

Does anyone know if the Habs waitlist moved at all? We didn't sit but I'm very curious

I don't think it moved much (if at all). We took up the offer last week, but I know someone who was wait listed and unfortunately did not get it.

Oh gosh! How nerve wracking for them

Sorry - is there a priority for waitlist? Eg siblings etc

They took SHHS in the end, which was their back up, so they are fine. Not sure about the siblings priority, but it generally does exist, so I wouldn't be surprised if Habs also used it to rank the wait list.

SHHS doesn’t do sibling policy at least not in our case :( we were WL and we didn’t come out of it

Sorry to hear that. I would have assumed that they prioritise siblings...

I thought so too 😞

Anyway upwards and onwards

That's a real shame - I think SHHS is way oversubscribed compared to Habs tho, from the anecdotes on this thread? It seems that a lot of you went for it. Did the school contact you personally to say that you have been waitlisted?

I know in the Dulwich schools there was another batch of movement last year after the state school allocations came out. Some people who got the great state places gave up their private slots just after Easter. I think there’s still hope!

I think they have similar numbers in terms of applicants, but SHHS only have 24 places vs Habs at 40, so it is more oversubscribed. No coach (up until now) for Habs at 4 has been a big problem for many people I know (who otherwise really liked the school) and they often didn't apply as they couldn't make the logistics work.

Hello! Have been following this closely as as are NW London and will be going through all this in a few years.

Are there any mums who kept their children at home instead of sending to a good nursery to help prepare kids for the assessments? Struggling with the idea of leaving DS 5 days a week for so many hours as is required by some of these nurseries.

I'm back at work but thought about it. But the prep is so much more than just academics (would argue that's the smallest bit of it). The rest is inquisitiveness, approach to learning, new situations, new people, other children etc. almost impossible to get that out of a nursery environment imho

@Lemoonada I’d suggest at least part time. My DC attends part time (couple days a week) and had an offer from all schools, 5 total. I believe all had some element of “free play” with other children and I imagine that those in a nursery will be better prepared for that. I don’t know how old your LO is but I’d think it’s okay to wait until 2.5 or so anyways as I don’t think they hugely benefit from a nursery setting (assessments pending or not) until then onwards.

My little one had just been with a childminder (since 1) and only just started preschool in sept (a month or so before assessment). I work part time and take him to lots of clubs / groups, so he's very confident and comfortable in a group setting. He passed the assessment and was very happy to go off with the teacher for it. Although is a SE London school so maybe not quite so competitive as the NW London ones (or so it seems from reading this thread!)

Just my two cents but we sent DS to a great nursery full time since 1yo (we work full time). Not only he learnt new things, introducing phonics gently now, but also they learn to share, listen to instructions, deal with having to wait, new teachers etc. While we read a lot and do lots of games at home etc, we didn’t do any special preparation for assessments and got into our preferred NW school and had a second offer as well.

These things can also be learnt with a childminder or nanny and through going to groups / clubs, which the childminder will generally take them to (and you can if working part time / or on weekends), so there are different options.

Thanks everyone for the replies! Did anyone go to clowns by any chance? Wondering if there's really a difference between the Manor House and preschool, if the social aspect is the important thing then surely a few days a week at the preschool is more than enough?

My DD is there at Manor House. There's a difference. The curriculum is broadly similar but Manor House is more formal and more 'classroom-like' and from what I understand they work on extra things and is more fast paced to cover a little more as they prepare for the 4+ assessments. Wonderful place. Do you have a place? They're pretty fought for these days and hard to come by and you have to get on their list as soon as possible. How old is your DS?