4+ Assessments 2025

[KnackeredBunny]

Main thread for 2025 applications. Can’t find the previous thread for 2025 but from memory it has a typo in the title. I’ve only made this one to make sure everyone finds it easily!

Advice from previous assessments gladly taken. This is our first time applying. It’s a little early still so why don’t we start with where everyone is applying?

We’re looking at The Hall, Alleyn’s, Habs, Highgate UCS, and Manor Lodge. Have looked at some prep from previous threads and starting to think we’re seriously under-prepared…

Girl mum here! WUS was today. The amount of conflicting information I’m getting is insane but of course expected from a 3-year old. Good luck @KnackeredBunny x

I've had a fair bit of feedback from parents about the WUS 4+ (which all agree) and it seems it's a relatively simple stage 1. I'm guessing it will be much more in depth if you get to stage two. How they will whittle them down from stage 1 results I don't know! 🙄

Indeed, as much as kids are not the most reliable source, they told me no phonics or numbers. My daughter casually reported drawing a cat, and being asked to write cat (which she couldn’t do 😁😁😁😁)

Does anyone know when we will hear back from Highgate? Already feeling nervous!

This is insane!!!

I’m curious too about Highgate. Hope someone can shed light on this.

Looks like there are a lot of first time parents here doing 4+ and being understandably stressed.

My 2p having done 4+ for my eldest child:
-most children will do well and will get into a good school. There are enough spaces for everyone to go around. The only cases where I saw kids not getting into any selective schools is when there was a lot of stress in the family at the time - eg a divorce or very high levels of stress and anxiety linked to the assessments. Relaxed happy kids perform much better.
-be aware of doing too many assessments. They all tend to be at the same time (WUS now being an expection for stage 1) and kids are very small and get tired very quickly from new experiences. I would not do more than 3-4 schools and would minimise any other socialisation that month (eg no play dates and very early bedtime)
-no tutor knows your child better than you do (hopefully). Best prep you can give your child is to understand where they are strong and where they need to upskill. Some kids are great with letters and numbers but are very shy with strangers. In these cases it’s best to send them to lots of drop off activities and kids clubs than hire a tutor to teach them how to write “cat”. Some kids are very social but struggle with scissors - get them a pair and get them to cut and colour at home etc… only you know where your child is “lacking”.
-London tutoring scene is build on the culture of fear and every year it seems to start earlier and earlier. When my eldest did 4+ people would openly laugh at the idea of tutoring, now it seems to be becoming more and more common with tutors exploiting parental anxiety and uncertainty. It’s up to everyone to decide what they want to do but there are definitely a lot of children who get in the best schools with no external prep. Also keep in mind- kids talk a lot at this age, so there is a high probability they will share that “Miss Katie” told me to do X or Y. Equally once you start it’s very hard to stop tutoring - so ask yourself if you want to have a 4-5 year old already being tutored (and potentially starting to think that they can’t get on in school without extra help).

Good luck to everyone and I am sure every child will get the best offer for them

Hi @Londonmamma22 - thanks for sharing your experience. It’s all a numbers game - a few hundred children applying for 20-30-40 seats in a cohort. Statistically, 90% of the kids will be rejected so parents try to give their children an edge by tutoring. It makes for a gruesome and tiring experience for sure.

@GloMum if you need cheering up from the 4+ madness, Lord Pencilton can shed some humour The Delicate Dilemma of the Summer-born 4+ Scholars 😆

any insights from the Highgate assessments?

Incase anyone on here is on waiting list for Manor Lodge there is hope! We got a call this morning out of the blue and were offered a place! Wasn’t expecting to hear about any movement on their waiting list until end of Jan after Habs/NLCS assessments, so don’t give up hope if your still waiting.

Thank you! We’re still on the waiting list

We also got offered a place! ML was always our first option with Radlet prep being our back up. But after attending their offer morning my wife and I were really impressed and accepted RP.

@navigatingparenthoodthere is obviously movement with waiting list don’t give up you never know.

weve decided to stick with RP due to their academic results being better and when we looked at the school we want to send our DS at 11+ RP had higher stats of getting children offers.

good luck

I know what you mean. In our heads we had mentally started to prepare that our DD was going to Radlet Prep so the call took us by surprise.
we really liked RP too and found it to be very nurturing but with academic drive but mainly due to location and ease of pickup drop off we decided to accept ML offer. Difficult decision to make but ultimately you have to do what’s right for your child and family

Has anyone heard from Habs boys for a date for the assessment?

Anyone doing the Dulwich schools? Have you heard about your JAGS dates?

Has anyone heard back from Westminster Under yet?

Highgate emailed tonight and said we’d hear by end of November - so I guess this coming Friday

Just heard from Highgate and our daughter passed the first round. The email says second round applicants have a 1 in 3 chance, so still super competitive. Here we go again in January!

Congratulations and good luck for Jan to your little one @sheepi 😊

Hi All,

I came across this topic because I just got a confirmation from Highgate School and my son was not selected for the second 4+ assessment. I am very disappointed as he comes across as very clever kid and picks things up very quickly. They told us not to prepare them and i have never prepared him for the assessment. Having read comments in this site, I wish i had prepared my son for the assessment. My son is going to be 4 in few months and of course he does not know how to write his name or numbers. He can count though but doesn’t recognise the numbers yet and im fine with it.

he has great personality. He is very active, sporty but also bright - many people (including the nursery stuff) have few times mentioned to me that he is a bright kid. Everything he does he does it with intention. He’s very playful and plays very well with kids. I just think that it is very unfair that he has been assessed with kids who have mostly been tutored for the assessment itself.

Anyway…. I would be grateful if i can get some recommendations of any other prep school in North London (preferably Highgate/Muswell Hill) that i can enroll him where they can prepare him for 7+? Any recommendations for private tutors will be appreciated.

Sorry to hear, we didnt get through either. It’s a tough process ! From my maths it sounds like 40% got through from round 1 to round 2

Sorry to hear, we didn’t prepare at all and our daughter sounds similar in personality to your son. It’s really luck on the day as they’re assessed against kids of the same gender born in the same month essentially. We decided it’s better she’s assessed as she is naturally because always there’s a risk the school is a false fit.

She can write her name and write numbers & counts above 100 and recognised numbers into the hundreds too (buses and houses help with this) but we never push this on her, she practices at nursery and at home she signs her name on cards and pictures she makes and has activity books that she asks to play with a lot.

She received an accelerated offer to another N London school and skipped the second round based on how she performed from an academic standpoint (2-3 years ahead apparently). We’ll see what happens next, still only 1 in 3 chance of actually getting an offer.

Sorry to hear too. We will just focus now on trying for 7+ and this time tutor my son. I can really do with some directions/recommendations if anyone has succeeded in getting to Highgate.

Wow that sounds very impressive. Well done to your daughter and I hope she gets a place. Good luck