There is a right way and a wrong way to prepare a four year old for an assessment, and the difference shows up clearly on the day. Here is the approach I have refined over twenty years and hundreds of …
Every parent I meet at this stage asks me the same question, in slightly different words: “What are they actually looking for?” And every parent is also slightly afraid of the answer, in case it turns out to be something …
In February 2025, Reading School announced a redesigned entrance exam, effective from the September 2025 sitting. The new format, set by Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE, Reading School’s own assessment subsidiary), is positioned by the school as removing the need …
If you have just realised the 11+ is on your family’s horizon and you have no idea where to start, this article is for you. I have written it as the conversation I would have if you booked a free …
If you have a three or four year old and you are even thinking about a London prep school, this is the guide I wish someone had handed me. Not the panicked Mumsnet version. Not the school marketing version. The …
I should declare an interest before I answer this question. I run a tuition school. I employ qualified teachers. I am, by definition, on one side of the answer. And yet the honest answer is: it depends. Not every child …
I have taught hundreds of children through their 11+ year. The ones who land their target school are not always the brightest, the most confident, or the ones who started earliest. They are the ones whose parents avoid the same …
So when should we actually start? It is the question I am asked more than any other. Sometimes it comes from a parent of a Year 3 child wondering if they are already behind. More often it comes from a …