Are you sick and tired of not understanding the 4+ Assessment process?

The biggest problem with 4+ Assessment preparation is the huge lack of understanding around the actual 4+ Assessment process.

Because most parents don’t fully understand what is involved, they cannot prepare their children to be 100% ready to go in and have the highest chances of passing their 4+ Assessments.

This is definitely not your fault.

I can the 4+ Assessments ‘The Secret Society’.

Schools are secretive about it, other parents who have already been through the process are secretive about it, teachers are secretive about it and even children who complete these Assessments are secretive about it!

So let’s go back to basics.

What is the 4+ Assessment?

Your child will sit their 4+ Assessment at the age of 3 or 4 to be in with the chance of going to a top Independent School. 4+ Assessments will be different at each and every school but in general they will be assessing the following:

Cognition

Communication

Practical Skills

There will be a variety of activities such as identifying shapes, counting, phonics, following instructions, listening to a story, problem solving, team work and independence.

What is the purpose of a 4+ Assessment?

The main purpose of a 4+ Assessment is for the Assessors to observe your child to know if they want your child to come to their school!

These top Independent schools will literally have their choice of who they want to come to their school!

What is even being observed?

Social skills

Emotional maturity

Independence

Ability to work well as a team

Schools want to know if your child will be able to socialise well within their school setting, how able they are to adapt to a new and unfamiliar environment and just how ready your child is for formal education.

So this is a very simplistic explanation of the 4+ Assessment process.

You don’t need to over complicate it but you do need to understand it. If you don’t understand it, you won’t be able to prepare your child for it.

Start preparing with at least 9-12 months of time before the Assessment. This is needed because of the vast curriculum that needs to be covered.

Bool your FREE 15 minute Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today.

2 things you must stop doing today if you want your toddler to become an independent writer.

Parents often tell me this…

‘My child refuses to write!’

and parents often ask me this…

‘How do I get them to write?’

You don’t ‘get’ a child to write. So get that out of your head for starters!

Here’s what you should be asking me…

‘How do I help to create a love for writing?’

That question I can spend hours answering!

When I worked full time in primary schools, this was something that I had to work very hard to get rid of in my classrooms. This ‘enforced writing’ time. Especially in the earlier years (Reception- Years 2). Some children just don’t want to write for whatever reason they have and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m sure that there are many things that you don’t like to do too!

Yet we continue to ‘force’ our children to write and then we wonder why some children don’t want to write?

If you want your child to become an independent writer, here are two things you must stop doing today.

1.Telling them to do it.

My son is 28 months old. To this day, I have never told him to write. Not once. Every morning, I leave paper out for him. I leave colouring pencils/felts out for him. But I don’t tell him to write. If he gravitates towards that activity - that’s great! He’s always asking me for pencil and paper. He calls pencils ‘papers’! Perhaps because he sees me writing all the time and he copies everything I do, perhaps he sees that I myself love writing and am writing at various points in the day. Perhaps this is why he loves to write.

It is a problem if you keep telling your child to write because if they don’t want to do it and you tell them to do it, they will associate it with something negative. And once it becomes negative - that’s it - Game over.

We want writing to always be associated as something very positive. Very relaxed and calm. This is not what I’ve seen on many occasions in my nearly 20 years as an educator.

2. Telling them that what they have written is not good enough.

Don’t do this.

If you are trying to encourage your child to become an independent writer, just let them write. What they do is good enough. Don’t tell them otherwise. If you do want to comment on something, be specific. Eg. I love your letter o but let’s try forming it the other way.

You want your child to become an independent writer then avoid these two things to have the greatest chance for success!

3 mistakes over 90% of parents make that cost them their 4+ dream schools for their children.

As we are preparing more and more children for their 4+ Assessments, unfortunately we are noticing more and more mistakes.

Mistakes that sadly are costing parents their choice of schools to send their children to at 4+.

Top Mistake #1

Assuming that the 4+ Assessments will be straight forward.

‘My husband/wife just doesn’t believe that it will be as hard as you say it will be!’

‘He/she is only 3/4!’

‘What do you mean that we have to prepare for a playdate Assessment?’

I hear things like this all…the.. time.

Now, the huge problem with this mistake is that if you have it in your head that the 4+ Assessments will be straight forward, you won’t take the process seriously and therefore your child most likely will not have the best chances to have the best possible results.

I have Zoom meetings with parents every day who simply do not believe me. They don’t believe me when I tell them all of the things that their children need to know in order to pass their Assessments.

Why would I lie? I am here to serve and support my clients.

Top Mistake #2

Leaving it to the last minute.

So many parents contact me 2-3 months before the Assessments.

These are the most stressed out clients that I have.

They are stressed out because they have left it too late and not because of any other reason.

The curriculum is far too vast to leave only 2-3 months of preparation time. Start with 9-12 months minimum of time before the 4+ Assessments and take it seriously.

Top Mistake #3

Leaving it to others to prepare their children.

‘My child goes to a top Montessori Nursery.’

‘My child’s nursery/pre-prep is preparing them.’

No.

Do not leave it to others to prepare your child. Your child needs bespoke 1:1 learning in order to have any chance of passing a 4+ Assessment. I worked for 3 years in a Top Pre-prep in Hampstead. I know what I’m talking about.

My son goes to nursery. Ok, it’s not a fancy pre-prep, nor is it a Montessori. I view his nursery as a lovely addition to the learning he does with us (his family). I certainly don’t leave it solely to them to teach my son. They have other children to take care of and not only mine. Remember this.

Book your FREE Assessment Consultation Discovery Call and empower yourself with knowing everything you need to know to have the highest chances for success in your child’s 4+ Assessments.

Books your child should read when preparing for their 4+ Assessments.

If you are currently preparing your child for their 4+ Assessments, chances are you are doing A LOT of reading. As you should be.

Reading is a very important part of 4+ Assessment success. We read with our students each and every week in our lessons.

Reading doesn’t mean just staring at words on a page. Reading means analysing pictures, answering questions and becoming fully immersed in the story.

Most of our students really look forward to reading with us in our lessons. We do too!

If you are preparing your child for their 4+ Assessments, here are the books that they should be reading.

• Fiction

Popular story time books such as:

What the Ladybird Heard

The Tiger Who came to tea

Aliens Love Underpants

Elmer

• Rhyming stories

There’s a mouse in my house

Hairy McLary

Octopants

Duck in a Truck

• Diverse and Inclusive books

Spreading my wings

New Baby

Eyes that speak to the stars

Astrogirl

• Fairytales and Traditional Stories

Jack and the Beanstalk

Little Red Riding Hood

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

The Three Little Pigs

• Non Fiction Books

Tree: Seasons come. seasons go

If Winter comes, tell in I’m not here

To Carnival: A celebration in St Lucia

I love Chinese New Year

Read books that spark your child’s interests above all. We want to develop a love for reading that will go way beyond any 4+ Assessment. We are definitely not forcing our children to read … ever!

Children should be delighted to pick up new books and read. Read a variety of genres in preparation for the 4+ Assessment and above all enjoy reading books to your precious little loves. Show them how much you love reading. Children model what they see!

How to support your child to develop their gross and fine motor skills.

All children develop at their own rate when it comes to their gross and fine motor skills. There is not such thing as one child doing better than another. All children are different. Do not compare them.

This is what I hear and it infuriates me…

‘So and so’s daughter is only 2 and she’s doing 48 piece puzzles by herself!’

First of all - good for her.

Second of all - do you know that to really be true?

And finally - who cares?

Not me. And neither should you

My son was doing two piece puzzles up until yesterday. He is 28 months old. Today he mastered an 8 piece puzzle and managed to complete it all by himself. I tell you this because it really doesn’t bother me that many of my own students who are the same age or slightly younger than my son are completing 12 piece puzzles with ease.

Gross motor skills are simply larger movements that use the bodies larger muscles eg. running and jumping.

Fine motor skills are simply smaller movements that use the hands, fingers, wrists, ankles, feet, and toes.

This explains it very well if you’d like some bed time reading!

The best way to support your child with developing their gross and fine motor skills is by providing them with endless opportunities to be able to practise daily. If you want to support your child with their gross and fine motor skills you will want to provide them with activities that will allow them to develop them. Eg. Materials that they can hold, squeeze, grip, throw, poke. Putting pegs on a washing line, applying buttons to pieces of paper and opportunities to touch sand and water will all support your child with developing their gross and fine motor skills.

Fine and gross motor skills are very important because they are the fundamentals for holding pencils and paintbrushes and for developing literacy skills when your child is older.

When I see children who lack gross and fine motor skills (unless they have a condition or course), I know it is because they haven’t been exposed to enough opportunities to be able to develop them to the level needed. No judgement at all. I know I could do way more with my son in terms of both gross and fine motor skills development. I don’t have a sand or water tray but he has this at nursery. I don’t do much painting with him and I’ve not started button work with him yet.

That’s ok, I will soon. This blog is not meant to be judgemental in any way. Rather an informative body of information should you want to ensure that you are doing everything possible to support your child with developing their gross and fine motor skills.

Timothy - A 4+ True Story

My student’s name has been changed to protect his privacy and so has his father’s name.

George contacted me in early October 2023. He was desperate to send his son to Habs boys. He told me that he had gone there and therefore was alumni. Surely that counted for something.

It does not.

When I asked him why he had left it to the last minute, he told me that as a family they had many other important things to deal with that year. They had moved home, his wife was expecting their second baby and he didn’t believe his son needed that much help. It was not a priority. Until now.

I told George that two months was not enough to prepare for Habs boys. I had been preparing my other boys for Habs since January of that same year.

He insisted that we get started and so we did.

Timothy was clearly a bright boy. However, he struggled with his social skills. He didn’t answer my questions with the detail needed and often he refused to answer my questions. His father quickly became deeply frustrated and told me that he knew that his son could do way more than he was showing.

This is irrelevant. It really doesn’t matter what you think your child can and cannot do. What matters is what they are able to show in the 4+ Assessment. George took it all very personally.

This is the biggest problem with starting late. You are going to be far more stressed out than had you started with a full year of time to prepare. Your stress will filter through to your child. Children absorb our emotions like a sponge. Your child will not do well under pressure. They are three at this point! No one wants a three year old to be stressed out, worried or anxious.

But if you’re feeling this way, how do you think that your child will be feeling?

Timothy did not pass his 4+ Assessment at Habs Boys (Round 1). His father was very surprised. I was not.

I know exactly what it takes to pass both rounds at this school. This is why we always have exceptional results every single year.

However, we do not perform miracles. So if you choose to start late, that’s on you and that’s your responsibility.

Timothy has been preparing for his 7+ since August 2024 and he will be applying to Habs for the 7+ Assessment. He is thriving and doing very well. George is a lot calmer and now has a deeper understanding of the Assessment process. He has chosen to put his energy into what he has control over.

I have no doubt that Timothy will get into his dream school at 7+.

Preparing for the 4+ for 2026 entry? Join our Waiting List today (your payment will go towards your Registration fee).

Secure your place with us and guarantee Assessment success!

Sara - A 4+ True story

My student’s name has been changed to protect her privacy and so has her mother’s name.

Her mother has given me permission to share her daughter’s story in the hope that it will help other parents to understand the 4+ Assessment process better.

I love that more and more parents are wanting to support each other through this process rather than the secretive nature that has been prevalent in this society that we live in. It’s not dog eat dog and it shouldn’t be. These children are 3 or 4 years old when they sit their 4+ Assessments. We should all be out to help each other.

After all, how we choose to educate out children is one of the most important decisions we will ever make for ourselves and for our precious children.

Myself and my team take it very seriously.

Sara

Sara’s mother Jessica contacted me in mid September 2024. I was having a coffee in Central London waiting for my partner to arrive to go for a Spa day! Jessica told me all about Sara with excitement and happiness. Then her mood changed. She told me that she had a 4+ Assessment at a Top London School in one month’s time. She also informed me that she was preparing for two very prestigious London schools and the Assessments for these schools were in December and January respectively. ‘Can you help us?’ She pleased.

I told her that the answer to this question would be based on hundreds of factors such as - where her daughter was right now academically, emotionally and behaviourally. After having met her daughter at her Sample lesson, I told her the truth. Her daughter would not be ready for the Assessment in October unless she was willing to increase the frequency of tuition.

Her mother chose to have one lesson a week with me. We met weekly for one month.

She did not pass her 4+ Assessment at this school.

Jessica was devastated when she got the results and she called me. Receiving that rejection was something she could not have prepared for. Seeing your precious child’s name on that letter or email and being told that the school you desired would not accept them is hard.

Now we have one month left to her next 4+ Assessments and her daughter is not ready.

My other students who have been preparing for the schools Sara is trying for started with me in January 2024. There is a huge difference in terms of their academic abilities, in terms of their ability to answer questions and in terms of the skills that they have developed over the process of these last 9-12 months together.

Starting 9-12 months before your child’s 4+ Assessment will be a game changer for you.

Jessica often tells me that she wishes that she had found me sooner. The truth is that she could have found me sooner if she had started looking for 4+ support sooner.

Learn from this story and start preparing today for your child’s 4+ Assessments.

Join our Waiting List today. The fee will go towards your Registration fee when you receive your invoice for your first package.

The three 4+ Assessment mistakes that stand out the most to me.

2024 has been a very busy year for all of us here at Creative Minds Tutors.

It’s been the year that we have supported the most parents in the History of Creative Minds Tutors. I moved everything online nearly 3 years ago but I have been supporting children to prepare for their Assessments for over 15 years.

Here are the THREE mistakes that stand out the most to me. Avoid these mistakes at all cost if you want to have any sort of chance at being successful in the 4+ Assessments in 2026..

THE BIGGEST MISTAKE

1. Starting late

I have always recommended 9-12 months of 4+ Assessment preparation to have the highest chances for 4+ Assessment success.

Starting late is a huge problem.

Starting late has meant more intensive tuition for my students. Instead of just seeing us once a week, some of our students are seeing us up to four times a week. This is because there is too much to cover. The curriculum is far too vast to start late.

So please don’t start late.

We have already started preparing children for 2026 entry.

Join our Waiting List today (the fee goes towards your Registration fee when we start our first package)

THE SECOND BIGGEST MISTAKE

2. Underestimating the complexity of the 4+ Assessments.

Thinking that the assessments will be ‘easy’ and ‘what can they even ask a 3 year old to do anyway’. You are very wrong if these are your thoughts.

The 4+ Assessments are far from easy and they can ask your child to do thousands of different things!

THE THIRD BIGGEST MISTAKE

3. Not knowing how to prepare their children properly.

Finding resources online won’t cut it.

Going to see a teacher who doesn’t know the schools won’t cut it.

Not being consistent (as in doing a little every single day for 12 months minimum) won’t cut it.

You want serious success - then take this process seriously.

Myself and my team take it very seriously. We are deeply invested in ensuring our clients are successful. This is how we go on to get valuable referrals from them and this is also how we continue to have credibility as a company.

We have ALWAYS had incredible success.

We are here to support you every step of the way too.

Preparing for 2026 entry. NOW is the time to consider getting started. Our places are already filling up fast for January/February start.

Book your FREE 15 minute Assessment Consultation Discover Call today and have all of your questions answered once and for all.

Will your 3 year old pass the 'following instructions' part of their 4+ Assessment?

My child would not.

I’ve not yet put him in the position to do so.

But if you want your child to pass their 4+ Assessment then you must provide thousands of opportunities throughout their Assessment preparation to follow instructions.

I speak to many parents who just seem to think that this will come naturally to their child. That they will just send their child to a 4+ Assessment and their child will do what they are told.

Absolutely not and this is a very unreasonable expectation to have of your child.

Other parents tell me this…

‘They follow instructions perfectly at their nursery!’

Yeh, so does my son.

So what?

It is irrelevant.

My son knows, likes and trusts the teachers at his own nursery. If I were to send him into a 4+ Assessment, he would not know, like and trust the teachers he will meet. Why would he? They would be completely new people to him.

So please don’t even take into consideration your child’s nursery.

It’s up to YOU to prepare your child to be able to go into any 4+ Assessment and follow the instructions.

If they don’t - they will not pass.

This is what we do here at Creative Minds Tutors. We know what these top schools are looking for and we provide this insight to our clients.

Through our FREE 15 minute Assessment Consultation Discovery calls, you can get an incredible insight into exactly what is needed for your child to be able to go into any 4+ Assessment and follow the given instructions and actually have a chance of passing their 4+ Assessments!

Can your 2/3 year old concentrate for 60-90 minutes?

Now this is a complex question.

Many of my clients get deeply frustrated by this. They want their child to sit and focus for longer periods of time (whatever that means to them). They feel annoyed that in our lessons, their child is not as focused as they think they should be (whatever this means to them)

Hold up!

Your child is 2 and you expect them to be able to sit still and focus for 60-90 minutes?

That’s quite a huge expectations is it not?

This is why I think in person tuition can sometimes be a detriment to 4+ Assessment preparation. With the teacher physically there with your child, your child will be much more able to maintain longer periods of focus and concentration. However, this is not what will happen in the 4+ Assessment. Your child will not have a teacher to themselves for the whole time (unless it’s a 1:1 assessment) and even then it isn’t comparable because your child does not know this person.

The reality is this.

If you want your child to pass their 4+ Assessments at top inner and outer London schools, they MUST concentrate for the duration of the Assessment. And you MUST prepare them to the best of your ability to be able to go in and do that.

That’s what we do with out students each and every week. We also provide our clients with tips and strategies to use with their children during the week to support them with their concentration.

It is the compound effect of doing things daily and consistently that will lead to the best results with your child’s concentration in their 4+ Assessments.

Book your FREE 15 minutes Assessment Consultation Discovery Call and let’s get your child’s Assessment preparation going!

Is your child engaged and truly focused?

Not all children are and that’s okay.

I can say with confidence that my son (who is nearly two and a half) can be very engaged in certain activities but completely disengaged in others. This would be a problem if I decide to send him to a 4+ Assessment next year. It would be a problem because he would stand out to the assessors when compared to other children who are beautifully engaged at all times.

If your child is sitting their 4+ Assessment this year or in the years to come, you MUST ensure that they are engaged in ALL of the activities that they do and not just the ones they like!

This is a skill. One that we have perfected over the last 15 years.

The biggest frustrations my clients have is that they think their child isn’t as engaged and focused as they ought to be.

As parents, we all have these visions of what this should look like and most of the times we are very wrong.

Here is my vision.

My son walks into the room as though floating on air and smiles at me. He goes to each a every single activity that I have planned and prepared for him and sits down quietly. He engages for long periods of time with each activity and answers all of my questions with confidence and clarity.

Here is the reality.

My son walks into the room and tells me to get him some milk. He smiles at me but then he tells me ‘not this book, that book!’. He doesn’t go to any of the activities that I have planned for him but runs to his scooter and yells ‘scooter!’. He gets on his scooter and scoots around the flat. I ask him to sit down with his puzzle and he yells at me to move out of his way!

This is why most parents become deeply frustrated and start to panic and think that their child will never be ready for their 4+ Assessment.

Obviously, if my son did this in a real Assessment, he would not pass.

That’s obvious isn’t it?

But that’s the way he is - right now. Can we work on his focus? Absolutely.

That’s up to me and not up to him. He is 2!

Join our Waiting List today (£50 will go towards your Registration fee when we begin your first package) and prepare your child to the best of your abilities to be able to go in to any 4+ Assessment and show true engagement and focus.

We will support you every step of the way.

Why is FOCUS important in the 4+ Assessments.

The 4+ Assessments can range from anywhere from between 30 minutes to 90 minutes!

That’s a long time for any 3 or 4 year old to have to maintain focus for!

Focus is an expectation in the 4+ Assessment. Your child will be expected to FOCUS.

So it seems to me that you should place a huge amount of importance on teaching your child to be able to focus in their 4+ Assessments.

Do not just expect your child to go in and focus if you’d not taught them how to do this.

They WILL NOT.

If your child does not demonstrate high levels of focus in their 4+ Assessments, they will not pass their 4+ Assessments.

With hundreds and hundreds of children applying to your dream school, the school will have their choice of who they want to actually come to their school. Who will they choose? The child who focuses or the child who doesn’t?

The answer is obvious.

So what does focus look like in a 4+ Assessment?

Having witnessed several 4+ Assessments in action, let me tell you some ways that as assessor will observe focus…

• A child can engage for periods of time (allocated by them) on an activity.

• A child can listen attentively to a story being read to them and therefore be able to respond appropriately.

• A child is keen and eager to raise their hand and answer any question asked of them

All of the above are ways that your child will need to demonstrate focus. There are many others!

By working with our team of expert teachers, we will ensure that your child has the highest possible chances of going into any Assessment and demonstrating focus.

Join our Waiting List today (this will go towards your Registration fee) Once you have joined the waiting list, email over your list of preferred days and times and our Company Director will confirm with you immediately which day/time works beginning from January/February 2025.

Why I’ve changed my mind about reading strategies since I had my own child.

Before I had my own child, I used to recommend that my clients read a variety of books every single day in preparation for the 4+ Assessment.

Now Joshua is 28 months and I have changed my mind about this strategy.

I speak to many parents every single week and we often discuss reading. Reading is a priority to many parents that I speak to. They want their child to be reading before their 4+ Assessments. This is 100% achievable with my programme.

All of our students who have the recommended 9-12 months of 4+ Assessment preparation can read before going into their 4+ Assessments (blend 3 letter words). This sets them up for tremendous success with their learning.

I spoke to one parent a few weeks ago who told me that she sends her child to a weekly reading class. It’s a popular reading class attended by hundreds of children. She was told that her son must ‘read’ 10 books a day. I don’t think this is necessary or even helpful to be honest with you.

First of all, all children are different and unique. So what works for one child might not work for another. The best strategy is the one that works for YOUR CHILD.

Whilst I do strongly believe that we need to provide our children with a variety (however many you want) of books each day- as in laid out in front of them and not hidden away in drawers, I do not believe that it is in any way helpful or beneficial for your child to ‘read’ all of them.

Here is what I’ve noticed with my own son.

Each morning, I lay out a selection of books for him. He doesn’t currently have a book shelf but I will be getting one for him soon. He will always gravitate towards his favourite books and choose those ones. So what ends up happening is that we focus on one or two books every day.

I still get so much out of those two books. I can still ask him different questions about those books every day and the more we look at those books, the more we notice about them. The more we find out. We can go deeper and deeper into the books.

I am very much led by him when it comes to his ‘reading’. I do offer other books but if he says no, I don’t force it. I want him to love reading and not to feel forced to do it.

I also read chapter books to Joshua and we have started without first one and he often chooses to listen to that one before his naps or bed time. This is the one I’m currently reading to him.

Which reading strategies do you use with your child?

2 truths you'd prefer not to know about the 7+

I’ve been having visions of a bear hiding in his cave.

This is how it seems some of you like to approach 7+ Assessment preparation.

Some of you don’t seem very open to hearing the truth about the 7+ and would rather stay comfortably in your cave. Well, I’m going to be very honest with you and if you don’t like it, that’s ok.

Truth 1

The 7+ is hard

Perhaps your ‘well meaning’ neighbour/family member/best friend told you that their child got into their school of choice with no prep at all. First of all, I highly doubt that and second of all they are the exception and not the rule. Perhaps their child was already at a very high academic capacity. Perhaps their child was already at mastery level and perhaps their child already had the skills that they needed to go in and actually be able to pass. This is not how is happens in most cases. The 7+ is hard. The assessment is hard. Covering all of the content needed to be covered is hard. Ensuring your child is at the level that they need to be before sitting the Assessments is hard.

So come out of that cave and into the wild. If you want your child to pass their 7+ Assessments and actually have a chance of passing, you must prepare them thoroughly.

My recommendation is starting from the Autumn term of their Reception year.

This is where we have had the most success as a company.

Book your FREE 15 minute Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today and find out exactly what is needed to be very successful in all of your schools of choice. Our Company Director has over 15 years preparing for all top inner and outer London schools for the 7+.

Truth 2

The 7+ is very complex to prepare for.

It is complex if you’ve never done it before.

For us it is very easy.

We know EXACTLY how to prepare each and every one of our students to go into any 7+ Assessment and have the highest possible chances of passing.

This is because we ensure that our students are at mastery level in the curriculum that they need to master for the 7+ at the schools that they are applying to.

Because we have so much experience with each individual school, we know exactly what is expected.

That is why all of our children(100%) who have the recommended 2 years of prep time before their 7+ Assessments are offered a place to at least 1 of their target schools. Many times are students are offered places at ALL of their target schools (HINT: This is amazing!)

Book your FREE 15 minute Assessment Consultation Discovery Call today and find out exactly what is needed to be very successful in all of your schools of choice.

We would be delighted to support you to have the success that you desire to have at the schools that you desire to send your child to.

What the quality of a story for the 7+ should look like...

I wrote this model a few months ago for one of my students. He was having a bit of a block with his writing and I knew that I had to find something that would engage him and fascinate him. Something that would get him wanting to read more. Something that would motivate him to write his own story.

My student was fascinated with ships and often brought along toy ships to our lessons. He would spend time telling me all about the ships. So I decided to write a story entitled ‘The Shipwreck’.

Well, he loved it! I had never seen him so enthralled and interested in a story. He read it with such enthusiasm and wrote his own story using my model as a guide. After 2 drafts, his story was perfect!

I am going to share with you my model of this story, in the hopes that it will support someone else to support their child with their story writing.

Of course, you do not want your child to copy the model. A copied story will be an immediate fail in the 7+. You want them to use it as inspiration. You want them to use it to support them to write their own story.

So here it is! I hope you enjoy it and I hope your child does too!

The Shipwreck 

Written by Maria Mazarese (Creative Minds Tutors Director) 

Walking along the tranquil shore, Tom was astounded by what lay in front of his eyes. A clever and inquisitive boy, Tom had always had an interest in ships. Big ships, small ships, old ships or new ships. He was completely fascinated with them. Happily, Tom walked along the peaceful shore as he did every morning on his way to school. He lived on the small island of Travi. Beautiful palm trees surrounded the island and the sea was mostly always calm. The other day, his father had taken him on a fishing excursion and Tom had been on the lookout for ships. Unfortunately, he hadn’t spotted one but he had caught a gigantic fish! As he continued on his way, he noticed something that he had never seen before. Feeling confused, he noticed that the sea wasn’t calm at all. Crashing against the shore aggressively, the waves seemed angry today. In the distance, he noticed that there was a broken ship. “Could this be?” whispered Tom to himself. “Is that a shipwreck?” 

Approaching the ship cautiously, he saw that it was broken in two and it looked very old. It seemed as though it had been under the sea for over one hundred years. Taking out his camera, Tom began taking photos of the ancient ship. Old and abandoned, Tom went even closer, curious to see more. Peering inside one of the broken windows, Tom observed that some items had been preserved. A table with one leg missing and two small, patterned tea cups that were leaning delicately on the rusty floor. Broken chandeliers that must have crashed to the floor brought a shiver to Tom’s shoulders and he shuddered. Wondering about what had happened, Tom was determined to find out how long this ship had been abandoned for and what exactly had occurred. 

Feeling sad and worried, Tom decided to return home. Filled with sorrow for what he had just seen, he proceeded to tell his mother and father that he had finally seen a shipwreck. Asking questions about which ship it might have been, Tom’s father told him that there had never in over 200 years been a shipwreck on the tranquil island of Trevi. Begging his father to come with him, Tom was determined to show him that what he had seen was real. Quickly, they dashed out of the front door and headed towards the shore. Noticing that the waves were calm and peaceful again, Tom rubbed his eyes and couldn’t believe that the ship was no longer there. Rubbing Tom gently on the back, his father told him not to worry and that perhaps he had imagined it. Returning home, Tom was still determined to discover the mystery of the shipwreck… 

To be continued …

Beliefs that will not lead to 7+ success

I’m speaking to more and more of you every single day. Many of you book my FREE Assessment Consultation Discovery Call and some of you join me in my 30 minute consultations.

Of course, I have very strong thoughts and belief about the 7+.

The parents who I work the best with are the ones who are aligned with my vision. The ones who are aligned with my thoughts and beliefs. Only then, am I able to achieve the results we both desire to achieve. Which ultimately is for my students to be offered a place at their school/s of choice.

Here are some of my own personal beliefs when it comes to 7+ Assessment preparation…

If we go all in, success will be inevitable.

Let’s work hard and cover all of the curriculum to the greatest of depths.

The time to start is now.

Here are some beliefs that I have heard in the last few weeks that simply will not lead to 7+ Assessment success…

Let’s do what we can, what will be will be.

We don’t have much time left so there is no point.

Let’s start later/closer to the Assessment/when my child is older.

Let’s look at each one of these beliefs and understand why they will not lead to 7+ Assessment success.

Let’s do what we can, what will be will be.

How does it make you feel when you say this? It makes me feel like you can’t be bothered and most likely that’s how your child will feel to. I’ll tell you what will be- what will be is that your child will not have the opportunity to pass.

We don’t have much time left so there is no point.

How does this belief make you feel? It makes me feel defeated - like what’s the point?

There is a point. These Assessments are important. Sending your child to the best school for them is important. Having the best possible education is important. Take it seriously.

Let’s start later/closer to the Assessment/when my child is older.

There’s always going to be a ‘better time’ and that time is now. Start right now. Don’t wait.

Book your FREE 15 minute Assessment Consultation Discovery Call and find out exactly what is needed in order to pass the Assessments at the school/s you are targeting.

The secret to successful 7+ Time Management

Time management is a skill that your 6 year old must master in order to be successful in their 7+ Assessments. Time management is a skill that is taught. It is a skill that needs to be practised. It is a skill that requires patience.

Time managements doesn’t even come naturally to most adults that I know, why would you expect it to come naturally to your 6 year old?

If your child goes to school, they will most likely practise time management. Most likely they will be given a certain time to complete a certain task and this is great. This means that they are practising their time management skills.

However, this is not enough.

In the 7+ Assessment your child will be given a specific amount of time to complete a large body of work. There will be x amount of questions to complete in let’s say 60 minutes.

To guarantee time management success in your child’s 7+ Assessment, your child needs to practise a lot. As in every day. Your child needs to complete papers in timed conditions and they need to be able to observe the time and plan their time meticulously. Your child needs to develop the skill of being able to do this independently and not with you telling them how much time they have left. This will not be happening in their 7+ Assessments.

Parents that I speak to after the 7+ Assessments are often surprised that their child did not complete their entire paper or left huge chunks out. When I ask them how their child was at managing their time, they often tell me that they didn’t practise that.

So what do you expect then?

The secret to successful time management in the 7+ Assessment is to practise daily. Put a timer up from YouTube (if it doesn’t distract!) or simply give your child a watch (digital or analogue) and invite them to practise checking how long they have left. Start with smaller time increments and build up to larger time frames.

A lot is expected in the 7+ and time management is most certainly a skill that must be mastered in order to have any sort of success.

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3 ways to guarantee failure in the writing part of the 7+ Assessments

Not all schools at 7+ will assess story writing but most will.

Check the criteria at the schools you are applying to or speak to someone experienced with your schools and if there is story writing to prepare for, prepare for it and prepare for it thoroughly.

Not all schools will assess story writing in Round 1 but most will.

A very popular boys’ school last year put the story writing task into their second round and this threw off A LOT of students who were not expecting to have a pencil and paper task.

Having done this for over 15 years, I have seen what works exceptionally well and I’ve seen what doesn’t work in the slightest.

What works is simple. What works is investing a big chunk of time and energy into getting super strong at writing stories (in a variety of genres and not just non-fiction!)

What doesn’t work is simple. What doesn’t work is leaving it to the last minute and having 1-2 months to prepare for this part of the 7+ Assessments.

Don’t do it please!

Here are the 3 ways to guarantee failure in the writing part of the 7+ Assessments.

1. Not have at least 8 months of story writing practise.

We don’t know what type of question will come up and we don’t know which genre will come up. But we do know how to write stories to the quality and standard expected in these Assessments. Having at least 8 months of practise will ensure that your child will be able to go in and answer any story writing question.

2. The story not being written to reflect the title.

So many children go off tangent when writing a story. They cannot do this in their 7+ Assessments.

3. The story not having great handwriting, great spelling and incredible descriptive language.

Forget about it.

Avoid these 3 and you will be golden.

Take story writing seriously and prepare for it to the highest possible standard.

We are masters in writing stories here at Creative Minds Tutors. It’s what we have done very well for more than 15 years.

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'My child refuses to write!' and what some parents make this mean.

I speak to a lot of parents every single week. What I hear a lot is general complaints about what their children cannot do.

Every single child in this world will have things that they love to do and things that they don’t love to do. Just like us!

Why does it have to be a problem?

It only becomes a problem if we make it into a problem.

If your child ‘refuses to write’, it will of course be a problem if they are going to a 4+ Assessment and they certainly do need to be able to write (in most 4+ Assessments). But what happens when we get super stressed out about it and our child absorbs that stress?

Yep, you guessed it!

They will ‘refuse to write’ even more!

For the majority of parents reading this, it will most likely be important to you that your child is able to write.

This is a beautiful thing.

However, do keep in mind that not all children will like writing. Not all children will like holding a pen/pencil. Not all children will want to learn how to write and correctly form the letters of the alphabet and not all children will want to learn how to correctly write their numbers.

All fundamental components needed in order to pass most 4+ Assessments.

So if your child ‘refuses to write’ are you making it mean that there is something wrong with them?

This is what some parents I speak to make it mean.

There is nothing wrong with them.

It simply is not something that interests them… right now!

It will be up to YOU to make it interesting for THEM.

In their 4+ Assessments, your child will be asked to write (most likely!)

If you would like support with teaching your child to write, book your Sample lesson today.

Top 3 tips to make teaching cutting easier.

In their 4+ Assessments, your child will highly likely be asked to cut something.

We don’t know what that something will be so it is important that we expose them to as many different cutting opportunities as possible.

If your are preparing your child for their 4+ Assessments or just want to teach your child how to cut, here are 3 top tips for you.

1.Start early.

Do not leave cutting until 1 month before your child’s 4+ Assessment. This will not cut it! (get it!)

I started with my son from the age of 18 months. Well, actually he was with me whilst I was teaching one of my students cutting and he grabbed the scissors and started opening and closing them by copying what I was doing.

2. Don’t panic!

When my son first grabbed the sharp scissors that I was using, my first instinct was to grab them off him. Don’t do this! You will make your child feel anxious and nervous around scissors. Set the boundaries and the rules first. Tell your child exactly how you expect them to handle the scissors and absolutely NEVER leave them unattended. They are dangerous but not if you are right there with your child. Always be calm and have a sense of fun around cutting. It is fun. It is also quite therapeutic!

3. Don’t start with ‘trainer scissors’.

Not necessary and some are also deeply frustrating for my little students because they are so blunt that they cannot even cut through the paper!

We recommend specific scissors to our clients - they are they ones their children will actually most likely to be asked to use in their Assessments.

Those are the ones you should be using!

If you choose to work with us, we will send you the link to order these!

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