'No special preparation is necessary as no formal knowledge is expected - South Hampstead 4+.
/'No special preparation is necessary as no formal knowledge is expected’ - South Hampstead 4+.
How do you read this?
Here is how some parents will read this.
Literally.
They will not prepare their child because South Hampstead has written not to.
Interesting also that in an interview with the Head Mistress that I stumbled upon (not the current one and written in 2017), she wrote that in the 4+ Assessments, ‘We are looking for girls who will enjoy being challenged and can embrace a fast-moving curriculum.’
For a child to ‘embrace a fast moving curriculum’ demonstration of actually being able to handle a ‘fast moving curriculum’ needs to be shown in the Assessments. This contradicts the first sentence.
She then says ‘We don’t expect any ‘taught skills’ eg. we certainly are not expecting any child to have started reading or writing at that age.’
Interesting that they assess reading and writing in their Assessments then.
In the article it says that there are 250 applicants for 24 spaces that are available. It is most likely double this number.
She also says, ‘If you put too much pressure on a child too early, learning becomes something that is hard work rather than a joy.’
You should never ever be putting pressure on a child of any age to learn. So if there are teachers out there doing this, I’ve never seen it.
I then see so many comments on threads where parents talk about their daughter not being offered a place at South Hampstead and their deep disappointment.
So I can see why parents are so overwhelmed and confused.
For me it’s simple.
Find a teacher who will make learning fun for your child. Find a teacher who actually knows how to support your child to be successful to South Hampstead at 4+ and find a teacher who knows exactly what has come up at this schools historically for the last 15 years!
That’s a teacher who can actually help you to have success at South Hampstead at 4+.
