4 Plus Assessment Preparation

Securing a reception place at London’s most competitive independent schools through the 4 Plus assessment has become the preferred route for families seeking all-through education. Schools including Westminster, Alleyn’s, Highgate, NLCS, Habs, JAGS, and Dulwich College now use 4 Plus entry to identify children with the strongest potential for academic success, offering them guaranteed progression through to age 18 without the stress of later entrance exams.

The challenge is significant: with acceptance rates typically between 10-20% and competition ratios approaching 10:1, families need expert guidance to navigate this complex process successfully. At Hermes Education, we achieve success rates of 70-80% even at the most selective schools—a track record built on deep expertise, evidence-based methods, and four years of proven results.

4 Plus Intensive Course with girl and teacher

Understanding What Schools Actually Assess

The 4 Plus assessment process remains widely misunderstood by families, leading many well-meaning parents to prepare their children in ways that can actually harm their chances. Through our work with hundreds of families and our partnerships with schools across London, we’ve identified exactly what assessors are evaluating—and it’s rarely what parents expect.

The Three 4 Plus Assessment Domains

Schools evaluate children across three distinct but interconnected areas:

1. School Readiness

Can this child walk into a reception classroom in September and thrive from day one? Schools look for independence, emotional regulation, the ability to separate from parents confidently, and basic self-care skills. Children who struggle in this domain often fail assessments despite strong academic ability.

2. Aptitude for Learning — The 4 Plus Pillars

This is where most assessments are won or lost, yet it’s the area parents understand least. We’ve identified the specific behavioural indicators that schools prioritise—what we call the 4 Plus Pillars. These include sustained attention and task persistence, curiosity and question-asking, ability to follow multi-step instructions, collaborative skills and turn-taking, resilience when facing challenges, and communication clarity and confidence.

Contrary to popular belief, these behavioural elements carry more weight than early academic achievement at most schools. A child who demonstrates exceptional learning behaviours will often succeed over a child who can recite their times tables but struggles to collaborate or persist with difficult tasks.

3. Early Academic Attainment

The most academically selective schools—particularly Alleyn’s, Highgate, and Westminster—do assess early literacy and numeracy. However, they’re looking for natural aptitude and genuine understanding, not rote learning or coached responses. Children who’ve been drilled on flashcards often perform worse than those with authentic curiosity about letters, numbers, and patterns.

Why Traditional 4 Plus Preparation Approaches Fail

Many families believe the 4 Plus assessment is essentially random—a lottery where luck determines success. Our data tells a different story. Children who succeed at one school’s 4 Plus assessment typically succeed at multiple schools. Similarly, children who struggle at one assessment tend to struggle at others. This consistency reveals that schools are identifying the same core attributes, regardless of their individual assessment formats.

The problem isn’t randomness—it’s that most preparation focuses on the wrong areas. Common mistakes include drilling academic content through repetition, practising formal testing situations, coaching children on ‘correct’ answers, focusing solely on cognitive skills while ignoring behaviour, and starting too late in the process with intensive cramming.

Assessors are trained to identify coached responses and rote learning. These approaches not only fail to develop genuine capability—they actively harm children’s chances by creating rigid, anxious responses rather than the natural curiosity and flexibility that schools value.

The Hermes Education Approach to 4 Plus Success

Our programme takes a fundamentally different approach, built on evidence-based child development research and direct insight into what schools actually assess. Rather than coaching children for tests, we develop the authentic capabilities that schools are seeking.

Comprehensive Initial Assessment

Every family begins with a thorough evaluation that provides complete clarity on your child’s current position:

  • Behavioural assessment against our 4 Plus Pillars framework, benchmarked against age-appropriate expectations and peer cohorts
  • Standardised academic testing in partnership with Cambridge University, measuring critical thinking and motor skills
  • Language development evaluation through our Oxford University partnership
  • School-specific literacy and numeracy testing that replicates actual assessment formats
  • Professional analysis of your child’s nursery reports—we decode the language schools use and understand what matters
  • Honest probability assessment for your target schools—we tell approximately 10% of families that 4 Plus entry will be exceptionally challenging for their child


This comprehensive assessment provides the foundation for everything that follows: a personalised action plan created by our education team, targeting your child’s specific development areas and aligned with your chosen schools.

Developmental Programme Structure

Our most successful families work with us for 12-18 months, following a carefully sequenced developmental pathway. This extended timeframe allows children to genuinely develop capabilities rather than memorise responses. The programme follows three distinct phases:

Phase 1: Foundation Development (December–Easter)

We begin by establishing school readiness—the foundational behaviours that make all subsequent learning possible. Children work on independence, emotional regulation, basic social skills, and the ability to engage productively in structured learning environments. Without these foundations, even academically capable children struggle in assessments.

Phase 2: Aptitude Building (Easter–Summer)

Focus shifts to developing the 4 Plus Pillars—the core learning behaviours that schools prioritise. Each child progresses at their own pace through our carefully designed matrices, which mirror the actual marking frameworks used by London’s most competitive schools. Sessions are playful and engaging, building genuine capability rather than test-taking tricks.

Phase 3: Application and Mastery (August–December)

In the final preparation period before the 4 Plus assessments, we integrate academic content appropriate for your target schools and develop sophisticated collaborative working skills tested in group settings. Children practise applying their developed capabilities in assessment-style situations, building confidence and familiarity without losing the authentic, curious engagement that schools seek.

Teaching Team. Academic Testing and Pedagogical Excellence

The quality of instruction determines success at this age more than at any other educational stage. We’ve assembled a teaching team with unparalleled expertise in both early years education and London’s competitive admissions landscape.

Our teachers include current and former staff from the schools where your child will be assessed—UCS, Highgate, JAGS, Dulwich College, Alleyn’s, Glendower, Haberdashers’ Boys and Girls, NLCS, and South Hampstead. Many were directly involved in their schools’ 4 Plus assessments and understand exactly what assessors look for. This insider knowledge, combined with our partnerships with Oxford and Cambridge Universities for standardised testing, gives us assessment insight that no other provider can match.

We supplement this 4 Plus focused teaching team with a team of specialist staff which includes an educational psychologist, an advanced phonics practitioner and a speech & language expert. Whatever your child’s needs, we have you covered.

Beyond individual teaching expertise, we’ve developed our own pedagogical framework specifically for 4 Plus assessment preparation. Our 4 Plus Pillars system emerged from years of experience analysing what separates successful candidates from unsuccessful ones. The materials we use are calibrated against actual marking criteria from London’s most popular schools, ensuring that children develop precisely the capabilities that will be assessed.

Every child’s progress is reviewed weekly in discussions between their teacher and our Head of Early Years, who creates bespoke lesson plans for each subsequent session. This level of individualised attention ensures no child follows a generic programme—each plan responds to their unique developmental trajectory and target schools.

Finally, we have an unmatched access to a range of standardised tests through partnerships with both Oxford University and Cambridge University. This allows us to give you statistical measures of your child’s potential and / or attainment in Maths, English, Speech & Language, Phonics and Numeracy. What’s more many of these tests are actually used by the schools themselves for assessments. In addition, we have developed a database of hundreds of applicants for the 4 Plus so we can go beyond standardised results and give compare you to your actual peers. Where others give you warm words and anecdotes about your child, we give you insights backed by quantitative data.

Comprehensive Family Support

Effective 4 Plus assessment preparation extends far beyond weekly sessions. The home environment and parental understanding play crucial roles in children’s development. That’s why our programme includes extensive parent education and support:

  • Parent coaching webinars providing practical strategies for developing 4 Plus Pillars behaviours at home. These are often delivered 1-2-1 based around your needs.
  • Feedback after every session, ensuring you understand exactly how your child is developing
  • Written, data based reports on your child’s academic levels and progress
  • Guidance on supporting academic development without creating pressure or anxiety
  • Resources and activities for home practice that reinforce learning without feeling like ‘tutoring’

Many families tell us that the parent education component proves as valuable as the direct work with their child. Understanding what schools are really looking for—and what they’re not—transforms how parents interact with their children during this crucial year.

Targeted Intensive Programmes

For families targeting the most academically selective schools, or for children who need additional support in specific areas, we offer intensive courses that provide focused development in key competencies:

  • Early Literacy Intensive: Phonics foundations, letter recognition, and early reading skills
  • Numeracy Fundamentals: Number sense, counting, basic operations, and mathematical reasoning
  • Spatial Reasoning: Pattern recognition, visual-spatial skills, and logical thinking
  • Find Your Voice: Communication confidence, articulation, and expressive language
  • Bilingual Support: Specialised programme for children from multilingual homes navigating English-language assessments

These intensive programmes run during school holidays at our Dulwich and Hampstead centres, providing concentrated development in a small-group setting that accelerates progress.

Proven Results Across London's Most Competitive Schools

Our success rates speak clearly: while typical 4 Plus assessment acceptance rates range from 10-20%, we consistently achieve 70-80% success rates even at the most selective schools. This dramatic difference reflects our evidence-based approach and deep expertise.

These results come from a carefully managed approach to client numbers. We work with a maximum of 15 boys and 15 girls per school per year. This limitation isn’t arbitrary—it reflects our commitment to maintaining the quality of individual attention that produces exceptional outcomes. If we accepted unlimited clients, we would compromise the personalised support that drives our success.

Most cohorts reach capacity by September, nearly a year before assessments take place. Families who wait until summer often find we can no longer accommodate them. If you’re serious about 4 Plus entry for September 2026 or 2027, securing your place early is essential.

Convenient London Locations

We operate from three school-based centres across London:

Beginning Your 4 Plus Assessment Journey

The first step is a consultation with our education team. During this conversation, we’ll discuss your target schools, your child’s current development, and whether our programme is the right fit for your family. We’re honest about children’s prospects—approximately 10% of families are told that the 4 Plus assessment will be very challenging, and we help them identify alternative pathways.

For families who proceed, the journey begins with our comprehensive assessment package, followed by personalised coaching sessions and ongoing support through to assessment day. Most successful families work with us for 12-18 months, allowing children to develop authentic capabilities rather than simply memorise test responses.

If your child will be assessed between November 2025 and January 2026 for September 2026 entry, we recommend beginning immediately. For 2027 entry, registering now ensures you secure one of our limited places before cohorts fill.

Why Families Choose Hermes Education

Parents select Hermes Education because we offer something fundamentally different from other providers. Our approach isn’t based on coaching tricks or test preparation strategies—it’s built on evidence-based child development and direct insight into what London’s most competitive schools actually assess.

We develop genuine capabilities that serve children throughout their education, not just on assessment day. Our teachers don’t just prepare children for tests—they cultivate curiosity, resilience, and authentic learning behaviours that schools value. Parents consistently report that their children’s confidence, independence, and love of learning flourish through our programme, regardless of assessment outcomes.

Most importantly, we deliver results. With success rates of 70-80% even at schools where typical acceptance rates are 10-20%, we’ve proven that the 4 Plus assessment isn’t a lottery—it’s a process that rewards authentic capability and thoughtful preparation. Our track record across four years and hundreds of families demonstrates that our approach works.

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We are so pleased to tell you that xxx has an offer from Habs. It was our first choice as you know. Your work has hugely helped xxx gain confidence and improve his language skills. Coming from a bilingual family, we always knew it would be tricky, but your team in Hampstead made all the difference
4 Plus Habs Offer: 12 Sessions