NLCS 4 Plus Preparation
The NLCS 4 Plus assessment is a key entry point into North London Collegiate School, one of the top girls’ schools in the country. The assessments are rigorous and highly competitive, with a two-stage process typical of North London schools.
Our NLCS Expertise
Our experienced tutors include Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 teachers and former teachers from North London schools with comparable assessments. We have developed our programme specifically for the competitive North London 4 Plus landscape.
Some of our own tutors were previously staff members at NLCS or were there themselves as children. One of our tutors even passed the NLCS 4 Plus before becoming a tutor of pre school and KS1 children.
What's on the NLCS 4 Plus Assessment?
Firstly, all 4 Plus assessments are not the same. For example, the NLCS 4 Plus has important differences to the Channing assessments. The NLCS 4 Plus has a blend of group and individual elements and in particular they are looking for ability to work well under pressure through testing areas like perseverance. Teamwork and kindness is important but at Channing they have much more craft based, even cooking based, play and this sort of collegiate activity is absolutely central. The Phonics aspect of the NLCS assessment has become increasingly difficult in recent years. We deeply understand all the relevant schools and how their assessments differ.
Critically, there is a two stage assessment for NLCS. The first stage is more group focused than the second. However, there are group and individual elements to both stages.
Our success rate at NLCS
In 2023/2024 we have between 8-10 children who we have assisted to get into the school and we typically get 6-8 of these into the school. Typically, the offer rate at the NLCS 4 Plus is around 10%. Our rate is around 80%.
Additionally, there is a relatively higher rejection rate from a NLCS offer as parents realise that the distance may prove problematic. This opens up opportunities for children on the waitlist. There are strategies which we find maximise your chances of getting that waitlist converted to an offer and we help our clients with that. We typically get 1-2 waitlist offers from NLCS converted to full offers each year.
Our NLCS 4 Plus Preparation
We start with an assessment of where your child is, based on our knowledge of what the NLCS 4 Plus is designed to look for in successful applicants. We do this through a review of the nursery report; academic tests conducted in conjunction with Cambridge and Oxford Universities by our teachers; and full mock assessment with a 4+ specialist teacher which replicates the NLCS 4 Plus approach.
We will then give you detailed feedback on your child’s performance. We tell you what exercises you should expect and what they are looking for with each exercise. In short, we will give you the inside track on the day. We tell you how your child did and give you some exercises you can do with each exercise to assist her to give of her best on the day. We will be open and honest with you and tell you if we believe your child is on track for a positive assessment.
We then work with you over five different sessions to help prepare your child. Some of these sessions are with just the child and some with the parents in the room. We see ourselves as helping coach and support parents to help their child pass the 4+. We use a range of experts for this, including teachers, teaching assistants, registrars and play specialists – all the people involved in the assessment.
As the programme progresses we do further mock assessment. This can be either an individual assessment or a group based assessment as appropriate. We generally have to do more group activities with children for NLCS than with other schools.
Programme Pricing and Booking
Our core Preparation and Assessment Programme is £2,000. This includes an initial behavioural assessment, two academic assessment sessions, five coaching sessions, and parental coaching webinars.
Being realistic, a competitive NLCS 4 Plus application is challenging and most parents spend around £3,000 – £5,000 with us to be confident that their child is in a good place for success. This would include behavioural sessions, phonics and numeracy classes, group activities and mock assessments. However, each child is different and has their own journey.
If you are unsure but want to reserve a slot with us, you can register for £100 and we will make sure you are in our cohort. After you have booked, our course manager will be in touch to book you in for your first assessment dates.