The 4+ is the entry point to reception at selective London pre-preps and prep schools. Your child will be three when they are assessed, which is young enough that the whole exercise makes many parents uneasy — reasonably so.
Here is what actually happens, and what schools are and are not looking at.
The timeline
This catches people out more than anything else in the process.
- Registration often opens at or shortly after birth at the most oversubscribed London schools, and closes long before assessment. Some schools cap the register; a few operate first-come lists.
- Most schools require registration by the autumn before entry — so autumn of the year your child turns three, for entry the following September.
- Assessments run between November and February, for entry the following September.
- Offers usually come out in the late winter or early spring, with a short window to accept and a deposit payable.
If your child is already two and you have not registered anywhere, you have not missed everything — many good schools register in the normal autumn round — but check individual school deadlines now rather than assuming a common date. There isn't one.
What the assessment involves
Almost always a small-group session lasting somewhere between forty minutes and a couple of hours, in a classroom, with a teacher observing. Children usually go in groups of six to twelve.
Typical activities:
- Free play and structured play
- Story time, with questions afterwards
- Simple sorting, matching, puzzles and pattern work
- Drawing, cutting, threading — fine motor tasks
- Group activities involving turn-taking
- A short one-to-one chat with a teacher
Some schools add a brief parent conversation. A few run a second-round session for a shortlist.
There is no written paper. Nobody asks a three-year-old to read.
What they are actually assessing
Broadly four things.
School readiness. Can the child separate from a parent without distress? Can they sit for a story? Do they cope with a new environment and unfamiliar adults? Can they manage the lavatory and their own coat? This is the largest part of it, and it is developmental rather than academic.
Communication. Do they speak in sentences, follow a two-part instruction, answer a question, and ask for something they need?
Social behaviour. Sharing, turn-taking, joining in, not dominating or withdrawing entirely.
Early cognitive signs. Curiosity, persistence with something difficult, noticing patterns, counting objects in play. Not knowledge — disposition.
Fine motor control gets more weight than parents expect, because handwriting is coming.
What you cannot change, and should stop worrying about
Age within the year. A child born in early September has had almost a year longer to develop than one born in late August. Good schools standardise for this or at least discuss it explicitly. Ask the school how they handle it — the answer is revealing. If your child is summer-born, our article on summer-born children and deferred entry covers your options.
Personality. A quiet, watchful child is not failing an assessment by being quiet. Experienced assessors are looking for engagement, which does not have to be loud.
The randomness. A three-year-old who is tired, coming down with something, or simply having a bad morning will present differently. Schools know this, which is one reason many assess in groups over a longer period rather than in a five-minute interview.
Preparing without preparing
The genuinely useful preparation has nothing to do with academics:
- Practise separation. A child who has spent time at nursery, with grandparents, or at a playgroup without a parent will find the session ordinary rather than alarming. This is the single highest-value thing.
- Read together daily. Not to teach reading — to build attention, vocabulary and the habit of following a story.
- Talk, and let them talk. Ask open questions and wait for the answer.
- Fine motor play. Threading, playdough, scissors, big crayons, construction toys.
- Visit the school. If there is an open morning, go, so the building is not new on the day.
What does not help, and can hurt: drilling letters and numbers, rehearsing answers, or telling a three-year-old that something important is happening. A child who arrives anxious performs worse than one who thinks they are going to play at a new place. Schools can tell the difference between a curious child and a coached one, and the coached one is not the one they want.
On the morning itself: normal breakfast, arrive with time to spare, and keep it light. Whatever you are feeling, they will read it off you.
If you do not get a place
Very common, and not a verdict on your child. The most oversubscribed London pre-preps turn away many more children than they admit, often on ratios that have nothing to do with ability.
Practical responses:
- Apply to more schools than feels necessary. Six to eight is not excessive in central London.
- Accept a waiting list place and stay in touch. Movement happens over the spring and summer as families relocate or take other offers. Our guide to waiting lists and appeals covers how to handle this well.
- Consider 7+ instead. Many excellent prep schools have a larger intake at 7+ than at 4+, and the competition is different. See the 7+ and 8+ explained.
- Look slightly further out. Provision in Wandsworth, Richmond upon Thames, Barnet and Kingston upon Thames is strong and the pressure is often lower than in Kensington and Chelsea or Westminster.
Keeping perspective
The 4+ selects on developmental readiness at a moment when children develop at wildly different rates. The correlation between how a three-year-old presents in a group session and where they end up at eighteen is weak, and everyone involved in running these assessments knows it.
Register widely, prepare the child for the experience rather than the content, and treat the outcome as information about fit rather than about your child.
Next step: see what is available across the London boroughs on the school search, or read our pre-prep stage guide for what to look for in an early years setting.