assessments | Magus Education

on Nov 15, 2020

Competitive independent schools in London are so oversubscribed these days (up to 10 applications for every place) that the vast majority have now moved to assessment for entry at 3+ or 4+. Although such early assessments are far from conclusive and mostly assess the “teachability” of a child at that particular age, the shift, inevitably, is causing considerable angst among parents; especially those with their mind irrevocably set on a particular school. Thus, many autumn open days are spent trying to suss out exactly what will be expected of the children in the assessment. Purpose of the assessment For clarity, let’s first review the purpose of these assessments. What the schools are trying to determine is not whether your child might win the next physics Nobel Prize. Instead, they are looking for signs that your little one is ready to learn in the environment of that school and to...

Making Music Exams Work for You

on Dec 8, 2019

As far back as I can remember, I have always sung. As a child, I sang because I simply couldn’t help it. It nourished me, elated me and grounded me. I sang as others speak, dance, run or write. As a teenager and then an adult, I kept on singing, eventually becoming a professional opera singer. Today I am also a mother and a singing teacher. The combination of these roles has led to my appointment as resident dinner party expert on all things music. Parents who approach me have all have the same burning question: when should their child start his/her formal music education? My answer often startles them: much later than you think. Most professional musician friends of mine who also teach children share the same view. Many argue that before the age of 4-5 is too young. While many of us may harbour the hope that they’re raising the next Mozart, the reality is that music geniuses are...

EQ vs IQ – How to nurture a child’s Emotional Intelligence

on Sep 28, 2017

One of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child is to help them become ‘emotionally articulate,’ i.e. able to recognise, express and manage their own feelings. This is a skill developed over time, as the terrible twos –when tantrums are often caused by a child’s frustration at not being understood or listened to—give way to increasingly mature and reasoned behavior around the age of 3 and 4, when the 4+ assessments for entry into selective independent schools take place. As a mother of four, I have been through this developmental stage with my own children several times. I know first hand they won’t have all reached the same level of emotional maturity at that age and may thus react very differently to meeting new people in an unknown setting where they will be expected to follow instructions and rules. As a former teacher who used to conduct 4+ assessments at a top prep school, I...

Schools – Where to Start?

on Jan 9, 2017

This article was commissioned to Magus Education by ParentVille. We republish it with their permission. This is how it goes. You pee on a stick. Small hurrah. You bite your nails for the next 12 weeks before sharing the news. Toast. Sorry, mocktail for you. Flash- forward a few weeks — you have yet to hit check out on that flattering maternity dress in your Seraphine basket — when it starts. A whisper from a colleague here, a flash of panic across a well-meaning friend’s face there, a schools’ special in Parents magazine. The chorus of voices becomes deafeningly loud, the same question repeats again and again: have you put your unborn child’s name down for nurseries? Schools? Universities? You laugh it off at first; they can’t be serious. But they are. And soon you laugh no more, because the whisper has built to a terrifying roar of third-hand horror stories along tales of creepy...

Talking Heads: King Alfred’s Robert Lobatto

on Dec 6, 2016

Robert Lobatto has been the Headmaster of King Alfred School, a progressive, child-centred, co-ed school in Golders Green, since Sept. 2015. He spent a large chunk of his career turning around struggling schools in the state sector. Tell us more about your background. I spent 25 years in the state system as a history teacher, head of humanities, deputy head and then executive head. I really enjoyed my career in the tough end of London schools: I always did well with Ofsted and managed to turn several schools around. In the last few years, however, I got very disillusioned with the state system and its disproportionate focus with progress data. The pressure meant decisions were starting to be driven by what was best for the school as opposed to what was best for the individual child. It wasn’t education as I understood it. I was mulling what to do outside of education when the King...