Preparing for Nursery assessment - how? can hire someone? scary....

[NatalieDi]

Hello all,

There is this nice nursery attached to a (very!) competitive school that we are keen (let's be honest, we are rather desperate) for our girls to go to. She is going to be 2 years and 7 months when invited for an hour long assessment session.

Any advice on how to prepare for that? Teach her to say thank you, i get that, anything else?

Does anyone have any experience of hiring teachers or any other help with preparation? Or perhaps you have heard of such a service? Googling does not seem to lead anywhere. Even knowing how such a service / such a specialist is called would be helpful - easier to find if you know what you are looking for :-)
(we are in central london, if this helps...)

Thank you!!

[Inclusionist]

How old is she now?

You don't need help for this. Just do, read, do, read. Look at Development Matters if you want guidance as to what is 'expected' and aim for 12 months ahead.

[Littlefish]

Don't do anything at all. They will either consider her to be the sort of child they want, or they won't. If they don't think she will be happy there, then you shouldn't want her to go there.

She will be 2 years, 7 months. Let her just get on with it. The idea of preparing her in anyway is frankly ridiculous in my opinion.

[NatalieDi]

Thank you, Iclusionist, Development Matters brought up a great pdf document - and most importantly having lots of pointers on how to 'promote' the 'expected' traits and abilities. Very very helpful!

She is 2.5 now, so only 2 months to go really

Just feels like that you should always be able to do something, rather than just pray :-)

[Tableforfour]

Go onto the primary education forum and find the thread 3+ 4+ 5+ 7+ help 2013 (or something like that) - it should be in the first few pages. lots of info there.

[zingally]

Read lots of books together, do things that encourage fine motor skills such as playdoh, threading, picking up things with a pincer grip, build things, use scissors, pencils, crayons.

And talk to her. Build her vocabulary.

At this age, YOU are her best teacher. An "expert" or a tutor will be no use in the time you've got.

[nameuschangeus]

Crikey what a scary post. Surely people don't really try to get almost 3 year olds to perform at a pre-school assessment? Let her go in and be an almost 3 year old. Let her be normal, not a performing seal. If the school is so fabulous they cannot appreciate a child who hasn't been tutored or any such thing then they're a crap school. This makes me so glad I moved from London before dc's. it's bad enough making 10 year olds jump through hoops for exams and school entrances, but 3 year olds? Jeeez.

[Littlefish]

I absolutely agree nameuschangeus.

[mumteacher]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1640557-3-4-5-7-support-thread-2013

Yes you are the best teacher - as long as you know what to teach.

[mumteacher]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1640557-3-4-5-7-support-thread-2013

[JohnnyDeppsfuturewife]

I don't know much about these sort of assessments but I thought I'd share my experiences. Both of my dds were 'assessed' at a nursery attached to a lovely school and I was allowed to sit in for dd1s and half of dd2s (but I peeeked through the windows at the rest of dd2s ).

From what I can remember both dds were given play dough straight away. Dd1 did some threading of wooden beads on a string. They both did painting and were asked about colours. Dd2 was given some musical instruments to play and the kids all sung 'wind the bobbin up' doing the actions. These activities were alongside the other children so it was as if they were part of the nursery. They also had snack time and the girls were expected to drink from a plastic cup and tidy up their cup and plate afterwards.

While I don't really know what the assessments were looking for I think zingally offers really good advice. We did most of that stuff anyway. We didn't do any specific preparation for dd1 but I was concerned that dd2 wasn't the chatterbox that dd1 was so I focused on her speech - lots of talking to her (and more importantly listening to her) and doing lots of imaginary play as a way of helping her to learn more words and gain confidence.

Anyway good luck. I hope your dd gets a place.

[Lara2]

Can truly say that this is the most depressing thread I have ever read in the education section.

How the hell have we allowed our nurseries to cherry pick children and assess them for their 'appropriateness' before they are permitted to enter the hallowed halls?????
These are tiny children who need to develop at their pace and through the things that interest them. I'd be running a mile quite frankly!!!!

[JohnnyDeppsfuturewife]

I agree it is depressing and a sad situation but i have seen my next door neighbours move to a smaller, more expensive house to be in a better catchment area, and 3 other neighbours join and attend church every week to get into a very strict religious school, so for us it seemed like the best option.

[teacherlikesapples]

I don't think the above posters link is legit- have reported.