4+ assessments: Round 1 vs Round 2
27 April 2026
Most parents prepare for the 4+ as if it is one assessment. It isn’t. The 4+ is usually a two-stage process, and the two rounds are not testing the same thing. Round 1 is broad. Round 2 is deeper. Round 1 asks whether your child is ready for a Reception classroom. Round 2 asks whether your child has the potential the school wants. That distinction matters. Because if you prepare only for Round 1, your child may get through the first gate — and still be underprepared for the stage where offers are actually won.
Round 1: school readiness
Round 1 is the broad filter. It is usually group-based, play-based, and designed to assess whether a child can function in a school environment. That sounds simple. It is not. A strong Round 1 child is not necessarily the child who knows the most phonics or can count the highest. It is the child who can separate, listen, participate, follow instructions, sit with an activity, engage with adults, and behave appropriately around other children. Schools are looking for basic readiness. Can your child walk into the room without falling apart? Can they join a group? Can they listen to an instruction and act on it? Can they attempt a task without constant reassurance? Can they use a pencil, colour with some control, draw, write or recognise their name, sort, match, count, talk, listen and take turns? This is why Round 1 often covers “everything” — fine motor, early literacy, early numeracy, attention, language, social behaviour, independence, and confidence. It is not narrow. It is not purely academic. It is a whole-child screen. And parents who dismiss basic tasks like name-writing, colouring, pencil control or group participation are making a mistake. These tasks are not there because schools think colouring is intellectually profound. They are there because they reveal whether the child is ready for Reception. Round 1 is not asking, “Is this child exceptional?” It is asking, “Can this child cope here?”
Round 2: potential
Round 2 is different. By the time a child is called back, the school already knows they are broadly ready. The second round is about choosing between children who are all viable. That means the assessment becomes more detailed. The groups are usually smaller. There is more adult interaction. There are more 1:1 moments. The tasks tend to probe thinking more carefully: puzzles, problem-solving, memory, sequencing, reasoning, language, and the child’s ability to respond when something is unfamiliar. This is where potential shows. A child who can do familiar worksheets may not shine in Round 2. A child who can recite numbers may still struggle when asked to explain their thinking. A child who performs beautifully at home may become silent when an unfamiliar adult asks a slightly unexpected question. That is why Round 2 preparation matters more. Round 2 is not just “harder Round 1”. It is a higher-resolution assessment. Schools are looking at how the child thinks, how they communicates, how they handles uncertainty, and whether there is genuine curiosity underneath the preparation. The best Round 2 candidates are not robotic. They are alive to the task. They try. They speak. They notice. They recover. They engage.
The school-by-school pattern
The exact format varies, but the pattern is consistent.
NLCS tends to expose the gap between a child who is merely prepared and a child who is genuinely curious. Round 1 is broad school readiness, but the second round is where the child’s thinking becomes much more visible. A child who has been drilled to complete tasks may get through the first stage. But in Round 2, the school is looking for a child who notices, reasons, talks, adapts and stays engaged when the task is unfamiliar. For NLCS, you cannot rely on polished basics alone. You need depth.
Habs Girls is a very different preparation problem because the callback stage places is exclusively 1:1 interaction. This is where a lot of otherwise strong children wobble. They can cope in a group, but when an adult sits opposite them and asks questions directly, they become hesitant, over-reliant, or silent. For Habs, adult conversation is not an “extra”. It is central. The child needs to be comfortable thinking aloud with an unfamiliar grown-up.
Westminster Under is different because of the length and intensity of the second round. It is not just about potential - it is about sustained performance. It is no longer just about whether a child can think or respond well in a short interaction. It is about whether they can maintain focus, energy and engagement over an extended period.
Different schools. Same core distinction. Round 1 is the readiness check. Round 2 is where schools make the real judgement. The best preparation is not to create five different versions of your child for five different schools. It is to build the core 4+ skill set properly — and then understand how each school is likely to stress-test it.
The biggest mistake parents make
The biggest mistake is preparing for Round 1 and assuming Round 2 will take care of itself. It won’t. The gap between the two rounds is small. In many processes, Round 1 happens in the autumn and Round 2 follows in January. That is not enough time to build a child’s confidence, language, reasoning and 1:1 adult interaction from scratch. You cannot suddenly create Round 2 readiness over Christmas. By January, the child needs to be peaking. That means preparation has to be designed backwards from Round 2, not merely aimed at surviving Round 1.
What proper preparation looks like
For Round 1, preparation should be broad. Your child needs to be comfortable with the basics: separating, joining a group, listening, sitting, colouring, drawing, name work, counting, sorting, matching, early phonics, simple instructions and group behaviour. This is the foundation. But for Round 2, the work needs to go deeper.
You need to build:
puzzle confidence
adult conversation
expressive language
reasoning
memory
flexible thinking
comfort with unfamiliar tasks
resilience when something is not immediately obvious
That is where many children fall short. They can complete a task, but cannot explain it. They can answer familiar questions, but freeze with a new adult. They can perform at home, but lose confidence in a smaller, more focused assessment. They look prepared for Round 1, but not strong enough for Round 2.
The real timeline
Do not aim for your child to peak in November. Aim for January. Autumn is not the finish line. It is the beginning of the final phase. Round 1 matters, of course. You need to get through it. But the child who wins offers is the child who continues improving after Round 1 — especially in communication, reasoning, confidence and 1:1 interaction. That is why the best preparation is not unstructured. It is sequenced. First: build broad school readiness. Then: sharpen potential. Finally: peak for January.
Final thought
Round 1 and Round 2 are not interchangeable. Round 1 is about readiness. Round 2 is about potential. Parents who understand this prepare differently. They don’t just drill worksheets. They don’t obsess over one narrow skill. They build the whole child first — and then stretch the child’s thinking, language and confidence before the second round. That is the difference between looking prepared and being offer-ready.
