Independent school admissions: where to start at 4+, 7+, 11+, 13+ or 16+

Before you book the open days

Write down three things your child needs from school, rather than three things you hope a school will put on their CV. Perhaps they need teachers who notice when they have gone quiet, a serious music programme, or a pace of work that leaves room for football. Those are useful starting points. “A good reputation” is much harder to test.

Now add the family limits: a daily journey you can repeat in winter, a fee you could sustain beyond the first year, and any learning or health support that is not negotiable. A school that fails one of those conditions is not a sensible fallback just because its entrance exam looks easier.

Looking in London? Our London shortlisting guide compares practical school choices, entry routes, test-date clashes and the full family bill.

In Kent? Our Kent shortlisting guide compares day and boarding choices, entry ages and costs, with a separate checklist for families keeping a grammar option open.

Around Manchester, our Greater Manchester shortlist compares six day schools, their entry routes, Year 7 costs and the practicalities of getting home after activities.

In Birmingham and Solihull, compare KES, KEHS and Solihull School. Their guides cover different classrooms, entrance papers, progression rules and costs. The two King Edward’s schools are independent schools, not state grammar-school applications.

Our view: visit at least one school that seems a comfortable fit before the most competitive name on your list. It gives both you and your child something concrete to compare.

Which entry point are you actually applying for?

The number in 4+, 7+, 11+, 13+ or 16+ usually describes the age of entry, not the age when every application begins. In England, these commonly correspond to Reception and Years 3, 7, 9 and 12. Check the school’s birth-date window as well as the label. Scottish year groups need their own explanation; don’t translate them by number alone.

Starting with Reception? Our 4+ admissions guide explains how assessments and ballots differ, why some deadlines arrive so early, and what to ask about care and settling in.

Joining Year 7? Our private-school 11+ guide separates ISEB, Consortium and school-set tests, with current dates, writing examples, interview advice and a practical application checklist.

Schools do not all recruit at every age. Highgate identifies 4+, 7+, 11+ and 16+ as its main entry points; its occasional-place route is different from a normal expansion year. That is why “we’ll try again at 13” needs checking before it becomes your plan.

For a younger child, ask whether transfer from the prep or junior school to the senior school is automatic, conditional or competitive. Our 7+ admissions guide covers the earlier move into Year 3, including assessments and preparation. For 13+ entry, ask when registration, pre-testing and any later assessment happen. ISEB explains that its Pre-Tests are often taken in Year 6 or 7; some schools use them for deferred entry into Year 9. Waiting until the year before arrival can therefore mean missing an earlier stage.

Our 13+ admissions guide walks through those stages, including Common Entrance, offer conditions and planning Years 7 and 8 if primary school ends at eleven.

At 16+, make the conversation about the intended subjects as well as the school. Ask for the subject-specific entry requirements, the actual combinations that can be timetabled, and the conditions attached to an offer. A general GCSE threshold does not tell you whether a particular A-level combination is available.

Our sixth-form admissions guide works through those choices, with application dates, test preparation, fictional statement examples and questions about joining a new school.

Keep the school application and the test separate

Private-school applications go directly to the school. A council form for state schools is a separate process. If you are considering both, keep both calendars open until you have a workable offer and understand the commitment you are making.

At each independent school, record the registration deadline, fee, birth-date eligibility, assessment, reference arrangements, interview stage, bursary deadline, offer date and acceptance terms. Save the current policy rather than relying on a search-result snippet. A page advertising an open day is not necessarily the admissions policy for your child’s entry year.

A shared test is not a shared application. With the ISEB Pre-Tests, a child normally sits once in the academic year and each participating school links the result to its own application, with its own deadline. Our ISEB Pre-Tests guide covers the Applicant ID, booking a venue, adding a school late and what happens on the day.

For example, the London 11+ Consortium’s published September 2027 cycle has a registration deadline of 6 November 2026. Candidates sit its shared assessment once, on one of three dates: 27 November, 1 December or 3 December 2026. That timetable belongs to this consortium and this cycle—not to every London independent school.

Prepare for the assessment your child will actually take

Before buying practice materials, ask which assessment is being used this year and follow the school’s link to familiarisation resources. “11+ practice” can mean quite different tasks. A child who has worked only through multiple-choice questions may still need to write an extended answer for another school.

The formats genuinely differ. ISEB’s Pre-Tests are four adaptive, multiple-choice tests: English, mathematics, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. The London Consortium combines adaptive testing with a non-adaptive section involving problem-solving and creative and critical thought, as its own explanation sets out. Many schools add their own written papers. Verbal reasoning uses words and language patterns; non-verbal reasoning uses shapes and visual patterns. If ISEB is on your list, the ISEB Pre-Tests guide explains the timings, adaptive questions, the free walkthrough and how scores are used.

A practical approach is to try the official familiarisation material, notice the specific difficulty, and work on that. Is the problem understanding a word, reading the instructions, managing time or using the interface? Those call for different help. More timed papers are not automatically the answer.

For interviews, practise conversation rather than a speech. Your child can talk about a book they really read, explain a piece of work, or describe what they would do differently next time. Follow up with “why?” or “what happened next?” You are helping them put their thinking into words, not supplying a more impressive personality. ISEB has free interview-preparation resources you can use as a starting point.

For worked conversations and group activities, try our independent 11+ interview guide. It separates real school formats from fictional practice, with help for parents and children who need more time to answer.