Choosing a London private school: a shortlist that works for your family

Thirteen starting points, with different choices attached

The links below lead to the fuller school profiles. Use this table to identify questions worth exploring, not to decide which school is “hardest” to enter.

One naming trap is worth catching early. Latymer Upper is the independent school in Hammersmith. The Latymer School is the state-funded selective school in Edmonton. Their admissions arrangements and fees are not interchangeable. St Paul’s School and St Paul’s Girls’ School are also separate schools.

The entrance tests are not interchangeable

A child applying to three London schools may sit three different kinds of test. These are the formats our school guides found on each school’s current pages.

Three groups emerge. Channing and City start on screen; Highgate, Latymer and NLCS set their own written papers; and St Paul’s and Harrow use ISEB as the first step towards a Year 9 place. Dulwich sits apart, with its own Year 6 assessment for both 11+ and deferred 13+.

That is why one generic “11+ practice” plan rarely fits a London shortlist. Prepare for the specific format at each school, and keep the Consortium, ISEB and school-set dates in separate rows of your calendar.

Formats are summarised from our school guides as reviewed. Schools adjust their tests between cycles, so check the current admissions page for your child’s entry year.

Compare the choices, not just the reputations

Highgate and Channing: start with the environment your child wants

Both put a north London family’s attention around Highgate, but one offers coeducation and the other a girls’ school. Our Highgate and Channing profiles examine their different application processes and daily arrangements. Do not assume that being near each other makes the journey, support or timetable identical.

For a girl open to either setting, we would visit both before deciding that single-sex or coeducational education is the overriding factor. Ask her where she felt comfortable asking a question and which activity she would actually join. Avoid turning one tour guide’s personality into a verdict on an entire school.

NLCS and City: a campus or a city-school day?

NLCS in Edgware and City of London School for Girls in the Barbican offer different settings. Compare the whole week: getting there, moving between activities, staying late and meeting friends. Neither a campus nor a central address tells you how supported your daughter will feel.

At sixth form, NLCS’s choice of A levels or the IB is a concrete reason to look more closely if your daughter wants to keep a broad subject mix. City offers an A-level route. But “likes lots of subjects” is only a starting point: compare the actual subject combinations, entry conditions and workload in our sixth-form guide.

Latymer Upper and St Paul’s: do not overlook the entry-stage difference

Families looking around west London may consider coeducational Latymer Upper in Hammersmith and boys’ St Paul’s in Barnes. Alongside the different environments, check whether you are comparing immediate Year 7 entry with a Prep or deferred Year 9 route. That can change the next three years more than a small difference in published results.

Latymer Upper’s middle-school reform begins in autumn 2027. A child joining Year 7 then will not reach Year 10 until 2030. Treat today’s outline as something to discuss, not a guaranteed future options sheet.

Try the journey your child would actually make

A London postcode tells you less than you might hope. A direct journey can be easier than a shorter one with awkward changes. Start from your home, use the correct school gate and include the walk at both ends. Junior and senior sections may use different sites.

The TfL journey planner lets you set an arrival time and compare routes with fewer changes or less walking. Its accessibility options distinguish different levels of step-free travel. Use a school-day arrival time, not a convenient midday journey, then try the route with your child where practical.

Repeat the exercise for the evening your child most wants to stay late. Does the coach still run after orchestra? Does the bus stop feel manageable in winter? Can a parent collect a sick child? Ask the school what happens if an activity finishes after the normal departure, and write down a backup route rather than assuming one exists.

For two children, test both journeys together. Different gates, finish times and clubs can turn two individually reasonable choices into a difficult family week. Include the cost of the adult time or paid help you would need; it is part of affordability even when it never appears on a school invoice.

We would favour the school that leaves a child enough energy to enjoy its opportunities over a more famous option whose journey regularly prevents participation. That is a family judgement, not a universal maximum number of commuting minutes.

Compare the same bill at every school

The headline fee can be misleading if one school includes VAT and another quotes before VAT. Here is a small comparison using published senior tuition for 2026/27. Annual amounts are three terms of tuition, not the full cost of attendance and not quotations for 2027/28.

Channing publishes £9,190 before VAT; adding 20% gives the figure above. It also charges separately for public examinations and some books. NLCS includes examination fees, textbooks and stationery in tuition. You need the inclusions as well as the number.

Build the same basket for each school: tuition, lunch, travel, required equipment, music or other chosen lessons, compulsory trips and any paid support. At NLCS, current tuition plus £1,275 school lunches and £3,084 return coach travel comes to £35,454 a year before other extras. Your family may use a different combination.

Keep upfront payments separate from recurring costs. Ask when registration charges and deposits are due, what happens if you decline or withdraw, and when fee increases are announced. For a longer view, our fees and bursaries guide helps you test the commitment beyond the first year.

London boarding belongs on the list—but check the weekends

Harrow School is full boarding, even for families living nearby. Its house community and Saturday commitments make it a different choice from a London day school. Read the profile for room-sharing, discretionary weekends away, entry routes and funding rules.

Dulwich College offers day places and boarding from Year 9, so it belongs in a south London shortlist as well as a boarding search. Its weekly and full options have different practical consequences. Younger boarders have compulsory weekends away, and families need plans for holiday closures. Do not assume that a full-boarding label removes every need for a nearby adult.

Boarding is not confined to schools outside London. St Paul’s offers full, weekly and flexi arrangements, subject to availability. Boarding starts no earlier than Year 9, with limited places at that age. It is worth exploring for a boy who wants that life, not simply as an automatic solution to a difficult day-school commute.

Westminster’s boarding pattern is different. There are Saturday classes, and all Year 9–11 boarders go home at weekends. Some sixth formers stay, but the school describes those weekends as generally quiet. A family needing weekend care cannot treat this as equivalent to full boarding.

Westminster also says it cannot accept international boarders at 13+ and is not suitable below 16 when parents live overseas. Do not assume a weekend guardian removes that restriction. Its ordinary bursaries cover day places; the school identifies an exception for boarding support combined with a King’s Scholarship. Check those eligibility rules before building a boarding budget.

Before choosing a boarding school, ask how many pupils of your child’s age normally stay, who is there in the evening, what happens when someone is ill and which nights or holidays need care elsewhere. Then include those arrangements in the budget. The boarding guide goes further into houses, weekends and deciding whether your child actually wants to live at school.

A shared test does not mean a shared application

The London 11+ Consortium allows candidates to sit its assessment once for the member schools to which they have applied. Parents still register separately with schools. School fees for applying, references, interview arrangements and final decisions remain separate too.

For September 2027 entry, the Consortium lists a 6 November 2026 registration deadline and sittings on 27 November, 1 December or 3 December. These are not three attempts or a promise that every family can choose any date. Confirm your sitting before arranging another test for the same day.

If your current school hosts the Consortium assessment, candidates must sit there. Otherwise, request a member-school venue where you have applied. Channing’s hosted date below is therefore not a free choice for every Channing applicant.

The Consortium’s offer date is 12 February 2027, with acceptance due by noon on 3 March 2027. Put those dates in the calendar too, but do not assume they govern schools outside the Consortium.

Even the interview stage differs. Channing says all applicants are interviewed on 5 January 2027. South Hampstead selects candidates for its 20 January interviews. Preparing for one shared test does not make the rest of the process identical.

ISEB Common Pre-Tests are a different system. The ISEB registration instructions call for one Applicant Profile and an ID to share with the schools. Confirm the test-centre booking separately and meet the earliest relevant school deadline. A free ISEB profile does not waive school registration charges or apply to schools for you.

ISEB’s family guidance explains that candidates take the Pre-Tests once in the testing session and participating schools receive the results. Schools can still add their own assessments. Sharing results reduces duplication; it does not create a common admissions decision.

Highgate, NLCS, Latymer Upper and City of London School for Girls are not members of the London 11+ Consortium. Read their current admissions pages rather than assuming a familiar test label applies across London. Our private 11+ guide explains how to prepare for different kinds of assessment without filling every evening with practice.

Check the calendar before adding another application

A hypothetical shortlist of Channing, Highgate, Latymer Upper and NLCS can mean four separate test days close together. For September 2027 entry, the schools currently list:

• Channing’s hosted Consortium sitting: 27 November 2026.
• Highgate’s own exam: 1 December 2026; its calendar is provisional.
• Latymer Upper’s exam: 2 December 2026.
• NLCS’s written papers: 3 December 2026.

That is a workload question, not just a diary exercise. Another Consortium venue on 1 December could clash with Highgate; a 3 December sitting could clash with NLCS. In January, Latymer Upper’s selected interview day and City’s selected written assessment are both listed for 6 January 2027.

Contact admissions offices early about an actual conflict. Explain the appointments and ask what is possible; do not assume an alternative will be offered. Keep the reply with your calendar. Recheck dates before paying fees or making travel arrangements.

Registration can close well before the exam. Latymer Upper’s current deadline is midday on 12 October 2026. Put bursary, music and learning-support paperwork in the same calendar, not on a separate list you plan to tackle later. Our 13+ guide covers the longer timetable when tests happen years before the move.