Which Surrey school week would fit your child?

These are six different propositions, not six versions of one school

Follow each name to the full profiles before acting: RGS, Guildford High, Tormead, St Catherine’s, Cranleigh and Charterhouse.

Entry points and what the 11+ involves

Six schools, six different entry maps. Some take most pupils at 11+, some at 13+, and two send younger children through a separate prep school first.

Five of the six use ISEB somewhere in the process, but none relies on it alone: interviews, writing or an activity day sit alongside it. Guildford High is the exception, using a Cambridge/CEM online test.

The entry map matters as much as the test. At Charterhouse and Cranleigh, Year 7 means a prep school before the Senior School; at RGS, girls arrive in the sixth form a year before they join Year 7.

Each row reflects the linked school guide on its review date. Assessment details change between cycles, so confirm them with Admissions before preparing.

Compare the latest realistic return, not the brochure day

Run one ordinary-week simulation with siblings, work and a delay. A school can be geographically close but operationally distant. Conversely, a station beside the gate can make a longer map distance more independent and predictable for an older pupil.

The fee comparison works only when the basis stays attached

None is a September 2027 quotation. Lunch, transport, devices, trips, examinations, activities, support and boarding inclusions differ. Cranleigh’s three Senior prices buy different weekly lives; they are not upgrades of one identical day package.

Joining during change requires cohort-specific answers

RGS is phasing coeducation: girls first enter Sixth Form in 2027 and Year 7 in 2028. Charterhouse is changing House gender arrangements. Ask which House and peer structure applies to the child’s actual joining year rather than repeating “coeducational” without a date.

Cranleigh’s June 2026 capacity and building proposal was recommended for approval by inspectors. That is not proof every planned place, boarding house or day-study area will exist by September 2027.

Tormead and St Catherine’s have conflicting current admissions wording; Guildford High has unpublished offer/reply dates and conflicting Sixth-form English/Maths wording to resolve. A website inconsistency alone tells you little about the quality of teaching or care.

At 11+, five routes lead to different kinds of Year 7

RGS uses ISEB, a separate writing task, teamwork and interviews. Tormead uses ISEB, a reference and an interview for every external applicant. St Catherine’s uses ISEB and an experience/interview day, while its policy adds creative writing absent from the live route.

Guildford High does not use ISEB: every applicant takes its Cambridge/CEM online assessment and attends the January interview/activity day. Cranleigh’s Year 7 entrant joins the Prep school before Senior at Year 9; its sources name ISEB and also mention written papers that families should confirm.

Charterhouse’s 11+ option is a partner-prep pathway leading to the school at 13, not a direct Year 7 Senior place. That can be a good plan for the right child, but it should not occupy the same column as immediate Year 7 entry.

At 13+, Cranleigh and Charterhouse move to the centre

Year 9 is the main Senior starting point at Cranleigh and the natural entry frame for Charterhouse. St Catherine’s also publishes direct 13+, but its live page names English, maths and verbal reasoning while the policy adds non-verbal reasoning and writing.

RGS has no ordinary 13+ route. Tormead and Guildford High may consider intermediate entry when vacancies exist, which is not a planned cohort. Confirm a real seat before paying registration or building months of preparation around it.

At this age, ask what changes on arrival: House or form placement, Saturday commitments, boarding pattern, course choices and the proportion of established pupils. A published entry point does not reveal the social shape of the joining group.

Selected 11+ and 13+ dates show where the calendars diverge

Use the current official pages for RGS, Guildford High, Tormead and St Catherine’s. Save the dated page and reconfirm before paying.

A blank is not evidence that a deadline is flexible. Cranleigh’s ordinary calendar remains materially incomplete, and several schools give only a month for offers or replies.