Interview & Entrance Assessment 2026

There is a four step process:

1. Interviews for registered applicants for September 2026 entry will take place in November 2025. Once you have registered, you will receive further details. No preparation is required.
2. The Entrance Assessment Day for September 2026 entry will take place on Tuesday 6 January 2026 for candidates in the UK.
3. Review of a recent school report
4. Review of a reference from the applicant’s current or most recent school

Additional interview and assessment dates are available if you register after these dates.

The assessment comprises:

• Online assessment – Maths, English, Non Verbal Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, Problem Solving and Creative Comprehension (2 hours 35 minutes)
• Descriptive Writing task by hand (45 minutes)

A familiarisation exercise for the online assessment and an example of our Descriptive Writing task are below.

Offers from the January assessment are made, with the outcome of your application for means-tested financial assistance (if applicable), by 31 January 2026. The deadline for acceptance of a place is 6 March 2026.

Familiarisation exercise – Year 7 entry

Online Assessment

Parent Guidance & FAQs – Year 7 online assessment

Parent Guidance & FAQs

Descriptive Writing practice paper

Descriptive Writing

There is a four step process:

1. Interviews for registered applicants for September 2026 entry will take place in November 2025. Once you have registered, you will receive further details. No preparation is required.
2. The Entrance Assessment Day for September 2026 entry will take place on Tuesday 6 January 2026 for candidates in the UK.
3. Review of a recent school report
4. Review of a reference from the applicant’s current or most recent school

Additional interview and assessment dates are available if you register after this date.

The assessment comprises:

• CEM MidYIS online assessment (50 minutes) – this tests Vocabulary, Mathematics, Non Verbal and Skills (practice papers are not available)
• Descriptive Writing task by hand (45 minutes) – similar to Year 7 task above

Offers from the January assessment are made by 31 January 2026. The deadline for acceptance of a place is 6 March 2026.

Interview with the Head and Head of Sixth Form – November
Applicants must supply a recent school report, their predicted GCSE (or equivalent) grades, their top four Options choices and a reference from their current or most recent school.

Deadline for registration 31 October 2025 (Late applications will be considered).
Taster Day – Thursday 20 November
Offers, conditional on required GCSE results, are made in December
The acceptance deadline is 23 January 2026