Dean Close School 11+ Entry: Assessment, Registration and Fees

Getting into Dean Close School at 11+ means applying for a place in Year 7 of the Preparatory School: candidates sit a Cognitive Ability Test and an English paper, and families work through the school's own enquiry, visit, assessment and registration steps. Dean Close sets its own admissions process for each entry point, since it is independent and does not sit within a local-authority catchment or testing consortium.

Because the Prep spans Year 3 to Year 8, a child admitted at 11+ spends two years there before moving into the Senior School alongside the main 13+ intake, and that structure shapes the assessment format, the registration process and the scholarship rounds parents encounter along the way.

How does entry work at 11+?

Joining Dean Close School at 11+ means admission into Year 7 of the Preparatory School, because the Prep runs from Year 3 to Year 8 (ages 7 to 13) while the Senior School's main entry point comes later, at 13+ into Year 9. A child admitted at 11+ therefore completes Years 7 and 8 in the Prep before moving into the Senior School with the wider 13+ intake. The school's admissions pages do not publish a fixed number of Year 7 places or forms of entry, and applications are considered individually via the Preparatory School's own admissions team.

• Pre-Prep from age 2 (Nursery to Year 2)
• Preparatory School, Years 3 to 8 (ages 7 to 13), including 11+ entry to Year 7
• Senior School 13+ entry to Year 9
• Sixth Form entry at 16+ to Year 12

How the 11+ assessment works

At 11+, candidates sit a Cognitive Ability Test and an English paper; the school's published entry-assessment information does not add a mathematics paper, interview or further component for Preparatory School admission at this stage. Assessments are ideally held on site, though families unable to visit can arrange an online assessment at home, at the child's current school, through the British Council or via an educational agent already working with the school. No test provider is named on the admissions pages, and results are used partly to establish whether additional learning support should be offered alongside a place.

How registration and the admissions process run

Enquiring is the first step, made by phone, email or the school's online enquiry form, followed by a visit, either at an open morning or a personal tour arranged directly with admissions. Most families then bring their child in for a taster day that includes the entry assessment, with a remote option available where visiting is not possible.

Formal registration, completed via a registration form and a non-refundable fee, follows the taster day and assessment; successful applicants then receive an offer of a place, and accepting it moves the family into a final set of joining arrangements handled by the admissions team. Enquiries about Year 7 entry go to the Preparatory School's own registrar, separate from the main Senior School office.

Boarding and day options at Year 7

Most Year 7 entrants join as day pupils, with wrap-around care built into the school day from early morning drop-off until early evening. Occasional overnight stays are available to day pupils through flexi-boarding, subject to availability, and day boarding guarantees a child the same boarding house bed on the nights they choose to stay. Full boarding is also offered from Year 7, priced in the same band as Years 6 and 8, with a separate, higher band for boarders who require a Child Student Visa.

Scholarships and bursaries at 11+

Scholarships at 11+ are offered across Academic, Music, Sport, Art, Drama and the all-round Francis Close Award, alongside separate Choristerships open from age 7 to 10 and an all-rounder award from age 7. Awards typically run from 5% to 30% of fees, and a limited number can be topped up with a means-tested bursary beyond that ceiling; music and choral scholars, for example, can combine a 20% scholarship with an additional bursary. An 11+ scholarship, once awarded, is expected to continue through to the end of Sixth Form provided conduct, contribution and progress remain strong.

Bursaries run alongside the scholarship programme and are assessed separately, awarded at the school's discretion after a Grant Application Form and a Confidential Statement of Financial Circumstances have been submitted; in cases of significant financial need, a bursary can cover the full fee. Families with three or more children attending simultaneously also qualify for a discretionary fee reduction, and a separate bursary is available to serving HM Forces families. Academic scholarship candidates at 11+ sit tests alongside an interview stage, while music, drama, art and sport applicants attend discipline-specific assessments on separate days each autumn.

How to prepare for the Cognitive Ability Test and English paper

Because the published 11+ assessment covers just a Cognitive Ability Test and an English paper, preparation works best when it stays close to those two formats, since the school does not test additional subjects at this stage. Cognitive ability papers reward comfort with verbal, non-verbal and numerical reasoning under time pressure, so short, regular timed practice tends to help more than occasional long sessions.

For the English paper, reading widely and practising concise, well-organised writing builds the skills most likely to be assessed, and a calm, well-rested child on the day usually performs closer to their normal level than one who has crammed heavily beforehand. Families arranging a remote assessment should confirm the online format and any software requirements with the admissions team in good time.

Related guides

• Independent school fees compared

Preparing for the Dean Close School 11+ with Taylor Tuition

Families preparing for the Dean Close School 11+ usually come to us a year or so before the assessment, though shorter runs work where the foundations are already sound. Having prepared pupils for entry to leading independent and grammar schools, with placements including Westminster, St Paul's, Wycombe Abbey and Eton, our tutors build each programme around the format the school actually uses, whether a written paper, an online pre-test, an interview or a combination of them.

More than half of our tutors hold Qualified Teacher Status and around three in five hold a master's degree or doctorate, and the pool includes former heads of department, exam-board examiners and teachers from independent and boarding schools, so the preparation is led by people who know how selective schools assess. Every tutor who works with children holds an enhanced DBS check.

Families work with us online from anywhere in the UK or abroad, and in person in central London. Fees start from £50 per 50-minute session and depend on tutor level and subject, with no registration fee and a free initial consultation to talk through your child's current level and the timeline to the 11+. Families receive progress reports after sessions and have a dedicated point of contact, and we reply to enquiries within one working day with tutor recommendations.

Read more about our 11+ entrance exam tutors, or send an enquiry and we will come back with tutor recommendations.