Ewell Castle School 11+ Admissions: Entrance Assessment, Registration and Fees

Getting into Ewell Castle School at 11+ means registering your child by the autumn deadline before entry, paying the registration fee, and having them sit the school's own Entrance Assessment Morning: computer-based Maths, English comprehension and Verbal Reasoning papers delivered through Quest Learning (formerly ATOM Learning), together with a hand-written creative writing task. Offers follow before the end of the calendar year, based on performance across these papers.

Ewell Castle is a co-educational independent day school in Ewell, near Epsom, taking pupils from Reception through to Sixth Form. At 11+, the school also uses the same assessment day to identify candidates for its academic scholarships, so any family wanting their child considered for one needs to sit the papers on the main assessment day; the reserve date does not count for scholarship consideration.

Fees and key dates for 2026/27

Ewell Castle School publishes day fees of £9,033 per term for 2026/27, taken from the school's own fees page in October 2026. Registration dates for the next 11+ round are published by the school's admissions office. Fees and dates change each year, so the school's website remains the reference for the current round.

How 11+ entry works at the school

Year 7 is the main entry point into the Senior School, alongside smaller entry rounds at 13+ and 16+, and Reception and Year 3 into the Preparatory School. External applicants apply by completing an application form and paying a registration fee, and existing Ewell Castle Year 6 Prep pupils move up to Year 7 without a fresh application.

Places are decided from performance in the Entrance Assessment Morning, with outcome letters and offers sent before Christmas. Families who receive an offer following the November assessment days have until the first Friday in March to accept it.

How the 11+ assessment is structured

The 11+ Entrance Assessment Morning is computer-based, delivered through Quest Learning (formerly known as ATOM Learning), and covers Maths and English, based on National Curriculum content, together with a Verbal Reasoning test. The Maths paper, the Verbal Reasoning paper and the comprehension section of the English paper are all completed online at the school, on a device provided by Ewell Castle.

A second part of the English paper is a hand-written creative writing task, sat alongside the online sections. Candidates applying for a practical scholarship (Art, Dance, Drama, Design and Technology, Music, Photography or Sport) sit additional practical assessments in the afternoon of the same day, or during that week.

Registration and key steps in order

The process runs: attend an Open Event or arrange a visit; submit the application form with the child's most recent school report and passport or birth certificate, and pay the registration fee by bank transfer; sit the Entrance Assessment Morning (with a reserve date available for the online Maths and English papers only, which does not carry scholarship consideration); receive an outcome letter and, if offered a place, pay the acceptance deposit to secure it.

Families applying from overseas can arrange for their child to sit the assessment at their current school, avoiding travel to Ewell Castle. Applications for a place that include a request for access arrangements must include supporting documentation from the child's current school at the point of registering, not afterwards.

Scholarships and bursaries at 11+

All Year 7 candidates who sit the Entrance Assessment Day are automatically considered for an academic scholarship, without a separate application; those with the highest marks on that day are notified of an award in their offer letter. Subject scholarships (Art, Dance, Design and Technology, Drama, Music and Sport) require a separate scholarship application form and department-specific requirements such as portfolios or trials, submitted by the application deadline.

Scholarship awards are usually in the region of a 10 to 25 percent remission of fees per scholarship, and are reviewed each term against retention criteria set by the relevant department. Bursaries are means-tested, available from Year 7 to Sixth Form, and administered through Bursary Administration Limited on the school's behalf; combined scholarship and bursary remission is generally kept below 50 percent of fees, following Charity Commission guidance, with rare case-by-case increases.

Registering interest in a bursary requires ticking the relevant box on the application form by the earlier bursary deadline, after which Bursary Administration Limited issues application forms and arranges an interview before reporting back to the school.

How to prepare for the Ewell Castle 11+ assessment

Because the Maths, English comprehension and Verbal Reasoning sections are sat on screen through Quest Learning, it helps for a child to be comfortable typing, navigating on-screen questions and managing time across an adaptive online format before the day itself; the school publishes online Quest Learning familiarisation tests for this purpose. The hand-written creative writing task rewards practice at planning and writing a complete piece within a set time, separate from the on-screen papers.

Since the Maths and English content is based on the National Curriculum, steady classroom-level preparation in these subjects, alongside general verbal reasoning practice, tends to serve candidates better than last-minute cramming. Families considering a scholarship should factor in that only candidates sitting the main assessment day remain eligible for an academic or subject award; the reserve date does not carry eligibility.

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Preparing for the Ewell Castle School 11+ with Taylor Tuition

The Ewell Castle School 11+ rewards steady preparation over a year or so, with the last term given to timed practice and interview confidence. Having prepared pupils for entry to leading independent and grammar schools, with placements including Westminster, St Paul's, Wycombe Abbey and Eton, our tutors match the programme to the school's assessment format and to where the child is starting from.

Because the pool includes former heads of department, exam-board examiners and teachers from independent and boarding schools, and more than half of our tutors hold Qualified Teacher Status, families get a tutor who understands what the assessors are looking for. 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.