Shrewsbury School 11+, 13+, 14+ and 16+ Admissions: Tests, Papers and Fees

How do you get into Shrewsbury School? Most pupils join at 13+ into Year 9 (the Third Form), either by sitting the ISEB Common Pre-Test in Year 6 or Year 7 with a group-activity afternoon, or by taking the school's own English and Mathematics papers in Year 8. Every candidate must be registered first, and an interview with a senior member of staff forms part of the process.

Further places arise at 14+ into Year 10 and at 16+ into the Sixth Form, where candidates sit three one-hour subject papers. Pupils of the partner prep schools Packwood, Prestfelde and Terra Nova follow a separate route into Year 9, set out below.

Entry points and places

Shrewsbury takes pupils at 13+ into Year 9, at 14+ into Year 10 and at 16+ into Year 12, with Year 7 entry available only through its three partner prep schools. The admissions page adds that a child can join at any time if there is a place in their year group, so families whose child falls outside these usual points can still enquire.

Numbers of places are not published for most entry points. The 14+ page says only a small number of pupils join the Fourth Form each year, and both boarders and day pupils are considered.

• 11+ (Year 7): joins Packwood, Prestfelde or Terra Nova, with progression to Shrewsbury assessed at the same time
• 13+ (Year 9): Pre-Test route from Year 6 or 7, or own papers in Year 8
• 14+ (Year 10): English and Mathematics papers in the autumn term
• 16+ (Year 12): three subject papers, interview and reference

How the 13+ assessment works

The 13+ assessment has two routes that depend on the year in which a child starts the process. Candidates in Year 6 or Year 7 sit the ISEB Common Pre-Test, attend an interview with a senior member of staff, and take part in collaborative group activities during an Admissions Afternoon, with a reference supplied by their school.

Candidates who start in Year 8 attend an Assessment Day in the autumn term, sitting written papers in English and Mathematics and an individual interview with a senior member of staff. The school does not publish paper lengths or question types on its admissions page, so the Admissions Office is the place to confirm format. The school describes the aim as looking at academic ability, curiosity, enthusiasm and the qualities needed to contribute to the community.

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Registration and the admissions timeline

Registration comes first at every entry point, because candidates must be registered before they can take any assessment. The steps below follow the order the school describes for 13+.

• Visit an Open Day or arrange a personal visit through the Admissions Office, which the school recommends before registering
• Complete the online Registration Form and pay the non-refundable registration fee
• Sit the assessment: Pre-Test, interview and group activities for Year 6 and 7 candidates, or the Assessment Day for Year 8 candidates
• Receive an outcome: Year 6 and 7 candidates receive a Guaranteed Place after the assessment day in the Lent term, and Year 8 candidates receive an offer after the autumn assessments
• Return the Acceptance of a Conditional Place Form with the deposit, stating a preferred House

Interviews and references

Interviews are held with a senior member of staff at 13+ and 16+. At 13+ the interview sits alongside the written work or Pre-Test, and Year 6 and 7 candidates also provide a school reference and take part in group activities that observe how they work with others.

At 16+ the interview is informed by the personal statement in the application form, and the school asks the candidate's current Headteacher for a reference. The 14+ page does not mention an interview or reference, though it says the process draws on wider information about each applicant.

Scholarships and bursaries

Scholarships are offered in academic study, music, drama, sport, art and design technology, together with the Sir Michael Palin All-Rounder Scholarships, for Third Form (13+) and Sixth Form (16+) entrants. A child who wins in more than one category receives the award with the highest fee remission. At 13+, scholars must reach a satisfactory standard in the ISEB tests, the Academic Scholarship Examination or the school's 13+ examination.

At 16+ the school expects to award about eight Academic Scholarships and twelve Specialist Scholarships in Art, Drama, Music and Sport each year, with a practical assessment and interview for the specialist awards. The Margaret Cassidy Sports Scholarship can reach 100% of fees and the Alex Wilson Scholarship up to 100% of day fees, both subject to means testing.

Bursaries are means-tested and follow a successful admissions process. Families complete a Bursary Application Form signed by everyone with parental responsibility, and Bursary Administration Ltd, the school's independent adviser, assesses finances, usually with a meeting. No maximum share of fees is published, awards are reassessed annually, and international applicants are generally not eligible.

Fees and what they include

Fees are charged per term and differ for Lower School (Third, Fourth and Fifth Forms) and the Sixth Form, and for day pupils, UK/EEA boarders and non-UK/EEA boarders; the figures appear in the key facts above and on the school's fees page. Sports, Boat Club membership and travel to away matches or regattas carry no extra charge.

Music lessons, instrument hire, stationery, theatre or concert visits and books are extras. Parents who pay in advance may be offered discounted fees, and the school publishes each year's fees in the summer before they take effect. Eligible forces families pay a capped share of the full boarding fee through Service Remission, which they should mention when applying.

Where pupils join from

Pupils at 13+ come from three named partner prep schools and from other schools, with the three partners forming the school's Family of Schools: Packwood, Prestfelde and Terra Nova. The partner schools and Shrewsbury hold conversations during Years 5 and 6 and assess each child's academic development, interests and character together, and successful pupils receive a guaranteed Year 9 place.

Families who join one of the three at Year 7 are assessed for progression at the same time as they apply, and successful candidates receive an offer of a Year 9 place. Each prep school has its own Registrar, and families usually begin visiting in Year 5 or early Year 6.

How 16+ entry works

Sixth Form entry at 16+ is decided by three one-hour written papers, an interview and a Headteacher's reference. Candidates nominate three subjects, ideally those they plan to take at A Level or otherwise their strongest GCSE subjects, and the papers are based on GCSE specifications. Specimen papers are available for 22 subjects, including EAL, and candidates whose first language is not English also sit an EAL paper.

Candidates register online, then complete an Application Form before the assessment weekend in the autumn term. Offers are conditional on at least three GCSEs at Grade 6 and three at Grade 5, or the equivalent of three A and three B grades, and a deposit of 10% of one term's fees secures the place. Overseas candidates may sit the papers at their own school or an approved venue.

How to prepare

Preparation follows the route a child takes. For the Pre-Test route, familiarity with the ISEB Common Pre-Test format and comfort in group activities and an interview with a senior member of staff matter most, since all three appear at the Admissions Afternoon stage.

For the Year 8 route, regular practice in written English and Mathematics tends to be the most useful, because those are the two papers. At 16+, the specimen papers for the 22 subjects give a direct sense of the one-hour style, and a considered personal statement gives the interviewer a starting point. Visiting before registering also helps a child describe why the school suits them.

Related guides

• Independent school fees compared
• Ellesmere College (11+)
• Moreton Hall School (11+)
• The ISEB Common Pre-Test explained
• 13+ Common Entrance explained
• The 11+ entrance exam explained
• 11+ and 13+ scholarship exams explained
• What is a bursary? Private school bursaries explained
• Boarding schools in the UK

Preparing for the Shrewsbury School 13+ with Taylor Tuition

Preparation for the Shrewsbury School 13+ tends to go best when it starts early and stays steady, and most families who work with us begin between twelve and eighteen months out. Our tutors, who have prepared pupils for entry to leading independent and grammar schools including Westminster, St Paul's, Wycombe Abbey and Eton, plan the work backwards from the school's own assessment format and registration deadline.

The tutors we match to 13+ preparation are drawn from a pool in which more than half hold Qualified Teacher Status, around three in five hold a master's degree or doctorate, and which includes former heads of department, exam-board examiners and teachers from independent and boarding schools. Every tutor who works with children holds an enhanced DBS check.

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Read more about our 13+ Common Entrance tutors, or send an enquiry and we will come back with tutor recommendations.