Sir William Perkins's School 11+ Admissions, Assessment and Fees Guide

Entry to Sir William Perkins's School at 11+ depends on registering for Year 7 admission, sitting the school's own English and maths assessment papers, and attending a short interview with a senior member of staff; offers follow assessment of these three elements together with the report from a child's current school. The school, in Chertsey, Surrey, has begun admitting boys alongside girls at Year 7 as part of a move to full co-education, though the 11+ process itself follows the same structure for all candidates.

Registration for Year 7 places closes in the autumn of Year 6, with the assessment held on a single Saturday in mid-November; the school confirms the exact dates on its own admissions pages each year.

How entry works at 11+

Sir William Perkins's School admits pupils to Year 7 at 11+, with further entry points at Year 9 (13+) and into the Sixth Form (16+). Year 7 entry is now co-educational, following the school's move to admit boys alongside girls, with a view to full co-education across all year groups. Families register through the school's online admissions portal, and the school encourages early registration at all entry points. The number of Year 7 places is not published on the school's admissions pages.

How the 11+ assessment works

The 11+ assessment at the school tests English and maths, and includes a short interview with a senior member of staff. English is assessed across two papers: a reading comprehension paper covering vocabulary, punctuation and inference, and a separate writing paper marked for imagination, structure, organisation and sentence construction. Maths is assessed through two papers covering general numerical skills and problem solving. The school provides specimen papers to help candidates prepare, and the interview explores a candidate's interests and aspirations without testing further academic content.

• English Paper 1: reading comprehension (vocabulary, punctuation, inference)
• English Paper 2: writing task
• Maths: two papers, general skills and problem solving
• Interview: informal discussion with a senior member of staff

Registration, assessment and offers: the admissions timeline

Entry at 11+ follows a fixed sequence of steps. Registration opens the autumn before entry and closes at a set date in October, with a non-refundable registration fee payable at that point. Candidates then sit the assessment on a single Saturday in mid-autumn, taking the English and maths papers and attending their interview on the same day. The school emails decisions to parents in December, and families who accept a place are asked to pay a deposit to secure it, with a final acceptance deadline the following spring. The school publishes exact dates for each admissions round on its own admissions pages.

• Register online and pay the registration fee
• Sit the English, maths and interview on assessment day
• Receive the decision by email in December
• Accept the offer and pay a deposit by the spring deadline

Scholarships available at 11+

The school offers Year 7 scholarships in six categories: Academic, Art and Design, Drama, Music, Sport and STEM. Academic Scholarship candidates are invited to interview after sitting the entrance examinations, while candidates for the other scholarships apply separately through the admissions portal. Awards are worth up to a set percentage of tuition fees, vary in number and value from year to year, and are held at the discretion of the Head; they are reviewed annually and can be retained throughout a pupil's time at the school. Strong candidates who narrowly miss a scholarship may be invited to join the school's Aspire programme, which offers additional activities and mentoring but no reduction in fees.

• Academic
• Art and Design
• Drama
• Music
• Sport
• STEM

Bursaries and financial assistance

Means-tested bursaries are available to families joining Year 7 or Year 12, administered through the Perkins Foundation. Awards can cover a substantial proportion of tuition fees in cases of financial need, and are reviewed annually, so the level of support may rise or fall if a family's circumstances change. Only a limited number of bursaries are awarded each year. Application windows open and close on published dates, and the school asks families to apply within that window; it does not publish full means-testing criteria or the application procedure on its admissions pages, so applicants should contact the admissions office directly for guidance.

How to prepare for the assessment

Because the assessment covers reading comprehension, writing, and two maths papers testing general skills and problem solving, preparation works best when it mirrors that structure and avoids drilling unrelated question types. Regular reading and short, timed writing practice build the comprehension and composition skills the English papers reward, whilst varied maths problems, extending beyond repetitive arithmetic, suit the problem-solving element. The interview rewards children who can talk naturally about their interests, so genuine enthusiasm discussed calmly convinces where rehearsed answers do not. Using the school's own specimen papers gives the clearest sense of format and timing, since question styles vary between schools.

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Preparing for the Sir William Perkins's School 11+ with Taylor Tuition

Families preparing for the Sir William Perkins's 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.