South Hampstead High School 11+ Admissions: Assessment, Registration and Fees

Entry to South Hampstead High School at 11+ runs through the London 11+ Consortium, a shared assessment process used by the school alongside members such as Godolphin and Latymer, Channing and Queen's Gate: girls sit a single online test, provide a reference from their current school, and the school selects candidates for interview from their assessment results. The school admits pupils into Year 7 each September, with further entry points at 4+, 7+ and 16+, and each 11+ cohort brings in around fifty-five new girls to join those moving up from the Junior School.

Because the Consortium test is shared across member schools, a candidate registers separately with each school she wishes to apply to but sits the assessment only once, with her results and the reference from her current school forming the basis of each school's decision on whom to interview.

[heading] How entry to SHHS works at 11+

South Hampstead High School admits girls at four entry points: Reception (4+), Year 3 (7+), Year 7 (11+) and the Sixth Form (16+), with 11+ forming the largest single intake into the Senior School. Girls applying for Year 7 must be eleven years old by the start of the school year of entry and are in Year 6 of their current school when they sit the entrance assessment, joining classmates who have moved up from the school's own Junior School.

The school welcomes around fifty-five new girls into Year 7 each year, so 11+ entry remains competitive; because the entrance assessment is administered jointly by the London 11+ Consortium, families weighing South Hampstead against neighbouring Consortium schools can apply to several with a single sitting of the test, though each school makes its own decision on interview and offers.

[heading] How the SHHS 11+ assessment works

The entrance assessment is set by Quest Assessments on behalf of the London 11+ Consortium and is taken online, usually at the candidate's own primary or prep school, or at a Consortium school where her own school cannot host it. It lasts 100 minutes in total and is sat once, in Year 6, regardless of how many Consortium schools a candidate applies to; a thirty-minute break falls partway through, after the Verbal Reasoning section.

Three components, Maths, Non-Verbal Reasoning and Verbal Reasoning, are adaptive, adjusting to each candidate's performance as she progresses, whilst the other three, English, Problem Solving and Creative Comprehension, are non-adaptive: every candidate sees the same questions as others sitting on the same date, though the content changes across the three possible test dates to keep the assessment secure.

• Maths: 20 minutes, based on the Year 5 National Curriculum, adaptive
• Non-Verbal Reasoning: 10 minutes, adaptive
• English comprehension: 20 minutes, non-adaptive, fiction written for the Consortium, no extended writing required
• Verbal Reasoning: 10 minutes, adaptive
• Break: up to 30 minutes
• Problem Solving: 15 minutes, non-adaptive
• Creative Comprehension: 25 minutes, non-adaptive

[heading] The school reference and interview

Alongside the entrance assessment, each Consortium school a candidate applies to requests a reference separately from the head of her current school, covering academic performance as well as wider contextual information on attitudes and character; a common reference form is available for schools to use, though feeder schools may submit their own.

South Hampstead does not interview every applicant: the school selects candidates for interview from their results in the Consortium assessment, and the interview itself is designed individually by South Hampstead to explore a candidate's skills, aptitudes and intellectual acuity beyond what the written assessment can show.

[heading] Registering for SHHS and the 11+ timeline

Registration for Year 7 entry opens online through the school's admissions portal and closes ahead of the assessment itself; the school publishes the exact registration deadline, together with the assessment dates, on its admissions page. Candidates then sit the Consortium test at their own school or at a Consortium venue, before those selected from their results attend an interview at South Hampstead.

Offers follow the interview stage, sent out on a single date published on the school's and the Consortium's websites, with a deadline shortly afterwards by which families must accept and pay a deposit to secure the place; families applying to more than one Consortium school manage separate registrations and offers with each, even though the underlying assessment is shared.

• Register online with each school of interest, ahead of the published deadline
• Sit the London 11+ Consortium assessment once, at your own school or a Consortium venue
• Attend interview at South Hampstead, if selected on the strength of the assessment
• Receive the school's offer decision
• Accept the offer and pay the deposit by the acceptance deadline to secure the place

[heading] Scholarships and bursaries at SHHS

South Hampstead offers Academic, Music and Sport scholarships at 11+ entry, recognising particular achievement or talent; Music and Sport scholarships require a separate application and an assessment or audition with the relevant department, alongside the standard entrance process.

Means-tested bursaries, administered through the wider Girls' Day School Trust bursary scheme, are available to 11+ applicants who meet the school's required academic standard, with support assessed according to family income and financial circumstances and capable of covering a substantial proportion of fees for families who qualify. The school states its aim that any girl who is bright and keen should have the opportunity to fulfil her potential regardless of financial circumstances.

• Academic scholarship at 11+ entry
• Music scholarship at 11+ entry, by separate application and audition
• Sport scholarship at 11+ entry, by separate application and assessment

[heading] Preparing for the SHHS 11+ assessment

The Consortium publishes familiarisation materials online, and both the Consortium and South Hampstead recommend that every candidate looks through these before test day, since the format, particularly the Non-Verbal and Verbal Reasoning sections, can feel unfamiliar to a child who has not met this style of question before. Beyond that familiarisation, the Consortium is explicit that it does not recommend intensive preparation for the reasoning sections, noting that gains from heavy drilling become marginal quickly.

Maths questions are set within the Year 5 National Curriculum, since Year 6 content differs between schools, so a candidate's normal classwork should cover what is tested, whilst the English section rewards wide reading and the ability to infer meaning from unfamiliar vocabulary in context, without requiring recall of grammar rules. The Consortium also discourages coaching for interview, since its interviewers are experienced at identifying over-rehearsed answers and look instead for evidence of independent, creative thinking.

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Preparing for the South Hampstead High School 11+ with Taylor Tuition

Families preparing for the South Hampstead High 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 in London and further afield work with us online, 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.