Stonar School 11+, 13+ and 16+ Admissions: Assessment Day, Scholarships and Fees

Stonar School admissions start with a registration form emailed to the admissions team, after which the route depends on the year group: a Taster Day for Prep, an interview and online entrance assessment for Year 7 and Year 9, and a GCSE-based process with no entrance exam for the sixth form. Year 7 is the main entry point, and its assessment covers Literacy, Numeracy and Verbal/Non-Verbal Reasoning on a selective Assessment Day.

The school in Atworth, Wiltshire, takes day pupils and boarders from nursery age to the Upper Sixth, and it considers other year groups when space allows. Fees, scholarships and bursaries sit on separate pages, and the sections below set out each step in the order families meet them.

Entry points and places

The school admits pupils into Nursery from age 2, Reception, Year 7, Year 9 and the Lower Sixth, and it may consider other year groups depending on availability. Year 7 is described as the most popular entry point into the senior school.

The pages do not publish a number of places or forms of entry for any year group. Applications for general senior entry are accepted throughout the year, although places may be limited.

• Prep (Year 3 upwards): Taster Day, report from the current school, NGRT reading test and in-class maths assessment
• Year 7 (11+): Assessment Day, interview and online entrance assessment
• Year 9 (13+): Assessment Day, Headmaster interview and online entrance assessment
• Lower Sixth (16+): interview, school report and GCSE grades, with no entrance exam

How the 11+ assessment works

The 11+ route into Year 7 is a selective Assessment Day on which pupils take part in activities and tasks, have an interview and sit an online entrance assessment. The assessment has three sections: Literacy, Numeracy, and Verbal/Non-Verbal Reasoning.

The school's pages do not state the length of each section, the question types or an external test provider, so families usually find it helpful to ask the admissions team for the format when they register. A Year 7 Taster Day for Year 6 pupils is also offered, and it requires advance registration.

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How the 13+ assessment works

Entry into Year 9 involves an interview with the Headmaster and the same online entrance assessment in Literacy, Numeracy and Verbal/Non-Verbal Reasoning, taken on a General Entrance and Scholarships Assessment Day. Families can apply up to two years in advance, and individual Taster Days can be requested in the autumn.

The school's pages describe this single route and do not mention Common Entrance or a separate pre-test. Pupils joining at other points through general senior entry have an interview with the Headmaster, the online entrance assessment, a possible Taster Day, their latest school report and a reference from the current school.

Registration and the admissions timeline

Registration begins when a family completes the Registration Form and emails it to the admissions team, who then explain the next steps. Visits through Open Days or individual tours are welcome before or after this stage.

For Year 7 and Year 9, applications open in the autumn and close in November of the year before entry, assessment days follow in January, decision letters follow shortly afterwards, and the closing date for accepting offers falls in March.

• Complete the Registration Form and email it to the admissions team
• Submit the application form with the non-refundable registration fee
• Attend the Taster Day or Assessment Day, including the interview and online assessment
• Receive the decision letter and, if offered a place, the formal offer with the standard terms and conditions
• Return the signed acceptance form with the non-refundable acceptance fee, and pay the acceptance deposit
• Attend the Year 7 Induction Day in the summer term

Sixth form entry requirements

Sixth form entry has no entrance exam, and applicants have an interview with the Headmaster or the Head of Sixth Form. A report from the current school that includes expected exam grades is required.

Applicants should have at least six GCSE subjects at grade 5 or above, plus minimum grades in individual subjects that are listed in the Sixth Form options booklet. Students not taking GCSEs sit an online CAT4 assessment and have an interview. Applications open in the September a year before entry and are processed individually.

Scholarships and bursaries

Scholarships are offered in academic, art, drama, music, sport and riding at Year 7, Year 9 and sixth form, and in some cases at Year 8 and Year 10. Candidates may apply for a maximum of two awards, and academic scholarships cannot be applied for because every applicant is considered automatically from assessment results.

Sport has its own scholarship assessment day in early December. Sixth form academic candidates are expected to achieve at least five GCSEs at grades 8 to 9 and are assessed through a cognitive abilities assessment, predicted grades, a school reference and an interview. Riding scholarships come as Development and Performance awards.

Bursaries are means-tested, require full financial disclosure and may involve an interview with the Head. They are intended for families who cannot afford the full fee, and priority is likely to go to applicants of scholarship standard. The pages publish no maximum share of fees; the bursary form is requested from the contact named on the scholarships page.

Fees and what they include

Fees are published per term and per year on the school's fees page, with separate day rates by year group and boarding rates that differ for UK and international pupils. Boarding is available from Year 5.

Fees include compulsory textbooks, meals, pupil personal accident insurance and most clubs, and Prep fees include before- and after-school care. Public examination entry fees are charged separately, as are learning support, EAL lessons, individual music, speech and drama lessons, riding and transport. A sibling discount applies to each additional child attending at the same time, and the acceptance deposit is returned as a credit on the final term's invoice.

Where pupils join from

Roughly half of Year 7 pupils come up from the school's own Prep, which covers ages 2 to 11, and the other half join from a range of other schools. The Prep teaches children from Nursery through Year 6, and some Prep teachers also teach in the senior school.

The Head of Key Stage 3 manages the move from the point a place is accepted, an Induction Day takes place in the summer term, and each new pupil is given a buddy. A two-night team-building camp for Year 7 follows in September. The school names no external feeder or partner schools.

How to prepare

Preparation for the 11+ and 13+ routes tends to centre on the three online sections: reading and writing for Literacy, arithmetic and problem solving for Numeracy, and the verbal and non-verbal puzzles in the Reasoning section. Practising these on a screen helps a child meet the format calmly.

Because the day also includes activities, tasks and an interview, it helps for a child to practise talking about their interests and their school work with an adult they do not know well. Attending a Taster Day or Open Day beforehand gives a child a first look at the site.

Sixth form applicants can prepare by checking the subject minimums in the options booklet against their predicted grades and asking their current school for a report that includes expected grades.

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Preparing for the Stonar School 11+ with Taylor Tuition

Families preparing for the Stonar 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.

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