Thornton College 7+, 11+, 13+ and 16+ Admissions: Assessment, Scholarships and Fees

You get into Thornton College by registering an enquiry, spending one or two days in the matching year group on a taster visit that includes an assessment of current learning, and then attending an interview with the Headteacher. The main intake years are Pre-Reception, Reception, Year 7, Year 9 and Year 12, so the entry points from age seven are 7+ (Year 3), 11+ (Year 7), 13+ (Year 9) and 16+ (Year 12), and the school describes itself as non-selective.

There is no published entrance exam with set papers at any of these points, and girls are admitted throughout the year. The structured tests belong to scholarships, where the Year 7 academic award uses CAT4 and the Sixth Form awards use a Yellis test.

Entry points and places

Thornton takes girls into every year group, with the main intakes at Pre-Reception, Reception, Year 7, Year 9 and Year 12. The Prep school begins in Year 3, at age seven, so 7+ is the earliest entry point from that age, followed by 11+ into Year 7, 13+ into Year 9 and 16+ into Year 12.

The school admits girls throughout the year, so a family does not need to wait for a new term or academic year. Some year groups can have a waiting list, and the pages read do not publish a number of places or forms of entry, so the admissions team confirms availability for a given year group.

• 7+ (Year 3): start of the Prep school
• 11+ (Year 7): main senior intake
• 13+ (Year 9): senior intake
• 16+ (Year 12): Sixth Form entry

How the 11+ assessment works

The 11+ assessment at Thornton is a taster visit during which a girl sits an assessment that shows her current level of learning. Where possible she joins the matching year group for one or two days, so the assessment sits inside a normal school day with lessons and teachers.

The school publishes no separate papers, subjects, timings or test provider for general entry, and describes itself as non-selective. The admissions page gives no breakdown of the assessment by age, so families who want specifics can ask the admissions team directly. At Year 7 level, the academic scholarship adds a CAT4 assessment on its taster day.

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Registration and the admissions timeline

Admissions at Thornton follow four ordered steps: registration, taster visit with assessment, interview, then offer and admission. Registration is an enquiry by online form (the preferred route), email or phone, which leads to a personal tour of the school.

After a successful taster visit the girl and her parents are invited to interview. Following an offer letter, the school requests a reference from her current school and sends a parent contract, and it confirms the place once the signed contract is returned. The pages read state no deposit amount, registration fee or response deadline, so those are worth confirming with the office.

• Step 1: enquire online, by email or by phone, and arrange a tour
• Step 2: taster visit of one or two days with an assessment
• Step 3: interview with the Headteacher
• Step 4: offer letter, reference request, signed parent contract, confirmed place

Interviews and references

Every applicant at Thornton College is interviewed by the Headteacher, together with her parents, after a successful taster visit. The conversation covers the school's history and values, academic and pastoral provision, and any questions the family has.

A reference from the girl's current school is requested once an offer letter has been issued, so it follows the interview in the sequence. International applicants follow a different procedure because of Child Student Visa requirements, and UK and EU applicants follow their own, so overseas families are best served by contacting admissions early.

Scholarships and bursaries

Thornton offers scholarships as discounts on fees at Year 7 and Year 12 entry, and they are not means-tested. At Year 7 the awards are academic (CAT4 on a taster day), drama (about 1.5 hours with two contrasting monologues of up to 3 minutes and an improvisation workshop), music (about 25 minutes, usually Grade 3 or above) and sport (hockey, netball, athletics and an open category).

At Year 12 there are Sixth Form Open and Sixth Form Academic scholarships, assessed by a Yellis test followed by an interview with the Head of Sixth Form and the Headteacher. The Boarding Academic Scholarship, for termly boarders in Years 5 to 13, needs a baseline score of 121 or above and gives 30 to 50% off day tuition and termly boarding accommodation. The Sr Genevieve Award recognises involvement in faith and community life. No art scholarship or separate bursary appears on these pages, and a forces discount of up to 20% tops up the Continuity of Education Allowance.

Fees and what they include

Thornton publishes fees per term on its fees page, with separate rates for Reception and Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Years 4 to 6 and Years 7 to 13, each split by day, day boarder, weekly boarder and termly boarder where available. A compulsory lunch charge is listed alongside tuition and is included in the totals.

Day fees cover tuition and lunch, and boarding fees add term-time accommodation, boarding meals, textbooks and laundry. Bus transport, wraparound care and exam fees are extras. A second daughter receives 5% off the youngest child's termly fee and a third receives 10%, and paying at least three consecutive terms in advance earns 2.5%. Fees are due on the first day of each term.

Where pupils join from

Thornton runs its own Pre-Prep, from Pre-Reception to Year 2, and a Prep school from Year 3, so some girls move up through the same site into the Senior School and Sixth Form. The pages read do not describe a formal move-up procedure, and they name no external feeder or partner schools.

Girls also join from other schools at every year group, which is why a reference from the current school forms part of the offer stage. Students studying GCSEs elsewhere are welcome to apply to the Sixth Form.

How the 16+ Sixth Form entry works

Sixth Form entry at Thornton requires an interview with the Headteacher and a meeting with the Head of Sixth Form, and the school recommends a GCSE grade 6 or above in each subject a student wants to take to A Level. Applicants with lower starting grades can still be considered, because the school looks at pathways for them.

The entry requirements page mentions no entrance tests, and every offer is conditional on satisfactory GCSE performance. External applicants must be formally registered to be included in the options process, and students moving up from Year 11 follow a separate transition with subject discussions.

How to prepare

Preparing for Thornton starts with the taster visit, so the useful groundwork is ordinary classwork in English and maths and familiarity with spending a day in a new class. Since the assessment shows current learning on the day, there are no published past papers to practise.

Families can ask the admissions team what the assessment covers for their daughter's year group. For the Year 7 academic scholarship, a girl benefits from knowing that CAT4 is the assessment, whilst music candidates email their pieces at least two weeks before the audition and drama candidates prepare two contrasting monologues. A calm conversation about the interview topics of values, subjects and pastoral care helps parents too.

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Preparation for the Thornton College 11+ 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.

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