Twycross House School 8+ and 16+ Admissions: Entrance Exam, Interview and Fees

How do you get into Twycross House School? Pupils join the senior school at 8+ by sitting an entrance examination, which the school supports with an interview and a reference from the previous school, and sixth formers join at 16+ on their GCSE grades. The school is a selective, independent, co-educational day school for ages 8 to 18 on the Leicestershire and Warwickshire border, with its own junior school, The Hollies, for ages 4 to 8.

Published pages do not give the subjects, length or provider of the entrance examination, so this guide keeps to what the school states and flags where the admissions office on 01827 880651 is the place to confirm the rest.

Entry points and places

Entry to the senior school is at 8+ and into the sixth form at 16+, with the age-8 examination as the main route in. Year groups are named Form 3 to Form 5 for Years 4 to 6, then Senior 1 to Senior 5 for Years 7 to 11, followed by the Sixth Form. Class sizes are capped at 20, which sets the scale of any single intake.

Fee bands on the school's pages begin at Form 3 and continue through Senior 1 and above, so Year 4 is the youngest published point of entry to the senior school. No number of places is given for each entry, and families wanting to join in other year groups can ask the office what is available.

• 8+: Year 4 (Form 3), by entrance examination
• 16+: Sixth Form, by GCSE grades

How the 8+ assessment works

At 8+ every applicant sits an entrance examination, and the school states that it is supported by an interview and a reference from the previous school. Children at The Hollies move up by examination at the age of eight, and the school also draws on its own knowledge of those children when deciding.

Published pages do not name the subjects, the length, the question types or the organisation that sets the papers, so no paper format can be described with confidence. Families outside The Hollies can ask the office for the subjects and format when they first enquire, and can then prepare against the answer.

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Registration and the admissions timeline

Admission follows a short sequence of enquiry, visit, registration, assessment and reference, and the school's pages describe each stage without dates. Steps below follow the order the school's own pages and registration form set out.

No registration deadline, assessment date, offer stage or acceptance deposit for the senior school appears in the pages read, so those points are best confirmed with the office when a family first makes contact.

• Enquire through the school office, or arrange a visit on a working day, when families meet pupils and staff. The Hollies states that it does not hold open days.
• Take the personal tour that every prospective family is offered.
• Return the registration and application form with its non-refundable registration fee; The Hollies form says families are then invited to bring their child at the appropriate time.
• Sit the entrance examination and interview, with a reference supplied by the current school.
• Note that the registration form requires a full term's notice of leaving, or fees for a term are charged in lieu.

Interviews, visits and references

Every applicant is interviewed, and the previous school provides a reference, both alongside the entrance examination. The school describes the process as examination supported by interview and reference, so the three sources of evidence are read together.

All prospective parents are given a personal tour, and families are invited to visit on a working day to meet pupils and staff. For younger entrants, The Hollies states that all children are tested before places are offered and that children are selected with a view to progressing to the senior school.

Scholarships and bursaries

None of the admissions, fees, sixth form, curriculum or music, drama and art pages list scholarships or means-tested bursaries, so none can be described here. Only one financial reduction is set out on the fees page: a sibling discount, which applies across The Hollies and the senior school and comes off the total fees.

Families who want to know whether scholarship or bursary support exists at 8+ or 16+ can ask the office at enquiries@twycrosshouseschool.org.uk, and the answer is then the school's own, with no assumption drawn from other schools.

Fees and what they include

Fees are charged per term, in three bands: The Hollies, Forms 3 to 5 (Years 4 to 6), and Senior 1 and above (Year 7 to Sixth Form), all quoted including VAT. Published amounts and the academic year they cover appear in the key facts for this school.

Term fees include meals, accident insurance, swimming and standard books and stationery, and the senior band also lists morning drinks and biscuits. Private music lessons, GCSE and A level courses taught outside the normal timetable and public examination fees are extras. A refundable book deposit applies to GCSE and A level textbooks, returned when the books come back undamaged.

Where pupils join from

Most 8+ entrants come from The Hollies, the school's own junior school for ages 4 to 8, whose pupils progress to the senior school by examination at the age of eight. A majority of Hollies pupils make this move, and academic progress is monitored through parent and teacher consultations.

Alongside it, the school runs a Preschool, and Preschool children are prioritised for places at The Hollies. Attendance at Preschool does not guarantee a place, and every applicant completes the standard admissions process. No external feeder or partner schools are named in the pages read.

How 16+ sixth form entry works

Sixth form entrants are normally expected to gain at least six GCSEs at grade 6 or above, and the school prefers grades 7, 8 or 9 in the subjects to be studied at A level. A level choices include Mathematics, Further Mathematics, the sciences, French, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Economics, Art and Music.

Nothing on the sixth form page mentions an interview or entrance papers, and it asks families to contact the school for a Sixth Form prospectus and to arrange a personal visit. Because the senior school states that all applicants sit an entrance examination, the office can confirm what applies at 16+.

How to prepare

Preparation is most useful when it matches the stages the school names: the visit, the entrance examination, the interview and the reference. A first step is to ask the office for the subjects and format of the 8+ examination, since published pages leave them open, and to prepare against that answer.

Attending a working-day visit lets a child meet pupils and staff before the interview, which tends to make the conversation more familiar. Asking the current class teacher early for the reference gives the school time to receive it. At 16+, steady work towards grades 7 to 9 in the intended A level subjects follows the school's stated preference.

Related guides

• Best private schools in Leicestershire
• Independent school fees compared
• Leicester Grammar School Trust (11+)
• Ratcliffe College (11+)
• Loughborough Grammar School (11+)
• Loughborough High School (11+)
• The 8+ entrance exam explained

Preparing for the Twycross House School 8+ with Taylor Tuition

Preparation for the Twycross House School 8+ 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 8+ 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.

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 8+. Families receive progress reports after sessions and have a dedicated point of contact.

Read more about our 8+ entrance exam tutors, or send an enquiry and we will come back with tutor recommendations.