Junior Admissions FAQs

Under our Ballot system for entry into Reception, we accept registrations from birth until the end of September in the year preceding entry into the school. However, please note no priority is given to early registrations. 

It is also a requirement for parents to visit the school at least once at one of our Open Events, before their daughter is entered into our Ballot draw. We strongly recommend that parents visit the school at one of our open events prior to making a registration.  

We hold regular open events throughout the year. Please see our Joining Reception page for full details and dates. 

We have two classes in Reception. On average, we receive around 200 applications, with the ratio averaging around 4 applicants to 1 place. 

The Ballot draw will take place in the October in the year preceding entry, and after registrations have closed at the end of September. In order for their daughter to be entered into the Ballot draw parents must have: 

• Registered their daughter and paid the registration fee by the stated closing date; 

• Visited the school. 

The draw will be made in the presence of the Chair of Governors, the Head and the Junior School Head, the Head of Admissions, and a representative from the School’s Auditors. The Auditor will attest that the procedure is fair and follows due process. The published results will be final. 

Our aim is to have a spread of birth dates throughout the year group. To ensure this, four ballot draw boxes are set up and candidates’ names are placed in the appropriate draw box depending on their birth date. 

All names are drawn from the ballot boxes until no more remain. Following the Ballot draw, families will be informed as to whether they have received an offer or if their daughter has been placed on the waiting list. Families in receipt of offers must accept the place by the specified deadline by completing and returning the signed Parent Contract, alongside a deposit payment. 

No. We aim to compose our Reception class with girls from an even spread of birth dates throughout the year; this helps to ensure a good dynamic in the class. To ensure a spread of birthdays across the year group, four ballot draw boxes are set up and candidates’ names are placed in the appropriate draw box depending on their birth date. Names are drawn out one at a time from each Ballot box in turn. 

Yes please. You can let us know on your daughter’s application form whether English is not her first spoken language. 

Many pupils in our Junior School are from international families and are exposed to two or more languages throughout their early years. 

Yes, you may make an application for your daughter from overseas. The registration fee to apply from overseas is £200.  

It is also a requirement for parents to visit the school at least once at one of our Open Events, before their daughter is entered into our Ballot draw. We strongly recommend that parents visit the school at one of our open events prior to making a registration, so that you get a feel for our ethos, our people and the physical site. 

For entry into other years than our main entry of Reception you will be looking for what we call an ‘occasional vacancy’ school place. These may arise in any year group from Year 1 to Year 6 – for example, if one of our families moves out of London with their work. 

The first step in our occasional vacancy process is to add your daughter to our occasional vacancy enquiries list using our online admissions portal. This will allow us to hold your details on file and in the event that a vacancy arises in your daughter’s cohort, we will contact you to invite you to make a formal application and to invite your daughter to attend an assessment with us. 

Our occasional vacancy assessment varies depending on the year group: 

• Reception / Year 1: Girls will be invited to attend a one-to-one assessment with one of our teachers. 

• Years 2-5: Assessment for these year groups will take place in a classroom setting, allowing girls to experience an “ordinary” morning at Wimbledon High Junior School. They will take part in a number of classes and an interactive group exercise. Candidates will be assessed on how they respond in the classroom and how they perform in short subject-based test.
  Unless otherwise specified, candidates will not be asked to complete Reasoning tests.  

• Year 6: Assessments will involve Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning tests and Maths and English tests. 

• All those who make a formal application are invited to attend the assessment. 

Following an Occasional Vacancy assessment, we may add a small number of girls to a waiting list if we are not immediately able to offer a place. A girl’s place on a waiting list will be valid until a year after the assessment date. After this, candidates will be asked to attend another assessment in order to be considered for any future vacancies. 

Our Junior School is strongly family orientated and we have many siblings throughout both our Junior and Senior Schools. 

For entry into Reception through our Ballot process, any candidates who were registered before the published closing date and who have a sibling attending WHS at the time of ballot, will be eligible for a sibling place and will be automatically offered a place. This is the only entry point at which sibling priority is given.  

For entry into all other year groups (occasional vacancies in the Junior or Senior Schools, 11+ entry into Year 7 and 16+ entry into Sixth Form) we do not automatically admit siblings into the school; all girls are asked to sit an assessment before the offer of a place can be made. If two candidates are equal in all other ways, preference will be given to the sister of a girl already in the school. 

Yes, we offer before and after school care through Apple Pips, which is managed by the school and run on site for Junior School girls. Please visit our Apple Pips page for further details. 

Our typical class size is 24/25. We have 2 classes in each year group. 

From Reception to Year 2, each class has a Teacher and a Teaching Assistant. In addition to this, Reception has a Higher Level Teaching Assistant who works across both classes. In Years 3 to 6, each class has one teacher. Class teachers across all years are supported by specialist teachers in sports, music, languages, science and in English and Maths in Years 5 and 6. 

No – as we are centrally located in Wimbledon, only a few minutes walk from train and bus transport hubs, we do not offer buses for transport to and from school.  

We do have school minibuses to take girls to sports fixtures or on other outings. 

We believe wholeheartedly in the powerful benefits of a 4-18 education and the capacity we have to nurture success and happiness in our girls from the first day of Reception right through to the end of Sixth Form.  

We aim for all Junior School girls to move into the Senior School; on average around 90% of our Junior girls do so. All Junior girls will sit our 11+ assessment so that they join the Senior School having been through the same experiences as external candidates.