Senior Admissions FAQs

We tend to offer about 60 external places into Year 7, with the ratio of applicants to place typically about 10 to 1, but clearly this varies year on year. Behind the statistic, remember that many families will be applying to a number of schools for 11+. 

The vast majority of our Junior pupils – usually around 40 – transfer to Seniors, having undergone the same entrance procedure as our external candidates. 

No; all applicants must sit the entrance examination for WHS, whatever school they currently attend. 

We test in two stages. All applicants are assessed in Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning as Stage 1. 

Candidates who are successful in this stage will be invited back to Stage 2, our creative assessment day. It involves a carousel of inspiring activities, to assess curiosity, communication, creativity, teamwork, problem-solving, in groups and individually. As we do not want girls to prepare for these, we will not be giving out details in advance.

There is no pass mark per se – rather, the performance in our creative assessment, VR and NVR scores and the report from a candidate’s current school all inform our decision-making process when making offers. 

We are confident that testing in Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning gives us a good understanding of the academic level of our candidates. The creative assessment day (stage 2) puts the individual at the heart of our process, giving them the chance to stand out and show us a can-do attitude towards creative inter-disciplinary learning and problem solving, on their own and as part of a team. These skills will be so important in the world of work this generation will enter. We want our girls to combine a scholarly delight in deep learning with creativity and intellectual agility. We ask them to find solutions, to think differently, to show resolve, resilience and enthusiasm in the face of challenges – all this is more important to us than testing in subjects candidates might have been heavily tutored in. 

Tutoring is not necessary, nor something we encourage. We do recommend that your daughter practises some Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning papers (at home or in school). This is necessary to help her become accustomed to the unusual style of the examination. (We use paper tests, with candidates filling in the answers in pencil.)  

Practice papers are available online and in good bookshops. We do not give more information about the specific tests as we are very keen to ensure as fair a system as possible for testing at 11+. 

We want our entrance tests to assess a child’s ability to learn and not the ability of the parents to pay for tutoring! If your daughter needs tutoring in order to succeed in an entrance examination, you might question whether she will be able to cope positively if she takes up a place in the school. 

For our creative assessments, the best preparation is encouraging curiosity in your daughter. 

For Stage 1, candidates will sit Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning papers in our Sports Hall. Our Sixth Formers will be on hand to lighten the mood as much as possible. 

The creative assessment day (Stage 2) will involve a morning or afternoon of activities across the school site in our classrooms. Our Senior students will be working from home that day, leaving plenty of space; our Sixth Formers will be assisting, and the majority of our teachers will be involved. A drink and snack will be provided. 

If your daughter has an educational psychologist’s report which states that she has a special educational need or disability, you will need to indicate this on the application form and attach a copy of the report – do not wait until the days before the exam. This is not adequate in itself to guarantee extra time – our learning support (SEN) coordinator will assess on a case by case basis. 

We follow the JCQ assessment guidelines, and we apply this criterion in our decision-making at 11+ so that students at WHS receive a consistent experience throughout their school career. 

Please note that we are not able to accommodate requests for extra time or special exam access arrangements unless they are indicated on the registration form at the time of application and supported by the appropriate reports and documentation. 

Typically, many candidates who get through to stage 2 but do not receive an outright offer will be offered a waiting list place.  

Unfortunately, we cannot indicate exact positions on the waiting list or how many offers we will be able to make to the girls on our waiting list because this number varies every year. A girl’s place on our 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. 

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 student already in the school. 

Yes, you may make an application for your daughter from overseas. Please do contact your local British Council to confirm that they will invigilate the assessment and provide us with the invigilator’s contact details. Alternatively, your daughter’s current school can also invigilate the assessments if you do not have a local British Council office near you.  

For entry into Years 8, 9 and 10 we use age-appropriate assessments in Maths, English and Verbal Reasoning, and a subject paper for Year 10, followed by an interview for successful candidates.  

If we have places available for September, we will open applications for what we call an ‘occasional vacancy’. Assessments will typically occur during the Spring term. We may be able to offer places at other points in the academic year; this will be done on an ad-hoc basis. For more information, please visit our Occasional Vacancy page. 

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.