11+ Entrance Assessments 2025/26

Independent Schools in Portsmouth, Fareham & Havant

Greetings, parents! In the Portsmouth area, you’ll find a variety of independent schools, each offering its own unique blend of educational ethos and environment, ranging from the grand to the intimate, and spanning a spectrum of academic rigour. We take great pleasure in assisting children with their preparation for the 11+ common entrance assessments, recognising the significance of this milestone. Additionally, we recognise the importance of ensuring everyone is well-informed regarding relevant dates and schedules. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on that front.

Scholarships

Academic Scholarships may be awarded to the top achievers based on the results of the school’s 11+ assessment. The criteria for this will vary from school to school, so you must apply directly to them.

Additionally, some schools offer scholarships for excellence in Art, Drama, Music, and Sport at 11+, 13+, and Sixth Form. These need to be applied for, and applications are usually submitted by the end of November preceding the September of entry. You can apply for more than one scholarship.

Financial Assistance

Some schools may offer financial assistance (means tested on income and exam performance) for Year 7 and Year 9 entry, and the deadline for applying is normally the end of November (September in the case of Portsmouth Grammar School), prior to the year of entry. Often, financial assistance is allocated first and foremost based on the child’s exceptional performance in the Entrance Assessments; the financial information you provide is then considered.

N.B. Please note that advice given here may vary between individual schools. It is important that you get in touch with individual schools to find out their exact criteria for entry requirements, scholarships, and financial assistance.

Common Entrance Assessment or 11+

This exam is so called as it is taken at the age of 11 years at the beginning of secondary education. Not all independent schools are selective, but almost all schools will want students to take an entrance assessment exam of some kind.

The entrance exams always cover maths and English to a high level. Children are also usually tested on their verbal and nonverbal reasoning. These tests are designed to be more difficult to prepare for as they are not school subjects. Verbal reasoning is concerned with language and word problems, while non-verbal reasoning includes logic, shape, and number patterns.

The 11+ Assessments typically consist of the following: Maths (50 mins); English (45 mins); Reading Comprehension (30 mins); Non-verbal Reasoning (30 mins); plus an Interview (20 mins).

Full Bursary

“We are so pleased that Mahera has got a FULL BURSARY for the local girl’s high school in Portsmouth. She has been to your centre before for tuition, but we came back in November so she could get ready for the exams. She has worked so hard and Linda has really encouraged her in her writing! Thanks so much!”

Click here to read more about our success…..

Portsmouth Grammar School

11+ and 13+ Entrance Assessment

Saturday 8th November 2025

(Deadline for registering is Friday, 26^th September 2025)

Mayville High School

All Candidates Sit Exam

Saturday 15th November 2025

Portsmouth High School for Girls

Music, Art, Drama & Sport Scholarship Day

Monday 5th January 2026

11+ Assessment Day

Tuesday 6th January 2026

The Gregg School

11+ Entrance Assessment

Saturday 24th January 2026

Meoncross School

Open Week:  22- 26th September 10.45am 2025

Open Morning November Friday 21th November 10.45am 2025

Boundary Oak School

Assessment can be booked all year

Are you considering entering your child for an independent school?  Then book a Free Assessment today!

NOW IS THE TIME

If your child is currently in Year 5, then NOW is the time to start preparing for the entrance assessment exam in January.

During your child’s free forty-five-minute assessment we will:

• Test your child’s reading age, spelling age and maths ability.
• Give you honest feedback on your child’s ability to pass the entrance exams for each school.
• Discuss our previous experience preparing students for entrance exams for local independent schools.
• Give you a breakdown of the topics your child needs to cover to prepare for the entrance exam.
• Explain our materials and teaching methods to you.
• Give you the chance to ask any questions and to tap into our expertise.

Click here to find out more about tutoring for Entrance Exams …

Wow 100% Pass Rate for 11+Exams!

11+ Entrance Exam Success

Well done to all our 11+ and common entrance exam students for passing their tests.  All  students, who attended our sessions regularly, passed their 11+ exams in at least one of the schools they applied for.  They included; Christ’s Hospital, St Catherine’s, Badminton, Cheltenham Ladies’ College, PGS and PHS.  One of our students even got a full boarding scholarship, including all music tuition and exams paid in full!

Over the years we have had a lot of success, but this is definitely the best year ever.  In order to celebrate we invited them all to Playzone on us!  Quite a few were able to make it and really love the event.  One mum said “Once again thanks you and Linda for organising this evenings party, the children had an amazing time and it was such a special treat to celebrate the end of the ordeal from the past few months! ”

It was really fun to celebrate together and we hope we can do it again soon.

Simplifying Payment Options for Easter 2017

Simplifying Payment Options

We want to simplify the payment option that we offer.  We have been finding it difficult to concentrate on tutoring and administering payments at the same time.   Occasionally we make mistakes and missed payments are very time consuming to follow up.  Also, the card machine is expensive and Charlotte (our new Administrator) can’t always be here.

Weekly Payment

Ideally we would make everything monthly direct debit, however we know that would not work for some people.  We have tried to keep the option of weekly payment using our ‘Autopay’ system (we will need your card details).   Autopay is an online payment system that you can access through your parent login.  You can make weekly, monthly or one-off payments to us using this.

No More Card Machine

After Easter we will no longer have the card machine, and Autopay will be our only card payment system. (This also saves us money on machine rental so we can extend the discount we give!)

Cash Payments

We will still accept cash as long as they are for a half term or term in advance (with a 5% discount).

Summary of Payment Methods:

Weekly          Autopay only £30 a session

Monthly        Autopay only £30 a session

½ Termly     Autopay or cash £32 a session with a 5% discount

Termly          Autopay or cash £32 a session with a 5% discount

You can still use cash to make advanced payments (half term or full term) and will still receive a 5% discount.

P.S. Childcare payments remain unchanged.  You can also login yourself and make payments via the website.

Tuition Fees Autumn 2016

Tuition Fees Autumn 2016

Autopay (No Deposit)

Cash/Card

Sign up for Autopay and pay only £30 per session!  (No Deposit)

We are introducing autopay direct debits using our automated invoicing. Ask us and we will set it up for you.  Your card will then be automatically debited each month with the tuition fees due. However, the great news is that if you chose this option we will only charge £30 per session rather than £32!

Other ways to pay your tuition fees

We still accept payments by cash and through our card machine. By paying for a half term or term in advance you will still receive a 5% discount.

You can also pay weekly, as long as a £60 deposit has been paid. This can be held as part payment for the last two sessions or be refunded with two weeks notice given.

Unfortunately we are no longer able to accept cheques due to excessive bank charges.

Missed sessions and ‘make ups’

Please remember that missed sessions must be paid for, so do book a ‘make-up’ session during the time that you are enrolled.

Help with payment

We are registered with OFSTED as an activity based childcare premises. This means if you are issued with childcare vouchers by your employer you may be able to use them to pay for tuition.

If you receive Working Families Tax Credit you may be eligible for help also.

Our OFSTED Registration No. is EY387054.

The WFTC Helpline is 0345 300 3900.

Tuition Session Times

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