Alleyn's School

Alleyn's and Alleyn's Junior School welcome applications from boys and girls from all backgrounds. We look for candidates who will respond to the School's care, opportunities and values, and who will, in return, contribute to the School with their talents and enthusiasm.

Registration for September entry to both the Senior School and the Junior School will open in September.

Junior School Admissions

Regular admission to Alleyn's Junior School occurs at 4+, 7+ and 9+, to join Reception, Year 3 and Year 5. We welcome applications online one year before potential entry.

Alleyn's Junior School pupils have automatic entry to the Senior School but they still sit the scholarship/entrance exam and are interviewed with all other candidates. Usually, Junior School pupils are expected to make up one third of the Senior School's Year 7 intake.

4+ Entry: Key Dates and information

4+ is our first point of entry into the School and we welcome approximately 34 new children into two Reception classes. For entry in September.

7+ Entry: Key Dates and information

7+ is our second regular point of entry into the school and we welcome approximately 8 to 10 new children into Year 3.

9+ Entry: Key Dates and information

9+ is our third regular point of entry into the school and we welcome a small number of new children into Year 5.

Senior School Admissions

The choice of the right secondary school for your child and the subsequent application procedure can seem, at first, challenging for both child and parent. At Alleyn’s we aim to make the whole process as friendly, smooth and clear as possible.

Our Admissions team is on hand to guide parents through the various steps from initial interest, to visiting the School, to registration, to assessment and to confirmation of the outcome.

During the assessment phases we gain an understanding of the whole child, so whilst there is a strong focus on academic ability and potential, we also want to understand what each individual will be able to take from the co-curricular life of the School. We offer around 150 places, with two thirds of these new children joining from a wide spread of state and independent schools, and the remaining children joining from Alleyn's Junior School.

Scholarships and financial assistance

In Year 7 we offer a number of Academic, Art, Design & Technology, Drama, Music and Sport scholarships to pupils of exceptional merit. We also offer means-tested financial assistance to those families who could not otherwise afford an Alleyn’s education. The level of assistance varies in value up to 100% of annual fees, and is dependent on the financial circumstances of the parents.

The 11+ Assessment Process

The ISEB Common Pre-test will not form part of the 11+ process for entry in September.

Instead, and with the exception of candidates based overseas, all candidates will attend Alleyn’s in early January for written assessments in Reasoning, English and Maths.

Those children whose assessment results and school report demonstrate that they will flourish both inside and outside of the classroom at Alleyn’s will be invited to attend a group activity and one-to-one interview.

Our aim is for our entrance assessments to allow children to demonstrate what they are capable of and, above all, to offer an enjoyable and rewarding experience to all candidates.

We understand that parents, children and their teachers may have some questions about our 11+ process. We assure everyone that all efforts will be made to ensure that the overall assessment process will be conducted with the utmost care and consideration.

Overseas Applications

Candidates who are living abroad at the time of the entrance assessments may sit the assessments at another approved test centre by prior arrangement (please note this is usually only applicable to overseas applicants).

Sixth Form Admissions

You will be made to feel welcome if you join us in Year 12.

We have a strong pastoral care system at Alleyn’s and we mix up the tutor groups to give the Sixth Form a new identity (students also have the support of their Head of House). This helps integrate the pupils that join us in the Sixth Form as well as offering a new experience for our current pupils. We have induction and team-building events for new joiners at the start of Year 12 to help you settle in too.

If you have general questions about the admissions process, please email our Deputy Registrar at deputyregistrar@alleyns.org.uk.

Application Form

The application form consists of two parts: Part 1 requires parents to provide the key details we need to process the application; Part 2 requires candidates to complete a "personal statement", telling us why they want to come to Alleyn's.

Entrance Assessments

Regardless of their A level choices, all candidates sit general papers that test their skills in Qualitative Reasoning (comprehension and data interpretation), Quantitative Reasoning and Critical Writing. Although it is expected that successful candidates will fare well in all aspects of the written assessment, we understand that these papers will not be equally relevant to all A level options and therefore we will primarily consider a candidate’s scores in the 2 papers that are most relevant, depending on the A level options they have chosen to study.

The assessment acts as a screening process to suggest those who might have the potential to cope with the academic education Alleyn's has to offer. It is intended that our entrance assessments will enable candidates from all educational backgrounds to demonstrate their innate skills. The papers will not be syllabus-dependent and should be accessible to all.

Please note that we do not publish sample papers for the 16+ admissions assessments.

Quantitative Reasoning

The paper consists of multiple choice questions, which range in difficulty, to test a candidate’s mathematical skills. No calculators are allowed. This should be accessible to anyone who is studying a GCSE Mathematics course and is not syllabus-dependent. To prepare, you could look over some of the questions you have done at school on trigonometry, algebra and numerical problems.

Qualitative Reasoning

The paper consists of i) some short texts with accompanying multiple choice questions which test a candidate’s skills in analysing written information and ii) data such as graphs or tables with accompanying multiple choice questions.

Critical Writing

Candidates write a short 1 page essay on a general question. Details are given on how to structure the answer. No specific prior knowledge is required. Some example questions are given below:

• Humans should never be cloned
• There should be a maximum limit for salaries

Interviews

Candidates reaching a satisfactory standard in the assessments will be invited for interviews which will consist of:

• A general interview with members of the Upper School team to discuss subject choices and why candidates want to come to Alleyn’s.
• Two academic interviews in two of your A level subject choices. The interviewer will explore why candidates want to study the subject and assess their potential to do well in the subject by asking them to analyse a piece of information or answer some questions.