Barnet Grammar School Application From Abroad, 2027 Entry

Applying from abroad to Queen Elizabeth’s School (QE) or The Henrietta Barnett School (HBS) means bringing the child to Barnet for an in-person test, and an application to Barnet Council also needs a link Barnet address. HBS states that its tests “cannot be sat remotely”, and QE’s 2027-entry tests ran on 16 and 17 September 2026 at the school. Barnet’s on-time deadline for September 2027 entry is 31 October 2026.

This page covers only what changes for a family abroad. General test format and results sit on our Barnet 11+ page; the wider picture is in our 11+ from overseas hub.

What do we do for a family abroad aiming at QE or HBS?

Leading Tuition prepares children for both schools through one-to-one 11+ tuition, and families outside the UK can take the whole programme online. The plan for a family abroad is shaped by the schools’ calendar, which is fixed, in person and set in Barnet rather than by the child’s current school.

The two tests ask for different preparation. QE tests in one sitting: its FAQ says “We only have one round of testing in a single session”, two multiple-choice papers in English and Mathematics. HBS tests in two rounds and allows the Year 7 test “once only”. HBS writes with the Round One outcome by Monday 28 September 2026 and Round Two falls on Tuesday 6 October 2026, eight days later, so an HBS candidate’s English and mathematics for Round Two have to be ready before the family knows whether she is invited. HBS’s policy says that Round Two, in English and Mathematics, tests “literacy and numeracy appropriate to Key Stage 2”, so for a child in another country’s curriculum the first job is a diagnostic: which Key Stage 2 content has that curriculum not yet covered?

We do not run the application. The council and the schools set the rules, and the rest of this page quotes them. Our QE Boys programme and HBS programme pages describe the teaching in full.

Can a child living abroad sit either test from where they are?

No. HBS’s admissions FAQ says: “All tests are carried out at The Henrietta Barnett School Site and tests cannot be sat remotely.” Its 2027-28 policy adds: “The tests will take place at The Henrietta Barnett School. Candidates are not able to sit them elsewhere.” QE’s FAQ says its tests are “usually held in September over two days at Queen Elizabeth’s School, Queen’s Road, Barnet”, with each registered boy invited to “a single session, either in the morning or the afternoon, as predetermined by the School”.

Source: QE entrance test FAQs and admissions page; HBS 2027-28 policy and admissions page. Read on 3 October 2026.

HBS asks for two visits or one long stay. Round One’s first day, 2 September 2026, and Round Two, 6 October 2026, are 34 days apart. HBS writes with the outcome by Monday 28 September 2026 and Round Two falls on Tuesday 6 October 2026, so a family that waits for the letter before booking a journey has eight days if the letter arrives on the latest date, and more if it arrives earlier.

QE’s date arrives late and cannot be steered. The family learns which day only in the week before the test and “should make arrangements for your son to be available on either day”. A boy travelling from overseas is therefore planned for both test days.

If a child is ill or has a clash. QE’s FAQ offers a reserve date for a test-day clash with a Year 6 residential trip, supported by a school letter, and for illness, supported by medical evidence: the school “may offer” it “subject to appropriate evidence”. HBS offers a supplementary date, approximately one week after the original date, “for candidates who, due to illness, are unable to attend”, with a doctor’s certificate received within two working days. Both exist for those cases, so the journey is planned for the day the school allocates.

Which early-July dates fall inside a single trip home?

Both registration forms are online: QE’s FAQ calls its form an “online entrance test registration form”, and HBS’s FAQ says “Online registration takes place from 1st April 2026 to 1st July 2026”. Each school’s FAQ answers “What opportunities are there to visit” with its open day, and the open days sit almost on top of the registration deadlines.

Source: QE admissions page; HBS admission FAQs. The last column is our subtraction of two published dates. Read on 3 October 2026.

QE’s open day on 2 July 2026 fell 6 days before its 8 July deadline, against 8 days in the previous cycle (3 July and 11 July 2025), and HBS’s open day on 30 June 2026 fell 1 day before its 1 July deadline. QE’s admissions process page says of its open day: “Initial priority will be given to those registered to sit the entrance test in September 2026, before bookings open to all.” HBS’s 2027-entry open day was “available for current Year 5 students only”, with “a maximum of 2 tickets to include one student and one parent/ guardian” and the school “unable to organise individual visits outside this date”. The next HBS open day is in the summer term 2027, and the school “does not hold a register of interest”.

Our reading of the table: for a family that wants to visit, one early-July journey can cover a school visit and both deadlines if it books the HBS tickets as soon as booking opens, registers for QE before booking its open day, and submits both forms before it flies. The wording on deadlines is firm. HBS says: “We do not accept late applications.” QE “will be unable to invite your son to take the test in September” if the form has not arrived by the deadline.

QE’s FAQ states the pattern for later years: the form is available “from early May for Year 7 entry in September the following year” and must be in “before the published deadline in July”. Barnet’s year-group table lists children born 1 September 2016 to 31 August 2017 as Year 5, so on our reading that group transfers in September 2028; take the dates for that entry year from each school’s own page.

What does Barnet do with an overseas address on the application form?

Immigration status comes before address. QE became an academy on 1 September 2010 and HBS in April 2012, and GOV.UK counts academy schools among state-funded schools. GOV.UK states that unaccompanied children entering on a Child Student or Student visa “cannot lawfully, under their UK entry conditions, study at a state-funded school”, so a Child Student visa cannot be used at either school. Visitors, and holders of the 11-month Short-term Study (English language) visa, are likewise “not permitted to enter the UK to enrol as a pupil at a state-funded school”. Checking a child’s right to study is the parents’ job: “It is not the role of state-funded schools or local authorities to ask for proof of eligibility before offering a place.”

Barnet Council’s page for children from abroad sets the first condition for a September 2027 transfer: “you will need to be living in Barnet or have a link Barnet address where you intend to take up residency by the start of the school year.” For a child arriving to take a place in the current academic year it asks for “booked flights”, the child’s date of birth, and the address the family will live at, for example “a rental agreement indicating the start date of the tenancy”, and adds: “We may ask for additional evidence of local address once you have arrived.” For a September 2026 start it wrote that it “may be able to process your application” if the family owns a property in Barnet it will return to, holds a signed tenancy agreement from a recognised letting agency, or intends to live with family in Barnet.

On the secondary-transfer page the wording about the form itself is firmer: “You must use your child’s main address at the time of application.” It says not to use “the address of a relative or someone who provides temporary care for your child, a business address or a childminder’s address”, and “A temporary address will normally not be accepted if you still own a property that was previously used as a home address.” The family uploads two proofs of address, normally one from Section A (for example a council tax or rent statement) and one from Section B (for example a utility bill from the last three months).

GOV.UK’s guidance to councils adds two points. An application made from another country should be treated as “adequate proof of an intention to move or return to the area”, and an admission authority cannot “require the applicant has a permanent home address either in the UK or overseas before processing an application”. For UK military and crown servant families, authorities “must accept the parents’ intended address – if that is what parents prefer – providing some evidence of the intended address is provided by the parents”; our forces families guide covers that route.

A family not moving to Barnet applies through the council of the area it will live in: QE says “home local authority” and HBS’s policy says “the Local Authority in which you live”. Barnet’s dates for the September 2027 transfer are below.

Source: Barnet Council, transferring to secondary school in September 2027. Read on 3 October 2026.

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How does the same address count at QE and at HBS?

At QE an overseas address bears only on ties. QE’s FAQ says: “Queen Elizabeth’s School has no catchment. In the event of two or more applicants scoring the same mark, the rank order for allocation of places will be determined by the distance measured in a straight line [...] with the closest given the highest rank. It is therefore at this point that your address may make a difference.” Our QE Boys designated area guide sets out the full criteria.

At HBS the address is measured in October. Criterion Three of the 2027-28 policy reads: “Candidates who currently live within 3 miles of the school at the point when they submit their application to the Local Authority in October, providing that the candidate is capable of following The Henrietta Barnett School education.” HBS’s FAQ says: “There is no catchment area – any girl can apply and any girl can sit the first round test”, and that those “living within 3 miles will be offered places ahead of the rest of the applicants in rank order”. The rest are ranked under Criterion Four, “All remaining candidates in rank score order”.

How the council’s rule and HBS’s criterion fit together is our reading, not the council’s or the school’s. The 3 miles are measured at the point the form is submitted, on or before 31 October 2026 for 2027 entry. Barnet’s page says that a family living abroad at the time of application is measured from its overseas address, and that the distance “will be recalculated to your UK address once you have arrived and taken up residence locally”. That sentence is written about waiting-list position at schools that give priority to children who live the closest. Whether it also reaches HBS’s Criterion Three, which is fixed at the October submission, is a question for Barnet’s School Admissions Team, in writing, before the form goes in. On the plain wording, a family still abroad on the submission date does not “currently live within 3 miles”, while a family that has genuinely moved into Barnet before then is measured from its Barnet address.

Moves into the three miles are checked. HBS’s FAQ says: “Barnet Council will carry out additional address verification checks to identify families that have moved within three miles of The Henrietta Barnett, within the last 12 months. Where applicants are found to have continued interest in a property that was previously occupied as the child’s main address, rigorous checks will be conducted to determine whether the family has relocated mainly to gain advantage of securing a priority place at the school. Barnet Council will determine the address to be used for home-to-school distance calculations, on the balance of probability, based on the evidence found in the investigation.” A family arriving from abroad and renting inside the three miles in the months before October is the kind of move that sentence describes, and so is a family that keeps another UK home while renting in Barnet. That too is our reading; our guide to moving into the HBS three-mile area covers the checks for UK movers.

Confirm with Barnet admissions in writing. Before a lease is signed, ask Barnet’s School Admissions Team which address it will measure for HBS Criterion Three if the family moves in before the form is submitted, what it accepts for a tenancy that starts after submission, and how it treats a UK home that is let out.

If the family misses the 2027 cycle or arrives after it, which routes exist?

Barnet places a child by date of birth. Its secondary-transfer page says: “If your child was born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016, you will need to apply for their transfer to secondary school in September in 2027.”

The main round has a late door; the test does not. Barnet accepts late applications with good reason until 7 December 2026 “as if received on time”. That date does not reopen a test window: HBS’s entry form closed at 5pm on Wednesday 1 July 2026 and QE’s at noon on 8 July 2026.

After the main round, the in-year application. Barnet sends a child who “has recently moved or is in the process of moving from abroad or elsewhere and needs a school place” to its in-year application, and for a place in the current academic year “the earliest you can apply is four weeks before your child’s expected date of arrival to the UK”. HBS says of Years 8 to 11 that “vacancies are rare” and that the Local Authority holds the waiting lists; if a vacancy occurs “after the Autumn Term of Year 7”, those on the list “are required to submit an application to the school and then to take written tests in English and Mathematics, related to the candidate’s current curriculum year”. QE directs in-year enquiries to its Admissions Guide for Parents, which should be read in full before relying on that route.

Our guides to joining a grammar school after Year 7, relocating mid-cycle and returning to the UK cover those routes across England.

What happens between an offer on 1 March 2027 and the first day of term?

Secondary National Offer Day is 1 March 2027, and Barnet’s deadline for a response to a first-round offer is 15 March 2027. GOV.UK says that for an application made from an address in another country the council or school “may ask for evidence before the school year or term begins to confirm that the child now lives in the UK”, and that if the child does not attend on the first day of term “the admission authority could, in some circumstances, remove the offer and allocate the place to a child on the waiting list.”

If a place is refused, HBS’s appeals page says: “All appeals will be heard online which has the advantage that your appeal can be heard from your home or place of work.” Under its Year 7 heading the page says that for secondary and primary transfer appeals “the hearing will take place at least TWO months after the refusal letter”, and HBS’s admissions policy says Year 7 appeal details “will appear on the school website no later than the day before National Offer Day in March 2027”, which is 1 March 2027.

Read on 3 October 2026: Barnet Council’s page for children from abroad, secondary-transfer page, in-year page and year-group table; GOV.UK guidance on overseas applications; QE’s admissions information page, admissions process, entrance test FAQs and academy status page; HBS’s home page, admissions page, Years 8 to 11 page, appeals page, 2027-28 admissions policy (PDF) and admission FAQs (PDF).

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