Tiffin School Overseas Applicants: 2027 Entry Rules

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Tiffin School and The Tiffin Girls' School are the two selective state schools in Kingston upon Thames, and each tests children only on its own premises: Stage One for September 2027 entry ran on Friday 2 October 2026 at Tiffin School and on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 October at The Tiffin Girls' School. Kingston ranks an overseas address as overseas. Families outside the UK can take Leading Tuition's whole 11+ programme for both schools online.

Preparation cannot change where a child lives on the dates the schools and Kingston count. On the schools' own record, Tiffin School offered every place for 2024, 2025 and 2026 to a boy living within 10 km, and The Tiffin Girls' School has offered every place since September 2014 to a child living inside its Designated Area. Everything below is quoted or closely paraphrased from the two schools' 2027-entry documents, Kingston's brochure and Achieving for Children page for September 2027 entry, the School Admissions Code and the Department for Education's guidance on overseas applications, read on Saturday 3 October 2026. Registration for 2027 entry closed on Tuesday 1 September 2026; our Kingston 11+ page covers the closed round, the test formats and the admissions figures, and this page covers only what changes for a family abroad. It belongs to our 11+ from overseas hub.

What does an overseas address do to a Tiffin application?

Both schools put where a child lives ahead of the test score at the point where it matters. At Tiffin School, the allocation order in the 2027-28 policy reaches boys whose permanent place of residence is within the Priority Area (criterion C) before boys whose permanent place of residence is outside it (criterion D). The Priority Area is every address less than 10 km from the school, and the policy states: “Since September 2019, when a 10 km Priority Area was introduced, places have only been offered to those who live within 10 km of Tiffin School.” The school's published pattern for 2024, 2025 and 2026 confirms that no place went outside it.

The Tiffin Girls' School uses two terms. Its Year 7 page says its “catchment area is made up of an Inner Area and a Designated Area”. Its FAQs say a girl who lives outside the catchment area “will be ranked below all applicants who live within the catchment, regardless of their test score”. Its summary guidance says the school does “not expect to have any places available for children who live outside the Designated Area”. This page keeps each document's own term and treats two terms as one area only where a document says they are. The Year 7 page records the outcome: “Since the Designated Area was introduced in September 2014 all places have been offered to children living inside it.”

What Kingston does with an address outside the UK is in its own brochure for September 2027 entry. “Initially, the overseas address will be used, even if you own property within this borough.” An application from a child arriving from overseas “can be processed prior to landing in the UK, but will initially be ranked as overseas under distance”, and the local address is accepted only “once you and your child are habitually resident at that address and you have provided proof of your arrival in the UK”. Richmond's brochure, hosted on the same Achieving for Children page, carries the same wording. Tiffin School's FAQs add that Kingston Schools Admissions, part of the local authority, measures the distances from the permanent place of residence that the home local authority supplies.

The Department for Education's guidance to councils states the principle. A council should treat an application made from another country “as adequate proof of an intention to move or return to the area” and process it in the co-ordinated round. Where a parent cannot show a return to the area, a distance rule may use the place of residence when the application is made, and the guidance continues: “If this is in another country, it might give the child a lower priority for admission”.

Kingston's table of last-offer distances for 2024 to 2026 prints “Overseas” where a distance would normally appear, in the 2025 end-of-coordination column for Chessington School, Coombe Girls' School and Southborough High School. These are 2025 entries from three other Kingston schools, cited for how Kingston labels an overseas address in a ranking; for the two Tiffin schools the table refers readers to the schools themselves.

Put plainly: a child whose home address on the relevant date is overseas sits outside the Priority Area at Tiffin School and outside the Designated Area at The Tiffin Girls' School, whichever of the dates below applies. Tiffin School's policy tells families outside the Priority Area to “consider very carefully” whether to register a son, and The Tiffin Girls' School's FAQs “recommend considering a school closer to home to improve your chances of admission”. On the schools' own records the places have gone to families living inside the area, so a verified home there by the dates in the table below is what a realistic application rests on. The boundaries are in our guides to the 10 km Priority Area and the Designated Area.

Which families are assessed on an intended address instead?

The School Admissions Code makes one exception to the rule that an address is where a family lives when it applies. Paragraph 2.21 covers “families of service personnel with a confirmed posting, or crown servants returning from overseas”. Authorities must allocate a place in advance of the family arriving, as long as one is available, when the application comes with an official letter that declares a relocation date. They must use the address at which the child will live, provided the parents give some evidence of it, and a unit or quartering address where a parent asks.

Kingston applies the paragraph in its brochure: “Families with a confirmed posting to the area can apply for transfers prior to arrival. The posting start date must be before the academic year commences in September 2027.” The application includes official employer documentation confirming the relocation date and the intended address, if known. Our guide for forces families applying from overseas goes through the process. Families outside both groups are under the overseas-address rule above. Our expert 11+ tutors also work with service families preparing from a posting overseas, and a family can book a free consultation to plan around the posting date.

Where can a child abroad sit the tests, and on which days?

On the school's own premises, on the school's own days. Tiffin School's FAQs say: “There is no provision to sit the tests at any other location.” The Tiffin Girls' School gives the same answer in other words: each girl is assigned a desk in one of its test rooms, “as we do not offer the option to sit the tests at alternative locations”.

Source: Tiffin School's Year 7 Admissions page and 2027 admissions FAQs; The Tiffin Girls' School's Year 7 Admissions page and 2027 admissions FAQs (four sessions, allocated day); Kingston's September 2027 brochure and the Achieving for Children page for September 2027 entry (11:59pm).

Three rules in the schools' documents shape the travel plan. Tiffin School's policy says a boy “can only sit any part of Tiffin School's Test Procedure once and will not be eligible to sit the test again”, and The Tiffin Girls' School's policy says the same of girls. The Tiffin Girls' School also says “the date will be allocated; we cannot accommodate requests for a specific date”, so a girl's family needs to be able to travel on either day. And the girls' FAQs tell a family whose daughter is unwell not to bring her and to email the school that day with documentation, which “will enable us to organise an alternative testing day for her”; the examples given are a medical condition and a very recent bereavement.

Stage Two has its own date, so a family abroad faces a second visit or a stay of several weeks between Friday 2 October and Thursday 12 November 2026. The invitation reaches parents before the council form closes on Saturday 31 October 2026, which is what lets a family decide whether to name the school on that form. Tiffin School's Year 7 page also lists familiarisation tests held at the school's premises in April and August by an outside organisation, and states that they are “NOT run by Tiffin School” and are independent of its own admissions programme. The test formats are on our Tiffin School and Tiffin Girls' School pages.

How does a family abroad register and apply?

Two applications run side by side, and a place needs both. The first is each school's own registration. Tiffin School registers candidates through an online admissions portal, where a parent completes the Supplementary Information Form (SIF); the window ran from midday on Friday 5 June 2026 to 12 noon on Tuesday 1 September 2026. The Tiffin Girls' School's online form was open from Tuesday 2 June 2026 to 12 noon on Tuesday 1 September 2026 and asks for a recent photograph, “a head-and-shoulders shot of your child, taken within the last three months”. Both windows are closed for 2027 entry.

The second is the council's common application form, which lists up to six schools in order of preference. Kingston's page for September 2027 entry says applications open on Tuesday 1 September 2026 and close at 11:59pm on Saturday 31 October 2026, and that parents “must apply through the local authority which is responsible for administering the council tax for your home, even if you intend to name a school located in another area”. The Admissions Code (paragraph 2.3) sends the form to “the local authority in the area that they live”. For a family abroad that intends to live in Kingston the brochure gives a specific instruction: “If you are unable to apply via eAdmissions (for example, if you are applying from abroad), email the School Admissions Team to request an alternative way to apply.” A family intending to live in another borough should ask that borough: The Tiffin Girls' School's policy says applications from residents of another authority are processed by their own home authority, whose home address policy and procedures apply.

Three rules govern the form. Tiffin School's policy says an applicant “must name Tiffin School on their Home Local Authority application form for secondary school”. Both schools tie naming them to the invitation to Stage Two: a boy who is not invited and who has named Tiffin School has an application that “will be ineligible”, and a girl in the same position at The Tiffin Girls' School finds her application “will become ineligible”, without affecting her other preferences. Kingston asks every applicant to use all six preferences and to include “your closest non-selective, non-faith school”.

Entry rights are a separate question from admission, and gov.uk puts them on parents: “It is the responsibility of the parents of foreign national children to check that their children have a right under their UK entry conditions to study at a school before applying for a place.” Unaccompanied children entering on a Child Student visa or Student visa “cannot lawfully, under their UK entry conditions, study at a state-funded school”, and gov.uk counts academies as state-funded. The same guidance says children under 18 can usually enter as dependants of a foreign national parent who has settled status in the UK or is in the UK on a work or student visa, and it names the route for Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas) and their dependants. Families who want to start preparing for a later entry year can book a free consultation with our 11+ tutors.

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Which address date counts, and when?

The address is looked at on more than one date, and the documents name different ones. The table puts the dates in order with the text each comes from.

Three documents then describe the address itself, each in its own words and each for entry in September 2027. They are quoted side by side here and not merged.

Each statement comes from a different body and sets its own test, and two of the three carry dates. This page leaves open which one governs a particular family, and does not join them into a rule that none of them states. Tiffin School's FAQs name Kingston Schools Admissions, part of Kingston local authority, as the team that verifies the address and measures the distance, and Kingston's brochure gives the School Admissions Team that Achieving for Children runs for the borough as the contact for any change of home address. A family that expects to move between Saturday 31 October and Monday 7 December 2026 should ask Kingston in writing, at the brochure's contact address (kingston.admissions@achievingforchildren.org.uk), which address it will use for each school the family names and by which date. The brochure asks for the child's name and date of birth in the body of the email. Keep the reply with the application papers.

What proof of a new Kingston or Richmond address will the council accept?

A family that moves in has to prove that it lives at the new address and has arrived. “Future residential addresses are not accepted, even if you own, rent, or are renovating the property before moving in.” It lists what falls short: “AirBnBs, guest houses, hotels, serviced apartments, or staying with friends or family following a recent relocation to the borough”. It adds: “Temporary addresses will not have any distance priority applied to the preferences on the application.” The same section of the brochure says the council cannot accept “a commercial property, or a temporary address”. On those definitions, a family's first weeks in a hotel or serviced apartment are weeks in which the address cannot yet count.

Where the council cannot confirm an address through council tax, or the family has moved within the last 18 months, it asks for evidence from groups A, B and C, and from group D for a child arriving from abroad:

• Group A, the new property. For a rental, a full copy of the tenancy agreement “signed and dated by both you and the landlord”; for a purchase, a solicitor's letter confirming the completion date; for a family moving back into a property it owned before, proof “such as the Land Registry document”; for a member of HM Armed Forces or a Crown Servant, proof of posting and information about the intended address, if known.
• Group B, the previous property. A check-out report or landlord's letter showing the move-out date, a solicitor's letter confirming a completed sale, or, for a property still owned but let to tenants, the tenancy agreement signed and dated by owner and tenant “with a letter from your mortgage company (if applicable)” confirming that the lender knows of the arrangement.
• Group C, habitual residence. A recent electricity bill showing current energy usage plus two further documents dated before the request, from a list that includes a driving licence, a GP letter with the date of registration, home contents or car insurance, an HMRC or DWP letter dated within the last three months, or a V5C. The brochure does not accept mobile phone bills, credit card statements, bank statements or electoral roll inclusion.
• Group D, a child arriving from abroad. Evidence of entry into the UK, “for example a boarding pass or an entry stamp in the passport”.

The brochure adds that “any evidence dated after the School Admissions Team requests it will not be considered”, and that if an application from overseas succeeds, the child “is expected to start at the beginning of September”. The brochure also lists relocating “elsewhere in the United Kingdom or overseas for 13 or more weeks” as a change of circumstances, even if the family intends to return before September 2027. Other councils set their own lists; the Department for Education's guidance names a mortgage or rental agreement, deeds, an employer's letter and local GP registration as examples.

What happens if a family arrives late or misses a deadline?

Tiffin School's Year 7 page says: “No late applications will be accepted.” Its policy says a late registration form “will not be accepted unless there are exceptional circumstances (as determined by Tiffin School)” and adds that supporting evidence must be provided. The Tiffin Girls' School is categorical: its Year 7 page says “No late registrations will be accepted”, and its FAQs say “We will not be able to make any exceptions.”

At the council end, Kingston's brochure sets an extended deadline of Monday 7 December 2026 “for applications that could not be submitted on time due to exceptional circumstances (proof must be provided) and changes of addresses to be considered in the first round of allocations”. After National Offer Day a late application joins the waiting lists, and the brochure says: “You will not get any additional priority for making a late application or change of preference, even if your child is currently unplaced.” Both schools' policies route a late council application through the home authority, to be considered only if it counts as on time under that authority's scheme; The Tiffin Girls' School adds that one made on or after the first day of the autumn term 2027 goes through Kingston as an in-year application.

In-year entry to Years 8 to 11 is a narrow route. The Tiffin Girls' School says its Year 7 cohort of 180 is expected to move up through the school in its entirety, so “it is unlikely we will be able to offer a place before admission to Year 12”; applicants are told the next test date within 15 school days of the in-year form reaching the school through Kingston. Tiffin School tests for a year group only when the roll falls below 180, and its policy adds a rule that matters to a family abroad: “Applicants from outside the Priority Area will only be considered if the initial cohort for the relevant year group included boys who live outside the Priority Area.” Both schools take in-year applications through Kingston's form; our guides to joining a grammar school after Year 7, relocating mid-cycle and returning to the UK cover the wider picture.

How does Leading Tuition prepare a child for one attempt at each stage, in London?

The rules above give a child one attempt at each stage, on days the school sets, with Stage Two a few weeks after Stage One for children invited back. Tiffin School's FAQs describe Stage One as English and Maths “marked on an answer sheet called an OMR that is marked by a computer” and Stage Two as written papers that “require hand written answers”. Preparation therefore has to include both: timed, computer-marked papers answered on a sheet, and longer answers written by hand.

Our expert 11+ tutors work one to one with children outside the UK on exactly those two modes, building each programme around the school's format and the dates in the table above. Teaching is one to one, online or in person, and families outside the UK can take the whole programme online. We start with a diagnostic to find the gaps, then move to timed practice. No preparation changes where a child lives on the dates the schools and Kingston count. What it changes is how well the child performs in the one attempt each school allows at each stage, and for a family with a verified home in the area that is the part of the application it can influence. Book a free consultation to talk through a child's current level, the entry year being aimed for and the schools involved.

Frequently asked questions

Reviewed on Saturday 3 October 2026: every rule, date and quotation above was checked on that date against the school, council and government documents named in the text.

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