Emanuel School Overseas Applicants: 2027 Entry From Abroad

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Emanuel School is a co-educational day school in Battersea, London. Its FAQs say “Applicants who are living abroad at the time of the entrance assessment may sit the assessments at another approved test centre by prior arrangement”, and its Admissions Policy says “All applicants must have the legal right to live and study in the United Kingdom for the duration of their education at the school.” Registration closes on Friday 16 October 2026, midday.

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Every Emanuel rule on this page is quoted from the school’s own pages or its Admissions Policy, read on 9 October 2026, and each is labelled with the entry point and entry year it serves: Year 6 (10+) and Year 7 (11+) for September 2027, and deferred Year 9 (13+) for September 2029, assessed in autumn 2026 in Year 6. The other London independent schools are on our London independent schools hub.

Right to Study and Identity Verification

For a family abroad the first question is eligibility. The Admissions Policy gives its last review as Spring 2026 and its approval by Cabinet as 21 May 2026. Its section 6, headed “Right to Study and Identity Verification”, reads: “All applicants must have the legal right to live and study in the United Kingdom for the duration of their education at the school. At the point of enrolment following receipt of an offer, parents will be required to provide appropriate documentation to confirm a pupil’s identity, immigration status and right to study in the UK before admission can be confirmed.”

It continues: “The school reserves the right to request additional information or documentation where necessary and may withdraw an offer of a place if satisfactory evidence of identity or the right to study in the UK is not provided.”

On visas the policy has a sentence of its own: “The school is unable to sponsor or support pupils who require a Child Student visa or any other form of study visa in order to attend the school.” See our Child Student visa guide, written for 13+ boarding entry, for the visa rules in general.

Two more lines of the policy bear on a family abroad. It describes the school this way: “Emanuel School is a co-educational day school for pupils aged 10 – 19 years.” And among the criteria for a place at Year 6, Year 7 and deferred Year 9 entry it lists “Confirmation that the candidate has the legal right to live and study in the United Kingdom.”

Fluency in English: how many years in an English-medium environment?

Section 4 of the policy, headed “Fluency in English”, says: “In order to be able to participate fully in the academic and social life of the school, pupils must demonstrate a high level of fluency in English. Normally, applicants should have been educated in an English-medium environment for at least three years prior to joining the school. English fluency will be assessed through written assessments, group activity and interview as part of the admission process.”

Year 6 (10+), Year 7 (11+) or deferred Year 9 (13+): which entry year?

Emanuel’s welcome page puts it this way: “We have four entry points at Emanuel: Year 6 (10+), Year 7 (11+), Year 9 (13+) and Sixth Form (16+).” This page covers the first three, each with its entry year, the school’s words on the intake and the report year it asks for.

A family registers for one entry point at a time. The policy states: “A child may only be registered for one entry point at any one time. Should parents wish to change the intended entry point, the original registration must be withdrawn and a new registration submitted, provided that applications for the alternative entry point remain open. A new registration fee will be payable.” For a child who is not successful at Year 6 (10+), the Year 6 (10+) page says: “If your child is not successful in gaining a place in year 6 (10+), we will offer you the chance to register for year 7 (11+). Please note that if you reject the offer of a place at year 6 (10+), you will not be able to re-register for year 7 (11+).” The Year 6 (10+) registration page says: “If your child is not successful in gaining a place in Year 6, we will offer you the chance to register for Year 7 (11+) the following year.” Our reading, not the school’s wording: the September 2027 Year 7 (11+) round closes on Friday 16 October 2026 (Year 7 (11+) page).

Which birth dates sit in which entry year? Emanuel’s policy states: “The year group in which a child is admitted is usually determined by their age on 1st September of the year of entry. However, the headmaster reserves the right to exercise discretion where appropriate, taking into account the child’s ability to cope academically with the pace of learning within the relevant year group and their social and emotional development.” Lambeth Council gives the state-school window for secondary applications for September 2027: “If your child was born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016 or taught as a Year 6 child in the 2026-27 school year, you must apply for a secondary school place for September 2027.” One year younger than that window is 1 September 2016 to 31 August 2017 (our arithmetic from Lambeth’s window). Ask Emanuel to confirm in writing which year group your child would enter. For school years that do not follow England’s September cut-off, see our guide to which UK year group a child moving from abroad joins.

Key dates for September 2027 entry on a UK clock and on yours

Each row below comes from the school’s own pages, with the entry point and entry year it serves in the second column. The dates are the school’s; the clock conversions that follow the table are ours.

Registration opened from May 2026. After a form is submitted, the school’s registration page says: “After you have submitted the form below, you will receive a confirmation email from the admissions office. If you do not receive this within 10 days of completing this form, please email admissions@emanuel.org.uk” The policy adds a rule for the whole round: “Registration for all entry points will open in May of the year preceding entry and remain open until October of the same year. Exact dates are published on the school website each year. Applications for admission made after the published deadline will not be accepted.”

Registration, acceptance and the first day on your clock

Emanuel prints the registration and acceptance deadlines as “midday” and the first day of Autumn Term 2027 as “8:25am”. Read as UK times, they fall as follows. The UK is on British Summer Time (BST, UTC+1) until the clocks go back at 2am on Sunday 25 October 2026, on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT, UTC+0) until they go forward on Sunday 28 March 2027, and on BST again after that, according to GOV.UK’s clock-change table.

Each conversion lands on the same calendar day. Offsets: IANA time zone database for Dubai (+04), Singapore and Hong Kong (+08); Wikipedia’s UTC+04:00 page for Oman and the UAE; its UTC+03:00 page for Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain. Other regions’ clocks against London’s are set out in our 11+ time zones guide for families abroad. Whether midday is UK time is one of the written questions in the last section.

Entrance Exams: what can be sat at another approved test centre?

The sentence that answers a family abroad comes from the school’s general admissions FAQs page, from the answer to the question “We live overseas at the moment. Must my child sit the entrance examinations at Emanuel?” The answer reads: “Applicants who are living abroad at the time of the entrance assessment may sit the assessments at another approved test centre by prior arrangement (please note this is usually only applicable to overseas applicants). Please contact the admissions team for more information.” The entry points on that FAQs page read: “Our main entry points are year 6 (10+), year 7 (11+), year 9 (13+) and sixth form (16+)”. A family should ask admissions to confirm in writing that the arrangement applies to the entry point it has chosen.

What is sat, entry year by entry year. The policy says: “The Year 6, Year 7 and Year 9 deferred entry examination consists of papers in English and Maths and a verbal reasoning assessment. Specimen papers for English and Maths are available on the school website.”

The Year 6 (10+) and Year 7 (11+) pages give verbal reasoning as 20 minutes and the Year 9 (13+) page gives it as 30 minutes. Both are the school’s figures; confirm the length with admissions in writing before the sitting.

On timings, the Year 7 (11+) page reads: “Friday 27th November 2026: Year 7 (11+) entrance exam. Details of exact timings will be sent to applicants in November. There will be a reserve date – please enquire about this if needed.” The Year 6 (10+) page carries the same two sentences under Saturday 28 November 2026. The FAQs add: “All applicants are expected to sit the entrance examinations on the published date. Please inform the admissions team of any examination clashes.” The policy also states: “In exceptional circumstances, and at the school's sole discretion, entry examinations may be held at times other than those published by the school.”

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Report and Reference from a school abroad

After registration, each entry page asks for a school report and for a reference from the child’s current headteacher (or equivalent). The Year 7 (11+) page says: “Following completion of the registration form, we ask parents to submit a copy of their child’s last full school year report. We will also request a reference from their current headteacher (or equivalent) – we will contact the school directly for this during the autumn term.” Parents send the report themselves: “Deadline for receipt of a copy of the applicant’s end of year 5 school report. Please note this is not sent by the primary/prep school – it must be sent by the parents and a copy can be posted as soon as it is received.” The Year 6 (10+) page asks for the end of year 4 school report and the Year 9 (13+) page for the end of year 5 school report, both by Friday 23 October 2026, midday.

How the school reads them: “All pupils are invited to sit the written assessments and we read every report and reference in great detail before making selections for later stages of the process.”

Interview and Group Experience in January 2027

The FAQs describe the stage this way: “For year 6 (10+), year 7 (11+), year 9 (13+) and sixth form (16+) entry, pupils who do well in our written assessments will be invited in for an in-person interview and a group experience with other applicants led by a member of teaching staff.”

The dates differ by entry year. The Year 7 (11+) page gives Saturday 16 January 2027 and says: “Invitations to attend will be sent via email in early January. There will be a reserve date if required.” The Year 9 (13+) page gives the same Saturday for deferred entry in September 2029, and the Year 6 (10+) page gives Wednesday 20 January 2027; both carry the sentence about invitations by email in early January (Year 9 (13+), Year 6 (10+)). The Year 9 (13+) registration page adds: “Assessment will take place during the Autumn and Spring term of your child’s Year 6.”

On who is invited, the Year 7 (11+) page says: “Following the written assessments, we interview a high percentage of those applying to the school in January, dependent on their performance in the entrance exams.” The policy says of the interview: “A satisfactory interview. Interviews are intended to explore the candidate's interests, attitude to learning, personal qualities, ability to contribute to the school community, and any relevant connection with the school.”

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From result letter to the first day of Autumn Term 2027

The Year 6 (10+) page reads: “Thursday 11th February 2027: Result letters sent by first class post. The outcome of applications will also be confirmed by email on Friday 12th February.” The FAQs say of the Year 6 (10+) decision: “If your child is not successful in gaining a place at year 6, we will then offer you the chance to register for year 7 (11+) when we post the decision about year 6 (10+) entry in March.” The Year 6 (10+) registration page says: “If your child is not successful in gaining a place in Year 6, we will offer you the chance to register for Year 7 (11+) the following year.” Our reading, not the school’s wording: the September 2027 Year 7 (11+) round closes on Friday 16 October 2026 (Year 7 (11+) page). Both the dates and the fallback are the school’s words; confirm in writing which applies to your child. The Year 7 (11+) page gives the same date as the Year 6 (10+) page, and the Year 9 (13+) page says: “Thursday 11th February 2027: Offers made for Year 9 (13+) entry in September 2029. Result letters sent by first class post. The outcome of applications will also be confirmed by email on Friday 12th February.”

The Year 6 (10+) and Year 7 (11+) pages list offer holder events for the week beginning Monday 22 February 2027 (Year 6 (10+), Year 7 (11+)), and the Year 9 (13+) page lists them for February 2027 (Year 9 (13+)). All three pages give the acceptance deadline as Wednesday 3 March 2027, midday; the Year 7 (11+) page reads: “Wednesday 3rd March 2027, midday: Acceptance deadline.”

On postal details, the Year 7 (11+) page says: “The offers are sent by post; if you move address, please let us know or the letter will be sent to an old address.” The school’s fees page says: “A deposit of one term’s fees is payable on acceptance of a place. This is paid in four instalments.” The first instalment falls in March for Year 6 and Year 7 entry the following September, and the amounts are on that page. For deferred Year 9 (13+) entry the Year 9 (13+) page says: “Offers will be conditional on our receiving an end of year school report for Year 7 and Year 8 from the pupil’s current school and their continued good conduct over this period. An acceptance deposit will be due in February 2028.”

On the start of term, the school’s term-dates page lists, under Autumn Term 2027: “Monday 6th September: Term begins for all pupils at 8:25am”

What should a family put to the admissions team in writing?

The FAQs give the admissions team’s contact details as “Telephone: 020 8870 4171 (option 3)”, and the contact page gives the email address admissions@emanuel.org.uk and the school’s address in Battersea. Each question below is about a family’s own case, with the line from the school’s pages that prompts it. Put them in writing and keep the reply.

1. We live outside the UK: which approved test centre can our child use for the Friday 27 November 2026 sitting (Year 7 (11+) or deferred Year 9 (13+)) or the Saturday 28 November 2026 sitting (Year 6 (10+)), and by what date must the arrangement be made? The FAQs say: “Applicants who are living abroad at the time of the entrance assessment may sit the assessments at another approved test centre by prior arrangement”.
2. Does that arrangement apply to the entry point we are registering for, and does our child still count as living abroad if we move to the UK before the sitting? The FAQs open with “Applicants who are living abroad at the time of the entrance assessment”.
3. Is midday on the registration, report and acceptance deadlines UK time, and is 8:25am on Monday 6 September 2027 UK time? The Year 7 (11+) page prints “Friday 16th October 2026, midday: Deadline for acceptance of registrations.”
4. How is verbal reasoning set up for a child at an approved test centre abroad, and is it 20 minutes or 30 minutes for the deferred Year 9 (13+) assessment? The Year 6 (10+) page says “This will be administered in school and take approximately 20 minutes to complete.”.
5. Our child’s school does not call its year groups Year 4, Year 5 or Year 6: which year’s report do you want by Friday 23 October 2026, midday, and in what form? The Year 7 (11+) page asks for the “end of year 5 school report”, and the Year 6 (10+) page for the “end of year 4 school report”.
6. Who counts as our child’s current headteacher (or equivalent), and how will the school contact them during the autumn term? The Year 7 (11+) page says “We will also request a reference from their current headteacher (or equivalent) – we will contact the school directly for this during the autumn term.”
7. Our child has been taught in English for part of the last three years and in another language for the rest: how does the school count the years? The policy says “Normally, applicants should have been educated in an English-medium environment for at least three years prior to joining the school.”
8. Which documents do you need to confirm our child’s identity, immigration status and right to study in the UK, and at what point after an offer do you want them? The policy’s sentence on documents at enrolment is quoted in the first section of this page.
9. Our address is outside the UK, or changes before February 2027: how do we keep the postal address for the result letter current? The Year 7 (11+) page’s sentence on postal details is quoted in the results section above.
10. If our child is invited to the interview and group experience, what are the options if we cannot be in London on the date? The Year 7 (11+) page says “There will be a reserve date if required.”

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