11 Plus Online Tuition Overseas: Time Zones and 2027 Entry

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Leading Tuition is a tuition provider that delivers all its lessons online, and families outside the UK can take the whole programme online. For 2027-entry planning the time zones matter: while the UK is on GMT, from 25 October 2026 to 28 March 2027, Dubai is 4 hours ahead of London, Doha 3, Hong Kong 8, and New York 5 behind, except for 21 days when it is 4.

What does Leading Tuition run online for a family living abroad?

A few lines already published on our own pages answer it, and this page uses them as written. The FAQs answer the delivery question in one sentence: “All our lessons are delivered online, using technology that creates a fully interactive experience for students from the comfort of home.” Our Sutton High School guide says “Families outside the UK can take the whole programme online”. Our Redbridge page for families abroad describes the preparation as “entirely online with scheduling that works across international time zones”, with each paper “practised under timed conditions”.

On format and changes, the general FAQs answer “Do you offer group lessons or only one-to-one?” with “We provide both options.” They add that for one-to-one lessons “cancellations are fine as long as reasonable notice is given” and that tutors “will usually be happy to rearrange lessons, provided they aren’t cancelled at the very last minute”. Those lines are the whole of the service description on this page.

What this page adds is arithmetic across time zones. It does not set lesson times, and nothing below offers a particular hour. It shows how any proposed hour, and any UK closing time, reads on the clocks of the regions in Tables 1 to 3, with the working beside each figure so a family can check it. Which sittings a child can take from abroad, and each area’s address and registration rules, are set out on the pages for the UAE, the Gulf and Hong Kong, and under the 11+ from overseas hub.

How far are the time zones of each region from London, and in which months does the gap change?

London keeps Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0) in winter and British Summer Time (UTC+1) in summer. GOV.UK says the clocks go “forward 1 hour at 1am on the last Sunday in March, and back 1 hour at 2am on the last Sunday in October”, and lists 29 March 2026 and 25 October 2026, then 28 March 2027 and 31 October 2027. London is on GMT from 25 October 2026 to 28 March 2027 and on BST on either side of those dates, and every closing time in Table 3 falls inside the GMT window.

Table 1. Time zones compared with London, by UK clock period

Source: IANA time zone database release 2026e for the offsets and rules; GOV.UK for the UK clock dates; EU Directive 2000/84/EC; NIST for the US rule. Gap = region offset minus London offset. GMT period: from 01:00 UTC on 25 October 2026 to 01:00 UTC on 28 March 2027. BST period: before and after those instants. The last column is a worked clock example, not a lesson time we offer: 17:00 in Singapore (UTC+8) is 09:00 UTC, which is 09:00 GMT or 10:00 BST.

The IANA time zone database (release 2026e) applies no daylight-saving rule today to the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong or Singapore, so their gap to London changes only when London’s does. Its current line for Asia/Dubai, “4:00 - %z”, has applied since 1920, and its line for Asia/Riyadh, “3:00 - %z”, since 1947. Qatar has been on 3:00 since June 1972. In the backward file, Muscat follows Dubai, Kuwait follows Riyadh and Bahrain follows Qatar. Hong Kong’s last daylight-saving rule is dated 21 October 1979, and Singapore’s zone ends on “8:00 - %z”. A lesson hour fixed in London time therefore moves by one hour on a Dubai, Doha or Singapore clock on 25 October 2026 and again on 28 March 2027, while an hour fixed in local time moves by one hour in London. Which clock an hour is fixed on is worth settling with whoever sets the timetable.

France, mainland Spain and Germany are in a different position. IANA gives Europe/London “0:00 EU GMT/BST” and Europe/Paris, Madrid and Berlin “1:00 EU CE%sT”: one rule, which the europe file writes as “lastSun 1:00u” for both March and October. Directive 2000/84/EC starts summer time in every Member State at “1.00 a.m., Greenwich Mean Time, on the last Sunday in March” and ends it at 1.00 a.m. on the last Sunday in October. The gap to London is therefore 1 hour in every week of the year, and the Canary Islands (Atlantic/Canary, “0:00 EU WE%sT”) keep London’s clock throughout.

In which two periods is New York four hours behind London instead of five?

The United States changes its clocks on different Sundays from the UK, which opens two short windows each year. The National Institute of Standards and Technology gives US daylight saving time for 2026 as running “from March 8 at 2 a.m. (local time) to November 1 at 2 a.m. (local time)”, and states the rule as the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November. IANA’s US rule lines say the same (“Sun>=8” in March and “Sun>=1” in November, both at 2:00). The UK goes back to GMT on 25 October 2026, a week before the US leaves daylight time on 1 November.

The working, from the clock rules above: the UK returns to GMT at 01:00 UTC on 25 October 2026, and New York stays on Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4) until 02:00 local time on 1 November 2026, which is 06:00 UTC. In between, New York is 4 hours behind London instead of 5, for 7 days (1 November minus 25 October). Spring repeats it. The second Sunday of March 2027 is 14 March (1 March 2027 is a Monday, so the Sundays are 7 and 14 March), the US moves forward then, and the UK waits until 28 March 2027. That is 14 days (28 March minus 14 March) at 4 hours, and 21 days in all across the 2026-27 cycle. Chicago and Los Angeles use the same US rule, so they shift by the same hour.

Table 2. Where two time zones drift: the windows in which the United States and the UK are out of step

Source: Computed from the clock rules quoted above: UK changes at 01:00 UTC on the last Sundays of March and October (GOV.UK); US changes at 2:00 local time on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November (NIST, IANA). The US changes land a few hours apart in UTC across the three zones, but on the same dates. Windows: 25 October to 1 November 2026 is 7 days, 14 March to 28 March 2027 is 14 days, 31 October to 7 November 2027 is 7 days.

A worked clock example, not a slot we offer: 17:00 in New York is 22:00 in London on most dates, because 17:00 Eastern Standard Time is 22:00 UTC and 17:00 Eastern Daylight Time is 21:00 UTC with London on BST. Inside either window the same 17:00 Eastern Daylight Time is 21:00 UTC, and London is on GMT, so it reads 21:00.

NIST also lists the places where daylight saving time is not observed: “Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the state of Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Indian Reservation, which does observe DST)”. A family in one of those places has no US change to add, so its gap to London moves only when London’s clocks do, as in the fixed-offset rows of Table 1. Check which zone applies before reading across from the New York, Chicago or Los Angeles rows.

What time does each 2027-entry application deadline close on your child’s clock?

The School Admissions Code 2021 gives the date: “The deadlines for submitting applications to be allocated on National Offer Day are 31 October for secondary school and 15 January for primary school.” Offers follow on National Offer Day, which for secondary schools is 1 March, or the next working day where 1 March falls on a weekend or bank holiday. 1 March 2027 is a Monday, so offers for September 2027 entry fall due on Monday 1 March 2027. The hour comes from the body that takes the form, and the bodies differ.

Two councils show the spread. Warwickshire County Council says “The deadline for applications is 4.00pm on 31 October 2026.” Lambeth Council says “The deadline for on-time applications is midnight on 31 October 2026.” Both name Saturday 31 October 2026. We read Lambeth’s “midnight on 31 October 2026” as the end of that Saturday, which is 00:00 on Sunday 1 November in London, and on that reading the two deadlines are 8 hours apart. “Midnight on” a date can also be read as the start of that date, which would make the gap 16 hours, so a family for whom the hour matters should ask Lambeth to confirm it in writing. Lambeth’s page also fixes the cohort: “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.”

Three independent schools publish an hour for their own registration. Lady Eleanor Holles says “The application deadline for 2027 entry is Tuesday 3rd November at midday.” Alleyn’s lists “Registration period closes Friday 13 November 2026 at midday”. North London Collegiate School lists “Registration closes Friday 13 November 2026 – 4.00pm”.

Table 3. Five published closing times for 2027 entry, read in other time zones

Source: each body's own page, as linked above. Every instant falls while the UK is on GMT, so UTC equals London time; local time = UTC plus the Table 1 offset. New York, Chicago and Los Angeles are on daylight time (EDT, CDT, PDT) until 1 November 2026 and on standard time (EST, CST, PST) after it. Lambeth's “midnight” is read as the end of Saturday 31 October.

Three readings cross a date boundary. Warwickshire’s 4.00pm on Saturday 31 October is 00:00 on Sunday 1 November in Singapore and Hong Kong, Lambeth’s midnight is 08:00 there, and North London Collegiate’s 4.00pm on Friday 13 November is 00:00 on Saturday 14 November there. West of London the same instants fall earlier: Alleyn’s midday on Friday 13 November is 07:00 in New York, and Lambeth’s midnight falls on the previous date there, at 20:00 on Saturday 31 October.

Table 3 sets none of these hours; it converts them. Which council’s form a family abroad files, and what an overseas address does to priority, are set out under the hub and in our guides for a family returning to the UK, for a move mid-cycle and for in-year admissions.

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How should a practice sitting copy the real paper’s running order from abroad?

The London 11+ Consortium exam shows why time zones matter inside a single sitting. Its own site lists six components “taken in the following order: 20 minutes for Maths 10 minutes for Non-Verbal Reasoning 20 minutes for English 10 minutes for Verbal Reasoning BREAK for up to 30 minutes 15 minutes for Problem Solving 25 minutes for the Creative Comprehension”, and says “The exam is 100 minutes long (1 hour 40 minutes). There will be a 30-minute break in the middle.” Added up, the four components before the break come to 60 minutes (20 + 10 + 20 + 10) and the two after it to 40 (15 + 25), 100 in all, which matches the site’s 100 minutes. The timed components plus a break of up to 30 minutes add up to 130 minutes, before any extra time the Consortium grants to eligible candidates.

The dates are “Friday 27th November, Tuesday 1st December or Thursday 3rd December 2026”. For a candidate sitting at a Consortium school the site says “she may have either a morning or an afternoon assessment on one of the three assessment dates” and “Schools will advise of the exact start time for their sitting”, and it adds “The exam must start within a certain time frame within the day.” For a candidate who would prefer to sit overseas it says: “please contact the Admissions team at one of your Consortium schools to find out how to proceed.” A family abroad should therefore confirm the hour with that Admissions team, in writing, and can then add the gap from Table 1 for that date to read it on its own clock.

The ISEB Common Pre-Test runs on a different clock. ISEB’s support site says “The invigilation centre will schedule the tests in their portal”, that “The tests can be taken by pupils in the UK and overseas”, and that they “can be taken between August and May of each academic year”. For that route the centre sets the schedule, so the hour comes from the centre; the Gulf page sets out the route.

Which school year and weekend does the lesson week have to fit around?

A child’s own school calendar decides which UK dates land on school days. Singapore’s Ministry of Education calendar has Term 1 for 2026 starting on Friday 2 January, Term 4 for primary and secondary schools running from Monday 14 September to Friday 20 November 2026, and the Term 4 school holidays running from Saturday 21 November to Thursday 31 December 2026, which is 41 days. Lady Eleanor Holles’ Common Pre-Test sessions on 17th, 18th and 19th November 2026 fall in term. The Consortium’s three dates, North London Collegiate’s entrance exam on Thursday 3 December 2026 and Lady Eleanor Holles’ Problem-Solving Exam on Sunday 29 November 2026 fall in those holidays. Whether a child’s school can invigilate a sitting that falls in its holidays is for that school to say.

The UK side of the calendar is read council by council: GOV.UK says “School term and holiday dates vary across the UK” and sends families to the local council’s website for them.

Weekends are set country by country. The UAE government portal says “Saturdays and Sundays are the official weekends for the federal government sector”, under a system that became effective on 1 January 2022, and that in local government “Official weekend in Sharjah is for three days: Friday, Saturday and Sunday”. The British Embassy in Kuwait says “The weekend in Kuwait is Friday and Saturday.” These describe government and embassy working weeks, not school timetables, so a family reads its child’s own school calendar. Friday 13 November 2026, when Alleyn’s and North London Collegiate School close registration, falls on a day that the embassy counts in Kuwait’s weekend and that is part of the Sharjah government’s three-day weekend.

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