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Book a Free ConsultationJames Allen's Girls' School (JAGS) is a selective independent day school for girls aged 4 to 18 in Dulwich, south London, with 1,214 pupils on roll. Entry at 11+ is assessed through the ISEB Common Pre-test — an online, age-standardised test in Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning — together with the school's own Welcome Morning, comprising an interview, a creative writing task and a group task. Registration for September 2027 entry closes on 10 November 2026.
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Our expert 11+ tutors help girls across Dulwich and south London prepare for James Allen's Girls' School's ISEB Common Pre-test and Welcome Morning, building a programme around each child's reasoning, writing and interview skills.
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Updated for 2027 entry - James Allen's Girls' School 11+ assessment format
James Allen's Girls' School (JAGS) assesses 11+ applicants for September 2027 entry through the ISEB Common Pre-test — an online, age-standardised, multiple-choice test in Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning — together with the school's own Welcome Morning, which includes a one-on-one interview, a creative writing task and an interactive group task, according to JAGS's own admissions pages.
Registration for 11+ entry closes on 10 November 2026, the ISEB Common Pre-test window runs from early November to JAGS's own completion deadline of Wednesday 9 December, and offers for September 2027 entry are sent out on Thursday 11 February 2027.
JAGS also states that it receives around 150 bursary applications for 11+ entry each year, of which approximately 20 receive an award, with the scheme covering well over 80% of fees for those who qualify; the 11+ bursary application deadline is 15 November 2026.
Entry to James Allen's Girls' School at 11+ is assessed through the ISEB Common Pre-test together with a school-run Welcome Morning, according to the school's own admissions pages. Registration for September 2027 entry is open and closes on 10 November 2026.
The ISEB Common Pre-test comprises online, multiple-choice tests in Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning, and each test is age-standardised; JAGS states that no preparation is required for it. Candidates sit the test between early November and the school's own completion deadline of Wednesday 9 December, either at their own current school or, for overseas applicants, abroad; candidates who are unable to sit it at their current school are invited to sit it at JAGS on Tuesday 8 or Wednesday 9 December.
JAGS runs ten Welcome Morning dates across the autumn term. Each consists of a one-on-one interview with a senior member of staff, a creative writing task and an interactive group task; a family unable to attend an allocated date can request another. Overseas applicants complete the creative writing element and the interview remotely, with the interview arranged over Zoom.
Offers for September 2027 entry are sent out on Thursday 11 February 2027.
| Stage | Date or detail |
|---|---|
| 11+ registration closes | 10 November 2026 |
| ISEB Common Pre-test window | Early November to 9 December |
| Welcome Mornings | Across the autumn term (10 dates) |
| 11+ bursary application deadline | 15 November 2026 |
| Offers issued | Thursday 11 February 2027 |
Source: James Allen's Girls' School admissions and bursaries pages, retrieved 24 September 2026.
James Allen's Girls' School is a selective independent day school for girls in Dulwich, south London, founded in 1741. At its most recent Independent Schools Inspectorate visit in November 2024, the school had 1,214 pupils on roll across an age range of 4 to 18. Inspectors found that “the well-designed curriculum challenges and cultivates the pupils’ potential” and that teachers “support pupils to make good progress from their starting points, through well planned, engaging lessons that emphasise critical thought and analysis.”
JAGS does not publish a fixed number of Year 7 places on its admissions pages. It does disclose that demand for its 11+ bursary is intense: the school receives around 150 bursary applications for 11+ entry each year against approximately 20 awards — evidence of significant demand at this entry point, though not a count of total 11+ applicants or places. Parents should approach the process with realistic expectations about both the preparation required and the number of strong candidates their daughter will be competing against.
The James Allen Bursary scheme is available to families applying at 11+ and 16+ entry, according to the school's own bursaries page. One in six of JAGS's Senior School pupils are in receipt of a bursary, with the scheme covering well over 80% of their fees.
The deadline for a completed 11+ bursary application is 15 November 2026, five days after the general 11+ registration deadline of 10 November 2026. Applicants indicate their interest when registering, and the school's finance team reviews household income and assets before remaining applicants are invited to a video interview with Bursary Administration Ltd (BAL), the school's external bursary assessor, to discuss their financial circumstances — for 11+ this takes place in December or January.
Senior School termly tuition fees are £10,146, inclusive of VAT, according to JAGS's own fees page; the bursary scheme is designed to make this accessible on a means-tested basis rather than to reduce it for every family.
Book a preparation consultation
Our expert 11+ tutors work with girls across Dulwich and south London on both halves of JAGS's process — ISEB Common Pre-test practice and Welcome Morning preparation — with a plan built around your daughter's timeline.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppThe most consistent gap in preparation for JAGS's Welcome Morning is creative writing. Many children produce competent, technically correct writing, but the task rewards a distinctive voice, deliberate structural choices, and the ability to create atmosphere or tension. Children who have only practised formulaic five-paragraph essays will struggle with this format. The specific preparation tip here is to practise writing from unusual or constrained prompts — a scene with no dialogue, a story told in reverse, a description from an unexpected perspective — so that the child develops flexibility and confidence rather than relying on a single template.
In the ISEB Common Pre-test, the common weakness is not raw calculation but working under adaptive, multiple-choice conditions across four separate subjects in one sitting. Because the test is age-standardised and adaptive, questions become harder as a child answers correctly, so pacing and composure across all four papers — Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning — matter as much as any single skill.
Year 5, Spring and Summer: Begin building the foundations. Focus on reading widely, strengthening core Mathematics, and introducing analytical comprehension work. This is the time to identify specific gaps — not to begin intensive exam practice.
Our 11+ specialists help girls prepare for James Allen's Girls' School's ISEB Common Pre-test and Welcome Morning, tailoring preparation to the reasoning, writing and interview skills the school's own admissions process assesses. Our students have achieved an offer rate of 95%+ across selective school entry. Book a free consultation to discuss a preparation plan for JAGS 11+ entry.
Year 6, September and October: Move into structured exam preparation before the 10 November 2026 registration deadline. Introduce timed writing tasks, work through all four ISEB subject areas, and begin rehearsing the interview and group task format the Welcome Morning uses.
Year 6, November: The ISEB Common Pre-test window opens in early November and Welcome Mornings run across the autumn term. Increase the pace on timed, adaptive-style practice across Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning, and keep creative writing a regular part of each week's work.
Early December: JAGS's own completion deadline for the ISEB Common Pre-test is Wednesday 9 December. Aim to finish with a comfortable margin before this date, reduce the volume of new practice in the final week, and ensure the child is well-rested and confident going into her Welcome Morning slot.
December to February: With the Welcome Morning and ISEB Common Pre-test complete, avoid last-minute cramming. Offers for September 2027 entry are sent out on Thursday 11 February 2027.
Need a hand with the ISEB Common Pre-test?
Our specialist 11+ tutors help girls across south London build the reasoning, comprehension and writing skills the ISEB Common Pre-test and JAGS's Welcome Morning assess, with a programme paced to the school's own November-December timetable.
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JAGS states that the school must be notified in advance of any learning difficulty, disability or circumstance that might affect a candidate's performance in the examination, so that special consideration can be given. A request for extra time must be submitted with an educational psychologist's report no more than three years old, at the time of registration.
Candidates requesting extra time must meet Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) criteria: either two standardised scores of 84 or below, or one standardised score of 84 or below and one of between 85 and 89, in areas related to speed of working, as assessed by an educational psychologist.
Rest breaks may also be considered — though are not guaranteed — for candidates with a relevant diagnosis such as ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, developmental coordination disorder or dyspraxia, a physical impairment, or a medical condition such as Type 1 diabetes, verified by the candidate's current school as their normal way of working.
Leading Tuition provides 1-to-1 specialist tutoring for James Allen's Girls' School 11+ preparation, working with girls across Dulwich and the surrounding areas of south London. Our tutors are familiar with the specific demands of the ISEB Common Pre-test and the school's Welcome Morning, and tailor their approach to each child's starting point and timeline.
One-to-one tutoring makes a genuine difference in this context because the Welcome Morning's creative writing task and interview reward individual voice and independent reasoning — qualities that are developed through personalised feedback, not group instruction. A tutor who knows a child's writing and thinking can help her develop the specific skills JAGS's own admissions pages describe, rather than applying a generic preparation framework.
We work with families who begin preparation in Year 5 as well as those who come to us in the autumn of Year 6. In either case, we begin with an honest assessment of where the child is and what the ISEB Common Pre-test and Welcome Morning require, and we build a preparation plan from there. Families comparing JAGS with other South London options may also find our other school guides for 11+ entry useful, including our guide to Streatham and Clapham High School's 11+ process.
For official entry requirements and registration details, see the James Allen's Girls' School admissions pages.
Ready to start preparing for JAGS 11+?
Book a free consultation and our expert 11+ tutors will help you build a preparation plan around your daughter's ISEB Common Pre-test practice and her Welcome Morning interview, creative writing and group task.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppReviewed September 2026: JAGS's 11+ registration, assessment format and bursary provision checked against jags.org.uk's admissions, apply and bursaries pages and the school's November 2024 Independent Schools Inspectorate report.
James Allen's Girls' School assesses 11+ candidates through two components, according to the school's own admissions pages: the ISEB Common Pre-test, an online, age-standardised, multiple-choice test in Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning; and a Welcome Morning, comprising a one-on-one interview with a senior member of staff, a creative writing task and an interactive group task. JAGS states that no preparation is required for the ISEB Common Pre-test itself, though the reasoning, comprehension and writing skills it draws on are built up over months, not days. The two components are assessed together, not as separate hurdles.
For most children, yes — but the value lies in preparing for both parts of the process, not one paper. Because the ISEB Common Pre-test is adaptive and age-standardised, familiarity with its four-subject, multiple-choice format under time pressure matters as much as subject knowledge. The Welcome Morning's creative writing task and interview reward independent thinking and a distinctive voice, which develop through regular, personalised feedback rather than repeated practice papers alone. A tutor who works across both components — reasoning-based practice and written feedback — can prepare a child more completely than either approach alone.
Most children benefit from at least nine to twelve months of structured preparation, beginning in the spring or summer of Year 5, well before the 10 November 2026 registration deadline for September 2027 entry. Children who start in September of Year 6 can still prepare effectively, but the timeline is tighter: the ISEB Common Pre-test window runs from early November to JAGS's own completion deadline of 9 December, and Welcome Mornings are held across the same autumn term. Starting earlier allows more time to build the reasoning and writing skills both components assess, which cannot be developed quickly.
The ISEB Common Pre-test is a national, adaptive online assessment set by the Independent Schools' Examination Board and used by many independent schools, including JAGS, rather than a paper written and marked in-house. It covers Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning, with each subject age-standardised so a child's score is compared against others of the same age. Because the same test is used across multiple schools, some families sit it once and share the result with several senior schools they have applied to, rather than sitting a separate paper for each. For a fuller comparison with other 11+ and 13+ assessment formats, see our guide to Quest Assessment versus the ISEB Common Pre-Test.
Yes. The James Allen Bursary scheme is available to families applying at 11+ and 16+ entry, according to JAGS's own bursaries page. The school receives around 150 bursary applications for 11+ entry each year, of which approximately 20 receive an award, with the scheme covering well over 80% of fees for those who qualify — one in six of JAGS's Senior School pupils overall are in receipt of a bursary. The deadline for a completed 11+ bursary application is 15 November 2026, five days after the general 11+ registration deadline, and awards are means-tested on household income and assets.
Appeals for independent school entry, including JAGS, are rarely successful on academic grounds alone, because both the ISEB Common Pre-test and the Welcome Morning assessment are designed to be consistent across candidates. If your daughter is not offered a place, the most constructive step is to review the outcome honestly, consider whether additional preparation would strengthen a future application — including to JAGS's Chance Vacancy places in Years 8 to 10 — or explore other strong South London options, such as our guide to Streatham and Clapham High School's 11+ process.
Our expert 11+ tutors help girls across Dulwich and south London prepare for both parts of JAGS's assessment: the ISEB Common Pre-test's four subjects and the Welcome Morning's creative writing task, interview and group task. We begin with an honest assessment of a child's starting point, whether preparation begins in Year 5 or the autumn of Year 6, and build a programme around her specific gaps in reasoning, writing and confidence under assessment conditions. Our students have achieved a 95%+ offer rate across selective school entry. Book a free consultation to discuss a preparation plan for JAGS 11+ entry.
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