Kingston 11+: Tiffin Stage One and Stage Two Tests

The Kingston 11+ is the selection testing run separately by the Royal Borough of Kingston's two grammar schools, Tiffin School for boys and The Tiffin Girls' School. Registration for September 2027 entry has closed at both. Stage One is on 1 and 2 October 2026, Stage Two follows on 7 November at The Tiffin Girls' School and 12 November at Tiffin School, and offers are made on 1 March 2027.

Has Registration for 2027 Entry Closed?

Yes, at both schools. The Tiffin Girls' School states that registration for the Stage One test for 2027 entry closed at 12.00 noon on Tuesday 1 September 2026 and that no late registrations will be accepted. Tiffin School's registration portal for Year 7 entry in September 2027 now reads "Registration has now closed." Its Year 7 Admissions page gives two versions of its own deadline: the registration notice says 12 noon on Tuesday 1 September 2026, while the key-dates table lists 12:00 on 2 September 2026. On either date, the window has shut.

Neither school makes exceptions. The Tiffin Girls' School's admissions FAQs call the closing date a firm deadline and say it is unable to accept any late registrations, and Tiffin School's FAQs say a boy cannot be registered for the Stage One Tests after the deadline. A child who was not registered cannot sit Stage One, and without an invitation to Stage Two an application to either school is ineligible, so naming it on the local authority form uses up a preference for nothing.

For a family that missed registration, the route into Year 7 at either school for September 2027 has closed, but two later entry points remain. Both schools say the normal entry points are Year 7 and Year 12, the sixth form, and that places in Years 8 to 11 become available only rarely. In-year applications go to Kingston Local Authority (RBK) on its Secondary In-year Application Form, naming the school, and The Tiffin Girls' School runs in-year selection tests towards the end of most terms. A child who sat the Year 7 tests and scored below the cut-off is not eligible to be reconsidered for Years 8 to 11 at either school.

Every family still has to submit its home local authority's Common Application Form by 31 October 2026, whatever happens with the Tiffin schools, and should list its preferences in true order.

What Are the Remaining Dates for 2027 Entry?

A Stage One test, then a Stage Two test for those invited, with invitations sent in mid-October. Both schools publish the sequence, and from here the 2027-entry timetable runs as follows.

Our reading of the two timetables rather than a claim either school makes: across the two schools, Stage One runs within a 2-day window at the start of October, and each school says who goes forward by the middle of that month, before the local authority form is due on 31 October. So a family completes the Common Application Form already knowing whether their child reached Stage Two. The two Stage Two sittings are five days apart, on 7 and 12 November.

Tiffin School publishes Illustrative Questions for both the English and the Maths tests, under Important Documents on its Year 7 Admissions page, alongside the determined admissions policy. Those are free, official, and a better guide to the format than any commercial approximation.

What Are the Aptitude Routes at Tiffin School?

This is the change most preparation advice has not caught up with. From September 2025 entry onwards Tiffin School introduced a Sporting Aptitude Assessment and a Music Aptitude Assessment, and up to 10% of places are awarded to boys who demonstrate an aptitude in Sport (5%) or Music (5%).

What the route does not do is replace the academic tests. Boys ranked in the sport or music assessments still sit the same Stage One and Stage Two English and Maths tests; Tiffin School applies a slightly lower cut-off to them at both stages, and says the vast majority of places are still awarded through academic performance. Only boys living inside the 10km Priority Area are invited to the aptitude assessments.

The catch is the calendar. For 2027 entry the early application deadline for the aptitude assessments was 09:00 on 6 July 2026, with Music Aptitude Part One on 8 July, Part Two on 10 July and the Sports Aptitude assessments on 13 and 14 July, and aptitude applicants were due to receive their results by email on 18 September 2026. That deadline fell almost two months before academic registration closed, so a family with a musical or sporting boy now in Year 5, living inside the 10km Priority Area, should look for the aptitude deadline first when Tiffin School publishes its dates for 2028 entry.

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Does Where You Live Matter in Kingston?

At The Tiffin Girls' School, yes, and in a way that is easy to miss because the school is usually described as super-selective. It states that its catchment area is made up of an Inner Area and a Designated Area, and that girls living in those areas are given priority.

Above that sits a set of priorities for disadvantaged children. The school gives the highest priority in its oversubscription criteria to looked after and previously looked after children, to children in the catchment area eligible for means-tested free school meals, and to children in the catchment area registered as a service child at their current school. A family that qualifies under any of those heads should make sure the evidence reaches the school with the registration, not afterwards.

Tiffin School's version is a distance rule. Its Patterns of Admissions 2024-2026, published on its Year 7 Admissions page, states that for 2024, 2025 and 2026 all places were offered to those in the Priority Area (10km), and that no places were offered to those outside it. The determined admissions policy on the same page defines the Priority Area, and that is the document to read before assuming the two schools treat geography the same way; our Tiffin School Priority Area guide goes through how the 10km line works in practice.

Neither school's priority rule follows the borough boundary: Tiffin School's is a 10km distance, and The Tiffin Girls' School's Designated Area is made up of 44 postal districts. Our Twickenham 11+ tuition page sets out the two schools from a Twickenham family's side. A family thinking of moving to be near the schools should read The Tiffin Girls' School's admissions policy first, because its Inner Area and its Designated Area are not the same thing and carry different priority.

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How Competitive Was 2026 Entry at Each School?

Both schools publish a three-year admissions table on their Year 7 Admissions pages: Tiffin School's Patterns of Admissions 2024-2026 and The Tiffin Girls' School's Admissions Information 2024-26. Our guide to the grammar schools in Kingston and Richmond sets all three years out for both schools.

Our arithmetic on those tables, not a figure either school states: about 36% of Tiffin School's Stage One field reached Stage Two (665 of 1,866), against about 32% at The Tiffin Girls' School (474 of 1,468). The two fields moved in opposite directions from 2025: Tiffin School tested 1,675 boys at Stage One for 2025 entry and 1,866 for 2026, while The Tiffin Girls' School tested 1,498 girls for 2025 and 1,468 for 2026.

Neither school publishes a pass mark in advance; Tiffin School records afterwards the lowest score that won a place on 1 March, which was 100 for 2026 entry. Nor do the two schools combine the stages the same way. Tiffin School ranks Stage Two candidates on a Combined Score of 50% English and 50% Maths, where the Maths component combines Stage One and Stage Two in the ratio 2:3. The Tiffin Girls' School's mark is 60% English and 40% maths, with the maths mark taken from Stage Two and Stage One in a ratio of 3:1. At both schools the English mark comes from Stage Two alone.

Our arithmetic on those weightings: Stage One Maths makes up 20% of the final mark at Tiffin School (two-fifths of its 50% Maths component) and 10% at The Tiffin Girls' School (a quarter of its 40%), and Stage One English counts only towards the invitation to Stage Two. Stage Two therefore carries 80% of the final mark at Tiffin School and 90% at The Tiffin Girls' School, which is why the written November papers, not the October sift, decide the place.

Why Does the Name of the Test Matter?

It matters because a family searching for the wrong thing finds the wrong material. A parent looking for "Kingston Grammar Test past papers" will not find any, because no such paper exists; a parent looking for Tiffin School's Illustrative Questions will find them free on the school's own site. The name determines what a search returns, and a wrong name sends a family to commercial approximations instead of the official material.

It also creates a real confusion locally. Kingston Grammar School is a separate independent school in the same town, with its own entrance process and its own dates. A family told their child is sitting the "Kingston Grammar Test" could reasonably conclude they are applying to Kingston Grammar School, which is not what the Tiffin schools run at all.

The correct vocabulary is the schools' own: register for the Stage One test, sit Stage One at the start of October, and, if invited, sit Stage Two in November. Using the schools' words is not pedantry — it is what makes the rest of the process findable.

What Should a Kingston Preparation Plan Look Like?

Two peaks rather than one. Stage One is at the very start of October and Stage Two follows in November for those invited: five weeks later at The Tiffin Girls' School (7 November) and six weeks later at Tiffin School (12 November). A child who does well in October has another assessment in the middle of the autumn term, and planning for a single push in September leaves nothing in reserve for the stage that actually decides the place.

For a child now in Year 5, the plan for September 2028 entry starts with the paperwork, not the papers. Neither school has published its 2028-entry dates yet. In the 2027 cycle, registration opened on 2 June 2026 at The Tiffin Girls' School and 5 June 2026 at Tiffin School and closed at noon at the start of September. Tiffin School asked for access-arrangement evidence from the primary school by Friday 17 July 2026, and The Tiffin Girls' School asked for medical and pupil premium paperwork before the same date, the end of the summer term, and Tiffin School says it cannot guarantee access arrangements without all the documentation it needs. Registration takes a form, a recent photograph (both schools ask for one) and any supporting evidence, all of which can be done in June.

Then use what the schools publish. Tiffin School's Illustrative Questions for English and Maths show the shape of the papers, and both schools publish their determined admissions policies. Between them, a family can build a plan on documents rather than on what other parents believe, which in this borough has included a test name that does not exist.

Reviewed September 2026: registration status, test and offer dates, aptitude and in-year routes and 2026 admissions figures checked against both schools' Year 7 Admissions pages, 2027 admissions FAQs, published admissions data and Tiffin School's registration portal.

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