11+ Tuition in North London

North London's academically selective independent day schools include North London Collegiate School, South Hampstead High School, Channing School and Highgate School. NLCS and Highgate each set their own registration deadline, test and paper for September 2027 entry; South Hampstead High and Channing share the London 11+ Consortium's deadline and assessment. NLCS is admitting around 70 to 75 girls from outside its own Junior School this cycle, and Highgate approximately 80, with tests running November 2026 to January 2027.

Preparing for the 11+ in North London — Where to Start

The first step for any North London family is understanding that this is not a single exam with a single syllabus. The schools your child is targeting will shape everything — when preparation begins, what subjects are prioritised, and what style of question your child needs to practise. Starting with a clear school list, ideally by the end of Year 4, gives families the time to prepare properly rather than scrambling to catch up in Year 5. The competition is real: NLCS is admitting around 70 to 75 girls from outside its own Junior School for September 2027 entry, and South Hampstead High approximately 55. Neither figure is an applicant count — both schools publish places, not application volumes — but a small, fixed number of external places at each school is not odds that reward late or unfocused preparation.

Which Schools and Which Exams?

Not every North London family is applying to the same process. North London Collegiate School sets its own paper: written English and Maths only, sat on paper rather than on screen, with no verbal or non-verbal reasoning component. For September 2027 entry, NLCS's registration closes 13 November 2026 and its entrance exam is set for 3 December 2026, admitting around 70 to 75 girls from outside its own Junior School.

South Hampstead High School and Channing School are both members of the London 11+ Consortium, a shared assessment used by a number of independent schools to reduce the number of separate exams a family sits. The Consortium paper covers six areas — Maths, Non-Verbal Reasoning, English, Verbal Reasoning, Puzzles and Problem Solving, and Comprehension — taken once and shared between whichever Consortium schools a candidate has applied to. Channing's own sitting is fixed for 27 November 2026; South Hampstead offers candidates a choice of three dates — 27 November, 1 December or 3 December 2026 — sat either at the child's own school or at a Consortium school.

Highgate School runs a separate process again: written entrance exams at the school in early December 2026, followed by a second-stage group interview and taster day in January 2027 for a significant proportion of candidates. Highgate expects to admit approximately 80 children into Year 7 for September 2027.

City of London School for Girls, in the Barbican, is often included in the same application circuit even though it sits outside the traditional North London boroughs; for September 2027 entry it opens with a computer-based first-stage test named Cambridge Select Insight, followed by written English and Maths papers in January.

Haberdashers' Boys' School, in Elstree, Hertfordshire, sits outside Greater London altogether but is commonly included in the same North London application circuit; for September 2027 entry it has adapted its 11+ assessment, and Habs Boys and Habs Girls now share a QUEST first-round paper assessment. Exact dates for all six schools are set out in the table below.

• South Hampstead High and Channing share the London 11+ Consortium paper; NLCS and Highgate each set their own
• NLCS's own exam tests English and Maths only — it does not use verbal or non-verbal reasoning
• Registration deadlines fall in the first half of November 2026 across NLCS, South Hampstead High, Channing and Haberdashers' Boys'
• Interview stages follow written exams at several schools, including NLCS and Highgate

September 2027 Entry: Key Dates at a Glance

The dates below are drawn from each school's own September 2027 admissions pages, current as of this review. Where a school has not published a place count for external applicants, the cell is left blank rather than estimated.

What the Exams Test — and Where Children Come Unstuck

North London independent school papers are not primarily testing whether a child has memorised vocabulary lists or practised enough past papers. They are assessing how a child thinks — whether they can construct a coherent argument in writing, approach an unfamiliar maths problem methodically, and sustain concentration across a demanding paper. This is where many children, even well-prepared ones, encounter difficulty.

In English, the most common weakness is writing that is technically competent but lacks voice, structure, or genuine engagement with the prompt. Examiners at schools like NLCS and South Hampstead High are reading hundreds of responses — a child who writes safely and predictably will not stand out. Preparation should include regular timed writing practice with detailed feedback, not just exposure to prompts.

Our 11+ specialists work with students targeting North London selective schools, building the verbal and non-verbal reasoning, maths, and English skills the area's 11+ selection processes reward. Our students have achieved a 95%+ offer rate across selective school entry. Book a free consultation to discuss a preparation plan for your child's North London 11+ target schools.

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In mathematics, the papers go beyond curriculum content. Children are expected to apply reasoning to problems they have not seen before. A concrete preparation tip: rather than drilling large volumes of routine questions, spend time working through unfamiliar problems slowly, discussing the reasoning process aloud. This builds the flexible thinking these papers reward — and it cannot be rushed in the final few weeks.

Not every school in this circuit uses the same format, and the format itself keeps changing. Haberdashers' Boys' School has adapted its 11+ assessment for 2026: Habs Boys and Habs Girls now sit the same QUEST first-round paper assessment, in four timed sections — Maths and Non-Verbal Reasoning (45 minutes), English and Verbal Reasoning (40 minutes), Creative Comprehension (20 minutes) and Creative Writing (20 minutes). City of London School for Girls, by contrast, opens with a one-hour computer-based test, Cambridge Select Insight, assessing numerical, verbal and non-verbal skills, before a second stage of written English and Maths papers. Families should check the current format directly with each school rather than assume last year's process still applies.

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North London's Independent Schools vs Its Selective Grammar Schools

Everything above concerns North London's fee-paying independent schools. A separate, entirely state-funded selective sector also serves the area: Barnet's grammar schools and the neighbouring Latymer School in Enfield. These are often discussed as if they were a single joined-up process — sometimes called a 'Barnet consortium' — but no such shared body exists. Queen Elizabeth's School (QE Boys) and The Henrietta Barnett School each set their own registration window, test and marking process, as do Dame Alice Owen's School and The Latymer School.

Queen Elizabeth's School (QE Boys) tests boys with multiple-choice papers in Maths and English in a single round, held on 16 or 17 September 2026 for September 2027 entry. The Henrietta Barnett School, a girls' school, runs a genuinely different two-round process: a First Round Entrance Test in Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning and English, followed by a Second Round English and Mathematics test for those who qualify; its Published Admission Number for September 2027 entry is 120. Henrietta Barnett sets no catchment area, but its admissions policy does apply a distance tie-break — Criterion Three admits candidates living within 3 miles of the school, measured in a straight line from the Ordnance Survey address point of the child's home to the school's Central Square entrance.

Dame Alice Owen's School, in Potters Bar, defines its own Local Priority Area rather than a Barnet-wide catchment: eligibility runs to specified Hertfordshire parishes plus postcodes within the London Boroughs of Barnet, Enfield and Islington, and only children living inside that area may sit its tests. Test registration for September 2027 entry opened in April 2026 and closed on 10 June 2026. The Latymer School, a grammar school in Edmonton whose own website describes it as serving 'Enfield, North London', admits only from a defined list of inner-London postcodes; its September 2027 entry cycle had already closed applications by 2 June 2026 and sat its assessment on 3-5 September 2026, ahead of the independent schools' November and December testing windows. The school has confirmed that from its next test sitting it is moving to a Quest Assessments-based format covering Mathematics, English Comprehension and English Writing.

None of the four grammar schools shares a registration form, a test date or a marking scheme with any of the others, so a family applying to more than one must register — and often sit a different test — separately at each. For a fuller comparison of North London's selective landscape, including the independent day schools above, see our North London Selective Schools Guide. If your child is applying to both an independent school and a grammar school, book a free consultation and we will help you plan preparation across both formats.

A Realistic Preparation Timeline for North London Families

Most families who are successful at North London's selective independents begin structured preparation in Year 4 or early Year 5. This does not mean intensive drilling from age eight — it means building strong foundations in reading, mathematical reasoning, and writing stamina before the focused exam preparation begins in Year 5 and into Year 6.

A sensible timeline looks broadly like this: Year 4 focuses on reading widely, consolidating core maths, and developing writing fluency. Year 5 introduces exam-style questions, identifies gaps, and builds familiarity with the format of each target school's paper. The first half of Year 6 is the period of most intensive preparation — timed papers, written feedback, and mock conditions. Registration deadlines for September 2027 entry fall in the first half of November 2026 across NLCS, South Hampstead High, Channing and Haberdashers' Boys', with entrance tests running from late November 2026 through to January 2027 depending on the school — so a child should be genuinely exam-ready well before registration closes, not still catching up afterwards.

Families who begin in Year 6 are not automatically out of contention, but they are working against the clock, and the margin for error is much smaller.

Working With Leading Tuition in North London

Leading Tuition provides 1-to-1 specialist tutoring for North London's independent 11+ schools, including NLCS, South Hampstead High, Channing and Highgate, plus City of London School for Girls in the Barbican, and for the area's selective grammar schools, including Queen Elizabeth's Barnet, The Henrietta Barnett School, Dame Alice Owen's and The Latymer School. Our tutors understand the specific demands of each school's paper — not just the subject content, but the style of question, the standard of writing expected, and the reasoning skills that distinguish a strong application from an exceptional one.

Every child we work with receives a programme built around their individual starting point and their specific school list. We do not offer a generic 11+ course, because North London's exams do not reward generic preparation. Whether your child is beginning in Year 4 or needs focused support in Year 6, we will work with you to build a realistic, structured plan. Book a free consultation to talk through your child's target schools and current starting point.

Reviewed September 2026: registration deadlines, test dates and admissions criteria checked against each school's own September 2027 admissions pages, and against the current admissions policies published by Barnet's selective grammar schools.

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