Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire is one of the most distinctive boarding schools in the country — co-educational, genuinely progressive in its approach to wellbeing and personal development, and academically rigorous in equal measure. It draws around 150 pupils at 13+ each year, and competition for places is real. What many families don't realise until too late is that the process begins well before Year 9. If your child is in Year 5 or 6 and Wellington is on your list, the time to understand the admissions sequence — and start preparing — is now.
Wellington College sits on a striking 400-acre estate and offers full boarding, weekly boarding and day places. It is known nationally for its wellbeing curriculum, which is embedded across school life rather than treated as an add-on. Academically, results are strong: the school consistently achieves well at GCSE and A Level, and pupils go on to leading universities in the UK and internationally.
Sport, music and the arts are genuinely excellent here — not just in terms of facilities, but in the breadth of opportunity available to pupils who aren't elite performers. Wellington values character alongside academic ability, and its admissions process reflects that. A strong ISEB Common Pre-Test score matters, but so does how a child presents at interview and what they bring beyond the classroom.
Wellington College's most recently published examination results (2025) show 86.7% of GCSE entries graded 9-7, with 68.4% at grade 8-9. At A Level, 58.7% of entries were graded A*/A, including 26.2% at A*. For full year-by-year results and destination statistics, see Wellington College's own examination results page — this is the school's own published data, and families researching Wellington's academic outcomes should treat it as the primary source rather than third-party summaries.
Note that "Wellington" is a name shared by several unrelated schools: this page concerns Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire (the 13+ boarding and day school), not Wellington School in Somerset or Wellington College International in Shanghai. Families researching results should confirm they are looking at the correct school, as result sets and admissions processes differ significantly between them.
Wellington runs a two-stage selection process, and it does not use Common Entrance. At Stage 1 (October/November of Year 6) candidates sit the ISEB Common Pre-Test, which Wellington describes as an age-standardised series of tests in English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. It is usually taken at the child’s current school, though a small number sit it at Wellington and overseas candidates can sit it at a British Council or approved testing centre. Crucially, references are requested from the current school at the same time: Wellington long-lists on the Pre-Test result and the strength of the head teacher’s reference together, not on the test score alone.
Stage 2 (January/February of Year 6) is the selection day. Long-listed pupils spend an assessment morning or afternoon at Wellington doing a series of collaborative lessons and problem-solving activities, and are interviewed by a senior member of staff. Wellington is explicit that this stage involves no further tests or exams, and that around 500 children attend a selection day each year. The school calls this a whole-child approach, and its published selection criteria confirm what it weighs: the Pre-Test score, the references, and performance on the day in both the interview and the lessons.
Offers are made in March of Year 6 — nearly three years before a child arrives. Wellington states that an offer is conditional only on receiving a favourable report of satisfactory completion of schooling from the current school at the end of Year 8. There is no Common Entrance condition, no percentage threshold, and no further examination to sit. That is the single most important thing for families to understand: at Wellington the academic selection happens in Year 6, not Year 8.
The timeline in brief: register by 30 June of Year 5, which is Wellington’s closing date for Year 6 assessment — and register early rather than on the deadline, because the date of registration is a factor in House allocation. Sit the ISEB Common Pre-Test in October or November of Year 6. Attend the selection day in January or February. Receive the decision in March of Year 6. Then complete Years 7 and 8 at the current school and arrive in September of Year 9. Wellington also runs late admissions routes for families who register in Year 6 or make contact in Year 7, which follow the same two stages on a later cycle.
The ISEB Pre-Test is adaptive, which means the difficulty of each question adjusts based on previous answers. This makes it unlike any test most 11-year-olds have encountered. There is no paper to review afterwards and no way to go back and change answers. Children who haven't practised under timed, screen-based conditions often find the format itself unsettling, regardless of their underlying ability.
In terms of content, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning are the areas where preparation makes the biggest difference. Many children have strong English and maths skills from school but have never encountered the specific question types used in reasoning tests — analogies, series completion, coded sequences, and so on. These are learnable, but they require deliberate practice.
The selection day is where preparation most often goes wrong, because families treat it as a test to be revised for. It is not. Wellington is watching how a child behaves in a collaborative lesson and a problem-solving activity: whether they listen, whether they contribute, whether they keep going when something is hard. The interview with a senior member of staff rewards a child who can talk with real interest about something they care about. Neither is helped by drilling, and both are helped by a child who has had practice thinking out loud.
Our 13+ specialists work with Wellington applicants on the ISEB Common Pre-Test and on selection day and interview preparation, helping students meet the academic and broader selection standards Wellington expects at 13+ entry. We're rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot. Book a free consultation to discuss a preparation plan for the Wellington College entry process.
One practical note on the Pre-Test: it is screen-based and adaptive, so practise on a computer rather than on paper. Children who are used to reading a question, deciding, and moving on without the option to flick back cope far better with the format than those who have only ever worked through a printed paper.
Year 5: Research schools, visit Wellington if possible, and register early. Begin light-touch reasoning practice — short sessions two or three times a week are more effective than intensive cramming. Focus on building familiarity with question types rather than drilling under pressure.
Year 6: Increase reasoning practice and introduce timed sessions. Work on any gaps in core English and maths. Sit the ISEB Common Pre-Test in October or November, then attend the selection day in January or February. One concrete tip: practise on a computer rather than paper, since the test is screen-based and children who are used to working digitally tend to manage the format more comfortably.
Year 7: For most Wellington candidates the place is already settled by now, so this year is about arriving ready rather than about further selection. Keep English and Mathematics moving, and use the freedom to read widely and go deep on the subjects your child actually enjoys.
Year 8: The one condition Wellington attaches to its offer falls here: a favourable report of satisfactory completion of schooling from the current school at the end of Year 8. That is a matter of steady work and conduct across the whole year rather than a performance in an exam hall, but it is a real condition and worth taking seriously.
Leading Tuition provides specialist 1-to-1 tutoring for pupils preparing for 13+ entry, including those targeting Wellington College. Our tutors are experienced with the ISEB Common Pre-Test and with selection day and interview preparation, and we tailor programmes to where each child actually is — not a generic syllabus.
For Pre-Test preparation, we work on reasoning skills systematically, building familiarity with question types and developing the pacing and composure needed for an adaptive test. For the selection day, we work on the habits it actually rewards: contributing in a group, staying with a problem that does not resolve quickly, and talking about interests in a way that sounds like the child rather than a script.
We work with families from Year 5 through to the selection day and offer in Year 6, and we're used to helping children who are strong but untested as much as those who need to close specific gaps. Preparation that starts early and builds steadily produces the most consistent results.
For official entry requirements and registration details, see the Wellington College admissions.
Checked against Wellington College’s own admissions pages on 8 September 2026.
Wellington College is co-educational, forward-looking and consistently high-performing, and its 13+ admissions process reflects a search for candidates who will thrive in an environment that places as much value on personal development as on academic achievement. The school uses the ISEB Common Pre-Test in Year 6 followed by a selection day of collaborative lessons, problem-solving activities and an interview, and its assessment process looks for pupils with genuine breadth — academically strong, but also curious, engaged and resilient. Leading Tuition works with Wellington candidates from Year 5 onwards, covering the stages that decide the outcome: ISEB Common Pre-Test coaching, preparation for the collaborative lessons and problem-solving activities of the selection day, and interview support. Wellington's admissions team values candidates who can articulate their interests and motivations with real depth, and our interview preparation programme focuses on developing that ability over time. Our tutors work closely with each candidate to understand their particular strengths and interests and to build preparation that reflects those strengths — so that when candidates reach the assessment stage, they are presenting the genuine best of themselves rather than a rehearsed version.
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Wellington sits the ISEB Common Pre-Test in October or November of Year 6, as Stage 1 of a two-stage process. The closing date for registration for Year 6 assessment is 30 June of Year 5, so the decision to apply has to be made in Year 5. Registering early also helps: Wellington says the date of registration is a factor when allocating Houses.
Wellington does not publish a score threshold, so any specific number quoted to you is not coming from the school. What Wellington does say is that long-listing is based on the Pre-Test result and the strength of the head teacher's reference together, and that its final decision weighs the Pre-Test score, the references and performance on the selection day in both the interview and the lessons. The reference is not a formality in that process.
No. Wellington's Joining at 13+ page and its selection criteria page make no mention of Common Entrance. Offers are made in March of Year 6 and are conditional only on a favourable report of satisfactory completion of schooling from the current school at the end of Year 8 — not on any examination result. Arrangements can change, so it is worth confirming the current position with Wellington's admissions team.
Every pupil who reaches Stage 2 is interviewed by a senior member of staff, as part of a selection day in January or February of Year 6 that also includes collaborative lessons and problem-solving activities. The interview is an opportunity for the school to understand the child beyond their test scores — their interests, character and how they engage in conversation. Preparation should include helping your child talk confidently about what they enjoy, both inside and outside school, without sounding rehearsed.
Two things, and neither is a subject syllabus. The first is the ISEB Common Pre-Test, which covers English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning — and the two reasoning papers are where preparation makes the clearest difference, because they are rarely taught explicitly at school. The second is the selection day: collaborative lessons, problem-solving activities and an interview with a senior member of staff. Our tutors build reasoning fluency over months rather than weeks, and rehearse the kind of thinking-out-loud that a collaborative lesson and an interview both reward.
Leading Tuition provides specialist 1-to-1 tutoring for every stage of the Wellington College admissions process — from early reasoning work, through ISEB Common Pre-Test coaching, to selection day and interview preparation in Year 6. Our specialist tutors tailor programmes to each child's subject profile, current level and timeline, and understand the standards Wellington expects at each stage. Families across Berkshire and nationally work with us via in-person and online sessions. Rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot. Book a free consultation to start planning.
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