Westminster School 13+ Preparation

Westminster School decides on 13+ entry two full years before a child arrives. Registration opens on 1 October of Year 5 and closes on 30 September of Year 6. Candidates then sit the ISEB Common Pre-Tests at their own prep school during October or November of Year 6, and the school reaches its decision in that same academic year: further tests and an interview in January, then an unconditional offer by the end of February of Year 6. Checked against Westminster School's own admissions pages on 8 September 2026.

13+ Entry to Westminster School

Year 9 is the first year at Westminster School, and around 125 children join at the 13+ entry point each year. The school is becoming co-educational, and the first girls will enter in Year 9 in 2028. Because registration runs from 1 October of Year 5 to 30 September of Year 6, girls are already inside the registration window for entry years from 2028 onwards, and everything on this page applies to them in exactly the same way. Just under half of each 13+ intake comes from Westminster Under School, which leaves a little over 60 places for candidates from other schools. Westminster publishes both sides of that funnel: around 500 applications a year, and approximately 250 applicants invited for interview.

Westminster Under School pupils are not competing for those places. Children accepted into the Under School at 11+ spend Years 7 and 8 there and then move up to Westminster School in Year 9 without applying again and without taking further entry tests. Nor can a family hedge across both: applying for 11+ entry to the Under School rules out applying for 13+ entry to Westminster School at the same time. The school's own guidance is that children at schools finishing in Year 6 should apply to the Under School at 11+, and children at schools finishing in Year 8 should apply to Westminster School at 13+.

Westminster is a boarding and day school in central London, next to Westminster Abbey. Boarding at 13+ is weekly and term-time only, with Saturday morning school, and every pupil under 16 must have parents resident in the UK with whom they can stay at weekends. The school does not take international boarders at 13+ and does not sponsor Child Student visas at this entry point; international boarding begins in the Sixth Form. The choice between a boarding and a day place does not have to be made at registration — Westminster asks for the final decision by the February of the year of entry, and requires King's Scholars to board in College.

On outcomes, the school publishes destination figures rather than a percentage. In 2025, 72 Westminster pupils took up places at Oxford or Cambridge, and 34 went to universities in the US, Canada and Europe. The 2025 A Level cohort was 196 candidates, of whom 58% achieved A* and 88% A* or A. Westminster notes that some pupils each year apply after A Level, so the Oxbridge number and the cohort number are not a clean single-year percentage — treat them as two published facts rather than one ratio.

How Does Westminster's 13+ Admissions Process Work?

The entire assessment sequence sits inside Year 6, and the registration window opens a year earlier still. The most common and most costly mistake is treating registration as a Year 6 task: by the time many families start looking, the window has been open for twelve months and is about to shut.

Registration — 1 October of Year 5 to 30 September of Year 6. Parents register the child online in the academic year of their tenth birthday. Westminster provides a registration age checker so families can confirm which year of entry they are applying for and see the timeline for it. As checked on 8 September 2026, the school’s 13+ entry page states that registration for 2029 entry is open; that window closes on 30 September 2026, for children who are now in Year 6. Two things must be done at this point or not at all: intent to apply for a means-tested bursary has to be declared at the point of registration, and candidates with a specific learning difficulty who will need extra time or a word processor must have an up-to-date educational psychologist's report and a letter from their current school confirming their normal way of working with the school by the registration deadline. Westminster applies public-examination criteria when granting access arrangements in its 13+ assessments.

ISEB Common Pre-Tests — October or November of Year 6. Candidates take a pre-interview test in Mathematics, English and Reasoning at their own prep school. It is taken online, and Westminster adjusts the raw scores according to each child's age so that younger candidates in the year group are not put at a disadvantage. Candidates based overseas sit the same tests at their own school. Alongside the test, Westminster requests a report from every candidate's current school in November of Year 6, and states that it places a lot of importance on that report — it is not a formality.

Further tests and interview — mid-December to February of Year 6. In mid-December, Westminster contacts the parents of candidates who performed well in the pre-tests to invite them for interview. The interview stage is two separate events: further tests in Mathematics and English, 40 minutes each, in early January, followed by a separate interview in January or February. Overseas candidates have to come to Westminster in person for both the January testing and the interview.

Offer — by the end of February of Year 6. Westminster weighs the pre-test scores, the school report, the further tests and the interview together, and then offers an unconditional place. There is no later entrance exam to pass. The offer rests on continued good conduct and academic progress at the child's existing prep school, including an unreserved reference of support from that school in March of Year 8. Candidates not offered a place straight away may be placed on the waiting list, and Westminster can promote a child from that list to an unconditional place at any point up to the end of June in Year 8.

What Is the ISEB Common Pre-Test for Westminster?

The ISEB Common Pre-Test is a computer-adaptive assessment administered at registered test centres, which for most candidates means their own prep school. Because it is adaptive, the difficulty of each question adjusts in real time to the candidate's previous answers, so two children sitting at the same moment can see entirely different questions. That is why conventional past-paper drilling transfers poorly: there is no fixed paper to drill.

Westminster describes what it asks for as a pre-interview test in Mathematics, English and Reasoning. The ISEB pre-test's reasoning components cover verbal and non-verbal reasoning; the English section assesses comprehension and inference from unseen passages; the mathematics section covers the pre-GCSE curriculum, with an emphasis on number, ratio, algebra and problem-solving rather than routine computation. Scores are reported on a standardised scale, and Westminster adjusts them for age before comparing candidates.

Westminster is explicit that the tests are taken online and that there is no need for special preparation, and we will not tell you otherwise. What the school does not say is that the pre-test is untimed practice for the rest of the process — and the rest of the process is where the selection actually happens. Only a subset of pre-test candidates is contacted in mid-December, and the further Mathematics and English papers in January are written papers under time pressure, followed by an interview. Around 500 applications become approximately 250 interviews and around 125 places.

Our specialist tutors therefore treat the pre-test as a familiarity and confidence exercise rather than a cramming target: making sure a child has met the adaptive online format before test day, that the mathematics content is genuinely secure to the level expected, and that reading comprehension is strong. The heavier work belongs to the January papers and the interview, and to keeping the child's day-to-day school performance strong, because Westminster asks the prep school for a report in November and weighs it seriously.

Is There a Challenge Examination for 13+ Entry?

Not for ordinary entry, and this is the single most widely repeated error about Westminster admissions. Westminster's 13+ entry page describes registration, the ISEB pre-tests, further tests, an interview and an unconditional offer — all completed in Year 6. It does not describe a Challenge examination, a Common Entrance requirement, or any subject papers in Latin, modern languages or science as a condition of entry. A child who receives an unconditional offer in February of Year 6 has no further Westminster entrance examination to sit.

The Challenge does exist, but it is Westminster's King's Scholarship examination, described on the school's bursaries and scholarships pages rather than its entry pages. It is sat at Westminster in mid-May of Year 8. Candidates do not need to have registered for the school or hold a place in order to sit it, but if they take that route and are not awarded a King's Scholarship, a regular place will not be offered. There are 48 King's Scholars in total, with usually 12 elected each year: up to eight at 13+ and up to four at 16+. King's Scholars board in College. Alongside the King's Scholarship, Westminster also makes Head Master's Awards for overall academic excellence and for strong subject-specific performance.

The Challenge has a new format, first examined in 2027. There are seven core papers — English, French, General, Geography and History, Latin, Mathematics and Science — and every candidate sits all seven. Each core paper is 60 minutes except Science, which is 90. Candidates with no Latin and/or no French sit the Linguistics and Language paper instead of those papers. On top of the core, candidates choose exactly two specialisms from Art practical, Drama monologues, English, French oral, Greek, Humanities, Mathematics and Science practical; not all of these are written papers. Westminster publishes syllabus guidance and specimen papers for each. The application form and information booklet are available from October of Year 8, and the form must be counter-signed by the child's current head teacher and returned by 28 February of Year 8.

Separately, Westminster awards up to eight Music Awards at 13+ each year plus up to three music exhibitions, with auditions in late January or early February of Year 8. A candidate who does not already hold a place can apply for one, but must then qualify for a place by sitting The Challenge or Common Entrance. Means-tested bursaries of up to 100% of day fees are available at 13+ — but the intent to apply must be declared at registration, two years before entry.

When Should Preparation for Westminster Begin?

The binding constraint is the calendar, not the syllabus. Registration opens on 1 October of Year 5, and the pre-tests follow roughly twelve months later. A family that first considers Westminster in Year 7 has missed the entry route entirely; a family that first considers it in the spring of Year 6 has weeks, not years, and must register before 30 September of Year 6.

In practice that means Year 5 is the natural planning year. It is when the school runs tours for prospective families, when its three 13+ open days in January, April and September are most useful to attend, and when registration opens. It is also when any educational psychologist's assessment needs to be commissioned if access arrangements will be needed, because that evidence has to reach Westminster by the registration deadline.

Academic preparation in Year 5 and the first half of Year 6 is best spent on the things the assessments actually reward: secure, fluent mathematics with genuine problem-solving rather than procedure; reading comprehension and inference on unseen texts; and clear, confident written English, because the January paper is a written English paper and the interview rewards a child who can articulate a thought. From October of Year 6 the sequence is continuous — pre-tests, then a six-week wait, then the January papers and interview — and there is very little room to fix foundations inside it.

If a King's Scholarship is the goal, that is a separate and much longer runway. The Challenge is a Year 8 examination across seven core papers including Latin, French, Science, and Geography and History, plus two specialisms. Latin and French in particular cannot be started late: a child who has never studied either will sit the Linguistics and Language paper in their place, which is a legitimate route but a different one. Families considering the scholarship route should be planning it from Year 6 at the latest.

Westminster's process also differs materially from other 13+ schools, so a single preparation plan rarely covers several applications. Our guides to Eton College and Harrow School set out their own arrangements, and our 13+ preparation hub covers the wider landscape. Families applying to more than one school should map each school's timetable and assessment format side by side before deciding what to prepare for and when.

How Our Tutors Approach Westminster 13+ Preparation

We start by establishing where the child actually is against what Westminster assesses, which is a short list: mathematics, English, and reasoning. That assessment sets the plan and the honest timeline, given the child's current year group. If a family comes to us in Year 6 after registration has closed, we say so rather than sell a plan that cannot work.

For the ISEB pre-test, we build familiarity with the adaptive online format and remove the surprises — the pace, the on-screen presentation, the fact that questions get harder when you are doing well. We use timed practice to develop composure rather than to drill a paper that does not exist. Many candidates find the non-verbal reasoning element the most unfamiliar, and we give it dedicated sessions.

For the January further tests, we work on written Mathematics and English under a 40-minute constraint: showing working clearly and concisely, multi-step reasoning, and producing a structured, precise written response quickly. For the interview, we work on the ability to hold and develop an idea aloud, to be interested in something specific and say why, and to handle a question the child has not met before without freezing.

Where a family is aiming at a King's Scholarship, preparation for The Challenge is a different programme: seven core papers across English, French, General, Geography and History, Latin, Mathematics and Science, plus two chosen specialisms, using Westminster's own published syllabus guidance and specimen papers. We help families decide honestly whether that route is right for their child, including the consequence that sitting The Challenge without holding a place means no regular place if the scholarship is not awarded.

Throughout, we work alongside the child's prep school rather than duplicating it — which matters more at Westminster than elsewhere, because the school asks that prep school for a report in November of Year 6 and for an unreserved reference in March of Year 8. Strong school performance is part of the application, not a distraction from it. Book a free consultation with our team to discuss the plan that is right for your child.

Considering Westminster later, at 16+? See our Westminster School 16+ Entry guide for the sixth-form admissions process, dates and entry requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions