16+ Entry: Deadlines, Assessment Formats & Decision Dates for September 2027

16+ entry, also called sixth form entry or Year 12 entry, is how UK independent schools recruit new students directly into the sixth form at age 16 — alongside pupils continuing up from their own Year 11. Across the market, registration deadlines fall between 1 September and 16 October of Year 11, assessments run through October and November, and the large majority of schools confirm offers between the last week of November and 4 December, ahead of September 2027 entry. The table below is a maintained, source-cited comparison across 12 major 16+ entry schools — approximate places, registration deadlines, assessment formats, assessment windows, decision dates and GCSE grade conditions — verified directly against each school's own admissions page rather than summarised as general advice.

16+ Entry Deadlines, Assessment Formats and Decision Dates for September 2027

Every figure below comes from the school's own admissions page, not a third-party summary, and is dated so you can see exactly when it was checked. Where a school does not publish a figure — most commonly the exact number of places — the table says so rather than guessing; confirm directly with the admissions office before relying on any figure quoted elsewhere. Table last verified and updated 4 August 2026 for September 2027 entry. Schools sometimes adjust dates by a few days year to year, so always cross-check against the live page linked in the sources list below the table before you register.

¹ Approximate external Year 12 places per each school's own admissions page; figures vary year to year and boarding/day splits are noted where specified. "Not published" means the school does not state a figure — treat any other quoted number as unverified.

Sources (verified 4 August 2026):

• Westminster School — official 16+ Entry page
• Wellington College — official Joining at 16 page
• Dulwich College — official Year 12 Entry page
• Whitgift School — official 16+ Entry page
• North London Collegiate School — official Joining the Sixth Form page
• St Paul's School — official Entry to St Paul's at 16 pages (Important Dates & Selection Procedure)
• Eton College — official Sixth Form (16+) Entry page
• Harrow School — official Year 12 Entry & Key Dates pages
• City of London School — official 16+ Entry page
• Highgate School — official Sixth Form Admissions and Entry page
• King's College School, Wimbledon — official 16+ admissions page (deadline only; format cross-checked against Exam Papers Plus's published school guide since the school's own page does not detail format)
• Sevenoaks School — official Entry at 16+ page

What’s Different About 16+ Entry for International Applicants?

16+ entry carries meaningfully higher international volume than 11+ or 13+ entry, because it is the point at which many families relocating for A-levels or the IB apply. Several schools in the table above run a genuinely separate international process rather than a single UK-wide window. Dulwich College sits its Hong Kong candidates on 25 October 2026, a fortnight before the 11 November UK sitting; Whitgift School runs its international window from 31 October to 6 November 2026, a week ahead of the 7 November UK exam; and Harrow School sits overseas applicants on a Friday evening or Saturday in November, separate from its 7 or 14 November UK assessment days. If you are applying from outside the UK, check whether your target school publishes a distinct international timetable before assuming the UK dates above apply to you.

Many international applicants also sit UKiset, a standardised assessment developed with Cambridge University Press & Assessment that benchmarks academic potential and English language proficiency against UK peers of the same age. A single UKiset report can be shared with multiple schools in the UKiset network, which can reduce the number of separate entrance exams a candidate needs to sit — though most of the schools in the table above still require their own subject papers or interviews in addition, so UKiset supplements rather than replaces the process above.

Visa and boarding logistics also need to run in parallel with the admissions timeline, not after it. Under the UK’s Child Student visa route, applicants aged 4 to 17 need an unconditional offer of a place at an approved independent school, proof of suitable accommodation, evidence of funds to cover course fees and living costs, and the consent of a parent or legal guardian; the visa itself is granted for the length of the course (up to 3 years) plus 4 months. Because a Child Student visa application depends on an unconditional offer, international families should treat the registration deadlines in the table above as visa-planning deadlines too — leaving enough time between a December offer and the following September for the visa and, where relevant, a boarding place to be confirmed. See also our guide to UK boarding schools for families relocating from Singapore and Hong Kong for more on the relocation timeline.

How Competitive Is 16+ Entry at Each School?

Places at 16+ vary far more than at 11+ or 13+, because sixth form intake is capped by how many of a school's own Year 11 pupils choose to stay on. At the small end, Eton College takes only around 10 to 15 external boys into its sixth form each year, and Harrow School caps external Year 12 entry at up to 20 boys. North London Collegiate School and St Paul's School both admit around 20 external pupils, Highgate School around 30, Dulwich College around 40 (the majority boarding places), Wellington College around 60, Westminster School between 75 and 85, and Sevenoaks School around 85 — one of the largest external 16+ intakes among academically selective independent schools. Whitgift School, City of London School and King's College School, Wimbledon do not publish an exact places figure; their admissions pages describe the process without a headline number, so treat any third-party figure for these three as unverified until you have it from the school directly.

These place counts only tell you half the competitiveness picture, because none of the schools above publish how many students apply for each place — a figure some competitor guides quote without a citable source, which is why we have not repeated it here. What the verified figures do tell you clearly is where GCSE and assessment performance needs to be strongest: the schools with the smallest external intakes relative to their overall size — Eton, Harrow, North London Collegiate and St Paul's — are also the schools with the most demanding published GCSE conditions in the table above.

What Assessment Formats Should You Expect at 16+?

Most schools in the table combine written subject papers with interviews. The most common written component is one paper per proposed A-level (or IB Higher Level) subject, timed at 45 minutes to an hour — used in some form by Westminster, Dulwich, Whitgift, North London Collegiate, St Paul's, City of London School, King's College School Wimbledon and Sevenoaks School. A handful of schools add a general skills paper on top of subject papers: Whitgift adds a dedicated Critical Thinking Skills paper, and King's College School Wimbledon and Sevenoaks include a General Paper or Thinking Skills component that tests reasoning rather than curriculum content.

Two schools depart from the standard papers-plus-interview model. Highgate School runs no written assessment at all for 16+ entry — admission is decided entirely on subject interviews plus a general interview, alongside the GCSE profile. Wellington College front-loads a remote stage: candidates sit digital cognitive ability tests online before travelling for virtual pastoral interviews on Microsoft Teams and, finally, in-person assessment days. Eton College also opens with an online cognitive test before its written maths and general papers and two in-person interviews.

Subject-specific routes exist too. Dulwich College assesses Art and Design & Technology applicants by portfolio rather than by written paper, and assesses Computer Science through a mathematics exam plus an interview and a live programming demonstration; its Physical Education route uses a group interview instead of written papers. North London Collegiate School runs a separate IB-route paper set (three Higher Level papers plus one Standard Level paper) alongside its standard A-level paper set, because NLCS offers both curricula in the sixth form.

What GCSE Grades Do Schools Require for 16+ Entry?

Every school with a published GCSE condition expects a grade profile skewed towards the subjects a candidate wants to continue at A-level or Higher Level, not simply a high average. Dulwich College's published minimum is 65 points at GCSE with grade 8 or above in English Language, Mathematics and every subject chosen for A-level study. Whitgift School asks for 54 points from eight subjects, including at least six grade 7s and two grade 6s. Highgate School's condition is the most subject-specific in the table: grade 8 or 9 in each of the four subjects an applicant wants to study at A-level, plus four further GCSEs at grade 7 or equivalent. Westminster School and St Paul's School both set a floor of eight GCSEs at grade 7 (A) or above, with at least four (Westminster) or six (St Paul's) of those at grade 8-9 (A*), including the subjects to be studied at A-level. North London Collegiate School expects an average grade 7 across GCSEs generally, with grade 8 specifically in subjects a candidate wants to continue. City of London School requires six GCSEs at grade 8-9 (A*) in chosen subjects plus grade 7-9 (A) in English Language and Mathematics, unless those are themselves being continued at A-level. Harrow School looks for predictions of seven to eight passes at grade 7, 8 or 9. Eton College's stated minimum is six GCSEs at grade 7, though the school is explicit that the practical bar sits meaningfully higher once the applicant pool is considered.

All of these conditions are confirmed against actual GCSE results the following August, not guaranteed at the December offer stage — an offer at 16+ is conditional, and schools reserve the right to withdraw a place if results fall materially short of what was predicted.

How Should Families Prepare for a 16+ Entry Application?

Because registration deadlines cluster in a six-week window from early September to mid-October of Year 11, the practical planning problem for most families is not preparation time — it is registering for the right schools before the deadline closes, then managing overlapping assessment weeks in October and November on top of a full GCSE timetable. A realistic timeline looks like this: in the spring of Year 10, shortlist schools and note each one's registration deadline and assessment format from the table above, since a school that interviews only (Highgate) needs a very different preparation plan from one that sets four subject papers (Westminster). Over the summer before Year 11, begin subject-specific preparation for whichever papers are set — General Paper and Critical Thinking questions reward practice, because they are unfamiliar formats even for strong GCSE students. In September of Year 11, register before each deadline — several fall within days of each other in late September and early October — and begin structured interview practice alongside continuing GCSE coursework. Through October and November, expect assessment weeks to overlap; build a realistic revision schedule that does not sacrifice GCSE mock preparation for 16+ assessment prep, since GCSE results remain the condition every offer is built on.

For school-specific detail — including subject choices, past interview questions and each school's own published thresholds — see our dedicated guides for the six schools below.

16+ Entry Guides by School

Leading Tuition publishes a dedicated 16+ entry guide for each of the following schools, covering subject-specific preparation, interview format and current thresholds in more depth than fits in a comparison table.

For preparation across A-level subjects generally, see our A-Level Tuition page.

Frequently Asked Questions