The Perse School 16+ Entry: The 58-Point Conversion for 2027

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5. The Perse School Cambridge 16+ Entry

The Perse School Cambridge admits around 30 to 40 external pupils a year through its 16+ Sixth Form entry route for the 2026-27 admissions cycle (entry September 2027), and Perse's own admissions pages set out an unusually precise conditional-offer threshold: a minimum of 58 points at I/GCSE, calculated from a candidate's eight highest grades, with anything below a grade 6 scoring zero. Candidates also need at least a grade 7 in any subject they plan to study at A-level, rising to grade 8 for sciences and mathematics, and must clear a reasoning-and-thinking-skills test plus an interview on a single assessment day in late November. This guide sets out the verified 2026-27 process, dates, fees, scholarships and bursary options for families considering Perse from Sixth Form rather than Year 7 or Year 9, drawing entirely on Perse's own published admissions pages rather than third-party estimates.

How Many External Places Does The Perse School Offer at 16+ Entry?

Perse's own Sixth Form admissions page states that "each year between 30-40 external students join us from a wide range of schools and colleges." That range sits alongside — and is separate from — the larger number of pupils who progress from Perse's own Year 11 into the Sixth Form without a further competitive process, since the school's Sixth Form totals 384 students out of 1,738 pupils across the whole school (918 boys, 820 girls). In other words, 30-40 places a year is the approximate ceiling for genuinely new arrivals from outside the school, competing for a minority share of an already substantial Sixth Form cohort.

Perse does not publish an exact figure or a year-by-year breakdown of how the 30-40 range has moved historically, so families should treat it as an indicative annual range rather than a fixed quota that is guaranteed to repeat identically every cycle. The range itself, however, is directly comparable to Perse's separate 11+ entry route, which admits approximately 70 external pupils into Year 7 — meaning 16+ is a smaller, later, and by some measures more competitive entry point into the same school.

These dates and figures are taken directly from Perse's own registration page and assessment page, checked in August 2026 for September 2027 entry. Because the school publishes its Sixth Form timetable on a rolling annual basis, families should reconfirm the exact 2026-27 dates on Perse's site closer to the registration window, though the school has followed a consistent early-November registration, late-November assessment, pre-Christmas outcome pattern in recent cycles.

What Is The Perse School's 58-Point GCSE Conversion System?

This is the detail that makes Perse's 16+ process genuinely distinctive among Cambridge and East Anglia independent schools, and it is stated in plain terms on Perse's own assessment page: any offer made is conditional on the candidate achieving "a minimum of 58 points at I/GCSE," where the total is calculated by adding together the candidate's eight highest I/GCSE or GCSE grades, and any grade below a 6 contributes zero points toward that total. The mechanism matters because it rewards genuine breadth as well as depth — a candidate cannot compensate for two or three weak results with a small number of exceptional ones, since eight countable grades are required, not five or six.

Perse's own page does not publish an explicit grade-to-points conversion table, but the widely used convention in this style of points system — the same convention Perse itself applies when reporting an average A-level points score of 51.43 against a national average of 35.08 — is that each grade numeral equals that many points (a 9 scores 9, an 8 scores 8, and so on). On that basis, a 58-point total across eight subjects works out to an average grade of roughly 7.25, which lines up closely with the separate grade-7 minimum Perse sets for any subject a candidate wishes to study at A-level. On top of the 58-point threshold, Perse requires at least a grade 7 in each proposed A-level subject specifically, rising to a minimum grade 8 for sciences and mathematics — meaning a candidate applying to study Chemistry, Physics and Further Maths needs 8s in all three of those individual GCSEs, not simply a strong overall points total.

What Does The Perse School 16+ Assessment Involve?

The written assessment on the November testing day is described plainly on Perse's own site: "everyone will sit papers which assess a mixture of reasoning and thinking skills." Unlike some competing Cambridge independent schools that set subject-specific written exams at 16+, Perse's core written component is reasoning-based rather than tied to a candidate's proposed A-level subjects — though candidates who are not currently studying towards I/GCSE or GCSE qualifications may also sit supplementary, subject-specific papers in the afternoon session, a provision that applies to only a limited number of applicants, typically those coming from non-UK curricula.

Every candidate must attend the testing day in person — Perse states this explicitly, ruling out remote sitting even for overseas applicants — and every candidate also has a brief, informal interview with a Perse educator, described as covering "their interests and passions." Perse's own framing of the interview stage is telling: the school is explicitly looking for candidates who "will engage with the varied extra-curricular life of the Sixth Form," meaning the interview is being used to assess genuine engagement and intellectual curiosity, not simply to confirm academic suitability already evidenced by predicted grades and the reasoning test.

How Much Does The Perse School Cost at Sixth Form Entry?

For the 2026-27 academic year, Perse Sixth Form fees are £9,482 per term, totalling £28,446 across three terms. Registering to sit the 16+ entrance assessment costs a non-refundable £240, covering admissions administration regardless of whether the registered candidate goes on to attend the test. Families who go on to accept an offer then pay a further, separate £840 Securing and Induction Fee — a cost specific to Sixth Form entry that does not appear at Perse's 11+ or 13+ entry points, and one that few tutoring guides mention at all. Lunch is optional at £368 a term (£1,104 a year), and Sixth Formers are expected to bring their own device, with Perse recommending a Surface Pro or similar; families receiving substantial bursary support may get help towards this cost.

Fees are paid termly by direct debit, due on the first day of each term, with the option to pay three or more terms in advance at no additional charge. Families should budget for the £240 registration fee and £840 Securing and Induction Fee as costs additional to the headline termly fee, since both are non-refundable once paid — the registration fee on submission, and the Securing and Induction Fee once a place is accepted.

Are There Scholarships or Bursaries for Perse 16+ Entry?

Yes to both, and the two forms of financial support work quite differently. Perse's bursaries page confirms the school provides "more than £1 million of bursary support" annually, with means-tested awards ranging from 5% to 100% of fees, available to Sixth Form applicants exactly as they are to pupils joining lower down the school. Bursary applications are assessed independently by Bursary Administration Limited, a process that includes a home visit, and families indicate interest by ticking a box on the registration form itself.

Separately, Perse's Sixth Form scholarships page lists six categories open at 16+: Academic (automatic consideration based on entrance test performance), Dr Perse Scholarship (recognising contribution to extracurricular and pastoral life), Art, Drama and Theatre, Music and Sport. Each is worth a one-off payment of £500 — not means-tested, but explicitly described by Perse as "limited in financial value" rather than a fee waiver. Candidates may apply for a maximum of two scholarships beyond the automatic academic and Dr Perse consideration. The Music Scholarship carries the most specific technical requirement: a minimum of Grade 8 standard on at least one instrument, ideally with a second instrument also offered, plus a demonstrated commitment to the school's musical life.

How Competitive Is Perse 16+ Entry Compared with 11+?

Competitiveness at 16+ is driven by a smaller headline number of places — 30-40 against roughly 70 at 11+ — layered on top of a specific, published academic bar that 11+ candidates do not face in the same form: the 58-point I/GCSE threshold with subject-specific grade 8 requirements in sciences and maths. Where 11+ selection rests substantially on assessment-day performance across the Quest test and creative writing task, 16+ selection rests on a candidate's actual GCSE trajectory being visible through predicted grades well in advance of the November test, meaning strong, consistent performance across Year 10 and the start of Year 11 carries more direct weight than it does at 11+.

If your son or daughter has already registered for, or is preparing for, Perse's 11+ entrance exam, our Perse School 11+ entry guide covers that route in full, including the Quest assessment format, creative writing task and January test date. This page is specifically for families whose child did not sit the 11+ exam, or who are now considering a move to Perse for Sixth Form study — a different admissions round with a different assessment format, timeline and financial-support structure.

What Results Do Perse Sixth Formers Achieve?

Perse's own exam success page reports that 90% of 2025 GCSE grades were at 9-7, and 80% of 2025 A-level grades were A*/A, rising to 94% at A*-B. The school's average A-level points score in 2025 was 51.43, against a reported national average of 35.08 — a gap of more than 16 points that reflects the depth of the cohort a 16+ candidate is joining. In the 2025 UCAS cycle, 27 Perse students received Oxbridge offers; on 2024 UCAS data, the school ranked 5th within the independent sector and 12th nationally, with 37% of its Oxbridge applicants receiving an offer that year. The Sixth Form curriculum spans 25 A-level subjects, from the sciences and mathematics through to Ancient History, Classical Greek, Latin and multiple modern languages — a breadth that matters directly for 16+ candidates, since the subject-specific grade-8 requirement applies to whichever of these subjects a candidate proposes to study.

How Should Families Prepare for Perse School 16+ Assessment?

Because Perse's conditional-offer bar is expressed as a specific points total rather than a general impression of ability, effective preparation for 16+ entry starts earlier than many families expect — ideally in the summer term of Year 10, well before results in the first half of Year 11 begin to shape predicted grades. Our specialist tutors typically focus preparation across three strands specific to Perse's process.

The first strand is consistency across the eight GCSE subjects that will make up the 58-point total, since a single weak result below grade 6 is excluded entirely rather than merely lowering the average — meaning genuine breadth matters as much as any individual standout grade. The second strand is the reasoning and thinking-skills test itself, which — like any cognitive-style assessment — rewards familiarity with question format and timing built up over weeks rather than crammed in the days before the 21 November test date. The third strand is subject-specific depth in whichever A-level subjects a candidate is proposing, particularly where that includes sciences or mathematics and therefore the higher grade-8 bar, alongside interview preparation focused on genuine engagement with Perse's extra-curricular Sixth Form life rather than rehearsed answers.

For students weighing up eventual university applications alongside 16+ entry, our university personal statement support and Oxbridge admissions preparation can run alongside 16+ entry preparation, particularly relevant given Perse's 27 Oxbridge offers in the 2025 cycle. Our A-Level tuition support is also available once a place is secured, since the subject-specific grade-8 requirement at entry is effectively a preview of the depth Perse expects across the two years that follow. Families relocating to the area for 16+ entry can also see our Cambridge tutoring page for local subject and exam-preparation support near the school's Hills Road site.

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