St Paul's School 16+ Entry for September 2027: The Full Timeline

St Paul's School admits around 20 boys into Year 12 each September through a competitive 16+ process that starts a full year earlier, in Year 10. For September 2027 entry, registration opened on 1 June 2026 and closes on 30 September 2026; candidates then sit written exams in their intended A-level subjects on 6 November 2026, interview with heads of department on 21 November 2026, and hear the outcome in early December 2026. St Paul's is a selective boys' independent school on Lonsdale Road in Barnes, south-west London, founded in 1509 — distinct from St Paul's Girls' School nearby, which runs its own separate admissions process.

How does 16+ entry to St Paul's School work?

Sixth form entry runs as four linked stages across a single academic year. First, applications and academic references: candidates apply online, current schools submit a reference, and overseas candidates for whom English is not a first language must also submit an IELTS score. Second, entrance exams in early November, sat in the specific subjects a candidate wants to study at A-level. Third, interviews with departmental heads for candidates who perform well in the written papers. Fourth, offers, issued in early December and made conditional on GCSE performance that will not actually be confirmed until the following August. The whole process is designed to identify boys who can comfortably meet St Paul's academic standard in their chosen subjects, not simply screen general ability.

These dates come directly from St Paul's own 16+ important dates page, checked in August 2026. Cycles shift by a few days year to year, so re-check the live page before you diarise anything, and contact the admissions team directly at 16plusentry@stpaulsschool.org.uk with any specific queries.

What does the St Paul's 16+ entrance exam involve?

Unlike the ISEB Common Pre-Test used at 11+ and 13+, the 16+ exam is entirely subject-specific: a candidate sits papers only in the subjects he intends to study at A-level, chosen from Ancient History, Biology, Chemistry, Computing, Economics, English Literature, French, Geography, German, Greek, History, Italian, Latin, Mathematics, Music, Philosophy, Physics, Politics, Religious Studies, Spanish and Theatre Studies. Art and the Extended Project Qualification have no written paper. Most candidates also sit a numerical problem-solving paper, and the school is explicit that its content depends on the candidate's chosen A-level subjects rather than following a fixed format — there is no published sample paper for it. St Paul's describes the papers as "predominantly based on the current GCSE syllabuses" but built to test analytical and problem-solving skill "more than factual recall," which is a real distinction: a boy who has simply memorised GCSE content well can still be caught out by questions that ask him to apply it to unfamiliar material.

Because the exam is genuinely subject-specific, a workable preparation plan cannot be generic. A candidate targeting Maths, Further Maths and Physics needs a very different exam-day skill set from one targeting History, English Literature and Politics, and the numerical problem-solving paper adds a further layer that depends on subject combination. This is the single biggest way the 16+ exam differs from the school's own 13+ entrance process, which uses a fixed Mathematics and English format for every candidate regardless of eventual subject choice.

What happens at the St Paul's 16+ interview?

Candidates who do well in the November papers are told whether they have an interview a week or so later — for 2027 entry, invitations go out on 17 November — and interviews themselves are concentrated into a single Saturday, 21 November 2026, running from 9:00am to 1:30pm. Interviews are conducted by heads of department rather than a single generalist panel, so a candidate applying for Maths and Physics is likely to be interviewed by staff from those departments specifically, discussing his written statement about his interests, academic aspirations and reasons for wanting to join St Paul's. Subject-specific requirements apply on top of the standard interview: Art candidates bring a portfolio of work, Music candidates perform, Drama candidates prepare a monologue, and Engineering candidates bring examples of design work. Boarding applicants also meet the relevant House Master as part of the day. St Paul's states plainly that it cannot accommodate individual timing requests, so the whole family's availability for that one Saturday matters as much as academic preparation.

What GCSE grades do you need for St Paul's 16+ entry?

St Paul's publishes an explicit floor: any offer is conditional on a candidate achieving a minimum of eight (I)GCSE passes at grade 7, of which at least six must be at grade 8 or 9, including the subjects he intends to study at A-level. This is worth reading carefully, because it is a condition attached to an offer already made — not the bar for getting an offer in the first place. Offers are decided in early December 2026, based on the November exam and interview, months before GCSE results exist; the grade requirement is then checked the following August, once real Year 11 results are in. A boy whose exam and interview performance earns an offer but who then falls short of the published grade floor risks losing the place, so the December offer should be treated as conditional in a very real sense, not a formality.

In practice this means GCSE performance still matters enormously for 16+ candidates, even though the exam itself is not a GCSE resit. Interviewers and exam markers are, in effect, forming a judgement about whether a candidate's demonstrated academic level in November is consistent with the grades he is likely to achieve the following summer — which is one reason strong, subject-specific preparation across Year 11 does double duty, for both the entrance process and the GCSEs that confirm it.

How many places are there, and how competitive is entry?

St Paul's states that approximately 20 pupils join Year 12 at 16+ each year — a small, fixed intake compared with the roughly 155 boys who enter St Paul's lower down the school. The school does not publish an applicants-per-place ratio for 16+, and no third party currently publishes one either; what is publicly verifiable is that a four-stage funnel (application, exam, interview, conditional offer) filters a national and international field down to that number every year. For comparison, St Paul's own 13+ process — covered in our separate St Paul's School 13+ entry guide — is decided over two years earlier and does not publish a ratio either, so families should treat both routes as highly selective rather than rely on an unverified number.

Can international students apply to St Paul's at 16+?

Yes — 16+ is one of only two entry points (alongside 13+) that St Paul's opens to overseas applicants at all; there is no international route at 7+ or 11+. Applicants for whom English is not a first language must submit an IELTS Academic result of at least 7.5, completed before the application deadline and valid for two years, and the November written exams can be sat at a local British Council office rather than requiring travel to London. Interviews, however, must take place in person at St Paul's in London — the school deliberately schedules overseas candidates on the Saturday interview date to make a subsequent visit and prep-school placement more practical. Boarding places for international candidates carry UK Visas and Immigration Child Student sponsorship: St Paul's charges an initial sponsorship fee of £1,200 plus VAT and an annual retainer of £600 plus VAT, and every sponsored boarder must have a British educational guardian in place. This combination — subject-specific exams sat overseas, a compulsory in-person interview, and formal visa sponsorship — makes the international 16+ route meaningfully more involved to plan than a UK-based application, and is rarely set out in one place by other guides to the school.

St Paul's School Fees for 2026/27

St Paul's School's current published fees are set out below, sourced directly from the school's own admissions page. Fees are reviewed annually, so always confirm the current rate with the school directly before budgeting.

All fees inclusive of VAT and cover tuition, games, books for loan, materials, library access, medical care and lunch. Source: St Paul's School's official fees page.

How does 16+ entry differ from St Paul's 13+ entry?

Families researching St Paul's often land on our 13+ entry guide first, since that page covers by far the more common route into the school — boys who join in Year 9 after the ISEB Common Pre-Test, January written papers and a Year 6 interview. 16+ entry is a genuinely separate process, decided later, on different criteria, for a much smaller number of places. The 13+ route uses one fixed Mathematics and English format for every candidate; the 16+ route tests each boy in his own chosen A-level subjects plus a variable numerical paper. The 13+ decision is made in Year 6, over two years before a boy starts; the 16+ decision is made in Year 11, less than a year before he starts. And while 13+ is the primary route for UK families, 16+ is one of St Paul's only two international entry points, alongside 13+ itself. If you are unsure which route applies to your son, our 16+ entry guides hub compares the assessment format and timeline across several major schools side by side.

How should your son prepare for St Paul's 16+ entry?

Work backwards from the 6 November exam date. Through the spring and summer of Year 10, the priority is locking in genuine A-level subject choices, since the whole exam and interview process is built around them — a late subject change can leave little time for subject-specific preparation; our A-Level tuition service can help firm up subject choices early. Our earlier St Paul's School guide, written for the 13+ route, is also useful background on the school's wider academic culture and expectations. Once GCSE coursework and mocks are underway in Year 11, shift to timed practice of past-style questions in each subject being tested, plus deliberate work on the numerical problem-solving paper, whose format depends on the subject combination and is not published as a sample. After the November exam, if an interview invitation arrives, spend the following days in structured discussion practice — talking through unfamiliar material, articulating academic interests clearly, and (for Art, Music, Drama or Engineering candidates) finalising the specific portfolio, performance or design work the interview requires. Throughout, keep an eye on the GCSE grade floor St Paul's publishes for its offers: exam and interview performance secures the offer, but the following summer's results confirm it.

Three practical points matter regardless of subject mix. Re-verify every date on St Paul's own admissions pages each autumn, since cycles can move by several days year to year. If your son is applying from overseas, start the IELTS process early — a 7.5 Academic score with two years' validity needs planning well before the September deadline, not a rushed booking in the summer. And treat the interview as genuinely subject-led: heads of department are assessing depth of interest in a specific discipline, not general poise.

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