The 10+ Entrance Exam: Year 6 Entry Explained for 2027

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5. 10+ Entrance Exam: Year 6 Entry

The 10+ entrance exam is sat while a child is in Year 5, aged nine to ten, usually between November and January -- but the child then joins the school in Year 6 the following September. That means 10+ is correctly described as Year 6 entry, not "Year 5 entry," even though sitting the exam itself happens during Year 5 -- a distinction parents get backwards so often that at least one school, Emanuel School, titles its own admissions page "Year 6 (10+) Entry" specifically to head off the confusion. This guide compares 11 UK independent schools that use a 10+ exam, corrects the one confirmed exception (Hampton School's 10+ leads to Year 7, not Year 6), and sets out exam dates, subjects, fees and places for 2027 entry, sourced from each school's own admissions pages.

Which Schools Offer 10+ (Year 6) Entry in 2027?

Exam Papers Plus lists 11 schools by name as offering 10+ -- Bishop's Stortford College, Brighton College, City of London Freemen's School, City of London School, Emanuel School, Hampton School, King's College School, Kingston Grammar School, Old Palace of John Whitgift School, Trinity School and Whitgift School -- but only as prose, with no comparison table and no per-school figures. Checking each school's own current admissions pages directly turns up a more complicated picture: some genuinely offer Year 6 entry with published exam dates and fees, one ("Hampton") uses the "10+" label for a different year group entirely, and two of the eleven commonly-cited names do not currently list a 10+ entry point on their own sites at all. The table below is built from official school pages, checked for 2027 entry.

Two things stand out from this table. First, published data is thin: only Emanuel School (48 places, split into two forms of 24) and Hampton School (around 35 places) state a cohort size anywhere on their own admissions pages -- the other nine schools require a direct enquiry if intake size matters to your planning. Second, "10+" is not one scheme: seven schools use it for genuine Year 6 entry, Hampton uses it for early Year 7 entry, and two commonly-cited names do not currently offer it at all.

Is Hampton School's 10+ the Same as Other Schools' 10+?

No -- and Hampton is the clearest illustration of why parents should never assume "10+" means one standard thing. Hampton School's 10+ is formally the Advance Place Examination. Like the genuine Year 6 schemes above, it is sat at the beginning of November while the child is in Year 5. Unlike them, successful candidates join First Year -- Year 7 -- a full year early, not Year 6. The assessment itself is a 30-minute Creative Writing paper and a 40-minute Maths paper, followed by an interview of around 20 minutes and a school reference; Hampton offers approximately 35 Advance Places each year. Results go out in early December, with acceptance required by early March.

Crucially, missing out on an Advance Place is not a dead end: Hampton's own admissions information states that candidates who are not offered a place can "sit the 11+ exam completely afresh in Year 6" for the standard Year 7 entry route the following year. If your family is comparing Hampton alongside genuine 10+ (Year 6) schools such as Emanuel or City of London School, treat it as a separate decision -- accepting an Advance Place moves a child a full academic year ahead of where a true 10+ place would, which has knock-on implications for GCSE and A-level cohort timing that are worth discussing with the school directly before applying.

What Subjects and Format Does the 10+ Exam Use?

Every 10+ exam tests Maths and English; most schools add a reasoning component, and the delivery format varies more than parents expect. Emanuel School sets a 45-minute Maths paper and a 1-hour English paper on traditional paper, plus a separate 20-minute verbal reasoning assessment delivered as an adaptive online test on the Atom Learning platform -- meaning question difficulty adjusts in real time to the child's answers. City of London School goes further into digital format: a 105-minute online adaptive assessment covering Maths, English, verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, puzzles and problem-solving, plus a separate 30-minute handwritten creative writing task, for roughly 2.5 hours at the school including breaks.

Whitgift School blends both approaches: computer-based, largely multiple-choice sections in Maths, English, verbal and non-verbal reasoning and problem-solving skills, plus written papers in English creative writing and Maths problem-solving -- the school explicitly notes the computer-based sections "will not require typing or keyboard skills," so children are not disadvantaged by unfamiliarity with a keyboard. City of London Freemen's School and Bishop's Stortford College both stick to traditional written papers in English, Maths and verbal reasoning, each followed by a short interview -- Bishop's Stortford's English component even includes an oral-skills element alongside comprehension and writing. For general 11+-style Maths and English exam structure that underpins most of these papers, see our guide to what the 11 Plus exam covers, and for the pre-test format used by several senior schools at 11+ and 13+, see our Common Entrance exam guide.

How Much Does It Cost to Register for 10+ Entry?

Registration fees run from £100 to £250 across the schools that publish a figure, and several schools disclose no amount at all online. Bishop's Stortford College charges the lowest published fee, £100, though families who receive an offer must then pay a £2,500 deposit to secure the place. City of London Freemen's School charges £200. City of London School's published Schedule of Fees lists a standard registration fee of £160 plus VAT (£192). Emanuel School charges £195 plus 20% VAT (£234 total) -- waived entirely for families receiving pupil premium or universal credit, a detail not mentioned on any competitor page reviewed for this guide. Whitgift School's fee, as most recently reported by Atom Learning, is £170 for UK-resident candidates and £250 for international candidates, reflecting the additional administration of overseas applications. Trinity School (Croydon), Kingston Grammar School and Old Palace of John Whitgift School do not currently publish a specific 10+ registration fee on their own admissions pages.

When Are 10+ Exams Held for 2027 Entry?

Exam dates cluster into a roughly ten-week window running from late November to January, with registration typically closing two to six weeks beforehand. For 2027 entry: City of London School sits its 10+ assessment on 25 November 2026 (registration closes 2 November 2026); Emanuel School's exam falls on 28 November 2026 (registration closes 16 October 2026, with interviews on 20 January 2027 and results announced 11-12 February 2027); Whitgift School's 10+ exam is on 5 December 2026 (application deadline 6 November 2026); City of London Freemen's School tests in December 2026; and Bishop's Stortford College's assessment falls in January 2027, with offers made in early February and an acceptance deadline in March. Trinity School (Croydon) closes applications on 16 October 2026 but has not published its exact exam date at the time of writing. Because several of these dates fall within a fortnight of each other, families applying to more than one school should check for calendar clashes as soon as registration opens -- typically in the spring or early summer of Year 4, well over a year before the exam itself.

How Many Places Are Available at 10+ Entry?

Cohort size is the statistic schools publish least often, which matters directly for how competitive a 10+ application is likely to be. Emanuel School is the clearest exception: it takes 48 pupils into two forms of 24 at Year 6 (10+) entry, stated directly on its admissions page. Hampton School offers around 35 Advance Place Examination places a year -- though, as covered above, these lead to Year 7, not Year 6. City of London School, City of London Freemen's School, Bishop's Stortford College, Whitgift School, Trinity School (Croydon), Kingston Grammar School and Old Palace of John Whitgift School do not publish a specific 10+ or Year 6 cohort size anywhere on their current admissions pages -- if intake size will influence how your family approaches the application, this is a direct question worth putting to each school's admissions office before registering.

How Should You Prepare for a 10+ Exam?

Because 10+ is sat a full academic year earlier than 11+, treating it as a compressed version of 11+ preparation is a common and avoidable mistake. A Year 5 child sitting the Maths and English components at Emanuel, City of London School or Whitgift is working roughly a year behind the content ceiling of an 11+ paper -- schools set 10+ papers "at a slightly lower level than in the 11 Plus," in the words of one exam-preparation resource, precisely because the cohort is a year younger. Preparation should focus on solid command of the Year 5 national curriculum in Maths (number, fractions, measurement, geometry and early statistics) and English (comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, grammar and punctuation), plus format-specific practice: if the target school uses an adaptive online platform such as Atom Learning (Emanuel, Whitgift), timed practice on-screen matters as much as content knowledge; if the school uses traditional written papers (City of London Freemen's, Bishop's Stortford), handwriting speed and legibility under time pressure become a real factor. For families weighing up the overall cost of independent-school entrance preparation across exam stages, see our guide to what 11+ preparation actually costs end-to-end, and for background on pre-11+ resources generally, see our Pre-11+ Resources hub. Official sources are always the final word on format -- for example, Emanuel School's own Year 6 (10+) Entry page should be checked directly before finalising a preparation plan, since schools do amend exam format and dates from year to year.

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