Top Girls' Grammar Schools in London 2026
HBS, Tiffin Girls, NLCS and City of London Girls — compared on entry, results and culture.
HBS, Tiffin Girls, NLCS and City of London Girls — compared on entry, results and culture.
Henrietta Barnett School, Tiffin Girls' School, North London Collegiate School and City of London School for Girls are four of the most sought-after selective girls' schools around London: two free state grammars and two independent schools. Henrietta Barnett recorded 3,121 applications for 104 places in 2025, about 3%, and has a Published Admission Number of 120 for 2027 entry; Tiffin Girls' tested 1,468 girls for 180 places for 2026 entry, about 12%.
They compete for the same pool of applicants across overlapping examination windows, and their admissions processes have almost nothing in common. This guide sets out what each one actually tests, when, and on what criteria places are allocated.
The differences that matter are the test each school sets, the term it falls in, and whether anything other than score decides a place.
| School | Sector | Entrance test | When | Does geography affect allocation? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henrietta Barnett School | State grammar | Two rounds: verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and English, set by a nationally recognised body; then the top 300 sit Round Two: a 60-minute English paper and a 50-minute maths paper | 2 to 4 September and 6 October 2026 | Yes — girls living within three miles when the application is made, and who sit Round Two, rank above those admitted on score alone |
| Tiffin Girls' School | State grammar | Its own two-stage test in English and maths only: a computer-marked stage one, then written stage two papers | 1 and 2 October and 7 November 2026 | Yes — apart from looked-after girls and girls with an EHCP naming the school, girls outside its catchment rank below every girl inside it; since 2014 all places have gone to girls living in its Designated Area |
| North London Collegiate School | Independent | Its own written English and maths papers, then a 30-minute interview for girls invited back | Exam 3 December 2026; interviews 11 to 22 January 2027 | No address criterion in its published process |
| City of London School for Girls | Independent | Cambridge Select Insight (numerical, verbal and non-verbal skills), then English and maths papers and an interview | 13 to 18 November 2026; 6 January 2027; interviews 11 to 21 January 2027 | No address criterion in its published process |
Source: each school's own published admissions material, read on 25 September 2026: Henrietta Barnett's Admissions Policy 2027-2028, admissions page and admissions FAQs; Tiffin Girls' Year 7 Admissions page, FAQs for September 2027 entry and Admissions Information 2024-26; NLCS's Joining the Senior School page; and City of London School for Girls' 11+ admissions page. Always check the current version, because dates and criteria move between cycles.
The column that surprises families most is the last one. “Super-selective” is widely read as “address-blind”, and for the two independent schools that is broadly right. It is not right for Henrietta Barnett, whose published oversubscription criteria place Looked After Children, Pupil Premium candidates and girls living within three miles of its main entrance on Central Square ahead of every candidate admitted on rank order alone, provided they qualify for Round Two by reaching the top 300 in Round One. The school does add that the rank-order group “has so far been the substantial majority”, so most places are still won on score.
The second is the timing. For 2027 entry the two state schools test between early September and early November of Year 6, and the two independent schools between mid-November and January, so a girl can sit all four without a clash. What she cannot do is treat them as one preparation task. Henrietta Barnett's first round tests verbal and non-verbal reasoning and City's first assessment verbal and non-verbal skills, while Tiffin Girls' and NLCS test English and maths only; and NLCS and City publish sample English and maths papers, while Henrietta Barnett and Tiffin Girls' publish no past papers at all.
One practical consequence follows for families weighing state against independent. The Common Application Form is due on 31 October 2026. By then Henrietta Barnett will have said whether a girl is among the top 300 invited to Round Two, but it releases no Round Two scores or rankings before the form is due. Tiffin Girls' will have said, on or around 14 October, whether she is invited to stage two, without giving a score, and stage two itself is not until 7 November. City sends offers on 12 February 2027 and NLCS in mid-February. So a family that applies to all four names its state schools without knowing where it stands at most of them; the exception is Henrietta Barnett, which writes in late October to looked-after and Pupil Premium girls who sat Round Two to say that if they apply they will be offered a place. Building the Common Application Form around that uncertainty, rather than waiting for it to resolve, is the single most useful thing a family can do in October.
Every admissions figure on this page comes from the schools' own published documents rather than from parent reports. Henrietta Barnett's Admissions Policy, admissions FAQ and current waiting-list position are all on the school's admissions page. Our companion guides cover the Henrietta Barnett Round Two test, the three-mile priority criterion and how far its waiting list moves in detail. If you are weighing these four schools for your daughter, book a free consultation and we will go through which tests fit where you live.
Henrietta Barnett School is a super-selective state grammar school for girls in Hampstead Garden Suburb, founded in 1911, with a Published Admission Number of 120 for September 2027 entry; the school recorded 3,121 applications against 104 places in 2025. Entry is by a two-round test, not a shared consortium paper. Round One is verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and English, set by a nationally recognised body, and for 2027 entry it ran on 2, 3 and 4 September 2026. The top 300 then sit Round Two on 6 October 2026: a 60-minute English paper and a 50-minute maths paper. There is no catchment area and no interview, but the published oversubscription criteria do place Looked After Children, Pupil Premium candidates and girls living within three miles of the school ahead of the candidates admitted on rank order alone, provided they qualify for Round Two.
HBS is free to attend as a state school, which makes it an outstanding option for families who cannot or do not wish to pay independent school fees. The difficulty is the competition: 104 places from 3,121 applications in 2025 is about one place for every 30 applicants, or 3.3%. A girl may take the test only once, and the school releases no Round Two scores before the Common Application Form is due, so families apply without knowing her rank. For September 2026 entry, places had been offered as far as number 47 on the waiting list by 4 September 2026.
For a detailed guide to HBS entry, see our Henrietta Barnett School Complete Admissions Guide.
Tiffin Girls' School in Kingston upon Thames is one of the most sought-after state grammar schools for girls in London. Unlike HBS, Tiffin Girls' has a catchment area, made up of an Inner Area of 13 electoral wards and a wider Designated Area of 44 postcode districts: KT1 to KT10, KT12, KT13, KT17 and KT19; TW1 to TW5 and TW7 to TW17; SW13 to SW15 and SW17 to SW20; W3, W4, W5, W7 and W13; SM4; and CR4. It is a list of postcode districts, not boroughs. A girl who lives outside it can still sit the tests, but the school's own FAQs say she “will be ranked below all applicants who live within the catchment, regardless of their test score”; only looked-after girls and girls with an EHCP naming the school are ranked ahead whatever their address. Since the Designated Area was introduced in September 2014 all places have been offered to children living inside it.
The school's own Admissions Information 2024-26 shows 1,468 girls tested at stage one for 180 Year 7 places for 2026 entry, about 8 for every place, so about 12% could be offered one; the counts were 1,498 for 2025 and 1,485 for 2024, each for 180 places. Tiffin Girls' sets its own two-stage test in English and maths, with no verbal or non-verbal reasoning. Stage one, on 1 and 2 October 2026, is a multiple-choice English paper and a maths paper with multiple-choice and numerical answers, each under an hour and marked by computer; girls learn on or around 14 October whether they are invited to stage two, but are not given a score. Stage two, on 7 November 2026, is written English and maths, including a reading comprehension and a creative writing task, and no marks are given for working. Girls are ranked on a Combined Mark of 60% English and 40% maths. The catchment makes it a realistic target for families living inside it, but the test is still extremely competitive.
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NLCS is an independent girls' school in Edgware, founded in 1850, and says it was named The Sunday Times Independent Secondary School of the Year 2026. It is fee-paying but offers means-tested bursaries to girls joining the Senior School, and these can cover up to 100% of fees. NLCS sets its own entrance exam: written papers in English and maths, each lasting 1 hour 15 minutes, with no verbal or non-verbal reasoning test. For 2027 entry, registration closes at 4pm on 13 November 2026 and the exam is on 3 December 2026; a number of girls are then invited back for a 30-minute interview between 11 and 22 January 2027, which includes further maths and English questions asked aloud. Around 70 to 75 Year 7 places are available for external applicants, alongside the 45 or so girls who move up from the NLCS Junior School. The school does not publish how many girls apply.
What distinguishes NLCS from the state grammar schools is the interview and the breadth of what the school says its process is designed to find: each applicant's academic potential, intellectual curiosity, character and readiness to contribute to the life of the school. Music and sports scholarships and the Sophie Bryant Scholarship are also awarded, and bursary decisions are made separately, after a girl has been offered a place on academic merit and interview. For a detailed guide, see our NLCS 11+ Guide.
City of London School for Girls is a selective independent day school in the Barbican, and girls come to it from all over London. It is fee-paying, with means-tested bursaries of up to 100% of fees funded by benefactors, parents, the City of London Corporation and the City livery companies; the school usually has 12 to 15 bursary places to allocate at 11+, and says many applicants who pass its assessments and are eligible do not receive one because of demand. Its process has two assessments. The first, between 13 and 18 November 2026, is Cambridge Select Insight, a one-hour computer-based test of numerical, verbal and non-verbal skills. Girls who succeed are invited in mid-December to the second, on 6 January 2027: a 45-minute English paper testing creative writing and analytical skills and a 45-minute maths paper testing problem-solving. Interviews follow between 11 and 21 January, and the school says it is looking for academic potential and interest above anything else. Registration closes on 30 October 2026. For a detailed guide, see our CLSG 11+ Guide.
The right school for any given family depends on several factors beyond raw academic prestige. Here are the most important dimensions to consider:
Cost: HBS and Tiffin Girls' are free state schools. NLCS and CLSG charge fees but offer means-tested bursaries of up to 100%. For families eligible for significant bursary support, the independent schools may be more accessible than their fee levels suggest, though bursary places are limited. Many families apply to both state and independent schools simultaneously.
Geography: HBS has no catchment and draws from across North London and beyond, though girls within three miles who reach Round Two have priority; Tiffin Girls' fills its places from its catchment of postcode districts around Kingston; NLCS is in Edgware (north-west London); CLSG is in the Barbican (central London). Travel time should be considered seriously — a long daily commute for a Year 7 pupil is a meaningful quality-of-life issue.
Admissions process: HBS and Tiffin Girls' select on test score with no interview, but both give priority to looked-after and disadvantaged girls who reach the standard each school sets (at Tiffin Girls', the Pupil Premium priority applies only to girls living in its Designated Area), and address matters at both. NLCS and CLSG set their own written papers and interview the girls they invite back. If a girl performs well in high-stakes standardised tests, HBS is a strong choice. If she thinks well under conversational pressure and has broad intellectual interests, the independent school interview process may favour her.
School culture: All four schools have strong academic cultures but distinct characters, and the only reliable way to judge fit is to visit. HBS holds a single open day a year, in the summer term, and does not offer individual visits; Tiffin Girls' held its open evening for 2027 entry on 7 July 2026; NLCS runs School in Action Mornings; and City's next 11+ open event is on 1 October 2026.
Many families applying to London's top girls' schools apply to several simultaneously. A sensible strategy is to apply to both state grammar schools (HBS, and Tiffin Girls' if you live inside its catchment) and at least one independent school (NLCS and/or CLSG), since the test dates do not clash and all four test English and maths at some stage. The grammar school tests run from September to early November, each school running its own process rather than a shared consortium paper, while the independent schools test from mid-November, with second rounds and interviews in January. A child who begins preparation in Year 5 can realistically prepare for all of these simultaneously with good tutoring support.
At Leading Tuition, we specialise in integrated preparation programmes that cover multiple applications. Our tutors understand the specific demands of each school's process — from each grammar school's own entrance test to independent school interviews — and we tailor our programmes to each child's strengths and target schools. Book a free consultation to discuss your daughter's application strategy.
Parents researching London's top girls' grammar schools often underestimate how differently each school tests its applicants. One of the most widespread mistakes is treating every entrance exam as interchangeable. The Henrietta Barnett School's two-round process — a first round in September of verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and English, set by a nationally recognised body, for which the school points families to GL Assessment's familiarisation booklets, then Round Two English and maths papers in October — demands a very different strategy from Tiffin Girls' School, which sets its own English and maths papers and no reasoning test at all. City of London School for Girls opens with a third format again, Cambridge Select Insight, a computer-based test of numerical, verbal and non-verbal skills. Preparing exclusively with one test's materials while ignoring the others leaves significant gaps.
A second common error is leaving vocabulary and reading comprehension too late. These skills, tested heavily in both HBS and Tiffin Girls' papers, cannot be crammed in a few weeks. Families who begin structured reading in Year 4 — choosing challenging fiction, non-fiction and classic texts — build the analytical depth examiners are looking for. Similarly, many pupils over-invest in maths drills while neglecting non-verbal reasoning, which appears in Henrietta Barnett's first round and City's first assessment, though not at Tiffin Girls' or NLCS, and requires its own systematic practice. Finally, sitting fewer than five or six full mock exams under timed conditions is a mistake: Henrietta Barnett received about 30 applications for every place in 2025, and Tiffin Girls' tested about 8 girls for every place for 2026 entry, so exam technique and composure on the day are as important as raw ability. Build in at least one mock per half-term from Year 5 onwards, and always review every error before moving on to the next paper. If you would like a plan built around your daughter's own target schools, book a free consultation.
On the figures that are published, Henrietta Barnett is very hard to enter. The school recorded 3,121 applications against 104 places in 2025, a ratio of about 30 to one, and its Published Admission Number for September 2027 entry is 120. North London Collegiate School has around 70 to 75 Year 7 places for external applicants but does not publish how many girls apply, so the two cannot be compared like for like. The two processes are separate, so a girl can hold offers from both, and the choice then comes down to fees, travel and school character.
No. There is no shared London consortium paper; each school runs its own test. Henrietta Barnett's first round is verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and English, set by a nationally recognised body, for which the school signposts GL Assessment familiarisation booklets; the top 300 then sit Round Two English and maths papers, for which it releases no materials at all. Tiffin Girls' School sets its own two-stage test in English and maths only, with stage one on 1 and 2 October 2026 and written stage two papers on 7 November 2026, and it publishes no past papers. The address rules differ too: apart from looked-after girls and girls with an EHCP naming the school, Tiffin Girls' ranks girls outside its catchment below all girls inside it, while Henrietta Barnett has no catchment but gives priority to girls within three miles who reach Round Two.
Yes, and many families targeting highly selective schools do. For 2027 entry, Henrietta Barnett's first round ran on 2 to 4 September 2026 and its second is on 6 October, and Tiffin Girls' tests on 1 and 2 October and 7 November; City of London School for Girls tests between 13 and 18 November and on 6 January 2027, and NLCS on 3 December 2026, with interviews at both in January. None of these dates clash. The state applications go on the Common Application Form, which is due on 31 October 2026 for September 2027 entry; independent applications are made direct to each school, and City's registration closes on 30 October 2026 and NLCS's at 4pm on 13 November 2026.
Yes, more than most families realise. There is no catchment area, so any girl may apply and sit the first round wherever she lives. But the school's published oversubscription criteria place Looked After Children, Pupil Premium candidates and girls living within three miles of its main entrance on Central Square ahead of every candidate admitted on rank order alone, provided they qualify for Round Two by reaching the top 300 in Round One. The address is fixed at the point the Common Application Form is submitted in October, and the school notes that the rank-order group has so far been the substantial majority.
Start with whether the tutor can name the actual test each of your target schools sets, because they differ more than the phrase “GL Assessment” suggests. Ask what happens where a school publishes no past papers, as Henrietta Barnett does for its second round; the honest answer is subject work under timed conditions, not a paper nobody has. Then look for a diagnostic assessment at the start, clear goals set against your daughter's current level, and written feedback after each session rather than reassurance.
We prepare girls for Henrietta Barnett, Tiffin Girls' School, Nonsuch High School for Girls and Wallington High School for Girls, and the formats differ enough that the preparation has to be built around each test rather than each subject. Henrietta Barnett and Tiffin Girls' each set their own, while Nonsuch and Wallington High School for Girls share both stages: the Sutton Selective Eligibility Test, in multiple-choice English and maths, and then a joint written second stage in English and maths. In the 2025 admissions cycle we worked with 40 students sitting selective entrance examinations at 11+ and 13+, of whom 38 received at least one offer from a school the family had genuinely targeted. Families rate us Excellent on Trustpilot, 4.8 out of 5 from 59 reviews.
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