13+ Non-Verbal Reasoning Tutors in Barnet

Only one Barnet school genuinely tests non-verbal reasoning (NVR) at 13+: Mill Hill School, whose Year 9 entry assessment includes an adaptive, computer-based NVR paper alongside Maths, English and verbal reasoning. Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet and The Henrietta Barnett School — the two schools most often named by tutoring pages as targets for "13+ NVR tutoring in Barnet" — do not test non-verbal reasoning at their Year 9-equivalent entry points at all. Both schools use written tests in English and Mathematics only. Below is what each school's own admissions pages actually say, checked directly rather than copied from a tutoring directory, plus Mill Hill's confirmed 2026 test dates for September 2027 entry.

Which Barnet Schools Actually Test Non-Verbal Reasoning at 13+?

Several tutoring pages that rank for this search name Queen Elizabeth's Boys and Henrietta Barnett as Barnet's "13+ NVR" schools without checking whether that is still true once a child is past the original Year 7 intake. It made sense to assume it: non-verbal reasoning genuinely is central to how both schools select at 11+. But the assumption breaks down for a Year 9 place, which is what a search for "13+" in Barnet is really asking about. Here is what each school's own admissions pages confirm:

The rest of this page works through each school's own admissions pages in turn, so you can see exactly where each figure and format claim comes from before deciding what to prepare.

Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet: No NVR at Any Entry Point

Queen Elizabeth's School (QE Barnet) is the first school a number of tutoring pages name when a parent searches for 13+ NVR help in Barnet. Its own Secondary Transfer Entrance Test FAQs state plainly that the entrance test "consists of two multiple-choice format papers in English and Mathematics sat in a single session" — there is no verbal or non-verbal reasoning component anywhere in the process. The school's Published Admission Number (PAN) is 180, and the same FAQ page confirms that candidates need a combined score of 225 or higher to meet the standard required by the Governors for admission.

Crucially, everything QE Barnet publishes about its entrance test — registration, test dates, scoring, the PAN — is framed around Year 7 entry. The school's admissions information page notes that details on "in-year admissions, or those at ages other than 11" sit in a separate Admissions Guide for Parents, but nowhere on the school's own site is there a description of a Year 9 or "13+" entrance examination with its own format. A family targeting QE Barnet at 13+ is, in practice, targeting the in-year waiting list route (covered below), not a second reasoning test — so non-verbal reasoning tutoring aimed specifically at "QE 13+" is solving a problem the school does not set.

The Henrietta Barnett School: NVR at 11+, Not at Its Year 9 Route

The Henrietta Barnett School is the more genuinely confusing case, because non-verbal reasoning really is part of its process — just not the part that maps onto a 13+ search. Henrietta Barnett's own admissions page states that "admission to The Henrietta Barnett School for Year 7 is by academic selection, with a First Round Entrance Test in Verbal, Non-Verbal reasoning and English, followed by a Second Round English and Mathematics test." The same page confirms that this First Round is set by GL Assessment, and that the school's Published Admission Number for September 2027 entry is 120.

That First Round NVR paper, though, belongs entirely to the Year 7 intake. For a later-year place — the closest thing Henrietta Barnett has to a "13+" route — the school's dedicated Year 8-11 admissions page describes a completely different process: "If a vacancy occurs after the Autumn Term of Year 7, those on the waiting list for the relevant year group are required to submit an application to the school and then to take written tests in English and Mathematics, related to the candidate's current curriculum year." No verbal or non-verbal reasoning is mentioned anywhere on that page. A family whose target is a Year 9 place at Henrietta Barnett, rather than the original Year 7 intake, is preparing for an English and Maths test that reflects the candidate's current school year — not the GL Assessment reasoning battery that got the school its NVR reputation in the first place.

Mill Hill School: Where 13+ NVR Actually Matters, and the 2026 Test Dates for September 2027 Entry

Neither of the two most commonly named Barnet schools tests non-verbal reasoning at 13+ — but Mill Hill School, in Mill Hill, does, and no page in the current top search results names it. Mill Hill's own admissions page states that "the two main points of entry to the School are the 13+ for Year 9 entry, 16+ for entry at the Lower Sixth, with a few occasional places via the 14+ for our Year 10 year group," and that "our Year 9 intake is around 180 pupils."

Stage 1 of Mill Hill's 13+ assessment is described on the same page as "a computer based test in Maths, English, NVR, VR provided by Quest (formerly Atom). The Maths, NVR and VR are adaptive" — meaning the difficulty of each question responds to how the candidate is performing — plus a 15-minute creative writing task. This is the genuine 13+ non-verbal reasoning test in Barnet: a real, sourced, currently open admissions route, not a generic reasoning package sold without reference to which school actually sets it.

For families targeting September 2027 entry, Mill Hill's published dates and fees are:

Because the Maths, NVR and VR sections of Stage 1 are adaptive, generic pre-printed NVR worksheets are a poor match for the format: an adaptive test responds to a child's accuracy in real time, so practice needs to include timed, on-screen reasoning questions rather than only paper-based drills, alongside the 15-minute creative writing task that sits outside the adaptive sections entirely.

Applying via the Barnet Grammar In-Year Route Instead? Skip the NVR Tutor

Not every Barnet family searching for 13+ preparation is aiming at Mill Hill. Some mean the state grammar in-year route: a Year 9 (or later) vacancy at Queen Elizabeth's or Henrietta Barnett. Barnet Council's own admissions page confirms that the council "coordinates in-year admissions for all Barnet secondary schools, except for Hasmonean High School for Boys, Hasmonean High School for Girls and Finchley Catholic High School" — so both grammar schools sit inside the council's shared in-year system rather than running an entirely separate process of their own.

As shown above, the actual test a waiting-list candidate sits at either school is English and Mathematics, related to their current curriculum year — not verbal or non-verbal reasoning. If this is genuinely your route into a Barnet grammar school at Year 9, the more useful preparation is subject-specific: strengthening English and Maths to the standard of the year group your child is currently in, not non-verbal reasoning drilling aimed at a test neither school actually sets at this stage. Families still weighing up tutoring options across Barnet more broadly should start from which route — Mill Hill's 13+, or a grammar in-year vacancy — their child is actually pursuing, because the two require genuinely different preparation.

How Leading Tuition Prepares Barnet Children for the Mill Hill 13+ NVR Test

Because Mill Hill's Stage 1 assessment is adaptive and computer-based, our approach for Barnet families targeting the school's 13+ route focuses on timed, on-screen non-verbal reasoning practice — spatial sequences, matrices, rotations and code-based questions — delivered at a difficulty that rises and falls the way Quest's own adaptive engine behaves, alongside parallel work on the Maths and English sections and short, structured practice for the 15-minute creative writing task. Tutors also build in exam-technique coaching for the specific pressure of an adaptive format, where a child cannot simply skip ahead to easier questions the way they might on a fixed paper.

For families weighing the grammar in-year route instead, our 11+ and selective schools tuition covers the English and Mathematics standard that Queen Elizabeth's and Henrietta Barnett actually test for a later-year place, tailored to the current curriculum year rather than a generic Year 7 syllabus. Leading Tuition is rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot by families across the UK, and every Barnet plan starts from what the target school's own admissions pages say — not from a generic tutoring package.

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