7+ Tutors in Birmingham: Which Schools Actually Take Year 3 Entry

Six Birmingham independent schools run a genuine 7+ (Year 3, age 7) entry route: The Blue Coat School, Edgbaston High School, Hallfield School, West House School, Norfolk House School and Solihull School. King Edward's School Birmingham, which appears throughout 7+ tutor search results, is not one of them — its own admissions page states plainly that its normal entry points are 11+ (Year 7) and 16+ (Sixth Form) only. This guide sets out what each of the six real 7+ schools tests, when to register, what a place costs, and what financial support exists — the specifics missing from every page currently ranking for “7 plus tutors Birmingham”.

Which Birmingham Schools Actually Take 7+ Entry?

“7+” means entry into Year 3, the first year of Key Stage 2, at age seven. It is the second major entry point at most Birmingham independent prep schools, sitting between Reception/Nursery intake and the well-known 11+ round into senior school. Six schools currently run a live 7+ process:

King Edward's School Birmingham is deliberately not on this list, despite appearing in 7+ tutor search results — including one competitor page that tags tutors with “7 Plus” experience specifically for “King Edward's School entrance exams”. The school's own admissions page is unambiguous: “The normal entry points to the School are at 11+ (Year 7) and 16+ (Sixth Form), although boys are occasionally considered for other year groups should there be availability.” Its entrance exam page confirms the same picture: every date, guideline and sample paper on it is for the Year 7 (11+) exam, held this cycle on Saturday 3 October 2026 for September 2027 entry. Neither page mentions 7+ or Year 3 anywhere.

It is also worth being precise about which King Edward's this is. King Edward's School Birmingham is an independent boys' day school on Edgbaston Park Road — a separate institution entirely from the state King Edward VI grammar schools (Camp Hill, Handsworth and the rest of the Foundation), which take pupils at 11+ and which we cover in our 11+ tuition guides elsewhere on this site. Confusing the two is an easy mistake to make from search results alone, and it is one that costs a family real research time if they build a 7+ preparation plan around a school that was never going to offer a 7+ place. If King Edward's School Birmingham (11+, boys) is genuinely your target, our 11+ tuition page is the right starting point instead of this one.

How Does Each School Test a 7+ Candidate?

The six schools do not share a format, a timeline or even a philosophy of what a 7+ assessment is for. Understanding the difference matters more than generic “7+ preparation” — a family drilling verbal reasoning for a school that tests only maths and English handwriting is preparing for the wrong thing.

The Blue Coat School runs a two-stage process. The school's own admissions page states: “The first stage is the 7+ exam which involves maths and English tests.” The second stage is a full “experience day” at the school, where the child spends the whole day with current pupils and teachers, and parents meet a member of the Senior Leadership Team. Offers are made by combining the exam result with observations from that day, not from the written test alone.

Edgbaston High School holds a dedicated Prep Assessment session for Year 3 candidates in January, run alongside its wider Nursery-to-Year-6 admissions calendar. The school's admissions page already lists a Special Event for its Year Three 2027 intake and a formal Prep Assessment date, well over a year ahead of the September start.

Hallfield School combines a taster day with a written assessment. Its FAQ page confirms: “Children registered for entry from Year 1 to Year 6 are invited into school for a taster day and will complete an entry assessment (English and Maths).” Hallfield is also the only one of the six with a named 7+ Scholarship for children entering Year 3.

West House School takes a markedly different stance. Its admissions procedure states outright: “West House is not rigorously selective on academic criteria.” External candidates for Years 1 to 6 — which includes 7+ entry into Year 3 — sit “an assessment of reading, writing, spelling and maths consistent with expectations for their age”, designed to check readiness rather than rank candidates competitively.

Norfolk House School uses the most unusual format of the six. Its admissions process page describes inviting a child “to spend two consecutive days in their prospective class, interacting with their peers and sitting age appropriate assessments (from Year 2 upwards)”, following an initial tour with the Headmistress. This makes it the only school where the assessment is a two-day classroom trial rather than a single test session.

Solihull School, just outside Birmingham in the separate borough of Solihull, runs the most traditional exam-only format of the group. Its entrance assessment page lists “At 7+ to 10+: Solihull Entrance Examination”, sitting “English (Comprehension and Creative Writing) and Maths (Written)” — a formal written paper with no experience day, taster day or classroom trial attached.

When Are the 2026/27 Registration Deadlines and Exam Dates?

Birmingham's 7+ schools are not on a shared timetable, and at any given moment they can be publishing dates for entirely different academic-year cycles. Here is what each school has confirmed on its own admissions page:

The gap between Blue Coat's already-past January 2026 deadline and Edgbaston High's freshly published January 2027 date illustrates the point: these schools are not on the same academic-year clock as each other. A family searching now needs to check each target school's own admissions page for its current cycle rather than assume a single Birmingham-wide 7+ calendar, and should register early — every school that publishes a deadline does so many months before the September start, not weeks.

What Does a 7+ Place Cost Per Term?

Fees differ meaningfully across the six schools, and several also charge separate registration and deposit fees on top of the termly figure.

Where a figure is marked “not separately published”, that reflects what is actually on the school's admissions and fees pages at the time of writing — not a gap in this guide. Solihull's £6,606 figure is the highest of the four schools with a published Year 3 termly fee, and Edgbaston High's £5,772 the lowest; both are 2026-27 or 2026/27 figures and include VAT. None of these figures include lunch unless stated, and several schools layer sibling discounts or bursaries on top, covered next.

What Scholarships, Bursaries and Discounts Are Available at 7+?

Financial support exists at several of the six schools, though the entry points it applies to differ:

• The Blue Coat School runs a bursary fund that supports up to 30 students at any given time, including some receiving a full 100% fee discount. A 5% sibling discount applies to a second child and 10% to a third and subsequent child.
• Edgbaston High School restricts its Preparatory School bursaries to two entry points: Reception and Year 3 only — so a 7+ candidate is one of the two groups eligible to apply.
• Hallfield School is the only one of the six with a scholarship named specifically for this entry point: its 7+ Scholarship is offered to a limited number of children entering Year 3.
• West House School offers a standard 5%/10% sibling discount for a second and third child, plus an additional 5% sibling discount specifically for families with sisters attending Edgbaston High School — a cross-school arrangement unique to these two Birmingham schools that no directory or marketplace page would think to mention.
• Norfolk House School takes a different approach to affordability altogether: rather than a named scholarship, its fee policy caps the gross fee increase for parents at 3% following the 2025 VAT change, with a further 3% increase in each of September 2025 and September 2026.

Fee assistance is generally means-tested and assessed on a separate track from the academic 7+ assessment itself. Families intending to apply for a bursary or scholarship should start that process at the same time as registering for the entrance assessment, since several schools set earlier internal deadlines for financial-assistance applications than for the test itself.

How Selective Is 7+ Entry in Birmingham?

Selectivity varies more at 7+ than most families expect. At one end, The Blue Coat School welcomes approximately 10 new children into Year 3 each September, and admission is explicitly academically selective — offers depend on the child's score on the 7+ test combined with the experience day. At the other end, West House School states in its own admissions policy that it “is not rigorously selective on academic criteria”, using its Years 1–6 assessment to check age-appropriate readiness rather than to rank candidates against each other.

Between those two poles sit Edgbaston High School, Hallfield School, Norfolk House School and Solihull School, each running a genuine selective assessment without publishing a specific places-per-year figure or pass mark — which is typical of UK independent prep schools at 7+, where places are usually filled from a mix of exam performance, observation and, at some schools, an existing sibling or waiting-list connection.

The practical takeaway for a family choosing where to focus preparation time: a highly selective, academically-driven 7+ process like Blue Coat's rewards focused exam practice in maths and English, while a readiness-check process like West House's rewards a relaxed, well-rounded Year 2 education over last-minute drilling. Matching the preparation style to the actual school — rather than a generic “7+ exam” programme — is the single biggest lever available to a family with limited tutoring time. For general early-years academic support alongside 7+-specific preparation, see our primary tuition service, and for the wider range of tutoring Leading Tuition offers across the city, see our Birmingham tutoring hub.

Frequently Asked Questions About Birmingham 7+ Entry