Preparation for the Year 3 entry assessments at seven Bristol independent schools, September 2027 entry
Book a Free ConsultationLeading Tuition's 7+ tutors in Bristol prepare children for Year 3 entry at seven independent schools: five set a test or structured assessment, and two assess informally (Clifton High through a class-teacher assessment, Clifton College at a taster day per its admissions policy). Queen Elizabeth's Hospital (QEH) holds its Year 3 and 4 Quest Day on Wednesday 18 November 2026; Bristol Grammar School (BGS) assesses in November 2026, with a second session in January 2027, for September 2027 entry.
Aiming for a Bristol school's Year 3 assessment?
Our expert 7+ tutors help children across Bristol prepare for the route their school actually runs, whether that is QEH's online test, a taster-day assessment or a class-teacher assessment, and a short call sets the school, the assessment date and a weekly plan, online or in person.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppOur 7+ tuition in Bristol is a single programme in English, maths and reasoning, built backwards from the assessment the family's chosen school runs. Sessions take place online or in person, and the first step is a route check: which school or schools, which year group, and whether the school sets a test or assesses informally. Everything after that call depends on the answer, because each school describes its own assessment on its own admissions pages. Our Bristol tutoring page covers the other levels we teach in the city.
The schools' own pages show where the work has to concentrate. All five tests include a literacy element, which each school names differently: literacy at BGS, English on QEH's online paper, reading and writing at Redmaids' High School, English assessments at Collegiate School and a short English assessment at Badminton School Prep. Maths is named at BGS, QEH, Redmaids' High and Collegiate, and a reasoning element at BGS, QEH, Redmaids' High and Badminton. Our tutors therefore spend the programme on reading comprehension and short written answers, arithmetic and number problems, and the verbal and non-verbal reasoning patterns that four of the five tests use. The detail sits in our 7+ English and 7+ maths tuition.
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The Good Schools Guide describes Bristol as a city without selective state secondary schools, with no 11-plus for most pupils. A 7+ here is therefore an independent school's own Year 3 assessment, and each school's own page describes its assessment. QEH's admissions page says its main entry points are Year 3 and Year 5 and that boys may join other year groups if availability exists. BGS lists Reception, Year 3 and Year 5 as its main entry points, Clifton High School names Year 3 and Year 5 as the typical entry points to its Junior School, Redmaids' High School assesses for Years 3 to 6, and Collegiate School, known as Colston's School until September 2022, assesses for Years 3 to 6.
Five schools set a test or structured assessment at Year 3. QEH's Quest Day uses short online tests in maths, English, verbal and non-verbal reasoning. BGS invites Year 3 applicants to spend a morning on tasks in verbal reasoning, mathematics and literacy. Redmaids' High assesses maths, writing and reading and adds a non-verbal reasoning test on an informal taster and assessment day. Collegiate fits English and Maths assessments into a two-day taster session. Badminton School Prep sets an online reasoning test and a short English assessment on a taster day. For these five we rehearse the format as well as the content, because a child who meets an unfamiliar format on the day spends attention on the format instead of the question.
Two schools do not formally test Year 3 applicants, Clifton High by its own statement and Clifton College per its admissions policy. Clifton High School says Year 3 pupils do not undertake a formal entrance examination and are assessed for English and Mathematics in a relaxed manner by the class teacher, and its entrance examinations begin for entry into Years 4, 5 and 6. Clifton College's admissions policy asks Year 3 applicants to a taster day that includes an informal teacher assessment of reading, writing and mathematics. Clifton College's own documents differ: its admissions policy, reviewed in Lent 2026, places Year 3 in the Pre-Preparatory process and requires the CAT4 from Year 4, whereas its Prep School web page describes Year 3 as the move up from the Pre-Prep and its Prep entry steps list an online CAT4, so confirm with the school which applies to your child.
For these two schools, preparation is quieter: fluent reading, handwriting that holds up over a short piece of writing, confident number work and ease with an adult who is assessing them. Our tutors build exactly that, in short sessions suited to a child of six or seven.
Preparing for a Year 3 assessment at a Bristol school that tests?
Our expert 7+ tutors help children across Bristol rehearse the format as well as the content, from QEH's adaptive online sections to a two-day taster at Collegiate, building each programme around the school's own published assessment.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppQEH Junior School admits boys at Year 3 and Year 5 through a Quest Day, a combined taster and assessment day held at the Junior School in the morning and at the school's Failand sportsground in the afternoon. The day mixes lessons with short online tests in maths, English, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, and the tests are taken on an iPad. For September 2027 entry, the school's key-dates page lists the Quest Day for Year 3 and 4 applicants on Wednesday 18 November 2026, and the Quest Day for Year 5 and 6 applicants on Friday 6 November 2026.
QEH's FAQ on online testing gives one timing for 7+ and 8+ candidates: 70 minutes in total, split as below. That FAQ is the 2024-25 edition, so ask the school whether the timings are unchanged for the November 2026 sitting.
| QEH online section | Minutes at 7+ and 8+ | What the FAQ says it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Maths | 20 | Arithmetic and mathematical reasoning, based on the National Curriculum |
| Non-Verbal Reasoning | 15 | Spatial reasoning and visual reasoning |
| English | 20 | Reading comprehension, spelling, punctuation and grammar, based on the National Curriculum |
| Verbal Reasoning | 15 | Vocabulary, pattern-spotting and logic |
| Total | 70 | Timer on screen for each section |
Source: QEH Junior School online entrance assessments FAQ, 2024-25 edition.
Four features of the test shape our preparation. First, the test is adaptive, with questions getting harder or easier as the pupil moves through, and a child cannot skip a question or go back. We teach a child to answer, move on and not return, and to treat a harder question as part of how the test is built rather than a sign that something has gone wrong. Second, most questions are multiple choice and only a few ask for a single typed word or number, so we practise tapping an answer on a screen and typing one word or number, with no extended typing involved.
Third, QEH provides blank scrap paper and a pencil or pen for working out and allows nothing else: no calculators, rulers or dictionaries. We therefore build written working for arithmetic on scrap paper and remove every aid the test removes. Fourth, a 70-minute sitting in four timed sections is long for a child of six or seven, so the programme builds stamina from short blocks towards sections of 20 and 15 minutes. QEH's admissions page recommends viewing its short familiarisation exercises to get a feel for the online format, and we start there before moving to timed practice. The FAQ gives the same 70-minute timing for 8+, so the same preparation underlies our 8+ maths and 8+ English tuition.
BGS Infants and Juniors invites Year 3 applicants to spend a morning on a series of tasks that include verbal reasoning, mathematics and literacy, and says full details of the assessment are sent once a family has applied. Offers are made on performance in the entrance assessments, supported by a report from the child's current school. For September 2027 entry the assessments are in November 2026, with a second session in January 2027 subject to availability of spaces. Because the format is a morning of varied tasks rather than one paper, we practise moving between task types and keeping a steady pace over a longer stretch, and we shape the final weeks around the details BGS sends. The Year 5 assessment is different, with creative writing, verbal reasoning and problem-solving, so a family weighing a later entry needs a different plan.
Redmaids' High School assesses maths, writing and reading and asks pupils to complete a non-verbal reasoning test during an informal taster and assessment day, and its entrance examination page says no advance preparation is required and that families receive detailed 1:1 feedback afterwards. Its junior admissions policy, reviewed in Summer term 2026, says Year 3 and 4 candidates are assessed in a maximum group size of three with the Headteacher, and that successful candidates will generally be performing at an average level or above for their age. Our tutors rehearse what a small group needs: talking comfortably with an unfamiliar adult and up to two other children, and writing independently. Redmaids' High's entrance examination page says assessment days are available for September 2027 entry and asks families to contact Junior Admissions.
Collegiate School's Prep entry guide says children entering Years 3 to 6 complete entrance assessments during a two-day taster session. In most cases the Head of Prep School assesses, the child sits English and Maths assessments, and parents are invited to a debrief on the second afternoon. The school also asks the Head of the child's current school for a written reference. The Whole School Working Open Morning is on Friday 20 November 2026, and the school says it has been Collegiate School since September 2022. Two days in a new school is a different test from a morning's paper, so we prepare children to settle with an unfamiliar adult and keep the English and maths work fluent.
Badminton School Prep welcomes girls at any stage of the year. For Years 3 to 6 they join a taster day and, as part of it, sit an online reasoning test and write a short English assessment. The school says assessments can happen at any point in the year providing it has a space, arranged to suit the family. We practise reasoning questions on screen and a short, timed piece of writing, and because the school says assessments can happen at any point in the year, we plan the start date with the family rather than from a school calendar.
Targeting QEH's Quest Day or a January 2027 session at BGS?
Our expert 7+ tutors help children across Bristol work backwards from the assessment date, with English, maths and reasoning practised in the format the school uses.
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Start from the first fixed date the family is aiming for. QEH's Quest Day for Year 3 and 4 applicants is Wednesday 18 November 2026, and its Junior School open morning in the spring term is Friday 5 March 2027. BGS assesses in November 2026 with a second session in January 2027, subject to availability of spaces. Collegiate's Whole School Working Open Morning is on Friday 20 November 2026. Badminton says assessments can happen at any point in the year if a space is available, Redmaids' High asks families to register and contact Junior Admissions about assessment days, and at Clifton High and Clifton College a child is invited to a taster day after the family registers.
Our programme works backwards from the earliest date a family is targeting. It begins with the route-check call, then a first session that finds the gaps across English, maths and reasoning, then weekly sessions that move from the basic skills towards rehearsing the format the school uses, and a closing stretch built from whatever the school has sent. Structured weekly tuition for 7+ typically begins in the autumn term of Year 2, which is the year a child is in for September 2027 entry. A family contacting us after the November 2026 dates would plan around BGS's second session in January 2027 or a school that assesses on request, and would ask QEH whether a place may be available in another year group, since its page says boys may join in other year groups if availability exists.
QEH says its pupils will not need special tuition or intensive practice, and Redmaids' High says no advance preparation is required for its taster and assessment day; a page selling tuition should say so plainly. QEH's FAQ gives the reason: its assessment tests the knowledge and skills in the National Curriculum, which pupils develop at school. Its admissions page also recommends viewing its short familiarisation exercises to get a feel for the online format. Clifton High, for its part, describes its Year 3 assessment as relaxed and run by the class teacher. These are the schools' statements about their own assessments, and we report them as such.
The case for tuition at this age is narrower than at 11+. It rests on three things that a child can have without a tutor but often does not: familiarity with a timed or on-screen format before QEH's online test or Badminton's reasoning test; fluency in the basics the tests name, since Redmaids' High expects an average level or above for age; and confidence with an unfamiliar adult across a morning or two days. Where a child already reads and calculates comfortably for their age and has met a screen test, a few sessions on format may be all that helps.
Families targeting more than one school have the sharpest case, because the formats differ: an adaptive iPad test at QEH, a group of up to three with the Headteacher at Redmaids' High, a two-day taster at Collegiate. Preparing for the wrong format wastes the weeks before an assessment, and a route-checked programme exists to prevent that.
Not sure whether your child needs tuition for Year 3 entry?
Our expert 7+ tutors help Bristol families work out what preparation suits the child's school, year group and assessment date, and where tuition helps they build the programme.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppSome schools state what a Year 3 place means for Year 7, and the rules differ. Clifton High School says Year 6 pupils in its Junior School are automatically allocated a place in Year 7 without an additional admissions application. The junior admissions policy at Redmaids' High says continuity of education is anticipated throughout each age range and that "transfer at key stages will be automatic unless, in the opinion of the Head, the pupil will not benefit from continuing to be educated at the school or has not attained a sufficiently high standard of work or behaviour for continuation or for entry to the next stage." At BGS, the Independent Schools Yearbook entry records that children who join the Infants and Juniors at Year 5 or earlier are assessed continuously for transition to the Senior School, while other pupils take the standard entrance test. Clifton College's admissions policy puts its own senior entry point at Year 9. When registering at QEH, Collegiate or Badminton, ask how Year 3 entrants move on to Year 7.
That is why we treat Year 3 preparation as the first stage of a longer plan. English, number and reasoning fluency built in Year 2 carries into Year 5 entry, which BGS, QEH and Clifton High all list as an entry point, and into Clifton College's Year 9 entry, covered on our Bristol 13+ tuition page. For Year 7, the plan depends on the school's own rule, so we set it with the family once the school is chosen.
For September 2027 entry, QEH's key-dates page lists the Quest Day for Year 3 and 4 applicants on Wednesday 18 November 2026 and the Quest Day for Year 5 and 6 applicants on Friday 6 November 2026. The Quest Day is a combined taster and assessment day, held at the Junior School in the morning and at the Failand sportsground in the afternoon, with short online tests in maths, English, verbal and non-verbal reasoning taken on an iPad. The Junior School open morning in the spring term is on Friday 5 March 2027.
Adaptive means the questions get harder or easier as the pupil moves through the assessment, so harder questions are part of how the test is built. QEH says pupils cannot skip or go back to any question, that most questions are multiple choice and that only a few ask for a single typed word or number. The total is 70 minutes at 7+ and 8+: Maths 20, Non-Verbal Reasoning 15, English 20 and Verbal Reasoning 15. Pupils may use blank scrap paper and a pencil or pen only. The FAQ is the 2024-25 edition.
BGS invites Year 3 applicants to spend a morning on a series of tasks that include verbal reasoning, mathematics and literacy, and sends full details of the assessment once the family has applied. Assessments for September 2027 entry are in November 2026, with a second session in January 2027 subject to availability of spaces, and offers rest on performance in the assessments supported by a report from the child's current school. Our tutors practise moving between task types over a longer stretch and shape the final weeks around the details BGS sends.
Redmaids' High assesses maths, writing and reading and asks pupils to complete a non-verbal reasoning test during an informal taster and assessment day, and says no advance preparation is required. Its admissions policy, reviewed in Summer term 2026, says Year 3 and 4 candidates are assessed in groups of up to three with the Headteacher, and that successful candidates will generally be performing at an average level or above for their age. Families receive detailed 1:1 feedback afterwards. Our tutors keep preparation to reading, writing, number work and non-verbal reasoning, and practise working beside up to two other children.
Not formally. Clifton High School says Year 3 pupils do not undertake a formal entrance examination and are assessed for their ability in English and Mathematics in a relaxed manner by the class teacher, followed by a taster day. Its entrance examinations apply to entry into Years 4, 5 and 6. Year 6 pupils in its Junior School are automatically allocated a place in Year 7 without an additional admissions application, which covers a Year 3 entrant who stays through Year 6.
Four of the five testing schools include reasoning. QEH's online assessment has verbal and non-verbal reasoning sections of 15 minutes each, BGS's Year 3 morning includes verbal reasoning, Redmaids' High asks for a non-verbal reasoning test on its assessment day, and Badminton School Prep sets an online reasoning test on its taster day. Collegiate sets English and Maths assessments. Clifton High assesses English and Mathematics through the class teacher, and Clifton College's admissions policy describes an informal teacher assessment of reading, writing and mathematics, although its Prep School entry steps list an online CAT4, so confirm with the school.
Maths is named at four of the five Bristol schools that test: BGS, QEH, Redmaids' High and Collegiate. QEH gives it 20 of its 70 minutes. QEH says its pupils will not need special tuition or intensive practice and Redmaids' High says no advance preparation is required, so tuition is a choice, not a requirement. Our tutors work on arithmetic and number problems inside the combined English, maths and reasoning programme, with the format of the target school practised alongside.
Book a free consultation and our expert 7+ tutors will plan English, maths and reasoning around the Bristol school and assessment date you are targeting.
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