Ardingly College 13+ entry guide

Are you thinking about applying to Ardingly College for 13+ entry? Find out everything you need to know about the admissions process and how to prepare for the entrance exam.

Key information for Ardingly College

• School type: co-educational independent school (day and boarding)
• Location: Haywards Heath, West Sussex
• Admissions contact: admissions@ardingly.com
• 13+ exam: ISEB Common Pre-Test, followed by an Engagement and Assessment Day
• Financial assistance: means-tested bursaries, assessed independently by Bursary Administration Limited (BAL)
• Scholarships: academic, art, drama, dance, music and sport

Important dates for 2027 entry

Ardingly structures its 13+ process around your child's school year rather than a single fixed calendar date:

• Year 5 or beginning of Year 6 (recommended): registration, alongside two recent school reports and a £150 registration fee
• Michaelmas term, Year 6: ISEB Common Pre-Test taken at your child's current school
• February, Year 6: Engagement and Assessment Day at Ardingly
• March, Year 6: offers of places
• March, Year 8: 13+ scholarship assessments
• Check the school's website to confirm exact dates for 2027 entry

How to apply to Ardingly College

Ardingly College is selective. This means your child will need to complete an entrance assessment to be eligible for a place.

13+ (Shell, Year 9) is one of Ardingly's two main entry points alongside 11+. Registration is via the school's Admissions Form, ideally submitted by Year 5 or the beginning of Year 6, alongside two of your child's most recent school reports and a non-refundable £150 registration fee.

What will my child be tested on?

Ardingly's 13+ process is based on the ISEB Common Pre-Test, followed by an Engagement and Assessment Day.

ISEB Common Pre-Test

The ISEB Common Pre-Test is an online, adaptive assessment, meaning the questions get harder or easier depending on how your child is performing. It's taken at your child's current school in the Michaelmas term of Year 6. It assesses:

• Maths
• English
• Verbal reasoning
• Non-verbal reasoning

Engagement and Assessment Day

Registered candidates are invited to Ardingly in February of Year 6 for an Engagement and Assessment Day. This includes short written tests and a carousel of lessons and activities alongside their peers, giving the College a fuller picture of your child beyond their test results.

How are places decided?

Places at Ardingly are based on:

• your child's performance in the ISEB Common Pre-Test
• their performance at the Engagement and Assessment Day
• a reference from their current school

Offers of places are made in March of Year 6.

Financial information

Ardingly College is a fee paying school. Take a look at the school's fees page for a full breakdown of fees for day and boarding pupils.

Financial assistance

When exploring independent schools for your child, scholarships and bursaries are worth considering. They can ease the pressure of school fees and open doors to opportunities that might otherwise feel out of reach.

Scholarships

Scholarships are awarded for a child's talent or achievement. At Ardingly, 13+ awards are available in academic, art, drama, dance, music and sport, each gained on merit and carrying a fee remission of 5–25%. Candidates must already be registered and have sat the 13+ entrance assessment to apply, and can apply for a maximum of two awards, up to a combined value of 25% of fees.

Visit Ardingly's scholarships and bursaries page to see the scholarships available and how to apply.

For more information, read: Your guide to independent school scholarships.

Bursaries

Bursaries are means-tested awards (based on a family's financial situation) designed to make independent education more accessible. At Ardingly, all bursary applications must be for children who are already scholars or hold an equivalent award, and are independently assessed by Bursary Administration Limited (BAL), the College's appointed assessor. Ardingly also offers a small number of fully funded Transformational Bursaries for young people who have experienced significant disadvantage or displacement, via the Royal National Children's Springboard Foundation.

Families provide financial information to qualify, and awards are reassessed each year. For many families, bursaries make an excellent education possible that might otherwise seem out of reach.

Visit Ardingly's bursaries page to find out what's available and how to apply.

For more information, read: Bursaries: a parents' guide.

Financial support for independent school fees is more available than most families realise.

This free guide is an honest look at how scholarships and bursaries work in practice: what they cover, how the timeline unfolds from Year 4 to Year 6 and how to approach admissions with confidence.

How can I help my child prepare for the test?

One of the hardest parts of exam preparation is knowing what to focus on, when, and how to make steady progress without it taking over family life.

A clear, structured plan helps your child feel less overwhelmed and more in control. It ensures they build skills in the right order, cover everything they need, and avoid last-minute cramming.

Atom's exam plan makes this easier. Enter your child's target schools and exam dates, and we'll create a personalised weekly plan tailored to the topics they'll be tested on. It shows them what to work on and when, adapts as they improve, and helps them build progress in a calm, manageable way — little and often.

That means less guesswork for you, less stress for them, and a clearer path all the way to exam day.

Build smart exam technique

As your child's knowledge grows, practice tests can help them feel more comfortable with the real exam format.

Atom's mock tests are exact replicas of real entrance exams. They're also unlimited — your child can take the same test repeatedly and see new questions each time. This helps them practise without repeating the same content.

Atom's mock tests are automatically marked. You'll see your child's standardised age score (SAS), where they're doing well, and what they should focus on next. You'll also learn how they compare to other children applying to the same school.

Encourage regular reading

Strong reading skills play a big role in preparation for entrance exams.

Encourage your child to read every day, even for just 10–15 minutes. The key is variety. Mix fiction and non-fiction, different genres, and a range of authors. This helps them become more confident in understanding tone, purpose, and meaning across different texts.

Over time, regular reading will:

• broaden their vocabulary
• improve comprehension and inference
• build confidence in tackling unseen texts

And just as importantly, it can help them enjoy reading — not just see it as exam preparation.

Celebrate progress, not just scores

When you're supporting your child through exam preparation, what really matters is knowing they're moving in the right direction — not just how they scored on a single test.

Atom's progress tracking gives you a clear, simple picture of how your child is doing in each topic and the direction they're moving in. You can see where they're on track, where they might need more practice, and spot progress as it happens.

That makes it easier to give meaningful encouragement, keep motivation steady, and focus on what matters most: consistent improvement, not just one-off results.