Ewell Castle School 11 plus guide

Are you thinking about applying to Ewell Castle School for 11+ entry? Find out everything you need to know about the admissions process and how to prepare for the entrance exam.

Key information for Ewell Castle School

• School type: co-educational independent day school
• Location: Ewell, Surrey
• Admissions contact: admissions@ewellcastle.co.uk
• 11+ exam: Quest Online Assessment (Maths and English) and a handwritten creative writing task
• Financial assistance: means-tested bursaries
• Scholarships: academic, art, dance, D.T., drama, music and sport

Important dates for 2027 entry

• Friday 30th October 2026: application deadline for 11+ entry, 11+ scholarships and bursary pack requests
• Friday 30th October 2026 to Friday 13th November 2026: bursary interviews take place
• Thursday 26th November 2026: entrance assessment and scholarship day
• Friday 27th November 2026: reserve assessment day (this excludes scholarship assessments)
• By Christmas 2026: outcome letters are sent to parents

How to apply to Ewell Castle School

To apply for a Year 7 place at Ewell Castle School, you'll need to complete an application form and pay a non-refundable £180 registration fee by BACS transfer, before the October half-term deadline while your child is in Year 6.

Alongside the application form, you'll need to submit a copy of your child's ID (birth certificate or passport), a school report and any other relevant educational reports. If your child has any educational needs or access arrangements, these must be disclosed and supported with documentation at the point of registering, not afterwards.

Your child will then attend the Entrance Assessment and Scholarship Day in November. If you'd like your child to be considered for a scholarship, they must attend this specific date, as there's no further opportunity to be assessed for one.

What will my child be tested on?

The Ewell Castle School 11+ entrance exam is split into two parts.

Part 1: Quest Online Assessment

The first part is an online assessment created by Quest, taken at the school. This covers:

• Maths
• English (comprehension)

Have a go at a familiarisation test to see what the questions look like.

Part 2: Creative writing

The second part is a handwritten creative writing task, which forms the second half of the English paper.

Children applying for a practical scholarship (art, dance, D.T., drama, music or sport) also complete a practical assessment in the relevant subject, usually on the same day.

How are places decided?

Children applying for a scholarship, whether academic or in a practical subject, are assessed alongside their entrance exam on the same day.

Places are offered based on:

• performance in the Quest Online Assessment
• performance in the creative writing task

Outcome letters are sent to parents by Christmas.

Financial information

Ewell Castle School is a fee paying school. Take a look at the school website for a full breakdown of fees per year group.

Scholarships

Scholarships are awarded for a child's talent or achievement. While many schools focus on academic excellence, some offer awards in music, sport, drama, art, or other specialist areas.

Scholarships often come with a small fee reduction and acknowledge your child's talents, motivating them and boosting their confidence. Some schools automatically consider all applicants, while others may request an additional application, assessment or audition.

Visit Ewell Castle School's website 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. Depending on your circumstances, a bursary could cover part or all of the school fees and sometimes extras like uniforms, lunches or school trips.

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 Ewell Castle School's website to find out what bursaries are available and how to apply.

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

How can I help my child prepare for the test?

Applying to senior school can feel like a big milestone, but preparation doesn't have to be overwhelming. Here's how you can help your child prepare for test day.

Stay on track with a clear plan

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

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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.

Looking for inspiration? Atom's reading and writing starter kit has suggestions spanning fiction and non-fiction for Years 3–6.

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.