Haileybury 13+ entry guide

Are you thinking about applying to Haileybury 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 Haileybury

• School type: co-educational independent school (day and boarding)
• Location: Hertford, Hertfordshire
• Admissions contact: admissions@haileybury.com, +44 (0)1992 706 353
• 13+ exam: Haileybury's own Maths and English papers, plus the CAT4 cognitive abilities test
• Financial assistance: means-tested bursaries
• Scholarships: academic, sport, art and/or design technology, music and drama

Important dates

Haileybury's 13+ registration windows for 2027 entry itself have already closed by the time of writing, since the school runs two routes 20–30 months ahead of entry. The two currently open cycles are:

• Friday 18 December 2026: registration deadline for Main 13+ (entry in 2028)
• Friday 22 January 2027: Main 13+ entrance examinations
• Thursday 4 February 2027: Main 13+ outcomes communicated
• Monday 4 January 2027: registration deadline for Early 13+ (entry in 2029)
• Wednesday 3 February 2027: Early 13+ entrance examinations
• Thursday 25 February 2027: Early 13+ outcomes communicated

Haileybury continues to accept registrations and assess applicants after the Main Exams for as long as places remain available, so it's worth contacting Admissions directly if you're looking at 2027 entry specifically.

How to apply to Haileybury

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

Haileybury offers two entry routes for prospective Removes (Year 9) pupils:

• Early 13+: for children at UK prep schools, taken in the February of Year 6 — around two and a half years before the proposed entry date. This route is highly competitive, with a small number of offers made at this stage.
• Main 13+: the main entrance examinations, held in January of Year 7 — around 20 months before entry. Offers made at this point are for a confirmed, unconditional place.

Unsuccessful Early 13+ applicants are eligible to reapply through the Main Exams route. Whichever route you take, the admissions process itself is identical. A non-refundable registration fee of £240 applies.

What will my child be tested on?

All Haileybury applicants sit the school's own Maths and English papers, alongside the CAT4, an interview, and — for international applicants — a UKiset test.

Haileybury's own Maths and English papers

These are designed in-house to assess your child's fundamental understanding of the two core subjects.

CAT4

The CAT4 is an online cognitive abilities test that includes verbal and non-verbal reasoning, plus quantitative and spatial assessments. It looks at how your child thinks and solves problems, rather than testing subject knowledge directly.

Interview

All applicants have an interview with a member of staff. Where possible, pupils come on-site to sit the entrance exams as part of a day designed to be as pressure-free as possible, including time to get to know other applicants over lunch.

How are places decided?

Places at Haileybury are based on:

• your child's performance in the school's own Maths and English papers
• their performance in the CAT4
• their interview with a member of staff

Financial information

Haileybury 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 Haileybury, scholarships are offered in academic, sport, art and/or design technology, music, and drama, and are valid for a pupil's whole time at the school, subject to them maintaining the expected standard.

Visit Haileybury'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. A substantial number of pupils who gain a place at Haileybury are awarded a bursary.

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 Haileybury'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.