Mill Hill School 13+ entry guide

Are you thinking about applying to Mill Hill School 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 Mill Hill School

• School type: co-educational independent school (day, weekly boarding and full boarding)
• Location: Mill Hill, North London
• Admissions contact: admissions@millhill.org.uk
• 13+ exam: a computer-based assessment provided by Quest, covering Maths, English, Non-Verbal Reasoning and Verbal Reasoning
• Financial assistance: means-tested bursaries, including the ABC (A Better Chance) full-fee bursary
• Scholarships: offered on entry to Year 9 and Year 12, recognising outstanding achievement or promise

Important dates for 2027 entry

• Wednesday 30 September 2026: registration deadline for the standard 13+ pathway (Year 8 pupils applying for Year 9 entry)
• Saturday 10 October 2026: Stage 1 Quest assessment, taken at Mill Hill School
• Friday 16 October 2026: offers communicated by email
• Wednesday 3 March 2027: deadline to accept a place and pay the deposit
• Mill Hill also offers a Year 6 Deferred Entry Pathway for families who want to secure a place around two years earlier than the standard route — check the school's website for its specific timeline

How to apply to Mill Hill School

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

13+ is Mill Hill's largest entry point, with around 180 pupils joining Year 9 each year. Most families apply through the standard pathway, when their child is in Year 8, registering by 30 September for entry the following September. Families who'd rather secure a place earlier can use the Year 6 Deferred Entry Pathway instead. If your child wishes to be considered for a scholarship or bursary, indicate this when registering.

What will my child be tested on?

Mill Hill's 13+ assessment is a computer-based test provided by Quest.

Quest computer-based assessment

Taken in one sitting lasting around 1 hour 10 minutes for the core subjects, plus a separate 15-minute creative writing task, the assessment covers:

• Maths (adaptive)
• English (non-adaptive)
• Non-verbal reasoning (adaptive)
• Verbal reasoning (adaptive)

Creative writing task

Alongside the computer-based test, candidates complete a 15-minute creative writing task.

How are places decided?

Places at Mill Hill are based on:

• your child's performance in the Quest computer-based assessment
• their performance in the creative writing task

Offers are sent by email on Friday 16 October 2026, with a deposit payable when you accept.

Financial information

Mill Hill School is a fee paying school. Take a look at the school's website 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 Mill Hill, awards are offered to pupils entering Year 9 and Year 12, recognising outstanding achievement or promise in a particular field, with the primary benefit being additional support, extension and challenge through the school's Scholarship programme.

Visit Mill Hill'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. Mill Hill funds a significant sum each year for bursaries, including hardship bursaries for existing families facing sudden financial difficulty, and the ABC (A Better Chance) bursary, which offers a full-fee place to a pupil from a low-income family, funded by Old Millhillians.

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 Mill Hill'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.