Oundle School 11+ entry guide

Are you thinking about applying to Oundle 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 Oundle School

• School type: co-educational independent school (day and boarding)
• Location: Oundle, Northamptonshire
• Admissions contact: admissions@oundleschool.org.uk
• 11+ exam: Cognitive Ability Test (CAT4), English and Mathematics papers
• Financial assistance: means-tested bursaries
• Scholarships: Academic Entrance Exhibitions

Important dates for 2027 entry

• Monday 2nd November 2026: registration closes
• Friday 8th January 2027: entrance exam (Mathematics, English and Cognitive Ability Test), plus an overnight stay for boarding candidates
• Saturday 9th January 2027: Academic Entrance Exhibition assessment
• January 2027: offers of places are usually made towards the end of January

How to apply to Oundle School

Oundle School is selective. This means that your child will need to take an entrance exam to be eligible for a place.

You must register your child for Year 7 entry via the school's Admissions Office. Registration forms are available on request, and a non-refundable registration fee of £300 applies. Most families register their child in Year 5 or the early autumn term of Year 6, with registration closing in early November.

If you're applying from outside the UK, it's advisable to provide a UKiset report before registering. Overseas applicants sit the same entrance papers as UK candidates, either at Oundle or at a British Council office.

Assessments take place in January when your child is in Year 6. Children sitting the papers at Oundle have an informal interview as part of the day, and prospective boarders enjoy an overnight stay in the school's junior boarding house.

What will my child be tested on?

The Oundle School 11+ entrance exam consists of papers in Mathematics and English, alongside a Cognitive Ability Test (CAT4).

Cognitive Ability Test (CAT4)

The CAT4 is a non-adaptive test taken on a computer. It's designed to measure a child's natural ability and gives the school a rounded view of their potential. Children applying for 11+ entry typically sit a Level C CAT4 test, which assesses reasoning across four areas: verbal, non-verbal, quantitative and spatial.

English and Mathematics

In addition to the Cognitive Ability Test, candidates sit English and maths papers testing the knowledge and skills built up during Key Stage 2 maths, reading comprehension and creative writing.

How are places decided?

Children sitting the entrance exam at Oundle have an informal interview on the same day, giving them the chance to talk about their interests and enthusiasm for school life. Boarding candidates also stay overnight in the school's junior boarding house as part of the assessment process.

Offers of places are usually made towards the end of January, based on performance across the entrance papers, the Cognitive Ability Test and the interview. Upon accepting a place, an acceptance fee and deposit become payable.

Financial information

Oundle School is a fee paying school. Take a look at the school website for a full breakdown of fees per year group and for boarding students.

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

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

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, including CAT4-style reasoning tests. 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.