St Catherine's Bramley 11 plus guide

Are you thinking about applying to St Catherine's 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 St Catherine's School

• School type: girls' independent school (day and boarding)
• Location: Bramley, near Guildford, Surrey
• Admissions contact: admissions@stcatherines.info
• 11+ exam: ISEB Common Pre-Tests
• Financial assistance: means-tested bursaries
• Scholarships: academic, art, drama, music and sport

Important dates for 2027 entry

• Friday 16th October 2026: 11+ scholarship application deadline
• Friday 30th October 2026: registration closes
• Saturday 7th November 2026: Experience and Interview Day
• Friday 13th November 2026: drama and music scholarship assessments
• Week commencing Monday 16th November 2026: ISEB Common Pre-Tests taken
• Friday 20th November 2026: sport scholarship assessments
• Saturday 21st November 2026: art scholarship assessments
• Monday 30th November 2026: deadline for all ISEB Common Pre-Tests to be completed
• Check the school's website for confirmed dates for results and the deadline for accepting offers for 2027 entry

How to apply to St Catherine's School

St Catherine's School is selective. This means your daughter will need to take an entrance exam to be eligible for a place.

You must register your daughter for Year 7 entry via the school's online registration form. A non-refundable registration fee of £180 applies (£300 for overseas applicants). Registration for 2027 entry closes on Friday 30th October 2026.

Registered candidates are invited to attend an Experience and Interview Day at the school on Saturday 7th November 2026.

Your daughter will then sit the ISEB Common Pre-Tests during the first term of Year 6. These are usually taken at her current school, on a date arranged by that school in October or November. If her current school is unable to invigilate the tests, she'll be able to sit them at St Catherine's during the week commencing 16th November 2026. All tests must be completed by the school's deadline of Monday 30th November 2026.

If your daughter is offered a place, an acceptance deposit is payable to secure it: £1,000 for day pupils, £2,000 for boarders resident in the UK, or a full term's fees for boarders whose parents live overseas.

What will my child be tested on?

St Catherine's School uses the ISEB Common Pre-Tests for 11+ entry, an age-standardised online assessment used by a number of independent senior schools.

ISEB Common Pre-Tests

The ISEB Common Pre-Tests assess:

• English (40 minutes)
• Mathematics (40 minutes)
• Non-verbal reasoning (30 minutes)
• Verbal reasoning (25 minutes)

How are places decided?

Candidates are invited to an Experience and Interview Day, which takes place before the ISEB Common Pre-Tests. This gives your daughter the chance to experience the school and take part in an interview.

Offers are based on your daughter's performance in the ISEB Common Pre-Tests and the Experience and Interview Day. Check the school's website for confirmed dates on when results are communicated for 2027 entry.

Financial information

St Catherine's 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 St Catherine'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 St Catherine'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

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, so 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.