St Edward's School Oxford 13+ entry guide

Are you thinking about applying to St Edward's School, Oxford 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 St Edward's School, Oxford

• School type: co-educational independent school (day and boarding)
• Location: Oxford
• Admissions contact: check the school's website for current admissions contact details
• 13+ exam: ISEB Common Pre-Test for pupils applying in Year 6 or 7, or CAT4 for pupils applying in Year 8, followed by an interview
• Financial assistance: means-tested bursaries, which can combine with most scholarships to cover up to 100% of fees
• Scholarships: academic, music, sport, art & design technology, drama, dance, all-rounder, and STEM

Important dates for 2027 entry

• No later than 12 October, Year 6 (recommended): registration, alongside a non-refundable £200 fee
• Autumn Term, Year 6 or Year 7: ISEB Common Pre-Test taken, for pupils applying at this stage
• Late February, Year 6/7: offers made, unconditional
• Autumn Term, Year 8: CAT4 taken, for pupils applying later
• Early December, Year 8: offers made, unconditional
• Check the school's website to confirm exact dates for 2027 entry

How to apply to St Edward's School, Oxford

St Edward's School is selective. This means your child will need to complete an entrance assessment to be eligible for a place.

St Edward's accepts around 150 pupils into the Shell (Year 9) each year, with families able to begin the application process in Year 6. The school recommends visiting when your child is 8 or 9 years old (Year 4 or 5), through Open Mornings or an individual visit, before registering online with a non-refundable £200 fee.

What will my child be tested on?

St Edward's uses one of two routes into the Shell (Year 9), depending on when your child applies.

ISEB Common Pre-Test (Year 6 or 7 applicants)

The ISEB Common Pre-Test is an online, adaptive assessment, meaning the questions get harder or easier depending on how your child is performing. It's taken in the Autumn Term of Year 6, or Year 7 for those who defer. It assesses:

• Maths
• English
• Verbal reasoning
• Non-verbal reasoning

Candidates who do well, alongside a strong school reference, progress to an interview and activity day. Offers for this route are made in late February and are unconditional.

CAT4 (Year 8 applicants)

Families joining the process later, when their child is already in Year 8, instead sit the CAT4, an online cognitive abilities test, in the Autumn Term. Offers for this route are made in early December and are also unconditional.

How are places decided?

Places at St Edward's are based on:

• your child's performance in the ISEB Common Pre-Test or CAT4, depending on their route
• a reference from their current school
• their performance at interview

To accept a place, you'll pay an acceptance fee and deposit, refundable in full if your child doesn't meet the required standard or is withdrawn on medical grounds

How are places decided?

Places at St Edward's are based on:

• your child's performance in the ISEB Common Pre-Test
• a reference from their current school
• their performance at the second-stage interview and activity day
• their result in Common Entrance

To accept a place, you'll need to pay an acceptance deposit of £1,500, of which £1,000 is refunded in your child's final term at the school.

Financial information

St Edward's School, Oxford 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 St Edward's, awards are available in academic ability, music, sport, art & design technology, drama, dance, all-rounder and STEM. Scholarships carry a 10% fee reduction and exhibitions 5%. Academic, Music, Sport and All-Rounder Scholarships can be combined with a means-tested bursary to cover up to 100% of fees; this combination isn't available for Dance, Drama, Art and Design Technology awards.

Visit St Edward'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. At St Edward's, bursary applications are made at the same time as scholarship applications, and can combine with most scholarship categories to cover up to 100% of fees.

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 Edward's scholarships and 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.