St John's School Leatherhead 11+ guide

Are you thinking about applying to St John's School Leatherhead 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 John's School Leatherhead

• School type: co-educational independent day and boarding school (ages 11–18)
• Location: Leatherhead, Surrey
• Admissions contact: admissions@stjohns.surrey.sch.uk
• 11+ exam: ISEB Common Pre-Test
• Financial assistance: means-tested bursaries, including foundation bursaries for children of practising Anglican clergy
• Scholarships: academic, art, design and engineering, sport, music, and performing arts (drama, musical theatre and dance)

Important dates for 2027 entry

• 1st November 2026: registration and scholarship application deadline
• October–November 2026: ISEB Common Pre-Test (sat at your child's current school on a date they set, or at St John's on 21st November 2026 if this isn't possible)
• 4th and 5th January 2027: St John's Experience Day and interviews
• January 2027: scholarship assessments (for those who applied)
• Mid-February 2027: offers of places are made
• Early March 2027: deadline for accepting offers

How to apply to St John's School Leatherhead

St John's School Leatherhead is a selective school. This means that your child will need to sit an entrance exam to be eligible for a place in the Lower Third (Year 7).

Before registering, it's worth attending one of the school's open events or Discover Days, held throughout the year, to get a feel for the school.

You must register your child online, accompanied by a non-refundable registration fee of £220 (or £300 for overseas registrations). Registration for September 2027 entry closes on 1st November 2026, when your child is in Year 6. After this deadline, the school will request a confidential reference from your child's current school.

What will my child be tested on?

All children applying for 11+ entry to St John's School Leatherhead sit the ISEB Common Pre-Test, an exam created by the Independent Schools Examination Board and usually taken in the autumn term of Year 6.

ISEB Common Pre-Test

The ISEB Common Pre-Test is taken online and consists of multiple-choice questions. It is entirely adaptive, which means the questions become more difficult depending on how your child is performing. The test covers four subjects:

• Maths: questions based on the Year 5 national curriculum, ranging from arithmetic to multi-step problem solving.
• English: split into two sections — reading comprehension, and spelling, punctuation and grammar.
• Verbal reasoning: your child's ability to reason and solve problems using letters, words, symbols and numbers.
• Non-verbal reasoning: your child's logic, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, using figures and diagrams.

The test is usually sat at your child's current school on a date set by them in October or November of Year 6. Children who are unable to sit it at school can sit the test at St John's, or, for overseas candidates, at the British Council or an approved testing centre.

Financial information

St John's School Leatherhead 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 John's School Leatherhead'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 John's School Leatherhead'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. 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.