Uppingham School 13+ entry guide

Are you thinking about applying to Uppingham 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 Uppingham School

• School type: co-educational independent school (full boarding, with some day provision)
• Location: Uppingham, Rutland
• Admissions contact: admissions@uppingham.co.uk
• 13+ exam: Quest Assessments Year 7 pre-test, followed by Common Entrance or Uppingham's own papers in Year 8
• Financial assistance: means-tested bursaries, which can supplement a scholarship up to 110% of fees
• Scholarships: academic, art, textiles, design & technology, drama, music, sport, and the Thring Award (all-rounder, 13+ only)

Important dates for 2027 entry

• End of May, Year 6 (recommended): registration, alongside a non-refundable £200 fee
• Autumn term, Year 7: Year 7 pre-test taken
• Mid-October, Year 7: conditional offers made
• End of first week of November, Year 7: deadline to accept conditional offer
• February/March, Year 8: Uppingham's own non-Common Entrance papers, for pupils not sitting Common Entrance
• Summer term, Year 8: Common Entrance, for pupils from a Common Entrance–teaching prep school
• Check the school's website to confirm exact dates for 2027 entry

How to apply to Uppingham School

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

13+ is Uppingham's main entry point, with around 150 pupils (90 boys and 60 girls) joining Year 9 each year from more than 80 schools in the UK and overseas. You can register your child at any age, though the school recommends doing so before the end of May when they're in Year 6 — boys can be registered against a specific house at this point, while girls are allocated a house once offers are made. A non-refundable registration fee of £200 applies.

What will my child be tested on?

Uppingham's 13+ process starts with a Year 7 pre-test set by Quest Assessments, followed in Year 8 by either Common Entrance or the school's own papers, depending on your child's current school.

Year 7 pre-test

Taken in the autumn term of Year 7, the pre-test consists of online assessments (90 minutes), a 30-minute extended writing task, and a 20-minute interview with a member of Uppingham staff, either in person or online. The online assessments are adaptive, meaning questions get harder or easier depending on how your child is performing:

• Non-verbal reasoning: 15 minutes
• Verbal reasoning: 15 minutes
• Maths: 30 minutes, based on the national curriculum
• English: 30 minutes, based on the national curriculum

Children who do well, alongside a positive reference from their current school, receive a conditional offer in mid-October of Year 7.

Year 8 exams

Pupils at prep schools that teach Common Entrance sit those exams in the summer term of Year 8, with the school expecting a 55% average pass mark. Pupils whose schools don't offer Common Entrance instead sit Uppingham's own papers in February or March of Year 8: a 40-minute maths paper and a 40-minute English comprehension paper, alongside an interview with a houseparent.

How are places decided?

• your child's performance in the Year 7 pre-test
• a reference from their current school at the pre-test stage
• their result in Common Entrance, or Uppingham's own Year 8 papers and interview
• a second, positive reference from their current school ahead of final offers

To accept a final offer, you'll need to complete an acceptance form, provide a copy of your child's passport, and pay an entrance deposit of £1,500 (plus an additional term's fees for overseas candidates).

Financial information

Uppingham School 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 Uppingham, awards are available in academic, art, textiles, design & technology, drama, music, sport, and the Thring Award for all-rounders (13+ only). Candidates are assessed through tests, examinations or observation, interviews and references, with application deadlines and assessment dates in Year 8 varying by category. Non means-tested scholarships don't usually exceed 5% of fees, but larger awards can be made on the basis of financial need, up to 110% of fees when combined with a means-tested award.

Visit Uppingham's scholarships 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 Uppingham, a means-tested bursary can supplement a scholarship award up to 110% of school fees. Bursary applications for pupils holding a place must be submitted by 31st December of Year 8, and children who both need bursary support and have been awarded a scholarship are prioritised.

Visit Uppingham'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 built to match the format, timing and question styles 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.