SW London Grammar and private senior school entry 2026

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Setting up this thread for those of us with DC joining year 7 SW London schools in 2026.

We’re planning to apply to KCS, Hampton, Epsom and Reed’s.

Have been living in Dubai for three years, returning in August for year 6 at DS’ old prep school.

DS has an online tutor focussing on exam technique and any gaps in the curriculum, plus Atom. Current school is great but definitely not preparing him for 11+!

Just did a Pretest plus Putney English Module for the first time and my daughter only scored 50% - quite a shock considering she is usually scoring very well on paper tests and Atom. I don’t dare do the maths module today incase she gets even more demotivated. Is this the expected level for the actual exam or are they harder as not adaptive? The level seems a little over top ridiculous for 10/11 year olds. My daughter is at a very academic West London prep and used to doing well with above average difficult material.

That's why I was asking about Exam Paper Plus as my DD scored 57% and I got very worried as scoring highly on Atom Quest tests. It was lots of small mistakes and one eight marker that has let her down so hope it is just a bad day and maybe the same for yours as well @Seasaltlady

It’s not quite the same exam but my son didn’t do particularly well on Exam Paper Plus/Examberry Tiffin Stage one Papers (60/70 percent type marks) (having done very well on Atom). He passed the actual exam anyway

Same for my son - some very dodgy Examberry mock results. Atom - he was usually under the (allegedly) cohort average in each area for the target school (I think we put Hampton). I remember feeling pretty deflated at the time.

Anyway, happily he received offers from each of the schools to which we applied. Don’t give up hope! Hang in there, you’ve got this far!

@Seasaltlady we used pretest plus for their CEM test and I remember a similar experience. I think the tests are the closest to the real thing, but are perhaps slightly harder than the actual exam, and as other posters mentioned, we got the offers, so keep positive. Your child will undoubtedly learn from this module to help with the real thing.

I think same as exam paper plus @W4mamabear
they are the same company and I think their ethos is to make the tests slightly harder to when children do the real one they feel it is easier and hopefully perform to their best

Presume you have them, but there are some latymer upper past papers online, the hardest questions are usually the last 3-4 ones in each paper

Our maths tutors told us that Latymer Upper maths papers are comparable to the some of the maths papers for other academic schools like north London collegiate, city of London girls etc which he used with us.

They are available online too, so you could try there.

I am not familiar with Emmanuel but would suspect Latymer is a bit harder

Best of luck!

Does anyone know when the Wandsworth Test results are sent? I thought it was this week but might be wrong

Friday! Getting nervous here

Thank you- Can’t believe it is tomorrow. It will be useful to know and get the form in though

Hello, recently discovered this thread, so a bit late to the game! Have a DS, and we’re mostly applying to the co-eds (other than Tiffins/Reeds).

is anyone else regularly plagued by exam nightmares 😅 it’s like being back at sixth form!

Trying to strike a balance this half term of plugging the gaps we can see while still giving DS plenty of time to relax and play. It’s going to be pretty brutal for the remainder of the term…

Hi- We’re the same with this half term- it’s such a drawn out process I agree there needs to be a balance.

I also have a DS and we are doing the coeds (Emanuel, Alleyns & Kingston Grammar) as well as Trinity & Tiffin Boys. Thankfully we also loved Graveney and he did very well in the Wandsworth Test so a bit of pressure is now off.

I will be very glad when this is all over. My son seems very unphased by it all but it’s a bit exhausting

Well done to your son on the Wandsworth test - what a relief! I think our son has hopefully done enough for Ashcroft, sadly not enough for Graveney. Maths and English are his stronger areas, so I’m hoping the private school tests will be more his bag 🤞🏽

He’s a late summer baby and I’m still finding he can be very hit and miss with practise papers (probably why I’m having so many nightmares…!). I know he’ll end up somewhere and things will ultimately work themselves out, so just need to ride things out.

How is everyone and their DC holding up as exam season kicks off? Our first one is Putney this Friday and we have hit a wall with our DD and her exam fatigue. Atom scores are all over the place and she doesn’t want to do any more work. Do we need to keep working until the last minute or this week just ease off the pressure?? Help!

Sorry to hear your DD is fed up with it. Maybe it’s time to get the serious bribes out!

My DS had KGS on the 7th Nov, he has ISEBs today and tomorrow for Epsom and Reed’s, then Hampton next week and KCS on 6th Dec.

My tactic has been to work on specific practice papers just before each type of exam. If you can get her to do one more of each type of Putney paper before Friday I’m sure it will help as it keeps the technique fresh and it also makes the actual exam feel less daunting on the day. Good luck!

@Moreconfusedbytheday This is so similar to us - we love Graveney and our son did well in the Wandsworth test. I'm pretty sure he didn't do well in KGS, he was more focused on Celebrity Traitors tbh. What is your preference at this stage?

In exactly the same boat as you! DD’s first exam is Putney on Friday and this weekend was the slowest we have had in terms of prep. She is fed up and I don’t blame her. Will
likely take it easy next couple of days and do a bit of practice on Wednesday and Thursday after school. Hopefully a little break will get her motivation back on track once the exam gets nearer.

Question for those with Putney 11+ experience- which is better to prep with: Pre-test plus of Atom Quest? I found there to be quite a big difference in the level of difficulty of the questions between them.

Good to have a focus outside the exams I think and I hear celebrity traitors was well worth the distraction :) My son is 100 percent more focused on football than exams but I think it's good that it isn't so pressurized then.

I think our favorite is still Emanuel- it is just so close to where we live. I just have this nagging doubt given how much we all liked Graveney and the financial difference especially with siblings to consider. How about you?

And I have no idea how he got on- he said KGS was ok but how he does in the exam is not always relative to how he says it has gone. I will just be very glad when this has all finished.

We have been using Atom Quest for Putney but have used Pretest plus for other schools like Latymer Upper. They are much harder but the adaptive aspect of Atom Quest trips my DD up

I hope it went well for all DD’s at the PHS test today - it’s hard to tell from my DD how she did but at least all of it looked familiar as she had seen on Atom Quest tests

Would anyone know how to practice for ‘puzzles and problem solving’ for the London consortium please? Atom is selling some tests for £25 but I’m not sure how useful they’ll be. Thank you!

We did the consortium tests last year and at the time Atom didn’t sell them as an extra. We ended up paying for both the creative comprehension and then the puzzle module from pre test plus. Just one set of tests (I think 5 in each set) to ensure DD was familiar with format etc. She said it was helpful afterwards but also said not all the question formats were the same. Given the fact the Consortium tests I think are run by an Atom group company I would hope what they are selling is similar to the actual test though.

Thank you @Tiredofbeing ! I saw the pre test plus tests when looking online last night and they’re more expensive than Atom as well. Will give Atom a go. Thanks!

DD also said PHS questions were closer to the Atom Quest ones in type and difficulty, than pretest plus. Pretest plus where, as suspected, unnecessarily difficult and stressful for nothing!

Anyone did Hampton 11+ today? How was it? Mine said he can’t finish all maths

My DS is going to sit Hampton on Wednesday as he’s typing. I wouldn’t worry - the Hampton maths exam is notoriously difficult and I've heard that most are not expected to finish it.

Yes the final maths questions are designed to help the school re who to invite for a scholarship.