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+!

Our private prep has not lost any DCs to state however there have been a few new joiners from state schools in years 4/5. Mostly from parents who had just gone through the 11+ with an older sibling (in state school) and realising that their children needed a huge amount of extra coaching they were not prepared to go through again.

@Seasaltlady @todayortomorrow @carbonelthecat @tennissquare @SWLmama thank you for your feedback ! much appreciated

Will most second round, interview emails come in December? Wondering for Putney/LEH. The websites say before Christmas! Don’t think my nerves can wait that long!

We heard back today re our first exam with Wimbledon High, so maybe around a week and half after each exam? We also did LEH. How is your DD feeling for the Problem Solving on Sun?

We’ve reached saturation point so not doing too much. We also heard re WH yesterday which is a relief as a small step forward. Any idea what will be included?

Thanks to all earlier posters for your kind responses! At the risk of sounding like the most neurotic parent on here (I promise I'm not usually a worrier), does anyone know whether most the these schools have somewhere to leave coats and bags and will mind if she brings a book? Or should I just be sending DD clutching a clear pencil case and a water bottle?

Second stage is an interactive exercise - not one to prep, really. The girls are placed in small groups and given a "fun task" to work with through together. At some point, the girls may be individually asked to do some creative writing and problem solving.
Most girls really enjoy it!

PS good luck! It is a great school (feel free to PM me if you have any question). We went through the process 3 years ago and definitely do not regret having chosen WHS

Absolutely fine to have a bag and a coat etc- just make sure it’s easily identifiable amongst the sea of black coats and bags.

Good luck all- been through it twice- all works out in the end. Everyone says the 11plus process is the worse- I disagree- the A level results/ University thing is much worse!

Also doing LEH and glad to see the end in sight! Do you have any recommendations on what we should cover in advance? This is the only test that I literally have no idea on the format etc so it’s a little daunting! Any advice would be very gratefully received :)

@Seasaltlady I was told last year’s exam had 14 questions which were multi step with parts a, b, c. Then there was a short creative writing task. We have been using Exam Papers Plus Problem Solving pack to practice but my daughter also did a Problem Solving course in Yr 5 with her Maths tutor

@Dontknowmuchanymore Last year WHS had group activities, there was one where they were given some objects to identify and had to write about the item the group chose. There was also a creative writing task

Thank you! That’s very helpful.

WHS changes things a bit from one year to another but key themes are intellectual curiosity and working together, They throw some creative writing and (sometimes) puzzle-solving into it. It usually lasts 2-3 hours and the girls usually enjoy it. Interestingly, and reassuringly, there is not such a thing as a "type" coming out of it (rest assured that not only "alphas" go through)

Our DC also pretty done with it all. And I've seen a few worrying signs of the level of anxiety they feel about it all, despite our efforts to keep stress level down - feeling quite guilty even though it didn't feel like we had reasonable alternative options. We'll mostly be done after next week now and can't wait.

I know how you feel. Just dropped DD off at her first exam and feel horribly conflicted about it all... But we're in it now and it will be over soon for better or worse!

How was today's Emanuel exam please ?

How was Emanuel for everyone today? Hope it was a positive experience for all!

It seemed to go well I think- lots of happy children coming out. My son found it fine but that’s not always an indication of a successful performance. One more exam done now :)

My son found the VR the hardest of the 3, but came out feeling positive (and loved the lunch!)

Sorry - cross posted with the same question. DD thought it was surprisingly easy, but she's prone to both optimism and rushing/being a bit slapdash! Sounds like others may have thought the same though? Or is it that it's a first exam for lots of them and they'd built it up in their heads?

@Seasaltlady @Dontknowmuchanymore how did your DDs get on at LEH today? I wasn't expecting any VR in the paper and the Maths was more typical standard worded format rather than actual Problem Solving Maths.

My daughter ended up having an unfair advantage as a friend told us the Creative writing topic from 3 years ago so she practiced it yesterday and the exact same topic was recycled today!

It was really busy, not sure how many girls sat the exam? There were at least 3 seatings, we were at 9.30am and there was one before and one after us

TBH I am sure many girls are aware of this CW topic. Tutors out there keeping tabs of the different topics that come up in the exams. Schools tend to follow on what they did previous, not exactly, but in some way. We never applied to LEH, but speaking from experience in what I have seen from other schools and asking around in years to follow.

It wasn’t a first exam for my son - he found it very similar to the online papers which he found fairly straightforward. I think it helped that he had prepped for Tiffins which (for maths particularly) he found to be much more challenging. It’s not necessarily an indication of how he has done though as he can often make silly mistakes if he thinks it’s easy! It also sounds like Emanuel did a great job of keeping them fairly relaxed and making it as enjoyable an experience as it can be

@HanSB my daughter actually found it quite tricky and said it wasn’t like any of the problem solving type questions we had practiced! More VR and worded Maths. The creative writing she said was ok but god knows what she actually wrote! It’s definitely the worst reaction to an exam she’s had! Although I think she may have been fed up and over it all as it’s the last one.

@SamPoodle123 thank you, I'm sure you are correct that there must have been other girls that knew the topic from tutors but it was just a shock that it was recycled exactly the same

@Dontknowmuchanymore I'm sure that she has done better than she thinks! I thought it would be questions like in the EPP Problem Solving pack but actually was more VR and the Maths similar to Sutton grammars stage 2. It's been a long journey so far so enjoy the December break before the next assessments/interviews in Jan

Sadly no advantages for us and this was probably the paper we were least prepared for as I had no idea what to expect and not having any past papers to go by was hardly helpful. But thankfully my daughter seemed to breeze through and came out feeling confident - she was pleased to see VR especially the code breaking ones which she loves and the maths she thought was as expected from the revision we had done. So I’m hoping we should be ok! Last one yesterday so we are done - SO GLAD this is over!!