How to apply to Year 7

Application Form

The first step in applying to Sevenoaks School is to complete the online application form below and pay the registration fee.The registration fee which is non-refundable covers the cost of processing the application and the entrance tests (unless taken overseas). The fee is £175 for day applicants. 

Before you make an application, please check here that your child's age is correct for the Year of Entry. 

The deadline for applications to join Year 7 in 2024 is 1 September 2023.

If you have missed the application deadline, your child can be placed on a waiting list by emailing a copy of their most recent school report along with an outline of their interests and enthusiasms to regist@sevenoaksschool.org. 

Candidate’s/Parents’ details

The information given on the online application form is used for all our communications. It is therefore important that you notify us of any change of email, postal address or circumstances during the application process. This is particularly important if you have applied some years in advance of entry.

Candidate’s present school

Before we can offer a place, we must receive a reference from the candidate’s present school. We will write to schools in the autumn of Year 6 once you have confirmed that you wish to go ahead with the Year 7 entry process (see Confirmation below).

Applications to other schools

As we have a limited number of places available, we recommend that applicants consider an alternative school or schools. It is interesting for us to know which other schools the candidate is applying to, but it does not influence our admissions process in any way.

Day student application 

Please note we do not offer boarding for Year 7. 

Visiting the school

We do encourage applicants to visit Sevenoaks if possible. We hold several Open Mornings during the year for Year 7, Year 9 and Sixth Form entry. If you would like to come to an Open Morning please book a place online through our website. We are also happy to arrange individual visits to the school. Individual visits include a tour of the campus and a meeting with the Director of Admissions. To arrange an individual visit please contact: regist@sevenoaksschool.org

Confirmation

In the September prior to entry we will send out a Confirmation Form. This asks you to confirm that you wish to go ahead with the Year 7 entry process and to confirm that the details we hold on our records are still correct. We also ask you to provide us with information regarding medical conditions, learning support and special educational needs. At this time we provide further information regarding the entrance tests.

Entrance tests

We will invite all candidates to come to Sevenoaks School to sit their tests at the beginning of January in the year of entry.

All candidates will sit the entrance tests consisting of three papers: Mathematics (1 hour), English (1 hour) and Verbal Reasoning (1 hour). Past papers for Mathematics and English are available here; Verbal Reasoning papers are available from all good bookshops.

All candidates will take part in a group discussion activity on the same day as the entrance tests.

Entrance test results

Offers of places, including scholarships, are sent by email to all candidates. Acceptance of all places must be confirmed by the payment of a deposit (£2000 for day pupils) and the completion of a Form of Acceptance by the date, in early March, specified in our offer letter. Any candidate who decides not to accept their place is requested to inform us of their decision as soon as possible so their place can be released to candidates on our reserve list.

Some candidates will be placed on our reserve list. These candidates have passed our tests and have demonstrated that they would be good Sevenoaks students. Places often become available in early March once the grammar school places have been announced. Parents are advised to keep in touch with the Director of Admissions in this situation.

We consider our reserve candidates as a pool, not a list; there is no ranking order or priority. When a place becomes available, we offer to the most suitable candidate given the vacancy.

Some candidates will be advised that they have not been awarded a place.