Ask Alice: Admissions FAQs

We aim to provide an environment where your child will thrive both inside and outside the classroom. We have a reputation for academic, sporting and creative excellence, rooted in centuries of tradition, whilst also being a modern and innovative school which looks to the future. Our generous ratio of staff to pupils enables us to offer a rich curriculum that challenges and inspires, alongside a strong pastoral system that offers personal support to every child.

We hold regular open doors events through the year, which enable you to see a typical school day at first hand and meet our staff and pupils. Please visit our open events page for available dates and to register. If none of the dates are convenient for you we will gladly arrange a private tour.

Please submit our online application form with the £50 application fee, which is non-refundable. I will then be in touch to acknowledge your application and provide details of the next stage of the admissions process.

Applications for September 2018 should be submitted by Thursday 30 November 2017 to ensure a place at our entrance assessments in January 2018. We will contact parents in March 2018 to advise whether we are able to offer their child a place at the school.

If you would like your child to join us mid-year please contact me directly on 0113 228 5121 so I can discuss the admissions procedure.

We are an academically selective school and all applications to the school involve an entrance exam or assessment appropriate to the age of your child. Depending on the year group we may also interview your child and we will ask his/her previous school for a confidential report. We do not issue past papers, however, we offer sample assessment questions for the main entry points into the senior school. Please read our for further information on our entry requirements.

No, we do not offer a sibling policy and each child is assessed on an individual basis.

As we are academically selective our assessment procedure aims to identify those children who have the ability to do well at our school. However, should we feel that it’s not in a child’s best interest to stay with us, we work closely with the family to find a school which can meet their child’s needs.

Please click on the link to see our current fees.

Yes, we offer a limited number of means-tested bursaries to new pupils who join year 7 and sixth form. Our bursaries are heavily oversubscribed so we allocate funds on the basis of academic excellence and financial need, as detailed in our bursary policy.

We offer a small number of music scholarships to new pupils applying for entry to year 7. These scholarships may cover 15% of the annual tuition fees or the cost of instrumental lessons, normally around £600 per academic year.

Music scholarships are competitive and awarded following an audition process. We expect applicants to be playing an orchestral instrument at around Grade 4 or 5 standard.

As an academically selective school we welcome pupils who meet the assessment criteria and who we believe can benefit from the opportunities we provide. We want all students to reach their full potential, and our staff, including a dedicated individual needs team, will support each pupil to achieve to the best of their ability, within the resources available.

Please specify your child’s needs when you apply for a place. We will contact you to discuss whether any adjustments must be made at the entrance assessment and whether we would be able to effectively meet your child’s needs if he/she is offered a place.

For further information on our admissions policy and individual needs policy please click here