Bradfield College 13+ guide

Are you thinking about applying to Bradfield College 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 Bradfield College

• School type: co-educational independent school (day and boarding)
• Location: Bradfield, Berkshire
• Admissions contact: admissions@bradfieldcollege.org.uk
• 13+ exam: ISEB Common Pre-Test, followed by an admissions interview, a housemaster/housemistress interview, and a problem-solving challenge
• Financial assistance: means-tested bursaries
• Scholarships: academic, all-rounder, art and design, drama, music and sport

Important dates for 2027 entry

• Beginning of January, Year 6: registration closes
• 31 October, Year 5 (the year before entry): deadline for bursary applications, submitted alongside the Provisional Registration Form
• November, Year 6: ISEB Common Pre-Test taken
• September to March, Year 6: admissions assessment and interviews
• March, Year 6: first round of offers (a second round, for late applicants, follows in Year 7 or Year 8)
• Year 8: Bradfield entrance test, for late applicants who missed the Year 6 route
• Check the school's website to confirm exact dates for 2027 entry

How to apply to Bradfield College

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

Bradfield holds Saturday tours throughout the year for families in Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6. Registration closes at the beginning of January in Year 6. If you're intending to apply for a bursary, this must be indicated on the Provisional Registration Form, with a deadline of 31 October the year before entry.

What will my child be tested on?

Bradfield's 13+ process is based on the ISEB Common Pre-Test, followed by a more detailed on-site assessment.

Stage 1: ISEB Common Pre-Test

The ISEB Common Pre-Test is an online, adaptive assessment, meaning the questions get harder or easier depending on how your child is performing. It's taken in November of Year 6. It assesses:

• Maths
• English
• Verbal reasoning
• Non-verbal reasoning

The test takes around two and a half hours in total, and your child can sit all four subjects together or split across separate sittings.

Stage 2: Bradfield College admissions assessment

Held at the school between the autumn and spring terms of Year 6, this stage includes:

• a 20 to 30-minute admissions interview, exploring how well your child would fit into Bradfield and what they'd contribute to school life
• a 20 to 30-minute housemaster or housemistress interview, focused on suitability for the boarding environment
• a 60-minute problem-solving challenge, assessing interpersonal skills, resilience, innovation and reflection in a relaxed setting

How are places decided?

Places at Bradfield are based on:

• your child's performance in the ISEB Common Pre-Test
• their admissions interview
• their housemaster or housemistress interview
• their performance in the problem-solving challenge

Financial information

Bradfield College is a fee paying school. Take a look at the school's website 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 Bradfield, awards are available in academic, all-rounder, art and design, drama, music and sport. Scholarships don't carry automatic fee remission on their own, though scholars benefit from the school's gifted and talented programme, and priority for bursary support is given to those who've won a scholarship.

Visit Bradfield'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 Bradfield, bursaries can cover up to 100% of fees and are assessed independently by Bursary Administration Ltd (BAL). The school also has an association with the Royal National Children's SpringBoard Foundation, which specialises in finding boarding places for genuinely disadvantaged children.

Families provide financial information to qualify, and awards are reassessed each year. For many families, bursaries make an excellent education possible that might otherwise seem out of reach.

Visit Bradfield'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 exact replicas 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.