The Henrietta Barnett School 11+ guide

Are you thinking about applying to The Henrietta Barnett School? Find out everything you need to know about the entry process and how to prepare for the 11+ exam.

Key information for The Henrietta Barnett School

• School type: girls' grammar school
• Location: Hampstead Garden Suburb, London
• Admissions contact: [email protected]
• Number of places in Year 7: 120
• 11+ exam: GL Assessment (first round) and the school's own test (second round)
• Catchment area: no

Important dates for 2027 entry

• Wednesday 1st April 2026: test registration opens
• Tuesday 30th June 2026: Open Day (Year 5 students and parents only, with booking required)
• Wednesday 1st July 2026: test registration closes
• Early September 2026: first round exam
• Late September 2026: first round results released
• Early October 2026: second round exam (by invitation)
• Saturday 31st October 2026: deadline to apply for secondary school places
• Monday 1st March 2027: secondary school national offers day

How to apply to The Henrietta Barnett School

The Henrietta Barnett School is selective. This means that your daughter will need to take the 11+ exam to be eligible for a place. Entry to HBS consists of two rounds of entrance exams.

You must register your daughter for the test. A link to register will be available on the school's website from 1st April 2026. Registration closes on 1st July 2026. Late applications cannot be accepted.

The first round exam will take place in early September 2026. Results will be released in late September. If your daughter is ranked within the top 300 children, she will be invited to take the second round exam in early October 2026.

Once both rounds are complete, your daughter's final results will be emailed to you before the common application deadline. If she meets the qualifying standard, you can apply for a place by naming the school on your common application form. This must be submitted to your local authority by Saturday 31st October 2026.

Important note: passing the test doesn't guarantee that your child will be allocated a place at your preferred school. Grammar schools are often oversubscribed with children who meet the qualifying standard. After the 31st October deadline, schools use admissions criteria to allocate places.

We've outlined the process for The Henrietta Barnett School below.

What will my child be tested on?

Entry to The Henrietta Barnett School consists of two rounds of exams.

First round exam

The first round exam is provided by GL Assessment. All questions are multiple-choice. Your daughter will have a question booklet and separate answer sheets. The exam covers three subjects:

• English: questions based on national curriculum content, often including a reading comprehension task
• Verbal reasoning: assesses your daughter's ability to analyse and solve problems with written information, such as letters, words, symbols and numbers
• Non-verbal reasoning: tests your daughter's ability to solve problems with visual information, such as shapes, diagrams and pictures

Second round exam

Children ranked within the top 300 in the first round are invited to take the second round exam. This consists of two papers created by staff at The Henrietta Barnett School, covering English (comprehension and creative writing) and maths.

These papers are not multiple-choice and are likely to draw on both Year 5 and Year 6 national curriculum content.

How are places allocated at The Henrietta Barnett School?

After the second round, the results are standardised and combined with the first round scores. Children are then ranked in order from highest to lowest overall score and submitted to the local authority, which offers places to the highest-ranked children.

If the school is oversubscribed, priority is given in this order:

1. Looked after and previously looked after children ranked within the top 300 in the first round
2. Children eligible for Pupil Premium ranked within the top 300 in the first round
3. Children who live within three miles of the school and who took the second round exam, allocated in rank score order if oversubscribed
4. All remaining children in rank score order

Please note these criteria are based on the most recently available admissions policy. We recommend checking the 2027-28 admissions policy on the school's website to confirm the criteria before applying.

Does The Henrietta Barnett School have a catchment area?

The Henrietta Barnett School doesn't have a catchment area. However, children who live within three miles of the school are given priority for places. Distance is measured in a straight line between the child's home address and the main entrance of the school.

If you don't live close to the school, it's important to think about how your daughter will get there every day. How long will the journey take? What transport options are available? Will she be travelling independently or with support?

A longer or more complex journey can affect your child's daily routine, including how much time they have for homework, rest, and after-school activities.

It's a good idea to think about how manageable the school run will be and whether it will work for your family day to day.

How can I help my child prepare for the test?

The Henrietta Barnett School entrance exam can feel like a big milestone, but preparation doesn't have to be overwhelming. Here's how you can help your child prepare for test day.

Stay on track with a clear plan

One of the hardest parts of 11+ 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 11+ practice papers are exact replicas of real 11+ exams. They're also unlimited — you can download the same paper again and again, and your child will get new questions each time. This helps them practise without repeating the same content.

We've made marking easy for you, too. Simply photograph your child's answer sheets and upload them to Atom. The papers are marked instantly, showing 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 11+ preparation.

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, and build confidence in tackling unseen texts.

Looking for inspiration? Atom's recommended reading lists have suggestions spanning fiction and non-fiction for Years 3–6.

Celebrate progress, not just scores

When you're supporting your child through 11+ 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.