Are you considering Putney High School for your daughter? We've collated everything you need to know about applying for a place in Year 7. Find out key dates, learn about the admissions process, and get tips and resources to help your child prepare.
About Putney High School
Putney High School is an independent day school for girls aged 4 to 18 in South West London and a member of the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST). The school provides a fun, supportive and inspirational environment for young enquiring minds.
Putney's broad curriculum has a modern edge, with each pupil's journey fuelled by intellectual curiosity. Academic excellence is balanced with exciting opportunities to get involved beyond the curriculum. There is a range of activities including sports, music, drama, debate and international trips. Putney students leave for top universities, art colleges and conservatoires, ready to be the 'ideas-makers' of the future.
Putney High has received several awards. These include:
'Best of the Best' in The Week Schools Guide 2023
Top girls' school in the 2022 School Sport Magazine
Highly commended in Independent School Parent Magazine's 2022 awards.
School details
Address: 35 Putney Hill, Putney, London, SW15 6BH
School type: private day school, girls aged 4–18
Headteacher: Jo Sharrock (from September 2023)
Number of pupils: 1,073
Fees per term: £7,718
National rank (Sunday Times Parent Power): 65
A level results: 89.5% A*–B
GCSE results: 91.2% 9/8/7
Key info for 11+ admissions
Admissions contact: admissions@put.gdst.net
Places available: approx. 110 (60 places for external candidates + 50 from the Junior School)
Assessment overview: first stage online test, second stage written test and interview, headteacher's reference
Registration deadline: 1st November 2023 (12 noon)
Assessment date: 24th November 2023 (first stage), 17th January 2024 (second stage)
Open day: Saturday 7th October – book here
Putney High School fees and financial assistance
The current fees for Putney High School are £7,718 per term. Fees cover the curriculum, school books, stationery and other materials, external careers consultancy, choral music, games and public examination fees. Parents with three or more children at the school at the same time are eligible for a 20% discount for the third (and any subsequent) child.
Lunch is charged separately at £312.40 per term from September 2023. Co-curricular activities and clubs are charged at £43.33 per term. Music tuition fees are set by the visiting teachers.
When applying to the school, you will need to pay a non-refundable registration fee of £125 (£200 for overseas applications). This may be waived if you are applying for a bursary place. When accepting a place at Putney, you will need to pay a deposit of £1,500 which is refunded after your child leaves the school, after deducting any outstanding amounts.
Putney High School bursaries
It is important to the school that no one should be excluded from a Putney education. Around one in five GDST pupils receive a bursary or scholarship to help towards fees. The school is keen to support as many girls as possible, ranging from full bursaries – which include fees, uniform and extras – to smaller, tailored financial assistance packages.
Bursaries are awarded based on financial eligibility and academic potential, measured by achievement in the 11 plus assessment. To apply for a bursary, you need to declare your income and assets at the point of applying to the school. The deadline for bursary applications is the same day as the deadline for school applications (1st November 2023 at 12 noon).
Your eligibility will be assessed by the GDST Financial Assistance Department and you'll be notified of the outcome after your child has taken the entrance assessment. Most higher-value bursaries are awarded to pupils from families with a total income of less than £42,500 and who have no capital assets other than their home. It is highly unlikely that a bursary would be awarded to a family whose annual income is greater than £92,500, other than in exceptional circumstances.
Bursary awards are intended to last for a student's time at the school, but they are reassessed each year to reflect any significant changes in family income and circumstances.
Putney High School scholarships
Putney offers a range of scholarships at 11 plus entry:
Academic: awarded based on the entrance assessments, interview and current school reference.
Music: for candidates of at least Grade 5 standard. Assessed by a 20 minute audition on 18–19 January 2024.
Sport: for children playing at club, region, county or country level. Assessed by skills tests on 11–12 January 2024.
To apply for a music or sports scholarship, tick the box on the main school registration form indicating that you would like to apply. You will be sent links to the scholarship application form and asked to upload video footage of your child's performance, along with a reference. If your child is shortlisted, they will be invited to attend the relevant assessment day in January. You will get their scholarship results at the same time as the 11 plus assessment results.
Scholarships are not means-tested. The values are generally small and more about the honour of the award than the amount given. A scholarship can, however, be supplemented by a bursary.
Putney High School term dates
The term dates at Putney High School for 2023–24 are:
Term starts: Wednesday 6th September (Junior School, Years 7, 12 & 13), Thursday 7th September (Years 8–11)
Half term: Monday 16th October – Friday 27th October
School closed to pupils: Friday 24th November
Term ends: Friday 8th December
Putney High School 11 plus admissions process
11+ is the main entry point to Putney High School. Each year around 110 children join Year 7, of whom around 60 are external candidates and 50 have moved up from the Junior School.
1. Visit Putney
Seeing the school in person will help you and your child get a feel for its spirit and assess whether it will be a good fit. Putney offers Saturday open events which are ideal for families to experience the school together. You'll have the opportunity to explore the school, meet students and staff, and attend short talks and Q&A sessions. There are also open days and tours, guided by current students, for families who want to see how the school operates on a 'normal' weekday.
Learn more and book through the school website.
2. 11 plus registration
Apply for a place at Putney High School through their online admissions portal. Applications open in May (while your child is in Year 5) and close on 1st November 2023 (while your child is in Year 6). At this stage, you will need to pay a non-refundable registration fee of £125 (£200 for overseas applications). If you're applying for a scholarship and/or bursary, you will need to indicate this on the form.
3. 11 plus entrance exam
The 11 plus entrance exam for Putney High School takes place on 24th November 2023. Your child will be invited to take the exam at Putney High School, or at a local testing centre if you are applying from overseas.
Putney High School's 11 plus entrance exam is a bespoke digital assessment in maths and English. It's designed to be accessible, challenging and enjoyable. The test takes approximately one hour to complete and is taken on a tablet or computer.
The questions are adaptive, becoming more difficult or less difficult depending on how your child is performing. Adaptive testing helps to ensure children see questions at the right difficulty level for them, so all candidates are stretched but not to the point where it becomes demotivating.
4. Athena Assessment and scholarship assessments
Based on the outcome of the 11 plus exam, shortlisted candidates are invited to a second stage at the school on 17th January 2024. This is called the Athena Assessment and includes a one-to-one interview with a member of school staff.
If your child has been shortlisted for a music or sport scholarship, assessments will take place around this time (11th–12th January for sport and 18th–19th January for music).
5. Results
Offers of a school place are sent by mid-February. There is a deadline of early March to accept the offer. At the acceptance stage, you will need to pay a deposit of £1,500.
Top tips to prepare for entry to Putney High School
Here are our top tips to help your child prepare for the selection process.
It can be tempting to jump straight into practice papers to prepare for school exams. However, this is not an effective way to learn and can cause children to feel demotivated.
Your child should have a good understanding of the content they’ve been taught in Year 5 before testing their knowledge with practice papers. Using a ‘little and often’ approach when recapping content is key, as our brains encode new information more effectively when dealing with smaller ‘chunks’ of information. Experts recommend study sessions should last no longer than 30 minutes for children aged 10–11.
Exam support & free resources
Looking for more information? Visit the Atom blog to find out more about entrance exams, learn how to develop key skills, and download helpful resources.
