Royal Russell School 11 plus guide

Are you thinking about applying to Royal Russell School for 11+ entry? Find out everything you need to know about the admissions process and how to prepare for the entrance exam.

Key information for Royal Russell School

• School type: co-educational independent school (day and boarding)
• Location: Croydon, South London
• Admissions contact: admissions@royalrussell.co.uk
• 11+ exam: Quest Admissions
• Financial assistance: means-tested bursaries
• Scholarships: academic, art, drama, music and sport

Important dates for 2027 entry

• Wednesday 4th November 2026: closing date for registration, scholarship and bursary forms
• Tuesday 24th November 2026: art, drama and music scholarship auditions
• Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th January 2027: Year 7 entrance assessment days
• Friday 12th February 2027: Year 7 offers of places
• Wednesday 3rd March 2027: deadline for accepting Year 7 offers

How to apply to Royal Russell School

Royal Russell School is academically selective. This means that your child will need to take an entrance assessment to be eligible for a place.

You must register your child for Year 7 entry via the school website. A non-refundable registration fee of £180 applies. Registration, scholarship and bursary applications for September 2027 entry are now open, and close in the autumn term of Year 6.

Royal Russell uses an entrance assessment provided by Quest Admissions. This takes place over an assessment day in January, when your child is in Year 6.

All candidates who sit the entrance assessment are automatically considered for an Academic Scholarship. Families wishing to apply for Art, Drama, Music or Sport scholarships, or for a means-tested bursary, should indicate this on the registration form.

You will receive your child's results in February. If they are offered a place at Royal Russell School, you will have until early March to accept.

What will my child be tested on?

The Royal Russell School 11+ assessment takes place during a single Assessment Day spent at the school, alongside an interview and other activities.

The Assessment Day

Candidates are assessed on a PC using the Quest platform, covering:

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

Have a go at a familiarisation test to see what the questions look like.

Beyond the assessment itself, the day also includes an interview, lunch with peers, and a group activity such as sport, cooking, art, debating, design and technology, or computer science, giving the school a well-rounded view of each candidate.

How are places decided?

Every candidate is interviewed as part of the Assessment Day, and asked to bring a piece of work or an object of interest as a starting point for discussion.

Places are offered in February. These are based on:

• their performance in the entrance assessment
• the interview
• a report from their current school

Please note that, due to the number of candidates processed each year, the school does not give assessment scores or individual feedback beyond whether a place has been offered.

Financial information

Royal Russell School is a fee paying school. Take a look at the school website for a full breakdown of fees per year group and for boarding students.

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. While many schools focus on academic excellence, some offer awards in music, sport, drama, art, or other specialist areas.

Scholarships often come with a small fee reduction and acknowledge your child's talents, motivating them and boosting their confidence. Some schools automatically consider all applicants, while others may request an additional application, assessment or audition.

Visit Royal Russell School's website 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. Depending on your circumstances, a bursary could cover part or all of the school fees and sometimes extras like uniforms, lunches or school trips.

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 Royal Russell School's website to find out what bursaries are available and how to apply.

How can I help my child prepare for the test?

Applying to senior school 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 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.

Looking for inspiration? Atom's reading and writing starter kit has suggestions spanning fiction and non-fiction for Years 3–6.

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.