Sydenham High School 11 plus guide

Are you thinking about applying to Sydenham & Dulwich Girls 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 Sydenham & Dulwich Girls

• School type: girls' independent day school
• Location: South East London
• Admissions contact: admissions@syd.gdst.net
• 11+ exam: Quest Admissions (via the London 11+ Consortium) and creative writing
• Financial assistance: means-tested bursaries
• Scholarships: academic, art, drama, music and sport

Important dates for 2027 entry

• Friday 13th November 2026: application deadline
• Wednesday 6th January 2027: assessment day
• Saturday 9th January 2027: interviews
• Thursday 11th February 2027: results are sent to parents
• Wednesday 3rd March 2027: deadline for accepting offers and paying deposit

How to apply to Sydenham & Dulwich Girls

Sydenham & Dulwich Girls is selective. This means that your child will need to sit an entrance assessment to be eligible for a place.

You'll first need to make an enquiry, which is done through the school's admissions platform, Applicaa. You must submit your full application by Friday 13th November 2026. A fee is payable to apply for a place, unless you're in receipt of Universal Credit.

Applicants are then invited to an assessment day in January, followed by an individual interview. The school also requests a reference from your child's current school.

You'll receive your child's results in February. If they're offered a place, you'll need to accept and pay a deposit by early March.

What will my child be tested on?

The Sydenham & Dulwich Girls entrance assessment for Year 7 entry has three parts: an online assessment, a creative writing task, and an observational extension activity, all completed on the same assessment day.

Part 1: Quest Admissions

The first part is an online assessment delivered through Quest Admissions, shared across the schools in the London 11+ Consortium. Quest Admissions tests are designed to explore how your child thinks, not just what they know. Taken online, they consist of adaptive questions that get more or less challenging depending on how your child is performing, alongside non-adaptive questions.

This part assesses:

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

Part 2: Creative writing

The second part is a short creative writing task, completed on the same assessment day.

Part 3: Observational extension activity

Alongside the standardised assessment and creative writing task, applicants also complete an observational extension activity as part of the assessment day.

How are places decided?

Applicants who are shortlisted are invited to an individual interview, lasting around 15 minutes and conducted by a member of the school's teaching staff. During the interview, your child will be asked to talk about something she is proud of or particularly enjoys.

The school also requests a reference from your child's current school as part of the process.

Places are offered in February. These are based on:

• performance in the entrance assessment
• performance in the creative writing task and observational extension activity
• the interview
• a reference from the current school

Financial information

Sydenham & Dulwich Girls is a fee paying school. Take a look at the school website for a full breakdown of fees per year group.

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. Sydenham & Dulwich Girls offers academic scholarships as well as scholarships in art, drama, music and sport for girls joining in Year 7.

All Year 7 applicants are automatically considered for an academic scholarship, so there's no need to apply separately. For the art, drama, music and sport scholarships, you'll need to complete a separate application, and each involves its own audition, portfolio or assessment alongside an interview.

Scholarships often come with a small fee reduction and acknowledge your child's talents, motivating them and boosting their confidence.

Visit Sydenham & Dulwich Girls'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. At Sydenham & Dulwich Girls, bursary awards are based on financial circumstances and the candidate's performance in the entrance assessment, and can cover part or all of the school fees.

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 Sydenham & Dulwich Girls's website to find out what bursaries are available and how to apply.

For more information, read: Bursaries: a parents' guide

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.