Tiffin School 11+ guide

Thinking about applying to Tiffin School? Find out everything you need to know about admissions and how to prepare your child for success in the 11 plus.

Key information about Tiffin School

• Address: Tiffin School, Queen Elizabeth Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, KT2 6RL
• Number of pupils: approx. 1,500
• Admissions contact: Year7admissions@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk
• Number of places in Year 7: 180
• 11+ exam: school's own (stage one and two)
• Catchment area: yes

Dates for your diary

• Wednesday 4th June 2025: registration opens for the Tiffin School Stage One tests and sports and music aptitude assessments
• Tuesday 1st July 2025: Tiffin School open evening
• Monday 7th July 2025: deadline for sports and music aptitude assessments
• Wednesday 9th July 2025: music aptitude assessment – part one
• Friday 11th July 2025: music aptitude assessment – part two
• Tuesday 15th – Wednesday 16th July 2025: sports aptitude assessments
• Wednesday 3rd September 2025: deadline to apply for Stage One tests
• Wednesday 17th September 2025: parents should receive Stage One testing arrangements by email, and results of sports and music aptitude assessments are released
• Friday 3rd October 2025: Tiffin School Stage One tests
• Wednesday 15th October 2025: parents are notified if their child is invited to Stage Two tests
• Friday 31st October 2025: national deadline to apply for secondary school places
• Mid-November 2025: Stage Two tests for children invited
• Monday 2nd March 2026: national secondary school offers day

About Tiffin School

Tiffin School is a boys' grammar school with a mixed sixth form in Kingston upon Thames. It dates back to 1638 and inspires students to engage, aspire and excel as they prepare for life in the modern world.

Exam results at Tiffin School are consistently outstanding. Most students go on to higher education (with around 20 Oxbridge places each year). There are also occasional applications to universities overseas, including the USA and Italy.

Co-curricular activities are an essential part of life at Tiffin School. All pupils take an active role in the House Championship, working together with children in other year groups. Tiffin's 'Arts College' status indicates the exceptional opportunities available in the performing arts. Meanwhile, the school's sports provision rivals some of the UK's top independent schools. Students are nationally successful in rugby, cricket, badminton, basketball, netball, athletics, rowing, tennis, squash and cross-country.

How to apply to Tiffin School

Tiffin School is a selective school. This means that your child will need to take the 11 plus exam to be eligible for a place. At Tiffin School, the 11 plus is a two-stage process. Boys who perform well in the stage one exam are shortlisted for the second stage.

Registration for the stage one exam opens on Wednesday 4th June 2025 and closes on Wednesday 3rd September 2025. Your child will then be invited to take the exam on Friday 3rd October 2025. You’ll receive your child’s outcome from the stage one exam – and find out if they’ve been shortlisted for the second stage – on Wednesday 15th October 2025.

You can use these results to decide whether to then apply to Tiffin School. To apply, you’ll need to name the school as one of your preferred schools on the secondary school common application form. This will be available on your home council website from early September and must be submitted by 31st October.

The stage two exam will take place in November 2025. Results from the stage two exam are combined with the stage one exam to create a final ranking order of candidates. We’ve included more information about this below.

Remember – passing the exam doesn’t guarantee that your child will be allocated a place at your preferred school. Many grammar schools are often oversubscribed with qualified children. Schools and their admissions authorities work through admissions criteria to prioritise children for places. We’ve included the admissions criteria for Tiffin School below.

What subjects are on the entrance exam?

The 11 plus exam for entry to Tiffin School consists of two stages:

1. Stage one (Friday 3rd October 2025): Tiffin School English and maths. These are one-hour multiple-choice papers created internally by Tiffin School.
2. Stage two (November 2025): Tiffin School English and maths. These are one-hour written papers which are set and marked by Tiffin School.

What are the sports and music aptitude assessments?

Boys who demonstrate particular skill in music or sport can be prioritised for places at Tiffin School. 5% of places are awarded to boys who show aptitude in music, and 5% of places to boys who show aptitude in sport. Your child will need to take the sporting aptitude assessment or music aptitude assessment – and still perform to a required level in the standard entrance exams – to be considered.

Registration for the two assessments opens along with the stage one registration on Wednesday 4th June 2025. However, you will need to submit your child’s registration by Monday 7th July 2025 to enter your child for the sport or music assessment.

The sporting aptitude assessments will take place from Tuesday 15th to Wednesday 16th July 2025. The first part is an assessment of cardiovascular endurance. Children who perform well in this part will be invited to the second part which consists of further assessments. The assessments aren’t sport-specific, so no specific preparation, skills or coaching are required.

The music aptitude assessments will take place from Wednesday 9th to Friday 11th July 2025. Children complete a written assessment and listen to a range of pitches, melodies, rhythms and textures, and identify differences between them.

Children who perform well in the first part are shortlisted for the second part. They will hear rhythmic and melodic patterns and will need to clap or sing the patterns they hear. Children won’t need to have had musical instrument lessons to prepare for this.

How does place allocation work at Tiffin School?

Your child’s raw scores from stage one are combined and age-standardised. This ensures children born later in the academic year aren’t disadvantaged. This final score is your child’s ‘stage one score’.

Children with the highest stage one scores are invited back to the stage two test. The number of shortlisted children will be at least sufficient to meet 180 after the admissions process has been completed.

The stage two exam papers are also age-standardised and then combined with the results from the stage one test. At Tiffin School, the combined mark is made up of 50% English and 50% maths. The English mark comes from the stage two test only. The maths mark comes from the stage one and the stage two tests in the ratio of 2:3.

Children are ranked in order of their total weighted scores, and within each category of the school’s selection criteria. Disadvantaged children have a 10% leeway applied to their marks. Any child that has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which names the school will be automatically admitted.

Boys who have a combined score equal or higher than that of the 450th candidate are prioritised for places in this order:

1. ‘Looked after’ and ‘previously looked after’ children who live within the priority area
2. Boys whose primary school receives Pupil Premium in respect of him, and who live within the priority area
3. Up to 9 places are then available for boys who achieve above the benchmark threshold in the sporting aptitude test, in rank order, who live within the priority area
4. Up to 9 further places are available for boys who achieve above the benchmark threshold in the music aptitude test, in rank order, who live within the priority area
5. Boys who live within the priority area
6. Boys who live outside the priority area

What is the Tiffin School priority area?

The Tiffin School priority area includes boys who live within 10km of the school.

How can I help my child prepare for the Tiffin 11 plus?

The Tiffin 11 plus is designed to be challenging. Here are our top tips to help your child prepare for the exam in September 2025.

Bitesize learning

It’s important to build a good knowledge base before the 11 plus. Using a ‘little and often’ approach when learning is key – our brains encode new information more effectively when dealing with smaller ‘chunks’ of information. For children aged 10–11, child psychologists recommend regular study sessions of 20–30 minutes.

Atom Home makes learning a more enjoyable process for your child. They'll explore exciting worlds full of interactive questions, earning coins to spend in the Atom shop. Atom adapts to your child, showing them questions at just the right level of difficulty to keep them motivated.

Read widely

11 plus exams test your child’s ability to analyse and interpret written information. Regular reading is a great way to help your child build these skills.

Encourage them to read books from different genres and by a diverse range of authors. Increasing the variety of your child’s reading will help them understand different styles, tones and purposes. Meanwhile, reading a little every day will help widen their vocabulary, sharpen their analytical thinking, and enhance their imagination.

Looking for reading inspiration? Explore Atom's top picks in our downloadable reading list for ages 7–11!

Refine exam technique

When your child feels confident with the topics they’ve learnt in Year 5, they’ll be ready to put their knowledge to the test.

Practice tests can help your child develop problem-solving skills and build confidence working under test conditions. They’re also a great way to consolidate learning and highlight knowledge gaps for further improvement.

With Atom Home, you'll unlock online mock tests and printable practice papers. Enjoy automatic marking and progress tracking with the online tests, and help your child get familiar with the real exam experience with printable practice papers.

Celebrate progress

Setting regular, achievable goals and celebrating your child’s progress – no matter how big or small – will help keep their motivation high.

Make sure to encourage a growth mindset. This means celebrating effort, as well as achievement! When your child makes mistakes or struggles to understand a particular topic, help them understand that they’ll improve through practice. Regular praise will help your child improve their resilience when tackling new and challenging topics.