How to apply

Your first visit to St Helen’s should ideally be on our whole School Open Day or another open event at least one year prior to entry.

Junior Department Open Doors events

In June, we welcome you and your daughter to this event where you can learn more about the ethos and structure of the Junior Department and its integral pace within the school community. You will have a tour of key parts of the school campus, an opportunity to hear from both Headmistress Mrs Dougall and the Joint Heads of the Junior Department, and most importantly the Year 5 and Year 6 classrooms will have ‘open doors’ for you to observe current students in typical classroom activities.

In October, there is a further opportunity to come and learn about our Junior Department. There will be a presentation by the Headmistress followed by a Q&A session. You will also enjoy a tour of the school campus and in particular the Junior Department facilities.

Invitations to both events will be sent to all registered candidates and those on our enquiry lists.

Book your place:

Book an open event

Candidates should be registered by the appropriate deadline, although late applications may be considered. A registration form should be completed online and the registration fee of £150 paid (£250 for students resident overseas).

The closing date for registrations for 2025 entry will be mid November 2024.

Once your daughter is fully registered you will automatically receive details of the admissions process at the appropriate time.

Register your daughter

After registration, your daughter will be invited to spend a taster day at St Helen’s in the Autumn term of the year prior to entry. The day will take the form of a normal school day and will include lessons in known and new subjects. Your daughter will also have the opportunity to meet students already at St Helen’s and members of the teaching staff.

For entry in 2025, registered candidates for Year 5 and Year 6 will attend a taster day in late November.

In late January prior to the year of entry, candidates will take assessments in mathematics and English. The English assessment consists of a reading comprehension exercise and a written task, and the mathematics assessment comprises a mental arithmetic section as well as written questions.

A reference will also be required from the candidate’s current school.

Candidates being assessed for diagnostic purposes take the assessment papers at the same time as the main entrance assessment process in January. They do not take part in a taster day and references are not sought from the current school.

All candidates will be interviewed in the week after the written entrance assessment by Junior Department staff.

Following interview, places are allocated based on performance in the assessment, the current Head’s reference and the interview. Parents will be notified of the outcome of the assessment within two weeks of the assessment day. If your daughter is offered a place, parents are asked to accept the place as early as possible as there could be important implications for those on the waiting list.

After accepting a place, students are invited to the School on two occasions; the first in June when they attend an induction afternoon with team activities to get to know their form group and form tutor; the second in September on ‘intake afternoon’ the day before the beginning of term.

For more detailed information about the assessments and admissions process for this entry point, please refer to the relevant pages of the booklet below.

Admissions information booklet