If you are considering St John’s School in Leatherhead for Year 7, the entrance process is quite different from schools that set traditional handwritten 11+ papers.
Children sit the ISEB Common Pre-Tests in the autumn of Year 6 and are then invited to a St John’s Experience Day in January. The school looks at the whole application rather than relying on one examination score.
Here are 17 things parents should know before starting preparation.
1. Year 7 is called the Lower Third at St John’s
St John’s is a selective, co-educational independent school for pupils aged 11 to 18. It offers day places alongside weekly and flexible boarding.
Children entering in Year 7 join what St John’s calls the Lower Third.
2. Registration for 2027 entry closes on 1 November 2026
For September 2027 entry, applications need to be made during Year 6.
Current admissions information gives 1 November 2026 as the registration deadline. The same date also matters for many Year 7 scholarship applications.
Do not wait until the entrance test is approaching before investigating the school.
3. There is no traditional St John’s 11+ written paper
This is probably the most important thing to understand.
St John’s uses the ISEB Common Pre-Tests for Year 7 admission. These are online rather than handwritten and are used by a number of independent senior schools.
So buying generic English and maths entrance papers without first understanding the ISEB format is not the best starting point.
4. There are four parts to the ISEB
Children are tested in:
English – 40 minutes
Mathematics – 40 minutes
Non-Verbal Reasoning – 30 minutes
Verbal Reasoning – 25 minutes
That is 2 hours 15 minutes of assessment in total.
The sections do not necessarily all have to be completed on the same day.
5. Be careful with old information online
This is particularly important for St John’s applicants.
Some current-looking tuition websites still display older ISEB timings. The official ISEB information for the 2026–27 testing session gives the timings above.
When information conflicts, use ISEB and St John’s own admissions information rather than an old tutoring article.
6. The test is adaptive
The ISEB is not simply an online version of a paper examination.
It is adaptive, which means the system adjusts the difficulty of questions according to the child’s previous answers.
Parents therefore should not worry if a child comes out saying some questions became very difficult.
That can be part of how the assessment works.
7. Maths is based mainly on learning up to the end of Year 5
This is reassuring.
ISEB states that the mathematics content is based on the National Curriculum up to the end of Year 5. Areas include number and place value, calculations, fractions, decimals and percentages, measurement, geometry and statistics.
So I would not begin by pushing a ten-year-old through secondary-school mathematics.
Get the basics extremely secure first.
8. Problem solving matters as much as calculation
ISEB says some maths questions test arithmetic fluency, while others require children to solve problems and sometimes combine more than one topic.
A useful preparation strategy is therefore to mix questions.
Rather than completing twenty almost identical fraction questions, give a child a mixture of fractions, measures, arithmetic and word problems so they have to decide what mathematics to use.
9. English is more than comprehension
The English section includes reading comprehension as well as vocabulary, punctuation, grammar and spelling.
Regular reading is therefore excellent preparation.
Ask your child:
What does this word mean here?
Why did that character behave like that?
Which part of the passage supports your answer?
What is the writer suggesting?
These simple conversations develop several of the skills being assessed.
10. Verbal reasoning may need familiarisation
Verbal reasoning tests a child’s ability to reason using words and language.
ISEB says it assesses skills including vocabulary, comprehension, reasoning and logic.
A bright child may still find these questions strange the first time they encounter them.
Familiarisation is therefore useful even if you are not doing intensive entrance-exam tuition.
11. Non-verbal reasoning is different again
Non-verbal reasoning uses shapes, diagrams and spatial information.
Children have to identify relationships, patterns and logical changes rather than simply recall something they were taught at school.
ISEB suggests that activities such as visual-memory games, construction activities and pattern-based games can help develop these abilities.
You do not need to make every preparation session a worksheet.
12. Make sure your child practises on a screen
This is one area where I would definitely prepare.
The real ISEB is online, so a child who has practised only with printed books is missing an important part of the experience.
ISEB provides a free official Pre-Tests Walkthrough that lets children see the test platform, practise selecting answers and explore the accessibility settings. ISEB recommends that children use it before taking the real tests.
Use this before spending money on lots of third-party resources.
13. Your child normally only takes the ISEB once
This is useful if you are applying to several schools.
ISEB says a pupil takes the Pre-Tests once during an academic year, and the results can then be shared with multiple senior schools.
So if another school on your list also uses ISEB, your child should not normally have to repeat the whole assessment.
14. The test is usually taken at your child’s current school
ISEB recommends that children sit the Pre-Tests at their existing junior or prep school where possible.
For St John’s 2027 entry, current guidance indicates that tests are taken during October or November 2026. If a child’s current school cannot administer them, St John’s is expected to offer an assessment sitting on 21 November 2026.
Check the final arrangements with Admissions once your child is registered.
15. Every applicant then has an Experience Day
This is one of the biggest differences between St John’s and many other selective schools.
After the ISEB tests have been completed, applicants are invited to a St John’s Experience Day.
For 2027 entry these are scheduled for Monday 4 and Tuesday 5 January 2027.
The day includes group activities and an informal interview with a member of staff rather than simply another morning of written examinations.
16. Do not over-coach the Experience Day
This part of the process gives St John’s a chance to see more of the child than an online test can reveal.
A child should be able to talk naturally about school, books, sport, music, hobbies and things they enjoy doing.
They should also be able to work with other children.
I would concentrate on simple habits:
Listen when somebody else is talking.
Contribute an idea.
Do not dominate the group.
Be prepared to have a go.
Ask sensible questions.
Talk naturally to adults.
That is likely to be much more useful than teaching a child a polished answer to “Why St John’s?”
17. St John’s looks at more than the test score
This is perhaps the most important message for parents.
Offers are based on a combination of the ISEB assessment, Experience Day, interview, school reports and references rather than one published pass mark.
The Good Schools Guide reports around 95 places at 11+ and approximately four applications for every place, so admission is certainly competitive.
But St John’s is clearly trying to identify pupils who will contribute to the wider life of the school as well as cope academically.
How I would prepare a child for St John’s Leatherhead
I would keep preparation quite simple.
For English, read every day. Discuss unfamiliar words, inference, grammar, punctuation and meaning.
For Maths, make Year 5 number skills extremely secure before moving onto increasingly unfamiliar problem-solving questions.
For Verbal Reasoning, introduce the main language and logic styles so nothing feels completely new.
For Non-Verbal Reasoning, practise looking for patterns, rotations, reflections and relationships between shapes.
For the online test, use the official ISEB walkthrough.
Then gradually introduce timed work.
The aim should be to make the format familiar, not to make a ten-year-old feel as though they are preparing for A levels.
Do you need an 11+ tutor?
Not automatically.
The maths content is based on the National Curriculum through Year 5, while the official ISEB familiarisation resources allow children to understand how the online assessment works.
A tutor may be useful if your child has a particular gap, struggles with reasoning or you want some structure.
But I would first:
- Try the official ISEB walkthrough.
- Look at the ISEB framework.
- Check your child’s Year 5 maths.
- Assess their reading and vocabulary.
- Introduce some reasoning questions.
Only then decide what additional help is actually required.
ISEB itself warns that it cannot guarantee that third-party Common Pre-Test resources accurately reproduce the content, difficulty or presentation of its live assessments.
What if my child has SEND?
Raise this early rather than shortly before the examination.
Parents register their child through the ISEB Guardian Portal and can provide information about SEND and requested access arrangements.
Depending on need and supporting evidence, arrangements can include 25% extra time, supervised rest breaks, a reader, a separate room or other appropriate adjustments. The senior school has to approve the arrangements.
Speak to both your child’s current SENCo and St John’s Admissions before the tests are scheduled.
Scholarships at St John’s
St John’s offers a wider range of scholarships than many schools.
For Lower Third entry, current scholarship areas include:
Academic
Art
Design and Engineering
Music
Performing Arts
Sport
Applications for Lower Third 2027 scholarships are already open, and the usual application deadline is 1 November in Year 6, with assessments taking place in January.
A scholarship should not be confused with a bursary. Scholarships recognise ability and potential, while bursaries are primarily about financial circumstances.
What about bursaries?
St John’s offers means-tested bursaries for new pupils.
Its bursary provision reflects the school’s history as a school originally founded to educate the sons of poorer clergy, and there remains specific provision for families of practising Anglican clergy alongside general means-tested support.
Current bursary-policy information indicates that awards can reach 100% of tuition fees in appropriate circumstances.
Parents who may need financial assistance should investigate this when applying, rather than waiting until after an offer.
How much are the fees?
For 2026–27, The Good Schools Guide gives annual day fees ranging from £30,540 to £34,710, depending on year group.
Current published fee information for the Lower School puts Year 7 at approximately £10,180 per term including VAT, or £30,540 across three terms.
Fees change, so families applying for September 2027 should check St John’s own fee schedule once the new academic-year figures are published.
Is St John’s very competitive?
Yes.
The Good Schools Guide, updated in August 2026, reports applications from more than 100 different schools, around 95 Year 7 places and approximately four applications for every place.
Those figures make the school selective, but they should not be interpreted as meaning every applicant needs years of intensive coaching.
The admissions process deliberately includes the Experience Day, interview and current-school information as well as the ISEB result.
Key dates for St John’s Leatherhead 2027 entry
ISEB registration for 2026–27: already open
St John’s application deadline: 1 November 2026
ISEB assessment: October/November 2026
St John’s ISEB sitting if required: 21 November 2026
St John’s Experience Days: 4 and 5 January 2027
Scholarship assessments: January 2027
Offers: mid-February 2027
Acceptance deadline: early March 2027
Parents should check these dates again directly with St John’s before applying.
The Teach17 view
St John’s Leatherhead is not an entrance process where I would spend months drilling traditional English and maths papers.
There are five things I would concentrate on:
Reading
Secure Year 5 maths
Verbal reasoning
Non-verbal reasoning
Confidence using the online ISEB platform
Then prepare for something equally important: meeting people.
The January Experience Day means St John’s gets to see how a child communicates, joins in and responds to other people rather than judging them entirely from a computer score.
That makes preparation slightly different.
Help your child become academically secure. Make the ISEB format familiar. Encourage them to read and think. Let them practise talking confidently to unfamiliar adults.
But leave enough space for them still to behave like themselves.
Sources researched
This guide was researched and cross-checked using more than 17 sources and websites. Particular weight was given to St John’s School Leatherhead’s current Admissions Process, Scholarship, Term Date, Transport and school information; the Independent Schools Examinations Board’s 2026–27 Pre-Test information, Test Framework, SEND guidance and official familiarisation resources; the Independent Schools Council; Independent Schools Inspectorate; GOV.UK Get Information About Schools; The Good Schools Guide; Rokeby School’s 2025–26 Senior Schools Guide; Atom Learning; ExamBerry; Exam Beacon; ClassAce; FindMySchool; Muddy Stilettos; Donhead Preparatory School; Schrole; Education Choices; the Charity Commission; Vectare; and current feeder-school and independent-school information.
Where an entrance-exam website conflicts with St John’s or ISEB, parents should use the school and examination board’s current information.
Admissions arrangements can change from one year to the next, so all dates and fees should be checked again before submitting an application.