Bursaries & Assistance How to Apply Registration Forms Request Prospectus

Entrance to King's' School is by examination - you can find our current guidelines and some previous entrance examination papers for revision purposes below. The papers are available in Microsoft Word format. To download simply click the corresponding link.

Information for candidates wishing to apply for entry to the junior school in September 2009

The examination for seven-year-old applicants will take place on Friday 23 January 2009.

Boys and girls will be tested in relation to the National Curriculum requirements of Key Stage 1. The tests are designed to assess potential as well as achievement, thus parents should not be discouraged from entering their son or daughter. There will be brief formal tests in Arithmetic, Written English, Reading and Reasoning as well as a chance to talk with staff and undertake some play activity. We aim to make the morning as informal and relaxing as possible. Past papers are not available, although summary details of the content of the tests are available from the school.

The examination 8, 9 and 10 year old applicants - will take place on Saturday 31 January 2009.

There will be papers in English, Arithmetic and Reasoning. Past papers are not available, although summary details of the content of the tests are available from school. The tests are designed to assess potential as well as achievement, thus parents should not be discouraged from entering their children. For boys and girls aged 8 the examination will be related to the National Curriculum Key Stage 2 Levels 2/3. For boys and girls aged 9 the examination will be related to the National Curriculum Key Stage 2, Levels 3/4. For boys and girls aged 10 the examination will be related to the National Curriculum Key Stage 2, Level 4.

Further details and registration forms are now available. They may be viewed or dowloaded from the links below.

• registration form and description of examinations
• summary of topics covered by the papers

Information for candidates wishing to apply for entry to the senior school in September 2009

The entrance examination will be held on the morning of Friday 23 January 2009 for boys and girls who will have reached the age of 11 by 1 September 2009 (i.e. children born between 1 September 1997 and 31 August 1998 inclusive).

The examination consists of a non-verbal reasoning paper, a mathematics paper, an English paper and a group discussion session. The maths and English papers will be based on key stage 2 of the national curriculum and no material outside key stage 2 will be included. There will be a few questions on both papers at level 5 standard, but candidates who have not reached level 5 should not be deterred.

Samples of previous English papers and a specimen Maths paper are available to download below. The school crest has been removed from the documents to speed up downloading.

Candidates should note that the English Examination for entrance at 11+ will take the following format:

• The exam will last 45 minutes
• There will be a Reading and a Writing task, each task counting for 50% of the marks
• The Reading task will consist of reading a passage of fiction or non-fiction of 25-35 lines in length (approximately) and then answering questions on the extract
• The Writing task will be based on the passage and candidates will be asked to write approximately ONE SIDE of A4

A specimen paper is available for download below together with two past papers from earlier years.

It is the school's policy to give whatever financial assistance it can where the need exists. Bursaries, which will be means-tested, are available to help able and deserving applicants wherever possible, particularly those coming from maintained primary schools, and no child should be deterred from applying for a place because of financial considerations. If you believe you may be eligible for assistance with the fees and wish to apply for a bursary, please tick the appropriate box on the registration form.

Further details and registration forms are available in the months before the exam. They may be viewed or downloaded from the links on this page.

Admission to the sixth form is on the basis of GCSE results and academic record, and is open to boys and girls from other schools. For information about entry into the Sixth Form click here.

Alternatively if you wish to obtain an entrance examination paper by post, please send a SAE to: Entrance Examinations, The King's School, Chester, CH4 7QL

If for any reason you can't find what you are looking for, have a look in our alphabetical list, or contact us on the following e-mail: info@kingschester.co.uk