Thank you for your interest in Hampton School and a very warm welcome from the Admissions team.
We know how important it is to choose a school where your son will be happy and thrive and are here to provide you with an insight into Hampton life and guide you through our admissions process.
Our website and social media channels offer an excellent overview of the School but can, of course, only tell you so much. To truly understand what makes Hampton so distinctively vibrant, inspiring and joyful we encourage you to come and visit us - there is no substitute for spending time with our pupils and staff who will be happy to share their own personal experiences of Hampton with you.
Hampton is academically selective and our admissions process is designed to identify natural ability and assess potential. Each year, we are delighted to welcome boys from a diverse range of backgrounds with many different talents and interests. There is no typical Hampton boy but all have a love of learning and a willingness to join in and make the most of the many opportunities on offer.
We work very closely with parents and feeder schools throughout the admissions journey to ensure that Hampton is the right fit school for all those who join us so please do get in touch if you have any questions no matter how small or trivial they may seem - we are here to help and would be delighted to hear from you!
We hope that you find this guide helpful and look forward to meeting you soon.
Visitor events are held throughout the year and provide an opportunity to explore our wonderful facilities and soak up the Hampton atmosphere.
Our events include a talk from the Headmaster and other key members of staff, a Q&A with a pupil panel and a pupil led tour. You will also have the chance to meet and chat informally with our staff and amazing boys. For more information and to book a place please click on the link below:
www.hamptonschool.org.uk/admissions/onsite-visit/
FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND AN INSIGHT INTO HAMPTON LIFE PLEASE FOLLOW OUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
Instagram: @hamptonschooluk
YouTube: Search ‘Hampton School’
REGISTER
ENTRY POINTS
There are three main points of entry:
· 11+ entry to the First Year (Year 7)
· 13+ entry to the Third Year (Year 9) 16+ entry to the Sixth Form
Please note that boys may only sit for 11+ or 13+ entry and not both. Offers are also not transferable from one entry point to another. There is a level playing field for entry and it is not easier to get in at one entry point over another. There is also no difference in overall A level outcomes between boys who join at 11+ and those who join at 13+.
REGISTRATION
Before sitting an entrance exam your son must first be registered with us. To register, please complete our online registration form. A £150 registration fee is required at the time of registration. This fee is waived for boys on Pupil Premium, please contact the Admissions team if this applies. Early registration is recommended.
If you have any difficulty accessing or completing the registration form please do not hesitate to contact the Admissions team who will be happy to help you.
11+ ENTRY
We are delighted to welcome around 165 new Hamptonians to our First Year (Year 7) each September. The majority of boys join us from state maintained primary schools, alongside a number from independent prep schools which finish at the end of Year 6.
Hampton is academically selective and entry is via competitive examination, interview and school reference. The closing date for registrations is 1 November of Year 6 and written assessments are held at Hampton at the end of November of Year 6. Candidates sit three papers:
40 MINS 40 MINS 45 MINS
ENGLISH WORDS & REASONING MATHS
A supporting reference is requested from the candidate’s current school prior to the exam as part of the assessment process. The reference provides us with important information about the candidate as an individual as well as details of current attainment and achievements.
Past papers are not available but further information about our assessments is provided at the end of this booklet.
11+ ADMISSIONS INTERVIEWS
Boys who show potential in our written papers are invited for interview at the beginning of January. We
11+ ENTRY SEPTEMBER 2026: KEY DATES
Saturday 1 November 2025
Tuesday 18 November 2025
Saturday 22 November 2025
January 2026
Friday 13 February 2026
March 2026
interview approximately half the candidates who sit the 11+ exam. Candidates meet individually with two different members of our teaching staff for around 15 minutes. The interviews are friendly and informal and enable us to get to know candidates better and explore their academic and all-round potential as well as their ‘fit’ with the Hampton ethos. Equally importantly, the interviews offer boys the opportunity to spend time with two members of our teaching staff and to tell us about themselves, their interests and hobbies, what they enjoy and what excites them.
Hampton is a very popular school and we regret that we are not able to invite all boys who sit our written assessments for an interview and not all those interviewed are subsequently offered a place.
OFFERS & ACCEPTANCES
Offers are made mid-February and families asked to confirm acceptance at the beginning of March.
A £2,000 non-refundable deposit is required when accepting the offer of a place. The acceptance deposit may be adjusted for families who are offered a full bursary or Free Place.
Closing date for registrations & bursary applications
Closing date for scholarship applications
11+ Entrance & Scholarship exam (at Hampton)
Interviews for selected candidates & scholarship assessments (at Hampton)
Results posted (by email)
Deadline for accepting places (12.00 noon)
13+ ENTRY
We are pleased to have a large 13+ transfer to Hampton and typically welcome around 45 new Hamptonians to our Third Year (Year 9) each year from independent prep schools which finish at the end of Year 8.
Those joining the Third Year enjoy a smooth transition, settling in quickly, shining academically and gaining places in teams and activities. The admissions process begins in Year 6 and entry is via our own Pre-test, interview and school reference. The 13+ Pre-test is held at the end of November of Year 6 and the closing date for registrations is 1 November of Year 6.
Candidates sit three papers:
40 MINS 40 MINS 45 MINS
ENGLISH WORDS & REASONING MATHS
A supporting reference is requested from the candidate’s current school prior to the exam as part of the assessment process. The reference provides us with important information about the candidate as an individual as well as details of current attainment and achievements.
Past papers are not available but further information about our assessments is provided at the end of this booklet.
13+ ADMISSIONS INTERVIEWS
Boys who show potential in the Pre-test are invited for interview in January. Approximately half the candidates who sit our 13+ exam are invited for interview. Candidates meet individually with two different members of our teaching staff for around 15 minutes. The interviews are friendly and informal and enable us to get to know candidates better and explore their academic and all-round potential as well as their ‘fit’ with the Hampton ethos. Equally importantly, our interviews offer boys the opportunity to spend time with two members of our teaching staff and to tell us about themselves, their interests and hobbies, what they enjoy and what excites them.
Hampton is a very popular school and we regret that we are not able to invite all boys who sit our written assessments for an interview and not all those interviewed are subsequently offered a place.
OFFERS & ACCEPTANCES
Offers are made mid-February and families asked to confirm acceptance the following January (Year 7). A £2,000 non-refundable deposit is required when accepting the offer of a place. The acceptance deposit may be adjusted for families who are offered a full bursary.
13+ ENTRY SEPTEMBER 2028 (YEAR 6 PRE TEST): KEY DATES
Saturday 1 November 2025
Saturday 22 November 2025
January 2026
Friday 13 February 2026
Early January 2027
Closing date for registrations & bursary applications
13+ Year 6 Pre-test
Interviews for selected candidates (at Hampton - families will be notified at the beginning of January)
Results posted (by email)
Deadline for accepting places
12+ EXAM
Boys who are not successful in our Year 6 Pre-test are automatically invited to sit our 12+ assessments in Year 7 completely afresh. The 12+ exam is also open to new candidates who have not previously sat for entry to Hampton and who are attending a Prep School which finishes at the end of Year 8.
The closing date for new candidate registrations is 1 October of Year 7 and the exam is held in the November of Year 7. Candidates sit three written papers:
A supporting reference is requested from the candidate’s current school and those showing potential in the written assessments are invited for interview. The interviews are held early January and the format is the same as the 11+ and 13+ interviews.
Offers are made mid-January and families asked to confirm acceptance within eight days. A £2,000 nonrefundable deposit is required when accepting the offer of a place.
Please note that candidates who sat the 10+ and/or 11+ exam, and who were not successful, are not eligible to sit the 12+ exam.
13+ ENTRY SEPTEMBER 2027 (YEAR 7 PRE TEST): KEY DATES
Wednesday 1 October 2025
Saturday 29 November 2025
January 2026
Mid January 2026
Closing date for new registrations
Year 7 Pre-test
Year 7 Interviews
Results of Year 7 Pre Test emailed Friday 30 January 2026
Deadline for accepting places (12:00 noon)
SCHOLARSHIPS
Our Scholarships are highly sought-after and are awarded in recognition of proven talent and/or exceptional potential in a particular field.
The number and value of awards varies from year to year, but they typically involve a fee remission of between 5% and 15% of tuition fees. Honorary awards without accompanying fee remission may also be awarded.
THE FOLLOWING AWARDS ARE AVAILABLE:
Academic Scholarships at 11+ and 13+
Art Scholarships at 11+, 13+ and 16+
Chess Scholarships at 11+, 13+ and 16+
Choral Scholarships (awarded in conjunction with the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace) at 11+
Music Scholarships at 11+, 13+ and 16+
Performing Arts Scholarships at 11+, 13+ and 16+
Sport Scholarships at 11+, 13+ and 16+
ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIPS
Potential Academic Scholars at 11+ are identified through the 11+ entrance exam and all candidates who sit the assessments are automatically considered for an award - there is no separate scholarship exam and no separate application form.
For 13+ entry, Academic Scholarships are awarded through the Common Academic Scholarship Examination based on the Common Entrance syllabus. Candidates are recommended by their prep school Head and are invited to sit assessments in May of Year 8.
CO-CURRICULAR SCHOLARSHIPS
Assessments and auditions for our co-curricular scholarships take place in the January prior to the September of entry. Further details about our Scholarship programme and the application process are available here. Scholarships are not means-tested and may be supplemented by a bursary award.
ASSISTANCE WITH FEES
We are committed to ensuring that a Hampton education is open to talented boys regardless of their family’s financial circumstances and there are currently 105 boys in the School on completely Free Places and many others receive fee assistance.
Bursaries are means-tested and the amount of help provided depends on the family’s individual circumstances and their financial need. Awards range from a 10% to 100% reduction in fees and may also include assistance with other School related costs.
Our separate but closely linked educational charity, The Fitzwygram Foundation, also provides funding for completely Free Places.
Bursaries are available to boys joining the School at 11+, 13+ and 16+ who are successful in our entrance assessments and who will benefit from a Hampton education including the wider, cocurricular life of the School. The closing date for bursary applications for entry at 11+ and 13+ is 1 November prior to the entrance exam. The closing date for 16+ entry is 1 October prior to the assessments.
Please refer to our Help with Fees booklet for further information and details about the application process.
PREPARING FOR OUR ENTRANCE EXAMS
We caution against intense preparation for our entrance exam as this can lead to unnecessary anxiety. Instead, we encourage boys to read widely, to practice as many Maths problem solving questions as they can and to just relax and do their best.
Our papers are designed to identify naturally bright boys and are appropriate for candidates from both primary and prep schools. Although we do not release past papers, the commercially available 11+ papers are similar in format and helpful in terms of getting boys used to doing tests under timed conditions.
Your son may also like to take a look at our fun online Maths Wizard Challenge which includes new problems and solutions every week and our Bookworms webpage which is full of reading recommendations and ideas to extend vocabularyhelpful in all our papers!
The information below provides some pointers for the individual papers:
MATHS PAPER
Questions focus on problem solving and often involve two or three different stages. Candidates should have a good understanding of mathematical techniques (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and, equally importantly, know how and when to apply them to solve mathematical problems.
Questions include some simple calculations, number patterns and relations, spatial relations and elementary logical reasoning.
For example:
1. Give the next term in each of the following series:
ENGLISH PAPER
Our English paper tests writing skills and candidates are asked to complete a piece of creative or descriptive writing based on an image. Candidates should use their language skills (grammar, vocabulary and punctuation) to engage the reader and create a lively piece of work and convincing dialogue. Their writing should include controlled sentences of varied length and pattern, should be coherent as a whole and must be relevant to the image. The English paper also includes a short comprehension exercise. (Boys may write in ink, ball-point or pencil).
Candidates are encouraged to read a wide range of the best children’s novels, by authors such as Gillian Cross, Terry Pratchett, Rosemary Sutcliff, Robert Westall or Philip Pullman – please visit our Bookworms webpage for further ideas.
WORDS & REASONING
2. The distance round a square is 12 metres. What is its area?
3. If a*b means add a and b and divide the result by two (e.g. 3*5 = 4), find the numbers meant by 8*4, 21*3, 6*7.
Calculators are not allowed.
The above information is intended to provide a general idea of the format of our entrance tests that will take place during the autumn term 2025.
The Words & Reasoning paper tests candidates’ ability to extract information from a factual passage and from material such as maps or timetables. It assumes that boys will have read a good deal of non-fiction appropriate to their age: science and history, for instance, and informative books on their hobbies.
The paper also includes questions about the meaning and use of words and some simple verbal and visual puzzles. The questions on the passage of writing are in multiplechoice format and a few questions may take the slightly more awkward negative form:
“All the following are true EXCEPT one. Choose the one that is not true.”
POLICIES & DOCUMENTATION
The following policies and documentation are available on our website and hard copies are available from the School Office on request 020 8979 5526:
· Details of Academic Performance in the last academic year
EAL (English as an Additional Language) policy
· First Aid policy
TRAVELLING TO HAMPTON
Our extensive coach work, operated jointly with neighbouring LEH, provides a convenient, sociable, safe and environmentally friendly way of travelling to and from School. The 26-route service provides easy access to Hampton from London, Middlesex and Surrey.
