The exam at a glance
Queen’s Gate School says it is part of the London 11+ Consortium for Senior School entry. For 2028 entry, ElevenReady’s verified information is that applicants should expect a shared consortium entrance paper, with Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning all relevant areas to prepare. Consortium schools do not always use exactly the same balance of subjects every year, so parents should treat all four as important and then check the school’s current admissions information when registration opens.
The school’s admissions process for 11+ entry includes the London Consortium examination and then interviews for shortlisted candidates. On the last published cycle visible on the school’s admissions information, the consortium examination was taken at Queen’s Gate School, followed later by interview dates. The school does not clearly publish, on the page we found, a detailed breakdown of paper length, section timings or whether answers are written on paper or delivered in another format, so it is best to confirm those practical details directly with the school once the next admissions round opens.
In practical terms, families should prepare for an autumn exam sitting in Year 6, with a test day that is likely to feel more like an independent school assessment than a single-state-school 11+ round. Children usually need to be ready for careful reading, accurate arithmetic, problem solving, vocabulary-based reasoning and visual pattern work, and then to talk confidently about themselves at interview if invited to that stage.
- School type: independent day school for girls aged 4–18
- 11+ route: Senior School entry at age 11
- Exam route: London 11+ Consortium entrance paper
- Subjects to prepare: Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning
- Interview stage: yes, on the last published cycle the school listed interview dates after the written exam
- Delivery details: not confirmed on the published information we found
Registration and key dates
Queen’s Gate runs its own admissions process through the school rather than through a local authority 11+ portal. The school’s admissions page says parents should complete an online registration form and pay a registration fee. For the most recently published 11+ cycle visible on the school website, the application deadline for September 2027 entry was Friday 6 November 2026, with the London Consortium examination at Queen’s Gate on Tuesday 1 December 2026.
Because you are preparing for 2028 entry, parents should be careful not to assume the same dates will be reused. At the time of writing, we found published dates for the previous entry round rather than a full 2028 timetable. That means the safest wording is that registration typically closes in early November and the consortium exam is typically in early December, based on the dates the school published for the last visible cycle.
The same school page also listed interview dates on Saturday 9 and Saturday 16 January 2027, with offers on Friday 12 February 2027 and acceptance deadline Wednesday 3 March 2027 at noon for that cycle. If Queen’s Gate follows a similar pattern, families applying for 2028 entry should expect written assessment in late autumn or early winter of Year 6, interviews in January, and decisions in February, but you should always check the live school page for the current year before relying on any date.
What parents should do:
- Check the Queen’s Gate admissions page as soon as Year 5 summer term begins.
- Complete the school’s registration form rather than waiting for a local authority 11+ process.
- Be ready to pay the registration fee the school asks for.
- Keep copies of any confirmation emails and note whether the school requests supporting documents.
- Sign up for updates so you do not miss the live deadline.
Useful links for parents:
- The Queen's Gate School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates)
- Free email alerts for this school's key dates
| Stage | Last published timing we found |
| Application deadline | Friday 6 November 2026 |
| London Consortium examination at Queen’s Gate | Tuesday 1 December 2026 |
| Interview dates | Saturday 9 and Saturday 16 January 2027 |
| Offer day | Friday 12 February 2027 |
| Acceptance deadline | Wednesday 3 March 2027 at noon |
Who can apply: catchment and admissions
Queen’s Gate is an independent school and does not use a state-school-style catchment area. ElevenReady’s verified school data for this guide is NoCatchment, and we did not find any published geographical priority area on the school’s admissions information.
The school is academically selective for Senior School entry. The admissions page says that 11+ candidates sit the London Consortium examination, and shortlisted applicants are then interviewed. In other words, the process is based on performance in assessment and the school’s broader admissions decisions, not on home address distance.
We did not find a clearly published number of Year 7 places, a published acceptance rate, or a published score threshold for 11+ entry on the sources we checked. That is common at independent schools. If you want the current size of the intake, whether external candidates are competing for a set number of places, or how many places usually go to pupils already in the junior school, it is worth asking admissions directly rather than relying on forum estimates.
For families, the main practical point is this: because there is no catchment to help or hinder your child, preparation matters, and timing matters. Register on time, prepare broadly across all four subjects, and be ready for an interview stage if your child is invited through.
A month-by-month preparation plan
For most children aiming at a consortium independent school exam in Year 6, the right approach is steady work over time rather than a sudden push. A realistic plan for a Year 5 child is usually between 2 and 4 hours a week at the start, rising to 4 to 6 hours a week nearer the exam, split across short sessions. That is enough for most children if the work is regular and purposeful.
January to March of Year 5
Keep it light and diagnostic. Spend two short sessions each week on core Maths and English, and one short session on reasoning skills. The aim is to spot gaps early: arithmetic fluency, fractions, comprehension stamina, spelling accuracy, vocabulary range and confidence with unfamiliar question types.
At this stage, avoid heavy timed practice. Instead, build calm familiarity. One useful pattern is:
- 1 session of Maths fundamentals
- 1 session of English reading and written response
- 1 mixed reasoning session covering VR and NVR
April to June of Year 5
Increase to around three or four hours a week. Start topic-based practice in each subject and keep a simple error log. If your child repeatedly drops marks on one-step arithmetic, inference questions, code-based VR or shape rotations, address that specifically before moving on.
By the end of this period, your child should have seen the main question families across all four subjects, even if speed is still developing.
July to August before Year 6
This is the ideal time to make preparation consistent without school pressure. Aim for four hours a week in short blocks, with plenty of reading. Introduce the first gently timed sections, not full papers every week. The goal is to learn pacing: when to move on, when to check, and how to recover after one hard question.
Summer is also a good time to widen vocabulary naturally through reading, discussion and keeping a notebook of new words.
September of Year 6
Move into exam-specific practice. This is the point to use timed sections regularly and begin full or near-full papers. Four to five hours a week is usually enough if your child is also managing school well. Mark work carefully and review mistakes within a day or two.
If the school has not yet published the new cycle’s finer details, continue preparing all four subjects rather than trying to narrow too soon.
October of Year 6
This is the consolidation month. Keep one paper or substantial mixed assessment each week, but do not let preparation become an endless run of mocks. Most improvement now comes from targeted correction: careless arithmetic, misreading instructions, weak paragraph evidence, slow VR methods or NVR overthinking.
Begin light interview preparation too: talking about interests, books, clubs and why the school appeals.
November to exam month
Taper slightly. Keep sessions focused and calm. One or two timed pieces a week plus review is enough. In the final ten days, prioritise confidence, sleep and routine over cramming. Your child should walk into the exam feeling that the question styles are familiar.
Subject by subject: what to practise
Maths
For consortium-style independent school tests, Maths usually rewards secure Key Stage 2 knowledge used accurately and under time pressure. Children should be comfortable with the four operations, place value, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio basics, measurement, perimeter, area, time, angles and multi-step word problems.
Practise short mental warm-ups, then mixed written questions. Put special emphasis on translating words into operations and checking that an answer is sensible. Many children lose marks not because the content is too hard, but because they rush the set-up.
English
English preparation should cover both reading and writing, because consortium independent school papers often expect strong comprehension and thoughtful written communication. Reading work should include retrieval, inference, authorial choice, vocabulary in context and explaining evidence clearly. Writing practice should focus on accurate sentence control, punctuation, paragraphing and producing ideas with enough detail.
The best preparation is a mixture of demanding reading, discussion and regular written practice. Ask your child to justify answers from the text rather than guessing what “sounds right”.
Verbal Reasoning
Verbal Reasoning tests a child’s ability to work with language patterns, letter codes, word relationships and logical sequences. The exact mix can vary, so preparation should be broad. Typical areas include synonyms and antonyms, letter sequences, codes, word building, hidden words and logic-style deductions.
Success comes from method as much as knowledge. Teach your child to identify the type quickly, use rough working where helpful and move on if one item is taking too long. Vocabulary building is especially useful here.
Non-Verbal Reasoning
Non-Verbal Reasoning focuses on shapes, patterns, spatial changes and visual logic. Children often improve quickly once they learn to look systematically for movement, rotation, reflection, shading, number of sides, position and size changes.
Practise by naming the rule before choosing the answer. That slows children down at first, but it builds the habit of reasoning instead of guessing. Over time, this leads to better speed and accuracy.
Practice papers and mock exams
Practice papers work best when they are used as a learning tool, not just a score generator. Start untimed so your child can understand the question types properly. Then move to timed sections, and only later to full papers. After every paper, spend at least as long reviewing as you spent completing it.
A simple review routine works well:
- Mark the paper carefully.
- Sort mistakes into content gaps, technique issues and timing problems.
- Redo incorrect questions without time pressure.
- Write down two or three priorities for the next week.
For Queen’s Gate School preparation, these free resources will help:
- Free Queen's Gate School practice papers (one per tested subject, with answers)
- The Queen's Gate School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates)
- Free email alerts for this school's key dates
If you use mock exams, choose them carefully. A useful mock should give your child experience of pacing, stamina and exam-room routine. It should not leave them feeling that every result is a final verdict. One or two well-timed mocks in the autumn of Year 6 are usually more helpful than a long series.
On the day
Keep the morning simple. Aim for a normal breakfast, comfortable uniform or clothes as instructed, and plenty of time for travel. If the school sends a candidate sheet or exam instructions, print them early and pack everything the night before.
Children usually do best when the mood is calm and matter-of-fact. Try not to do last-minute teaching in the car or compare your child with friends. A better approach is to remind them of three practical habits:
- read the instructions carefully
- keep moving if one question feels hard
- check work if time remains
For interview stages later on, encourage your child to speak clearly and naturally. Schools are not looking for rehearsed speeches. They want to meet a pupil who can think, respond and engage.
After the exam, avoid a long post-mortem. A quick “well done, it’s finished” is usually enough.
After the exam: results, allocation and appeals
At an independent school such as Queen’s Gate, the process after the exam is different from local-authority grammar school allocation. Candidates usually sit the written assessment first, some are then invited to interview, and offers are sent directly by the school on its own timetable.
For the most recently published cycle we found, Queen’s Gate listed interviews in January, offers on Friday 12 February 2027 and an acceptance deadline of Wednesday 3 March 2027 at noon. For 2028 entry, parents should use those only as a guide to the likely sequence and check the current school page for the live dates.
If your child is not offered a place, the next step depends on the school’s own admissions process and terms. Independent schools do not follow the same statutory appeal system used by state schools. In practice, parents should ask the admissions team whether a waiting list operates, whether any review process exists, and by what date places may move.
If your child is offered a place, read the acceptance paperwork carefully and note any deposit or deadline requirements set out by the school.
What has changed recently
From the sources we found, the main clearly stated recent position is that Queen’s Gate is part of the London 11+ Consortium and uses the London Consortium examination for 11+ entry. We did not find a newly announced change in the last two years to the exam board, catchment policy or published place numbers on the official sources checked. If the school publishes an updated 2028 admissions page with any format or timing changes, parents should follow that current page.
Frequently asked questions
Does Queen's Gate School have a catchment area for 11+?
No. It is an independent school and we did not find a published geographical catchment area for 11+ admissions.
What subjects should my child prepare for Queen's Gate 11+?
Prepare Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Queen's Gate uses the London 11+ Consortium route, so it is sensible to cover all four and then confirm the current year's exact format with the school.
When is the Queen's Gate 11+ exam usually held?
The last published cycle on the school site listed the London Consortium examination on 1 December 2026 for September 2027 entry. For 2028 entry, treat early December as typical until the school publishes the live date.
Is there an interview for Queen's Gate 11+ entry?
Yes, the school's published admissions process included interviews after the written examination for shortlisted candidates.
How do I register for Queen's Gate 11+?
Register through Queen's Gate School's own admissions process using the school's registration form. Check the admissions page for the live form, fee and any requested documents.
Does Queen's Gate publish 11+ pass marks or score cut-offs?
We did not find published pass marks or score thresholds on the sources checked. If you want current admissions detail, ask the school directly rather than relying on unofficial estimates.
Sources
- Queen's Gate School – Admissions process: Queen’s Gate is part of the London 11+ Consortium; parents complete a registration form and pay a registration fee; 11+ candidates sit the London Consortium examination; shortlisted applicants are interviewed; last published dates on the school page for September 2027 entry were application deadline
- Queen's Gate School – Home page: Queen’s Gate School is an independent day school for girls aged 4–18 in South Kensington, with Senior School and Sixth Form entry points as well as junior entry.
Preparing for other schools in Kensington and Chelsea
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- Mander Portman Woodward School · practice papers
Written by ElevenReady from the school's published information and reviewed by a person before publishing. Last reviewed 4 October 2026. Exam arrangements change. Check the school's admissions page for the current year.