How to prepare for the St Augustine's Priory 11+

The exam at a glance

For Year 7 entry in September 2028, St Augustine's Priory says applicants sit the London 11+ Consortium entrance assessment. ElevenReady's verified information confirms that this is a shared consortium paper, sat on a computer, and that parents should expect testing across Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

Because this is a consortium assessment, the exact balance of sections can vary, so it is sensible to prepare across all four areas rather than trying to second-guess a narrow format. The most important practical point is that your child should get used to working accurately on screen and under time pressure, not only completing paper worksheets at home.

For the most recent published St Augustine's Priory Year 7 timeline on the school's admissions page, candidates were invited to sit the consortium exam in late November, with some additional sitting dates available at other consortium schools. The school also refers to a later Selection Day, which is separate from the written test and forms part of the admissions process.

Board / provider: London 11+ Consortium
Delivery: Computer-based
Subjects to prepare: Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning
Style: Timed, shared consortium assessment
What the day looks like: registration, the computer-based test, and then later in the process a school-run Selection Day for shortlisted candidates

If you want a quick overview of the school's format, dates and admissions notes, see The St Augustine's Priory 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates).

Registration and key dates

St Augustine's Priory runs its own registration for Year 7 entry through the admissions team and application forms on the school's admissions pages. The school publishes separate forms for UK-based and overseas applicants, and its admissions contact page gives an email address and telephone number for queries. The school also states that a non-refundable registration administration fee of £150 including VAT applies.

For September 2028 entry, the school had not yet published a full dated timeline on the pages reviewed at the time of writing. The latest dated timeline available on the school's Year 7 admissions page was for September 2027 entry, so the timings below are typical based on that published cycle, not yet confirmed for 2028 entry.

Step	Typical timing based on the latest published school timeline
Register with the school	Usually completed in the autumn term before the exam; for the latest published cycle, the deadline was 6 November 2026
Consortium exam	Typically late November; for the latest published cycle, 27 November 2026 at St Augustine's Priory, with 1 December and 3 December 2026 available at other consortium schools
Selection Day	Typically early January; for the latest published cycle, 5 January 2027
Offers Day	Typically early to mid February; for the latest published cycle, 12 February 2027
Acceptance deadline	Typically early March; for the latest published cycle, 3 March 2027 at noon

Because independent-school timelines can move from year to year, it is worth checking the school page regularly and signing up for reminders. You can also use Free email alerts for this school's key dates.

When registering, expect to complete the school's application form and provide the details the school requests for your child. If you are unsure what supporting documents are needed for your application route, contact admissions directly through the school page before the deadline rather than assuming the process is the same as a local authority grammar application.

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

St Augustine's Priory is an independent Catholic girls' school in Ealing, with admissions from Nursery to Sixth Form and girls-only entry from Year 7 upward. For 11+ entry, parents apply directly to the school rather than through a local authority grammar-school testing process.

The school page reviewed states that siblings receive priority in assessments, but that admission is not automatic. Beyond that, the school pages reviewed did not publish a simple state-school-style catchment map or a published cut-off distance.

In practice, that means parents should focus on three things:

Eligibility: your daughter is applying for Year 7 entry at a girls' independent school.
Assessment route: registration with the school, the London 11+ Consortium test, and any further school assessment stages such as Selection Day.
School fit: as a Catholic independent school, the school may look at the whole application rather than only one test score.

The school pages reviewed did not publish a verified figure for Year 7 places, a published pass mark, a cut-off score or a catchment distance. If you need those details, check the latest admissions page directly with the school, as independent schools often handle oversubscription differently from grammar schools and may not publish state-school-style thresholds.

A month-by-month preparation plan

For a child aiming to sit the exam in the autumn of Year 6, the most useful preparation starts steadily in Year 5. The aim is not to turn every week into a mock exam. It is to build secure core skills first, then speed, then confidence on a computer.

January to March of Year 5

Keep it light: around 1 to 2 hours a week split over short sessions.
Check current school maths and English first. A child who reads well, writes clearly and knows core number facts will cope much better with timed 11+ work.
Introduce gentle Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning so the question styles do not feel strange later.
Begin some screen-based work, even if only short quizzes, because this school uses a computer-based assessment.

April to June of Year 5

Increase to about 2 to 3 hours a week.
Work topic by topic: arithmetic accuracy, fractions, vocabulary, comprehension, spelling patterns, logic and visual patterns.
Start teaching method as well as answer getting. Your child should know how to approach each question type.
Keep reading going every day: fiction for comprehension and inference, non-fiction for vocabulary and stamina.

July to August before Year 6

Aim for roughly 3 hours a week, with some weeks lighter if you are away.
Start mixed practice across all four subjects.
Introduce short timed sets rather than full papers. Ten or fifteen minutes at a time is enough to teach pace.
If your child has only worked on paper so far, make screen practice a regular habit now.

September of Year 6

Increase to about 3 to 4 hours a week.
Now is the time to use more formal timed sections and build exam routine.
Review errors carefully. Was the problem knowledge, misunderstanding, rushing or misreading on screen?
Make sure registration is on your radar and check the school's admissions page frequently for the new cycle.

October of Year 6

Keep to 4 hours a week at most for most children; more is not always better.
Begin full or near-full timed practice only if foundations are secure.
Practise moving on from hard questions instead of getting stuck.
Do one calm review session each week with no timer, just to consolidate weak areas.

November of Year 6

Focus on confidence, routine and accuracy under pressure.
Use a small number of realistic practice papers well rather than racing through too many.
Taper in the final days. Sleep, normal meals and a calm home atmosphere matter more than one extra worksheet.

A good rule of thumb is this: start untimed, then short timed sections, then fuller timed practice. For a computer-based school test, leave time for children to learn practical habits too, such as reading options carefully on screen, scrolling without losing their place and managing time without panic.

Subject by subject: what to practise

Maths

For St Augustine's Priory, prepare maths as a fast, accurate problem-solving subject rather than only a classroom syllabus exercise. Children should be comfortable with number operations, place value, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio basics, measures, shape, data handling and multi-step word problems. In timed computer-based tests, many marks are lost through misreading rather than lack of knowledge, so practise extracting the important information quickly.

Build fluent arithmetic first.
Practise short mixed sets so your child switches between topics confidently.
Teach annotation habits for word problems, even if the final answer is entered on screen.
Use timed mini-sections once methods are secure.

English

English preparation should cover both comprehension and language accuracy. Consortium-style English sections often reward careful reading, inference, vocabulary knowledge and attention to meaning. Some children read quickly but miss detail; others read carefully but too slowly. Both need practice.

Read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction.
Practise retrieving evidence from short passages.
Work on vocabulary in context, synonyms, antonyms and shades of meaning.
Keep spelling, punctuation and grammar revision going in small regular doses.

Verbal Reasoning

Verbal Reasoning usually tests how well a child spots patterns and relationships in language. This can include codes, letter sequences, word relationships, vocabulary-based logic and structured puzzle types. The key is not endless repetition at random, but learning each question family clearly and then practising it under time pressure.

Teach one question type at a time.
Make sure your child knows the method before adding a timer.
Strengthen vocabulary, because that supports many VR tasks.
Encourage skipping and returning if a question type takes too long.

Non-Verbal Reasoning

Non-Verbal Reasoning focuses on visual patterns, shape transformations, symmetry, rotation, reflection and spatial logic. Children often improve quickly once they learn what to look for, but they also need enough repetition to recognise common pattern types at speed.

Practise identifying the rule before looking at answer options.
Cover rotations, reflections, odd one out, series and matrix-style patterns.
Use short timed bursts to build visual speed.
Review mistakes by naming the missed rule, not just correcting the answer.

Across all four subjects, a simple pattern works best: learn the method, practise untimed, then add speed, then mix topics.

Practice papers and mock exams

Practice papers are useful only when they are used thoughtfully. A child who completes many papers without reviewing mistakes can look busy without actually improving. For a computer-based consortium test, quality matters more than quantity.

Start with one paper or section at a time and use it to diagnose strengths and weaknesses. After each sitting, sort errors into four groups:

Knowledge gaps — for example a maths topic not yet secure
Method gaps — not knowing how to approach a question type
Timing issues — spending too long on one question
Careless slips — misreading, clicking the wrong option, rushing

Then revisit the weakest area before moving on to another full paper. That is how practice turns into progress.

For school-specific support, use these resources:

If you use mock exams, try to choose ones that reflect the real demands of this school as closely as possible: timed, mixed-subject and screen-based where possible. Mocks are most helpful from the start of Year 6 onwards, once your child has already covered the main question types.

On the day

The biggest gift you can give your child on exam day is calm routine. Try not to treat the morning as if everything depends on one test. A steady breakfast, enough time to travel without rushing and a relaxed tone at home are all genuinely helpful.

Check the school's instructions in advance and know exactly where and when to arrive.
Pack anything requested by the school the night before.
Avoid last-minute cramming that raises anxiety.
Remind your child that some questions are supposed to feel hard.
Encourage sensible pacing: read carefully, answer what you can, move on when needed.

For a computer-based assessment, children should also be ready for the practical side of testing on screen. That means feeling comfortable reading carefully from a monitor, selecting answers accurately and keeping track of time without fluster.

After the test, keep the rest of the day ordinary if you can. Avoid a detailed post-mortem in the car home. Most children do not judge their own performance accurately, and replaying every question rarely helps.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

At St Augustine's Priory, the written consortium test is not necessarily the final step. The most recent published timeline on the school site shows a later Selection Day, followed by Offers Day and then an acceptance deadline. For the latest published cycle, Selection Day was in early January, offers were sent in February and accepted by early March.

For September 2028 entry, you should expect broadly similar stages, but the school had not yet published the new dated timeline on the pages reviewed. Check the school's admissions page for confirmation as soon as the 2028 process opens.

As an independent school, St Augustine's Priory handles its own offer process rather than following the state-school National Offer Day system. If your child is offered a place, read the deadline carefully and respond in time. If your child is not offered a place and you want to understand the decision or ask about next steps, contact the admissions team directly. The pages reviewed did not publish a detailed formal appeals process in the way a maintained school or academy might, so this is best clarified with the school itself.

What has changed recently

The clearest recent published update is that St Augustine's Priory's Year 7 admissions process uses the London 11+ Consortium assessment route and the latest available school timeline refers to a consortium exam sat at St Augustine's Priory or at other consortium schools on alternative dates. ElevenReady's verified information for 2028 entry also confirms that the test is computer-based and that families should prepare across Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

Beyond that, we did not find a separate school announcement on the reviewed pages setting out a newly introduced change to catchment, places or a different exam board within the last two years. If the school publishes a new 2028 timeline or changes its admissions arrangements, that should be treated as the latest authority.

Frequently asked questions

Does St Augustine's Priory use the London 11+ Consortium exam?

Yes. ElevenReady's verified information for 2028 entry confirms that St Augustine's Priory uses a consortium-set paper via the London 11+ Consortium.

Is the St Augustine's Priory 11+ paper on paper or on a computer?

It is computer-based for 2028 entry, so children should practise working accurately and quickly on screen.

What subjects should my child prepare for?

Prepare Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Even if the balance varies by consortium sitting, it is safest to cover all four.

When is the St Augustine's Priory 11+ registration deadline?

The latest published school timeline reviewed was for the previous cycle, where the deadline was 6 November 2026. Check the school's admissions page for the confirmed 2028-entry deadline when it is published.

Does St Augustine's Priory have a catchment area?

We did not find a published catchment map or cut-off distance on the reviewed school pages. For this school, parents should check the latest admissions information directly with St Augustine's Priory.

Do siblings get priority?

Yes, ElevenReady's verified information says siblings receive priority in assessments, although admission is not automatic.

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Sources

St Augustine's Priory - 11+ Admissions Process: School admissions route; latest published dated timeline for Year 7 entry including 6 November 2026 deadline, 27 November 2026 exam at St Augustine's Priory, alternative dates of 1 and 3 December 2026 at other consortium schools, 5 January 2027 Selection Day, 12 February 2027 Offers Day, 3 March 202
St Augustine's Priory - Welcome to Admissions: Admissions contact route and school-run admissions pages for applications and enquiries.
St Augustine's Priory - Home: School identity as a Catholic independent school in Ealing with admissions from Nursery to Sixth Form.

Preparing for other schools in Ealing

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.