How to prepare for the St Francis College 11+

Exam format not yet verified. We have not confirmed this school's exam board or paper format from an official source. Where this guide describes the test, treat it as a working assumption and check the school's admissions page before relying on it.

The exam at a glance

For Year 7 entry to St Francis College, the entrance assessment is the school’s own process. For 2028 entry, the working assumption for this guide, not yet verified with the school, is a GL Assessment-style paper covering Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. That means children need broad, even preparation rather than focusing on just one or two areas.

The school’s admissions information says that entrance assessments for Year 7 and Year 9 are held in January prior to joining. For a child starting Year 7 in September 2028, parents should therefore expect the assessment to take place in January 2028, unless the school publishes a change for that cycle.

The published admissions page confirms that the assessment is followed by an interview, and that offers are normally sent by February half term. The school also asks for a recent school report as part of the application process, so admissions decisions are not based on the test alone.

Because the school does not publicly set out a minute-by-minute paper structure on its admissions page, parents should not assume the exact order or length of sections. The safest working assumption is a standard, timed selective assessment with separate question types across the four subjects above. In practical terms, the day is likely to involve:

arrival and registration;
the written entrance assessment;
an interview at some point in the process;
the school considering the test outcome together with the child’s latest school report.

If the school releases more detailed candidate instructions for 2028 entry, use those rather than relying on older formats.

Registration and key dates

St Francis College runs its own admissions process. The school’s Year 7 and Year 9 admissions page says parents should complete the online application form, pay the £100 non-refundable application fee, and provide the child’s latest school report. The page also says that applicants sit an entrance assessment and attend an interview.

For 2028 entry, the school had not published a full set of exact dates at the time of writing. What the school does publish is the typical annual timing:

entrance assessments for Year 7 and Year 9 are held in January prior to joining;
offer letters are sent by February half term.

The only exact application deadline visible in the school’s admissions information was for an earlier cycle: Senior School entry in September 2026 had an application deadline of Friday 5 December 2025. That is useful as a guide to likely timing, but it should be treated as historical rather than assumed for 2028 entry.

So, for a child joining in September 2028, a sensible working timeline is:

Autumn 2027: complete the school’s online application, submit the latest school report and pay the application fee;
December 2027: watch carefully for any published deadline, as a previous cycle closed in early December;
January 2028: entrance assessment and interview, based on the school’s usual pattern;
By February half term 2028: offers are usually sent.

Because independent schools can alter their calendars from year to year, it is worth checking the school’s admissions page regularly and signing up for Free email alerts for this school's key dates: /school-alerts?school=st-francis-college.

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

St Francis College is an independent girls’ school, so there is no catchment area in the way parents might expect with a grammar school or local authority selective process. Applications are made directly to the school rather than through a council testing system.

The school’s published admissions information identifies the usual senior entry points as Year 7, Year 9 and Year 12. For Year 7 entry, the process includes:

an online application form;
a £100 non-refundable application fee;
the child’s latest school report;
an entrance assessment;
an interview.

The school’s page also states that places are offered based on performance in the assessment and interview, along with the latest school report. That is helpful for families because it means preparation should be academic, but not purely test-paper based. A child should also be ready to talk naturally and confidently about school, interests and learning.

The school does not appear to publish a fixed number of Year 7 places on the admissions page reviewed for this guide, and it does not publish a pass mark or score threshold. If you need current availability or likely class sizes for your daughter’s year of entry, the right next step is to contact the admissions team directly through the school.

As with many independent schools, applying early is sensible. It gives time for visiting, asking about transport and pastoral support, and understanding whether your child would genuinely enjoy the school as well as meet the academic standard.

A month-by-month preparation plan

For a January 2028 assessment, most families do best with a calm, steady plan across Year 5 and the first part of Year 6. The aim is not to overload your child, but to build secure skills in all four subjects and then practise working accurately under time pressure.

January to March in Year 5

Keep preparation light: around 1 to 1.5 hours a week split over two or three short sessions.
Read widely and often. Strong comprehension and vocabulary support English, verbal reasoning and even interview confidence.
Check core maths fluency: number bonds, times tables, four operations, fractions and simple problem solving.
Introduce verbal and non-verbal reasoning gently so the question styles do not feel strange later on.

April to June in Year 5

Increase to around 2 hours a week.
Work evenly across all four subjects, because the St Francis format is balanced.
Start short timed bursts: five to ten minutes on one question type at a time.
Focus on method as much as marks. Children should learn how to check work, skip and return, and avoid getting stuck.

July to August before Year 6

Keep momentum without turning summer into a revision block. Around 2 to 3 hours a week is usually enough.
Use one or two short sessions on English and maths fundamentals, plus one or two sessions on reasoning.
Begin mixed practice so your child gets used to switching between subjects.
If you use practice papers, start with untimed or lightly timed work first.

September in Year 6

Move up to around 3 hours a week, still split into manageable sessions.
Begin regular timed practice in each subject.
Review errors carefully. At this stage, improvement comes more from understanding mistakes than from sitting endless papers.
Make a note of any weaker areas such as arithmetic speed, inference in comprehension, code questions in verbal reasoning or shape transformations in non-verbal reasoning.

October in Year 6

Continue at 3 to 4 hours a week.
Start occasional full mixed papers or back-to-back sections to build stamina.
Practise interview readiness very gently: speaking in full sentences, discussing books, hobbies and school topics.
Keep reading aloud and talking about vocabulary, tone and meaning.

November in Year 6

This is often the most productive month for consolidation.
Use one timed paper each week at most, with targeted follow-up work.
Focus on accuracy first, then speed. Rushing too early can create poor habits.
If an application deadline is published, make sure all paperwork is complete well before it.

December in Year 6

Keep work steady but lighter: around 2 to 3 hours a week.
Revise familiar question types rather than introducing lots of new material.
Use short confidence-building sessions and a few timed drills.
Make sure your child is sleeping well and not feeling that every practice set is a high-stakes event.

January of the exam

In the final one to two weeks, reduce volume and protect confidence.
Do brief refreshers on key skills, especially arithmetic, vocabulary and reasoning methods.
Prepare the practical side: route, timings, stationery if required, and a calm morning routine.
The night before, stop early.

For most children, consistency beats intensity. Three calm sessions every week over many months are usually much more effective than long, tiring cramming sessions close to the assessment.

Subject by subject: what to practise

Maths

For a GL-style independent school assessment, maths preparation should cover secure Key Stage 2 content and efficient problem solving. Practise the four operations, place value, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio basics, measures, time, simple geometry and worded problems. Children should learn to spot the operation needed quickly, set work out clearly and check answers sensibly.

Useful habits include mental arithmetic warm-ups, one-step and multi-step word problems, and short timed sets to build fluency without panic. If your child is accurate but slow, work on table recall and written-method efficiency. If she is fast but careless, build checking routines.

English

English practice should focus mainly on comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar. For independent school entry, children often need to read carefully, infer meaning, explain word choice and write clearly in complete sentences. Strong reading habits matter a great deal here.

Use short comprehension passages from varied genres, then discuss not only what happened but how the child knows. Build vocabulary from reading rather than isolated lists where possible. Also revise core SPaG knowledge such as sentence punctuation, verb forms, clauses and common spelling patterns.

Verbal Reasoning

Verbal reasoning in a GL-style format usually rewards familiarity with recurring question types. Children should practise recognising patterns in words and letters, finding codes, completing sequences, identifying relationships, using vocabulary precisely and handling instructions carefully.

The most effective approach is to learn question types one by one, then mix them. Keep a note of methods for each type. Verbal reasoning is not just about being good with words; it is also about accuracy under time limits, so instruction-reading is crucial.

Non-Verbal Reasoning

Non-verbal reasoning typically involves visual patterns, similarities, rotations, reflections, codes, matrices and shape changes. Many children improve quickly once they understand the logic behind repeated formats, so early exposure helps.

Practise by teaching one pattern at a time, talking aloud through what changes from box to box, then moving to timed sets. Encourage your child to look for order: shape, size, position, shading and number. If she finds NVR difficult at first, that is common; confidence usually improves with structured practice.

Practice papers and mock exams

Practice papers are useful when they are used thoughtfully. They are less helpful when they become a constant stream of stressful mini-tests. For St Francis College, choose materials that reflect a GL-style approach across Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

Start with skill-building by topic. Once your child knows the question styles, introduce timed sections. Only after that should you move to fuller papers. After every paper, spend more time reviewing than marking. Ask:

Were the mistakes due to knowledge gaps, timing, misreading or nerves?
Which question types are now secure?
Which two or three areas need work next week?

Try to avoid sitting full papers too often. One carefully reviewed paper can be more valuable than three rushed ones. In the final term before the assessment, occasional practice under realistic timing can help build stamina and confidence.

For school-specific support, use these resources:

Free St Francis College practice papers (one per tested subject, with answers): /schools/st-francis-college-mock-tests
The St Francis College 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates): /schools/st-francis-college
Free email alerts for this school's key dates: /school-alerts?school=st-francis-college

If you use a mock exam, treat it as information, not judgment. A mock is most useful for showing how your child manages timing, transitions between sections and the feeling of working in a room with others. It should lead to a practical plan, not a loss of confidence.

On the day

The best exam-day routine is simple and calm. Aim for a normal breakfast, comfortable uniform or clothes as instructed by the school, and plenty of time for the journey so nobody feels rushed. Children usually perform better when the morning feels predictable.

Remind your daughter that the assessment is only one part of the admissions process. St Francis College also considers interview performance and her latest school report, so she does not need to feel that every mark decides everything.

Useful reminders for the day:

read every instruction slowly before starting;
if a question feels hard, move on and return if there is time;
watch for careless slips in easy questions;
use the whole paper time sensibly rather than rushing the start;
in the interview, answer naturally and politely rather than trying to sound rehearsed.

Parents can help most by staying matter-of-fact. Avoid last-minute quizzing in the car or talking about how competitive admissions are. A child who feels settled will usually show her real ability much better.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

For St Francis College, the school’s admissions page says that offer letters are sent by February half term after the January entrance assessment and interview. Because this is an independent school process, families deal directly with the school rather than waiting for National Offer Day in the way they would for a state secondary transfer.

If your daughter is offered a place, the school will normally explain the next steps, such as accepting the offer and completing any further joining paperwork. If she is not offered a place, you can ask the admissions team politely whether they operate a waiting list and whether they are able to give any general feedback on the outcome.

The school’s public admissions page reviewed for this guide does not set out a formal appeals procedure in the way local authority school admissions do. That is not unusual for independent schools. If you need to discuss an admissions decision, the practical next step is to contact the school directly and ask about its process for reviews, waiting lists or late vacancies.

The key point for parents is that decisions are based on more than one element: the entrance assessment, the interview and the latest school report. So if your daughter comes out of the test worried about one section, it does not automatically mean the overall application has failed.

What has changed recently

From the sources reviewed for this guide, there was no clearly announced change in the last two years to the published Year 7 admissions structure itself: the school continues to describe an online application, school report, entrance assessment, interview, January testing and offer letters by February half term. The one time-specific detail visible was an earlier cycle deadline: September 2026 senior entry had an application deadline of Friday 5 December 2025.

As always, parents applying for 2028 entry should still check the school’s admissions page directly, because independent schools can update deadlines, assessment arrangements and entry requirements between cycles.

Frequently asked questions

When is the St Francis College Year 7 entrance exam?

The school says Year 7 entrance assessments are held in January prior to joining. For September 2028 entry, that means parents should expect January 2028 unless the school publishes a change.

Does St Francis College use GL Assessment?

For 2028 entry, our working assumption, not yet verified with the school, is that the school uses its own paper in a GL-style format covering Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

Is there a catchment area for St Francis College?

No. St Francis College is an independent school, so there is no catchment area in the grammar-school sense.

How do I apply for Year 7 at St Francis College?

Apply directly to the school using its online application form. The admissions page also says you need to pay a £100 non-refundable application fee and provide your child’s latest school report.

Does St Francis College interview Year 7 applicants?

Yes. The school’s admissions information says the process includes an entrance assessment and an interview.

When do St Francis College offers come out?

The school says offer letters are sent by February half term after the January assessment process.

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Sources

St Francis College - Years 7 and 9 entry requirements: Year 7 and 9 entrance assessments are held in January prior to joining; offer letters are sent by February half term; parents complete an online application form; a £100 non-refundable application fee is required; the latest school report is required; applicants sit an entrance assessment and have a
St Francis College - Admissions: St Francis College is an academically selective school; usual senior entry points are Year 7, Year 9 and Year 12.
St Francis College - Home page: School identity as an independent girls' school in Letchworth Garden City.

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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.