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 2028 entry, The Peterborough School uses its own entrance process for Year 7, with testing across Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. our working assumption for this school, not yet verified with the school, is that the assessment is computer-based and timed, so children need practice reading carefully, thinking clearly and working at a steady pace on screen, not only on paper.
The school’s admissions information says that Year 7 entry involves three main parts: an application, entrance tests and an informal interview. In practice, that means parents should prepare for more than the test itself. A child should be ready to settle quickly, follow instructions, and speak politely and naturally about school, interests and strengths.
Because the school’s test draws on GL-style skills across four subjects, preparation should be balanced. It is not wise to focus only on English and Maths. Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning both reward familiarity with common question patterns and timed practice.
What the day looks like can vary slightly from year to year, and the school does not publish a detailed running order for every sitting on its admissions page. Parents should therefore expect the broad pattern below rather than a fixed timetable:
- arrival and registration
- instructions for the computer-based test
- timed sections covering the tested subjects
- an informal interview as part of the admissions process
For families wanting a clear summary of the school’s format and key points in one place, see The The Peterborough School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates).
Registration and key dates
The Peterborough School runs its own admissions process. The school’s admissions page explains that parents should apply to the school and that Year 7 applicants then sit entrance tests and have an informal interview. The same page states that there is a £150 application fee.
For 2028 entry, the school had not published a full set of Year 7 dates on the pages reviewed at the time of writing. Where exact current-cycle dates are not yet available, parents should work from the school’s usual pattern and then confirm directly with admissions as soon as booking opens.
Based on the school pages reviewed:
- Year 7 entrance tests for September admission are held in January of the year of entry.
- Applications must be submitted before the test date.
- The only exact entrance-test date visible on the school material reviewed was Friday 15 January 2027 for September 2027 entry.
- Scholarship interviews and auditions were listed for Saturday 16 January 2027 for that same cycle.
- A Year 7 Admissions Evening was advertised for 10 November.
- Year 5 Taster Mornings were advertised for 11 March 2027 and 24 June 2027.
For families applying for September 2028 entry, the safest working assumption is that testing is typically in January 2028, with applications submitted beforehand. Do not rely on old dates alone: check the school’s admissions page regularly and ask the admissions team when booking opens and what documents they require.
If you want reminders when the school publishes or updates dates, use Free email alerts for this school's key dates.
Parents should also keep in mind that independent-school applications often ask for basic pupil details, parent contact information and the child’s current school details. However, because the school page reviewed did not publish a full checklist of required documents for Year 7 on-page, it is best to confirm the exact paperwork with admissions before submitting.
Who can apply: catchment and admissions
The Peterborough School is an independent coeducational school for boys and girls, and our working assumption, not yet verified with the school, is that there is no catchment area for Year 7 entry. That is a key difference from grammar-school admissions: families are not applying under a local-authority catchment rule, but through the school’s own admissions process.
The school’s admissions information makes clear that Year 7 entry includes:
- an application to the school
- entrance tests
- an informal interview
Because there is no catchment restriction, the question for parents is less about where you live and more about whether the school feels like the right academic and pastoral fit for your child. In practical terms, that means preparing your child to show secure core skills in English and Maths, familiarity with GL-style reasoning, and enough confidence to engage well in conversation with staff.
The school pages reviewed did not publish a verified number of Year 7 places, a published pass mark, or a score threshold for entry. Independent schools commonly make offers using the whole admissions picture rather than a single publicly stated cut-off. If you want the latest detail on availability in a particular year, ask the admissions team directly.
For many families, attending a school event helps them judge fit before applying. The school has advertised a Year 7 Admissions Evening and Year 5 Taster Mornings, which can be useful chances to see the environment and ask practical questions.
A month-by-month preparation plan
Because this test is usually taken in January of the year of entry, a sensible preparation plan for a Year 5 child starts gently and builds through Year 6. The aim is not to create pressure early; it is to develop steady skills, confidence and familiarity with computer-based timed work.
March to May of Year 5
- Keep it light: around 1 to 1.5 hours a week in short sessions.
- Focus on reading comprehension, arithmetic fluency, vocabulary growth and mental maths.
- Introduce simple Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning question types without timing.
- If possible, attend a school event such as a taster morning to help your child picture the process positively.
June to August of Year 5
- Increase to around 1.5 to 2 hours a week.
- Cover all four subjects in rotation so none is neglected.
- Begin short computer-based practice so your child gets used to reading from a screen and selecting answers calmly.
- Build habits: careful working, checking instructions, and moving on sensibly if a question feels sticky.
September of Year 6
- Move to roughly 2 to 3 hours a week.
- Start more structured preparation by subject.
- Identify weak areas early: for example, inference in comprehension, multi-step Maths, code patterns in Verbal Reasoning, or rotations in Non-Verbal Reasoning.
- Keep one session each week untimed so learning does not become entirely speed-driven.
October of Year 6
- Stay at 2 to 3 hours a week, split over several short sessions.
- Introduce timed mini-sections rather than full papers.
- Teach pacing: when to spend a little longer, when to guess sensibly and move on, and how to recover after one hard question.
- Encourage your child to talk through mistakes so they understand them rather than just correcting answers.
November of Year 6
- Increase to around 3 hours a week if your child is coping well.
- Begin full mixed practice sessions covering more than one subject in the same sitting.
- If you attend the school’s admissions evening, use it to ask practical questions about the test day and interview.
- Keep schoolwork, hobbies and downtime in balance; children prepare better when routine feels normal.
December of Year 6
- This is the point to start timed full papers more regularly.
- Aim for 2 to 3 papers a fortnight, with careful review afterwards.
- Practise on screen where possible, because the school uses a computer-based assessment.
- Do not overload the Christmas break. Short, focused sessions are usually more effective than long ones.
January of Year 6, before the test
- Reduce volume slightly in the final week.
- Use brief refreshers, confidence-building questions and a final look at familiar question types.
- Prioritise sleep, routines and a calm tone at home.
- Remind your child that one difficult section does not decide the whole outcome.
This schedule is deliberately moderate. For most children, consistent weekly practice beats cramming, especially for reasoning subjects where familiarity with patterns matters as much as raw difficulty.
Subject by subject: what to practise
Maths
For this school, Maths preparation should focus on secure Key Stage 2 skills delivered under time pressure. Practise arithmetic accuracy, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio, basic algebraic thinking, measures, shape, perimeter, area and interpreting word problems.
Because the assessment is computer-based, include on-screen work and teach your child to extract key information quickly from the question before calculating. Encourage neat rough working, mental estimation to sense-check answers, and calm handling of multi-step problems.
English
English preparation should include reading comprehension, vocabulary, inference, grammar, punctuation and accurate spelling. Strong readers often do well because they can process text efficiently, but children still need specific practice in answering precisely what is asked.
Use short passages at first, then longer ones under time limits. Build vocabulary steadily through reading, discussion and note-making. In grammar work, make sure your child can spot common sentence errors and understands the function of punctuation rather than learning rules by rote alone.
Verbal Reasoning
Verbal Reasoning rewards familiarity. Children should practise common GL-style question patterns such as codes, letter sequences, word relationships, hidden words, odd-one-out tasks, alphabetical order, and clues that depend on careful reading.
The best approach is to learn one question family at a time, then mix them. Make sure your child knows how to recognise the type quickly. Much of the challenge is not the individual step, but switching efficiently between different kinds of verbal puzzle under time pressure.
Non-Verbal Reasoning
Non-Verbal Reasoning usually tests pattern recognition with shapes and visual changes. Children should practise reflections, rotations, symmetry, shape sequences, analogies, grids and identifying rules across rows or columns.
Many children improve quickly once they learn how to scan systematically: count sides, track shading, watch orientation, and compare one feature at a time. Timed practice matters here too, but accuracy should come first. Once the method is secure, speed tends to follow.
Practice papers and mock exams
Practice papers are most useful when they are part of a simple routine:
- learn the question type untimed
- practise a short set with guidance
- try a timed section
- review every mistake carefully
- repeat the same type later to check it has really improved
For this school, remember that the assessment is computer-based. If all practice happens on paper, a child can be caught out by the different feel of working from a screen. Even when using paper materials, add some on-screen sessions for reading, selecting answers and keeping concentration without writing on the question booklet.
Mocks can help, but only if they are used calmly. One mock or one poor paper should never be treated as a prediction. The real value is diagnostic: Did your child rush? Lose focus halfway through? Misread instructions? Struggle to switch between subjects? Those are fixable issues.
Use these ElevenReady resources as part of your preparation:
- Free The Peterborough School practice papers (one per tested subject, with answers): /schools/the-peterborough-school-mock-tests
- The The Peterborough School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates): /schools/the-peterborough-school
- Free email alerts for this school's key dates: /school-alerts?school=the-peterborough-school
A good rule is to keep full papers for later in the process. In the early stages, short targeted practice often gives better progress than repeatedly sitting long tests.
On the day
Keep the morning simple. Aim for an unhurried start, comfortable clothes within the school’s guidance, and a familiar breakfast. Avoid last-minute teaching. A quick confidence boost is fine; a new topic is not.
Because the test is computer-based, remind your child to listen carefully to the instructions at the start and not to panic if the format feels slightly different from paper practice. The core skills are the same.
Useful reminders for children are:
- read the whole question before answering
- watch the clock, but do not stare at it
- if stuck, make a sensible decision and move on
- treat each section as a fresh start
- stay calm if one part feels harder than expected
If your child also has an informal interview, encourage them simply to be polite, speak clearly and answer naturally. They do not need rehearsed speeches. Staff are usually trying to get a feel for the child as a person as well as a learner.
Parents help most by being steady. Children often take their cue from the adults around them. Calm, practical reassurance is usually far more useful than repeated talk about results.
After the exam: results, allocation and appeals
After the assessment, independent-school families usually move through three stages: the school reviews the test performance, takes account of the interview and the application as a whole, and then communicates the outcome directly to parents.
The Peterborough School’s admissions material reviewed for this guide did not publish a verified date for when Year 7 test results are released, nor a published score threshold. If you need the exact results timetable for your application year, check directly with the admissions team.
Unlike state grammar-school admissions, independent-school offers do not follow the local-authority National Offer Day process in the same way. The school handles its own offers and next steps, so parents should read any offer letter carefully for deadlines, acceptance arrangements and any deposit or further paperwork.
If your child is not offered a place, the right next step is to ask the school politely whether there is a waiting list and whether any feedback can be shared. Formal appeal structures are not identical to state-school admission appeals, so the process will depend on the school’s own policies and terms.
If you are also applying elsewhere, keep all dates and responses organised in one place so you can compare options calmly.
What has changed recently
From the official material reviewed, the main recent point parents need to know is that the school’s Year 7 testing information has been presented around a January test date in the year of entry, with a specific published example of 15 January 2027 for September 2027 entry. The school’s pages also advertised related admissions events including a Year 7 Admissions Evening and Year 5 Taster Mornings.
No other clearly announced recent change to board, catchment, place numbers or published admissions rules was stated on the official pages reviewed for this guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does The Peterborough School have an 11+ catchment area?
No. the information in our directory (not yet verified with the school) for this school confirms there is no catchment area for Year 7 entry.
What subjects are tested for Year 7 entry?
For 2028 entry, the test covers Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.
Is the test on paper or on a computer?
It is computer-based, so children should practise timed work on screen as well as on paper.
When is The Peterborough School Year 7 entrance test usually held?
The school states that Year 7 entrance tests for September admission are held in January of the year of entry. The exact 2028 date should be confirmed with the school when published.
Is there an interview as part of the admissions process?
Yes. The school says the Year 7 admissions process includes entrance tests and an informal interview.
How much is the application fee?
The school’s admissions page states an application fee of £150.
Sources
- The Peterborough School – Admissions Process: Application is made to the school; Year 7 admissions process includes application, entrance tests and an informal interview; application fee is £150; official admissions page for Year 7 process.
- The Peterborough School – Home: The school is an independent school for boys and girls and includes Nursery, Prep, Senior School and Sixth Form.
- The Peterborough School – Scholarships: Published example date of Friday 15 January 2027 for Year 7 entrance tests for September 2027 entry; scholarship interviews and auditions on Saturday 16 January 2027; wording that Year 7 entrance tests for September admission are held in January and applications must be submitted beforehand.
Preparing for other schools in Peterborough
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.