How to prepare for The Tiffin Girls' School 11+

The exam at a glance

For September 2028 entry, ElevenReady’s verified information is that The Tiffin Girls’ School uses GL Assessment and that candidates should prepare across Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. The test is paper based.

The school’s current Year 7 admissions information for the most recent published round shows a two-stage process. Stage One took place in early October over two dates, with some candidates then invited to a Stage Two test in November. For parents preparing for 2028 entry, that means it is sensible to think of the process as an autumn testing window rather than one single day, and to keep the family diary flexible until the school publishes the new timetable.

Because the school’s published information for the latest available round describes separate stages, families should read the admissions page carefully each year rather than assuming the format is unchanged. However, the core preparation point is clear: your child needs calm, steady accuracy across all four tested areas, and she needs enough familiarity with timed paper sections to keep moving when the pace lifts.

In practical terms, the exam day experience is usually about much more than academic content. Children need to cope with registration, instructions from invigilators, working in silence, switching between question types and maintaining concentration over a formal test session. A good preparation plan therefore includes not only subject practice, but also short timed drills, careful answer marking and a few full practice runs at a table rather than on a screen.

For a child aiming at Tiffin Girls’, balanced preparation matters. It is common for parents to focus heavily on English and Maths because they feel more familiar, but the verified format means Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning count too. The safest approach is to build all four subjects every week so that no area becomes a weak link.

Registration and key dates

The school’s admissions page for the latest published Year 7 round shows that registration is handled by the school through an online registration form. For 2027 entry, online registration opened on 2 June 2026 and closed on 1 September 2026 at 12 noon. As of today, the school had not yet published the 2028-entry timeline, so parents should treat those dates as the most recent pattern, not as confirmed dates for your child’s year.

For that same published round, Stage One was held on 1 and 2 October 2026. Parents were told on or around 14 October 2026 if their daughter was invited to Stage Two, which was scheduled for 7 November 2026. The national secondary application deadline was 31 October 2026, offers were made on 1 March 2027 and Stage Two results for waiting-list children were emailed on 2 March 2027.

For 2028 entry, the sensible takeaway is this:

Registration usually opens in early June.
The deadline is usually in early September, so summer is not the time to leave forms until the last minute.
Testing begins in early October.
Families may need to be available again in November if a second stage is retained.
You still need to submit your local authority secondary application form by the national deadline, even if school testing is still under way.

The school’s admissions page should always be your first check for the exact registration route, any supporting information required and the current year’s dates once published. If you want reminders when the new timetable appears, ElevenReady’s Free email alerts for this school's key dates are the easiest way to avoid missing an update.

It is also worth bookmarking The The Tiffin Girls' School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates) so you can compare the school’s latest admissions notice against the overall process in one place.

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

The Tiffin Girls’ School is a selective girls’ grammar school with 180 Year 7 places. The school says its normal points of entry are Years 7 and 12.

ElevenReady’s verified directory information for 2028 entry is that the school gives priority through a catchment system made up of an Inner Area and a Designated Area. Girls living in these areas are given priority, and disadvantaged children are given the highest priority within the oversubscription criteria, including looked after or previously looked after children, children in catchment eligible for means-tested free school meals, and children in catchment registered as service children at their current school.

The school’s admissions information also confirms that all places have been offered to children living in the catchment structure introduced in 2014. For families outside the relevant area, that does not automatically mean there is no point in checking the policy, but it does mean you should read the current admissions arrangements very carefully before building your whole application plan around one school.

Because catchment admissions are policy-led and can be updated, parents should always use the current admissions arrangements published by the school for the exact wording of:

the Inner Area and Designated Area definitions
how address evidence is handled
how oversubscription criteria are ordered
whether any waiting-list rules or tie-breaks have changed

The school does not appear, in the sources reviewed here, to publish a simple pass mark that guarantees a place. Selective schools with catchment and oversubscription rules usually combine test performance with the admissions policy, so parents should avoid relying on unofficial claims about cut-off scores or distances. If you see those discussed online, treat them cautiously and check the school’s own admissions page first.

A month-by-month preparation plan

For a child starting Year 7 in September 2028, the exam is expected in the autumn of Year 6. A steady Year 5 plan works best.

January to March of Year 5

Keep it light and regular: about 1 to 2 hours a week in total is enough at this stage. Focus on reading stamina, secure arithmetic, times tables, vocabulary building and short reasoning exposure. The goal is not speed yet; it is confidence and breadth.

Read challenging fiction and non-fiction several times a week.
Revise core Maths facts until they are automatic.
Introduce verbal and non-verbal reasoning gently so they feel familiar rather than strange.

April to June of Year 5

Increase to roughly 2 to 3 hours a week. Start rotating all four subjects every week. This is a good point to identify genuine weaknesses: perhaps comprehension is strong but arithmetic accuracy slips under pressure, or pattern questions are fine but vocabulary is thinner than it needs to be.

Do one short task each for English and Maths weekly.
Add one Verbal Reasoning set and one Non-Verbal Reasoning set.
Begin using short timed sections, but keep them low pressure.

July to August before Year 6

This is where consistency matters. Aim for 3 to 4 hours a week, split across several shorter sessions. Summer is useful for consolidating skills, not for marathon study days.

Start mixed practice so your child gets used to switching subjects.
Use error review carefully: every mistake should teach something.
Begin occasional half-papers or longer timed sections at a desk.

September of Year 6

This is the sharpening phase. Around 4 to 6 hours a week is realistic for many families, broken into manageable sessions. By now your child should know the main question types and be practising timing calmly.

Use full timed papers or realistic section combinations.
Mark work promptly and revisit recurring errors.
Practise bubbling or recording answers neatly if the format requires quick written responses.
Keep one day each week free from 11+ work to protect energy and mood.

Late September to test week

Taper rather than cram. The final fortnight should be about confidence, sleep and rhythm.

Use one or two final timed papers early in the period, not every day.
Revise familiar methods and common traps.
Reduce workload in the last few days.
Prioritise bedtime, breakfast routine and calm reassurance.

If your child is invited to a second stage, do not panic. Keep preparation focused and modest between Stage One and Stage Two: enough to stay sharp, not so much that she arrives mentally drained.

Subject by subject: what to practise

Maths

For GL-style preparation, focus on secure Key Stage 2 arithmetic and problem solving done accurately under time pressure. Typical areas include number operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio basics, measures, shape, simple data handling and worded problems.

Practise mental arithmetic daily in short bursts.
Work on multi-step word problems without rushing.
Train estimation so your child can sense when an answer looks wrong.
Use timed sets to improve pace once methods are secure.

English

English preparation should cover both reading and the technical side of language. For selective-school papers this usually means comprehension, inference, vocabulary in context, grammar, punctuation, spelling and careful reading of instructions.

Read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction.
Discuss tone, viewpoint and evidence from the text.
Revise sentence grammar and punctuation rules.
Build vocabulary steadily using reading, not just lists.

Verbal Reasoning

Verbal Reasoning rewards familiarity. Children often improve sharply once they recognise recurring task types and learn to manage time. The emphasis is usually on language patterns, codes, relationships between words, letter sequences and logical processing.

Learn the main question types one by one.
Keep a notebook of new vocabulary and word relationships.
Practise short, timed sets frequently rather than one long weekly session.
Teach your child to skip, move on and return when stuck.

Non-Verbal Reasoning

Non-Verbal Reasoning is less about school-taught content and more about visual logic. It often includes sequences, rotations, reflections, shape analogies, codes and spatial changes. Improvement comes from spotting patterns quickly and methodically.

Teach the language of shapes, symmetry, rotation and orientation.
Sort question types so your child knows what she is looking for.
Practise identifying one change at a time: shape, shading, position, number or size.
Use timed drills only after the pattern rules are understood.

Across all four subjects, the best routine is learn, practise, review, repeat. A child who carefully analyses mistakes will usually make faster progress than a child who simply races through more papers.

Practice papers and mock exams

Practice papers are most useful when they are used deliberately. One paper done thoughtfully, marked well and reviewed properly is far more valuable than three rushed papers done back to back.

A sensible sequence is:

Learn the question type untimed.
Practise it in short sets.
Move to mixed sections.
Only then use full timed papers.

When you mark work, separate errors into three groups:

Knowledge gaps — she did not know the method or rule.
Technique errors — she knew it, but set it out badly or misread the task.
Timing errors — she could do it, but too slowly.

That diagnosis tells you what to do next. Knowledge gaps need teaching. Technique errors need careful habits. Timing errors need repeated short drills.

Mock exams can be helpful later in preparation because they introduce the realities of a formal room, strict timing and working around other children. They are usually most useful once your child already knows the bulk of the content. Too early, and a mock can simply feel discouraging; later on, it becomes a rehearsal.

For this school, you can use ElevenReady’s free materials here:

If you use third-party papers as well, choose ones that match GL Assessment style and keep the level realistic. Harder is not always better. The aim is to become fluent in the style the school uses, not to collect the most difficult questions possible.

On the day

The best exam-day support is practical and calm. Your child does not need a motivational speech; she needs a predictable morning.

Prepare everything the night before: travel plan, clothing, pencils, eraser, water and any registration details the school requests.
Allow more travel time than you think you need.
Keep breakfast familiar rather than special.
Do not introduce new work that morning.

Useful reminders for your child are simple:

Listen carefully to instructions.
If one question feels hard, move on and come back if there is time.
Work steadily rather than rushing the first section.
Check answers if time remains, especially where she changed her mind.

If the process remains two-stage for your daughter’s year, treat Stage One and Stage Two as separate events emotionally. After the first test, let her decompress rather than interrogating her about every question. Children are rarely good judges of how they have done, and post-exam analysis often creates more stress than clarity.

Parents can help most by being matter-of-fact. Warmth and confidence are useful; pressure is not. A child usually performs best when she feels that this is an important opportunity, but not a verdict on her worth.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

For the most recent published Year 7 round, the school said parents were notified on or around 14 October 2026 if their daughter was invited to Stage Two. That means the first communication may be about progression in the process rather than a final offer outcome.

The wider admissions process then follows the normal secondary transfer route. Parents must submit their local authority Common Application Form by the national deadline, and national offer day is 1 March. For the published 2027-entry cycle, offers were made on 1 March 2027 and Stage Two results for waiting-list children were emailed on 2 March 2027.

In general, the sequence is:

Register for the school’s test by the school deadline.
Sit Stage One, and if applicable Stage Two.
Submit your local authority school preferences by the CAF deadline.
Receive the national offer on 1 March.
If you are not offered a place, consider the waiting list and, where appropriate, an appeal.

If you are thinking about an appeal, use the official admission authority guidance for that year and focus on evidence rather than frustration. Appeals are not about whether the test felt difficult; they are about whether the admission arrangements were applied properly or whether there is a strong reason the child should be admitted despite prejudice to the school.

Because schools and local authorities sometimes update waiting-list and appeal arrangements, always check the current admissions documents for your daughter’s application year before acting.

What has changed recently

The most clearly published recent update in the sources reviewed was the 2027-entry timetable, which set out a two-stage testing process with Stage One in October 2026 and Stage Two in November 2026. As of 4 October 2026, a full 2028-entry timeline had not yet been published on the school page reviewed, so parents should watch for the next admissions update rather than assuming the dates are identical.

ElevenReady’s verified information for 2028 entry is that the school will use GL Assessment across Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning, paper based. Parents should rely on the school’s next admissions notice for any year-specific operational changes, especially whether the two-stage structure remains exactly the same.

No separately announced recent change to the published number of Year 7 places was identified in the sources reviewed here beyond the school’s statement that the Year 7 cohort is 180.

Frequently asked questions

Does Tiffin Girls use GL Assessment for 2028 entry?

Yes. ElevenReady’s verified information for 2028 entry is that the school uses GL Assessment across Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

Is the Tiffin Girls' 11+ paper based or online?

For 2028 entry, ElevenReady’s verified information is that the test is paper based.

How many Year 7 places are there at The Tiffin Girls' School?

The school states that the Year 7 cohort is 180.

When do registrations usually open for Tiffin Girls?

The latest published Year 7 timeline showed online registration opening on 2 June 2026 for 2027 entry. For 2028 entry, check the school’s admissions page for the new dates once published.

Is there a catchment area for Tiffin Girls?

Yes. ElevenReady’s verified information is that the school gives priority through an Inner Area and a Designated Area, with disadvantaged children in catchment given the highest priority in the oversubscription criteria.

Does the school publish a pass mark or cut-off score?

Not in the sources reviewed here. Parents should be cautious about unofficial claims online and check the school’s own admissions page for the current arrangements.

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Sources

The Tiffin Girls' School – Admissions Year 7: School runs Year 7 registration through an online registration form; 2027-entry timeline: registration opened 2 June 2026, deadline 1 September 2026 at 12 noon, Stage One on 1 and 2 October 2026, notification on or around 14 October 2026, Stage Two on 7 November 2026, Stage Two results for waiting-l
Ofsted – The Tiffin Girls' School: Ofsted rating Outstanding.

Preparing for other schools in Kingston upon Thames

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.