How to prepare for the Westbrook Hay 11+ exam

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 at Westbrook Hay, the admissions information currently available points parents towards an assessment day rather than a single stand-alone test session. The school says applicants for Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 are invited to attend an assessment day after registration, and that this includes an academic assessment called Quest as well as a meeting with the Headmaster.

For families preparing for 2028 entry, ElevenReady’s directory (not yet verified with the school) says the academic testing is based on the school’s own paper, using a GL Assessment-style format across Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. In practical terms, that means children should be ready for timed work across all four areas rather than focusing too heavily on only English and Maths.

The school’s public admissions pages do not currently set out a published minute-by-minute breakdown for the Year 7 assessment day, and they do not confirm on the page we found whether the papers are completed on paper or on screen. Because of that, the safest preparation is broad and steady: build secure core skills, get comfortable with standard timed sections, and make sure your child has seen the main GL-style question types in every tested subject.

Board / format: school’s own paper, using a GL Assessment-style format across four subjects
Subjects: Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning
Assessment setting: assessment day for Year 7 applicants, with academic assessment and Headmaster meeting
Best preparation approach: balanced practice across all four subjects, with gradual timing work

Registration and key dates

Westbrook Hay handles its own admissions. The school’s admissions page says families should complete the online registration form and return it with a copy of the child’s most recent school report. Once this has been received, the child is invited to attend an assessment day.

The school publishes a registration fee of £120 per child for main school applications. Nursery has a separate fee, but that is not relevant for Year 7 entry.

For 2028 entry, we did not find a published Year 7 deadline, assessment date or results date on the pages reviewed. The admissions page does, however, confirm the process used for September 2027 entry to Years 7, 8, 9 and 10: online registration, latest school report, then invitation to an assessment day. Because Westbrook Hay is an independent school, dates can be set by the school itself and may differ from grammar-school or local-authority timelines.

So for parents applying for September 2028, the practical approach is:

Check the school’s admissions page regularly from spring and summer of Year 5 onward.
Submit the online registration form as soon as the Year 7 entry window is published.
Have your child’s latest school report ready to upload or send.
Sign up for updates so you do not miss the assessment-day invitation.

You can also keep an eye on The Westbrook Hay 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates) and sign up for Free email alerts for this school's key dates.

At the time of writing, Westbrook Hay has not published the specific 2028-entry Year 7 dates we would want to see, so parents should treat any unofficial date lists with caution and rely on the school’s own admissions page for confirmation.

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

Westbrook Hay is an independent coeducational school, so its admissions process is run by the school rather than through a local-authority secondary transfer system. We did not find a published catchment area for Year 7 entry on the admissions pages reviewed, and we did not find a published priority map or distance rule of the kind often used by grammar schools.

That usually means parents should think less in terms of a formal catchment boundary and more in terms of whether the school can offer a place after its assessment and admissions process. However, because the school has not publicly set out a catchment or oversubscription framework on the pages we found, it is best to avoid assumptions. If location matters for your family, contact admissions directly and ask whether any home-address preference or travel expectation applies.

We also did not find a published number of Year 7 places or a published figure for applications per place on the sources reviewed. Independent schools do not always publish these figures. If you want the most realistic picture of competitiveness, ask admissions how many pupils they typically admit into Year 7 and whether there is usually a waiting list.

One point that is clear from the school’s own information is that the Year 7 route includes both:

an academic assessment, and
a meeting with the Headmaster.

That matters for preparation. Academic work is central, but schools also look for children who can engage politely, listen carefully and speak naturally about their interests, reading and school life.

A month-by-month preparation plan

For September 2028 entry, your child will usually sit the assessment in the autumn of Year 6. That means the most useful preparation window is generally from the spring or summer of Year 5 through to the start of Year 6. The aim is not cramming. It is steady familiarity with four subjects, strong core knowledge and enough timed practice that the day does not feel strange.

January to March of Year 5

Keep it light: around 1 to 2 hours a week in short sessions is enough for most children at this stage. Focus on arithmetic fluency, careful reading, spelling patterns, vocabulary building and simple reasoning work. This is the best time to spot any weak areas without pressure.

Build a habit of regular reading.
Revise core number facts and written methods.
Introduce verbal and non-verbal reasoning gently, one technique at a time.

April to June of Year 5

Increase to around 2 to 3 hours a week. Start practising all four subjects every fortnight so nothing is neglected. English should include comprehension and short writing tasks. Maths should cover accuracy before speed. Reasoning should still be taught by type, not rushed under strict timing.

Begin small sets of mixed questions.
Keep an error log to track repeated mistakes.
Discuss unfamiliar vocabulary from books and practice papers.

July and August before Year 6

This is often the most useful consolidation period. Aim for 3 hours a week, spread across several short sessions. By now your child should know the main question types and be ready to start some timed sections. Do not overdo full papers in the summer; quality review matters more than quantity.

Introduce short timed drills.
Practise switching between subjects.
Review methods after every task, especially where marks were lost through rushing.

September of Year 6

If the school’s assessment falls in the early autumn, this is the point for focused but calm practice: around 3 to 4 hours a week for many children is realistic. Use one or two timed papers each week at most, with plenty of review. Sleep, routine and confidence are now as important as extra questions.

Practise full sections under realistic timing.
Revisit weaker topics rather than endlessly repeating strengths.
Prepare for the Headmaster meeting with simple conversation practice.

The final two weeks

Scale back slightly. Keep work familiar and confidence-building. Avoid introducing brand-new material unless there is a glaring gap. A calm child who knows the routine usually performs better than a tired child who has done too many papers.

Subject by subject: what to practise

Maths

For Westbrook Hay, think in terms of solid Key Stage 2 maths delivered in a GL-style timed format. Children should be comfortable with number operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, measurement, shape, basic algebraic thinking, data handling and multi-step word problems. The key skill is not only getting the answer but choosing an efficient method under time pressure.

Practise arithmetic until methods are automatic.
Use short mixed-topic sets rather than revising one topic in isolation for too long.
Teach children to underline what a question is asking before calculating.
Review careless errors separately from knowledge gaps.

English

English preparation should cover comprehension, grammar, punctuation, spelling and likely vocabulary-based work. Some independent-school assessments also expect children to write accurately and thoughtfully, even if the public admissions page does not spell out every component. Strong reading habits make a real difference here.

Read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction.
Practise retrieving information, inferring meaning and explaining word choices.
Revise sentence control, punctuation and common spelling patterns.
Build vocabulary steadily through reading, discussion and word notebooks.

Verbal Reasoning

GL-style verbal reasoning usually rewards familiarity with recurring question types. Children do better when they recognise the pattern quickly rather than trying to puzzle it out from scratch each time. This area often includes vocabulary, letter patterns, codes, sequences, relationships between words and logical selection tasks.

Learn question types explicitly and revisit them often.
Build vocabulary every week, not just through worksheets.
Use short timed sets once methods are understood.
Teach skipping and returning if a question type is slowing your child down.

Non-Verbal Reasoning

Non-verbal reasoning tests pattern recognition and visual logic. Children usually need practice with shapes, rotations, reflections, analogies, sequences, symmetry, codes and identifying the odd one out. This is the subject where many children improve quickly once they are shown the standard patterns.

Teach one visual rule at a time: rotation, reflection, movement, shading and so on.
Encourage children to describe what changes between shapes out loud.
Use precise vocabulary such as clockwise, anti-clockwise, mirror image and diagonal.
Add timing only after the logic is secure.

Practice papers and mock exams

Practice papers are most useful when they are used as a learning tool, not as a weekly verdict on your child. For Westbrook Hay, choose materials that reflect GL-style work across all four subjects. Because the school uses its own assessment process, no external paper will be an exact replica, but well-chosen GL-style practice will still help children build familiarity and stamina.

Use papers in three stages:

Teach first: learn the method behind each question type.
Practise next: complete untimed or lightly timed sets.
Test last: use timed sections and, later, occasional full papers.

After every paper, spend longer reviewing than marking. Ask:

Was the mistake a knowledge gap, a timing issue or a reading mistake?
Did your child change a correct answer unnecessarily?
Which question types are still unfamiliar?

For school-specific practice, use these free ElevenReady resources:

If you book a mock exam elsewhere, treat it as practice in routine and resilience rather than a guaranteed predictor of outcome. The best mock is one that helps your child experience timing, instructions and nerves in a calm setting, then learn from it properly afterwards.

On the day

For a school assessment day, the practical details can matter nearly as much as the revision. Once Westbrook Hay sends the invitation, read the joining instructions carefully and keep everything in one place.

Plan the journey in advance and aim to arrive early rather than just on time.
Check whether the school has specified any stationery or equipment.
Make sure your child has had a normal breakfast and a good night’s sleep.
Keep the morning calm; avoid last-minute teaching.

Because Westbrook Hay’s process includes a meeting with the Headmaster, remind your child that they do not need rehearsed speeches. A natural conversation is enough. They should be ready to talk politely about what they enjoy at school, what they like reading, any hobbies they pursue and why the school appeals to them.

Before they go in, give three simple reminders:

Read every question carefully.
If one question feels hard, move on and come back if there is time.
Show calm, polite manners with everyone they meet.

Afterwards, avoid a full post-mortem in the car. A light check-in is fine, but most children benefit from feeling that the day is done.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

Because Westbrook Hay is an independent school, the process after assessment is not the same as local-authority National Offer Day for state secondary schools. The school runs its own assessment and offer process.

From the sources reviewed, we did not find a published Year 7 results date or a detailed public timeline explaining when offers are issued after the assessment day. Parents should therefore wait for the school’s direct communication and check the admissions page for current-year guidance.

In general, the independent-school process works like this:

Your child attends the assessment day.
The school reviews academic performance and the wider admissions picture.
If successful, the school makes an offer directly to parents.
Parents then decide whether to accept and pay any required deposit by the stated deadline.

If your child is not offered a place immediately, it is sensible to ask whether a waiting list operates and whether there is any further review point. We did not find a published appeals procedure for Year 7 entry on the pages reviewed. Independent schools do not usually run statutory admission appeals in the same way as state schools, so if you need clarity, contact the admissions team directly and ask what review or reconsideration process exists.

What has changed recently

On the school information reviewed for recent admissions cycles, Westbrook Hay states that for September 2027 entry to Years 7, 8, 9 and 10, families complete the online registration form, send the child’s most recent school report and then receive an invitation to an assessment day. The school also says that this assessment day includes an academic assessment called Quest and a meeting with the Headmaster. That is the clearest recent published description of the Year 7 admissions route we found.

We did not find any official announcement on the sources reviewed of a recent change to catchment, place numbers or a switch to a different public admissions timetable for Year 7. If the school publishes a new 2028-entry timetable or a revised assessment format, parents should follow the school’s own admissions page first.

Frequently asked questions

Does Westbrook Hay use the local authority 11+ process?

No. Westbrook Hay is an independent school and runs its own admissions process through the school rather than through the local authority.

What subjects should my child prepare for?

For 2028 entry, our directory, not yet verified with the school, records preparation should cover Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

Is there a Westbrook Hay catchment area?

We did not find a published Year 7 catchment area on the sources reviewed. Check the school’s admissions page or ask admissions directly if location rules matter to your application.

How do we register for Year 7 entry?

The school’s admissions page says families should complete the online registration form and provide a copy of the child’s most recent school report.

How much is the registration fee?

The school publishes a registration fee of £120 per child for main school applications.

When is the Westbrook Hay Year 7 assessment?

We did not find a published 2028-entry assessment date on the sources reviewed. Check the school’s admissions page for the current admissions timetable.

📄 Free Westbrook Hay practice papers Start free and track readiness for Westbrook Hay 🔔 Email me this school's key dates

Sources

Westbrook Hay School Admissions: School runs its own admissions; applicants for Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 complete the online registration form; families return a copy of the child’s most recent school report; children are then invited to an assessment day; the school publishes a registration fee of £120 per child; the assessment day in
Westbrook Hay School website: Westbrook Hay is an independent coeducational school in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.

Preparing for other schools in Hertfordshire

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.