How to get into JAGS at 11+

Introduction

James Allen’s Girls’ School (JAGS) has 120 places available at 11 Plus, for which there are in the region of 500 applicants. Places are awarded on the basis of performance in the ISEB pre-tests, a separate creative writing assessment, an interview and assessed group activity  . Pre-assessment takes place in the Autumn of Year 6, and examinations take place on one day in early January of Year 6 (the school year before admission), when students will be 10 or 11 years old.

Registration

Parents must register their daughters by late October of Year 6. For example, for entry in September 2023, parents are required to register their children by Monday 31st October 2022. Students can be registered from mid April of Year 5 (the school year before the assessments).

To register, parents must complete an online application form.

The fee is £100 for students living in the UK, and £200 for students living outside the UK.

Pre-testing

JAGS use pre-testing at 11+. Students attend an “assessment morning” at the school in the autumn term of Year 6. Here they sit an interview, take part in a group assessment, join in a group lesson and sit an online test covering VR, NVR and Numerical Reasoning. The school’s pre-test is age adjusted.

JAGS run their pre-assessments in the autumn of Year 6.

Invitations (and notifications of not being invited) are sent out before Christmas.

Examinations

Applicants to JAGs sit the standardised ISEB Pre-Tests. These consist of timed examinations in English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. For 2023 entrants, the examinations will be sat on January 5th, either at JAGs or at the entrants current school (if they facilitate this).

Please feel free to use our guides explaining what the ISEB Pre-test is and how to prepare for it.

In addition, we recommend using the usual suspects such Bond books and GL-Assessment practice papers. Up until the time of writing, the examinations always took place in early January. The papers assume Level 5 on the old National Curriculum level system.

Although they aren’t exactly the same, parents wishing to give their child extra exam practice papers have two main routes: the practice papers written by the ISEB (purchasable from Galore Park’s website), and the free papers that we provide on our website.

Buy ISEB papers from Galore Park.

View free 11+ papers from Owl Tutors.

Interviews

Interviews take place in the pre-assessment phase. For further help, you may find the below blog post helpful:

Five helpful tips on how to help your child with their 11+ interview.

Scholarships and Bursaries

Bursaries and Scholarships are both offered by JAGS at 11 Plus.

General information on scholarships and bursaries at JAGS at 11 Plus.

Scholarships

Academic scholarships are offered on the basis of performance on the school’s entrance test.  The value varies, and represents a discount of up to £4000 of the school’s annual fees. Up to 20 Academic scholarships are awarded at 11+ each year. Most academic scholarship discounts are worth £1000 pa.

Music scholarships are available at JAGS at 11+, and some are worth up to £4000 per year. (The school’s website notes that most will be worth less). Students are invited in to a separate assessment a little after the 11+ assessments. Applicants must be at Grade 5 level in one instrument (but not necessarily holding this grade), and don’t have to have a secondary instrument. The audition will last about 20 minutes, during which applicants are required to give a performance on their main instrument, a performance on their secondary instrument (if relevant), complete a sight reading test on their main instrument, perform some other musical tests and take part in an interview. For entry in 2023, the Music scholarship assessment will take place on Wednesday 1st February 2023.

Art scholarships are also available at JAGS at 11+, and are worth up to £4000 per year. (Again, the school’s website notes that most will be worth less). Students are invited to a separate assessment a little after the 11+ assessments. Applicants have a digital sketchbook assessed in a preliminary round, which must be submitted by 28th January 2023. Further information about the main process will be given to invited applicants. Art scholarships depend on the student continuing to study Art at higher levels, i.e. GCSE and A-Level.

Sports scholarships are also available at JAGS at 11+. Students are invited in to a separate assessment a little after the 11+ assessments, and will be assessed in a group assessment incorporating athletics, netball, hockey, dance and swimming. For entry in 2023, the Sports scholarship assessment will take place in two rounds: 24th January and then the 31st January.

Bursaries and Exhibitions

Bursaries are offered under the usual circumstances, i.e. when parents cannot pay full fees. As usual, parents must complete a financial return, which is reviewed each year. Bursaries can be applied for through the regular application form.

The school offers a Music exhibition at 11+, representing £615 per year, which is put towards music lessons.

Fees

For 11+ entry in 2017, application fees to JAGS were £100 for students living in the UK, and £200 for students outside the UK.

Parents must pay a deposit on accepting a place at 11+. At the time of writing, this was £1900 for day students. Deposits are repaid once the student leaves, assuming all bills are paid (as of July 2022).

Senior school fees (payable termly) from 31 August 2022 will be £7,045 for the senior school. This comes to £21,135 a year. Daily lunch costs are £5.80 per day and music lessons cost £222.50.

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