If your child is in Year 6 this September, the next eight weeks decide which independent schools they can even apply to. Not which ones they get into. Which ones they are allowed to sit for.
Registration deadlines are strict. Every school on this list says so in the same flat language, and none of them make exceptions. Miss the date and the option is simply gone, however well your child would have done.
So here is the whole thing in one table. We checked every date against the school’s own admissions page rather than repeating what other tutoring sites say, and we have put the date we checked at the bottom so you can see how fresh it is.
Save this page. Or better, screenshot the table.
| School | Registration closes | Assessment |
| Trinity School, Croydon | Friday 16th October 2026 | Confirm date with school |
| Bromley High GDST | Friday 23rd October 2026 | Saturday 21st November 2026 |
| Dulwich College | Monday 2nd November 2026, midday | Friday 4th December 2026 |
| Whitgift School | Friday 6th November 2026 | Tuesday 5th January 2027 |
| Eltham College | Monday 9th November 2026, 4pm | Tuesday 5th or Wednesday 6th January 2027 |
| James Allen’s Girls’ School | Tuesday 10th November 2026 | ISEB pre-test, window closes 9th December 2026 |
| Alleyn’s School | Friday 13th November 2026, midday | Friday 8th January 2027 |
| Colfe’s School | Friday 13th November 2026, 5pm | Tuesday 5th January 2027 |
Correct as at 28th August 2026. Always confirm directly with the school. Deadlines are strict and late applications are not accepted.
The date that catches families out
Look at the top of that table again, then look at this.
Kent Test results are emailed on Thursday 15th October 2026.
Trinity School Croydon closes registration on Friday 16th October 2026.
One day. That is what a family gets to absorb the news, have the conversation, decide, complete a registration, pay the fee and start thinking about preparation.
And Trinity is only the first door to close. Bromley High goes a week later. By Friday 13th November every school on this list has shut.
We are not telling you this to frighten you. We are telling you because almost every parent we speak to in November has made the same completely reasonable assumption, which is that you find out about grammar first and think about independent schools afterwards. The calendar does not allow it.
What each school actually assesses
The deadlines are only half of it. The papers are not interchangeable, and a child prepared for the Kent Test is not automatically prepared for these.
Bromley High GDST sits its exam earliest, on Saturday 21st November, and it is deliberately not subject specific. Verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, spatial reasoning, quantitative reasoning, a short creative writing paper and a maths extension exercise. The school does not release past or sample papers.
Dulwich College examines on Friday 4th December, with interviews in late January and results in mid February.
Whitgift assesses English, maths and age related thinking skills on Tuesday 5th January, then interviews between the 13th and the 26th of January.
Eltham College runs written English and maths papers plus a computer adaptive verbal and non-verbal reasoning assessment, and a one to one interview.
Colfe’s runs a full day on Tuesday 5th January. English and maths in the morning alongside a group interview, then taster lessons in the afternoon.
James Allen’s Girls’ School uses the ISEB Common Pre-test rather than its own written paper, with the window closing on 9th December.
Alleyn’s examines on Friday 8th January, with interviews and group activities on Saturday 23rd January.
Three things are worth noticing across all of that. Reasoning appears almost everywhere, and it is not taught in state primary schools. Interviews and group activities appear at most of these schools, and almost nobody prepares for them. And the assessments run from late November right through to late January, so a child sitting three or four schools is working across two terms.
What to do in September, in order
One. Draw up your list now, not in October. Look at the table, work out which schools are realistically commutable, and put every deadline in your calendar with a two week warning on each.
Two. Register for more than one. Most families register for two or three. It costs you a fee per school and it buys you a genuine choice in February instead of a single point of failure.
Three. Start preparation before you register, not after. The exams begin on 21st November. If you wait until the registration deadline to begin, you have already lost the autumn.
Four. Do not wait for grammar results. This is the whole point of the table. By the time results land on 15th October, one school has already closed the following day and the rest close within four weeks.
Where we come in
Our independent school 11+ groups run at our Catford centre, our Beckenham centre, and live online, so you can join from anywhere. They started on Monday 14th September, which leaves nine teaching weeks to the Bromley High exam once you take out October half term, eleven to Dulwich and thirteen to the January papers.
We cover English and maths at independent entrance standard, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, two full mock papers under timed conditions, and interview practice from November. That last one matters more than most families realise, because so many of these schools interview and so few children ever practise it.
We are Ofsted registered, a Corporate Member of The Tutors’ Association, our tutors are DBS checked, and we have taught more than 1,000 students since 2013.
One honest note. Our published pass rate of 90 to 100 percent relates to Kent, Bexley and Medway grammar school entry. Independent school admissions are a separate process with separate criteria, and we do not publish a combined figure, because it would not mean anything.
If you would like to know where your child actually stands before you commit to anything, book a free assessment. It takes an hour, you get a written report and a fifteen minute call with us, and there is no obligation attached to any of it.
https://www.geekschool.co.uk/book-a-free-assessment-for-your-child/
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