11+ vs 13+ Entry: How to Decide in 2025

UK independent secondary schools admit at one of three points: 11+ (Year 7), 13+ (Year 9), and 16+ (Sixth Form). The 11+ vs 13+ decision is the one parents agonise over — partly because it's made in Year 4 or 5, partly because reversing it later is hard. This guide lays out how the two routes actually differ in 2025, and what we know about academic outcomes once the dust settles.

The schools that prefer each route

Most senior schools that admit at both 11+ and 13+ have a clear preference, even if they don't advertise it. Examples (current as of 2026):

11+ primary — most London selective day schools: St Paul's Girls', North London Collegiate, City of London School (boys and girls), Westminster Under (which then deferred-pipelines to Westminster), Highgate, Latymer Upper, UCS, Notting Hill & Ealing, Francis Holland.
13+ primary — most traditional boarding schools: Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Westminster (boys), Tonbridge, Charterhouse, Marlborough, Radley, Wellington, Stowe, Oundle, Rugby, Bradfield, Sherborne, Bryanston.
Genuinely flexible — Sevenoaks, Brighton College, St Edward's Oxford, King's Canterbury, Bedales, Mill Hill. These admit substantial cohorts at both stages and the decision becomes more about your child than the school.
16+ only (Sixth Form) — Cardiff Sixth Form, Concord. Neither is a substitute for the 11+/13+ decision unless you're using state primary + 6th Form private as a deliberate strategy.

The most common mistake is to apply for 11+ at a 13+-primary school. Eton has historically not admitted at 11+ at all. Harrow rarely does. Winchester effectively never. Pre-test scores from Year 6 get you onto these schools' conditional lists for 13+ entry — if you sit nothing in Year 6, you've missed the gate.

The application timelines, side by side

11+ timeline

Pre-tests open registration in autumn of Year 6 and close around November (deadlines vary by 4–6 weeks across schools). Tests are sat November–January, school-specific assessments and interviews in January–February of Year 7, offers issued March–April. Roughly: 12 months from registration to acceptance.

The most under-appreciated point: registration deadlines are firm. Miss the November deadline at a school and there is usually no appeal. We've heard parents lose entire shortlists this way because nobody told them the dates. Our Recommend page now generates a per-child timeline once you tell it the entry stage.

13+ timeline

13+ entry has two patterns. The traditional boarding pattern (Eton, Harrow, Winchester) involves registration up to 5 years before entry — yes, in Year 4. Pre-tests sit in Year 6 (often the same ISEB test as 11+), conditional places given in Year 7, Common Entrance or school-specific 13+ in Year 8, firm offers in spring of Year 8.

The non-boarding 13+ pattern (Westminster, City of London Boys for 13+ entry) is more compressed: registration in Year 7, pre-test in Year 8, offers in spring of Year 8.

The headline number: at least 36 months from registration to acceptance, sometimes more.

What does the data say about outcomes?

It would be tempting to claim “13+ pupils have better A Level outcomes” or vice versa. The honest answer is: we don't have the data to answer this question cleanly. Schools rarely publish A Level results split by entry stage, and even when they do, the comparison is confounded by the schools' selectivity filtering at each gate.

What we can say from our database:

Schools admitting overwhelmingly at 13+ (Eton, Winchester, Marlborough) typically report 25–55% of leavers reaching Oxford or Cambridge. These are also the most selective gates. The probability of ending up at Oxbridge given you got in at 13+ is high — but the probability of getting in is the binding constraint.
Schools admitting predominantly at 11+ (CLSG, NLCS, St Paul's Girls', Westminster Under → Westminster pipeline) typically report 12–30% Oxbridge rates with much higher overall Russell Group placement. They're less selective at the gate but more focused on academic curriculum delivery.
The flexible schools (Sevenoaks, Brighton College) sit in the middle on both selectivity and outcomes. Their value to a family is route-flexibility — you can defer the 13+ commitment if your Year 4 self isn't ready to make it.

The single most useful data exercise is to focus on the senior schools that also publish full per-year university destinations, then look up their 11+ vs 13+ entry mix. From there you can roughly estimate which entry route your target senior school actually wants from you.

Three honest decision rules

Rule 1 — Pick a stage, then a school

Decide first whether your child boards or stays in London. That usually settles 11+ vs 13+ for you. The list of schools matching each branch is then much shorter than you fear, and you'll spend Year 5 productively.

Rule 2 — If you're unsure, pre-test in Year 6

The ISEB Common Pre-Test in Year 6 is the one assessment that keeps both 11+ and (deferred) 13+ doors open. Most preps do this by default; if yours doesn't, ask. Sitting pre-test costs nothing and reserves optionality.

Rule 3 — Verify the senior's actual mix yourself

Schools' admissions pages are sometimes vague about how many they admit at each stage. The Pathways view on School Path AI exposes our verified prep → senior counts where we have them. If a senior school you care about shows 20 verified pupils a year coming in via 13+ from Hill House and 5 via 11+ from Notting Hill Prep, that's a usable signal.

One more thing: scholarship windows differ

Academic and music scholarships often run on slightly different calendars to general entry. At many schools, the scholarship window is 2–3 months earlier than general entry deadlines, with higher academic bars. If your child is a serious candidate for scholarship, factor those windows into the timeline — our Recommend page now flags scholarship deadlines per school for Premium subscribers.