General admissions information
Our year 5 and year 6 classes for 2023-24 are full. To join our waiting list please contact admissions. At the moment there are a small number of places available in other year groups.
The prep school welcomes children into any year group where there are spaces available.
Our preschool admits boys and girls in the term following their third birthday, and girls are welcomed into reception in the September following their fourth birthday. They remain until they are 11 and are prepared for entrance examinations, including Common Entrance, to a variety of independent senior schools, including St Swithun’s senior school.
The first step would be to contact admissions for further information on the prep school or to arrange a tour of our school and to meet Mrs Norris, our Head.
For preschool and reception classes, there is no formal assessment for entry, assuming children can access the curriculum.
In terms of entry into Y1 to Y6, the first stage of the admissions process would be to visit us. If after visiting us, you wish to proceed with your interest we would ask that you formally register your daughter with us. Available school places are offered in order of date of registration and after formally registering with us, we would invite you’re your daughter to join us for a familiarisation/assessment day which would also give her the opportunity to see if she would enjoy life at St Swithun’s. We are gently selective within the prep school and we would use the visit to ensure that your daughter is within the academic range that we would expect for her age and that she would enjoy the pace of learning at St Swithun’s.
Application to the school is made via submission of a completed online registration form which is available from the admissions team. To register there is a £75 non-refundable fee.
Places for September entry are offered in the preceding autumn term. Assuming places are available, mid-year entry is also welcome for the majority of year groups. When a place is offered for a child, a deposit of £500 is required to secure this. (£250 of which will be offset against the first term’s fees for those taking up a place. The remaining £250 is deducted from the final term’s fees).
Girls who joined the prep school before year 5 are eligible for an internal transfer into our senior school without the need to sit their entrance examinations. For more information, please contact the senior school registrar.