Getting into Newstead Wood School
Newstead Wood runs its own selection test, two multiple-choice papers in Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning: what it involves and what to do next, for entry in September 2027.
Every fact on this page is checked against the school’s published admissions information, and nothing is guessed. · View sources · Report an error
Registration for the September 2026 test closed on midnight on Tuesday 30 June 2026. The school states that it cannot accept late registrations. Otherwise: 2 weeks to test day.
What to do and when
Sitting the year after (2028 entry)? These are 2027-entry dates, and yours are not published yet: there is nothing you need to do this far out. Sign up for reminders and tick the 2028-entry box, and we’ll email only when your cycle’s dates are out and it is actually time to act.
5 dates as a calendar file, for Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook. Share the link with anyone who needs them.
Life’s busy, so we’ll email you a nudge before each Newstead Wood deadline above. Nothing else: no newsletter, no marketing, and the reminders stop for good after National Offer Day (1 Mar 2027) unless you sign up again for another school.
The test, in one look
Verbal Reasoning first, then Non-Verbal Reasoning, and nothing else: no English, no Maths, no writing. Both are multiple choice, with answers on a separate sheet. Where two girls end on the same total, the Non-Verbal paper separates them. She may sit the test only once. Reaching the required standard, 210 in the current policy, is not what wins a place: the school says the cut-off on National Offer Day 2026 was 225. No past papers exist, only a £5 specimen paper sold in hard copy at the school reception.
How places are decided
168 places for September 2027. Reaching the required standard puts a child in the running; this order decides the rest.
Catchment: Yes, a 9 mile radius of the school, measured in a straight line. Girls living outside it may still sit the test, but the school says no places have historically gone to anyone beyond the 9 mile limit.
The policy first states that the published admission number of 168 includes girls with an EHCP naming the school, who are dealt with separately by the SEN team and who will still have shown their ability through the school’s test.
3 ranked criteria decide the order.
▸The full criteria, in the school’s own words
- 1.currently looked after and previously looked after children whose test score is at or above the required standard;
- 2.girls living within a 9-mile radius of the school who are in receipt of Pupil Premium or Service Premium at the time of applying to sit the test, whose score is at or above the required standard. The remaining places then go strictly in rank order of total test score among girls who reached the required standard:
- 3.girls living within a 9-mile radius of the school, together with daughters of Newstead Wood staff employed for two or more years at the time of application who live outside the 9-mile radius; then (4) girls living outside the 9-mile radius, in rank order.
No numerical quota is attached to any criterion apart from the EHCP point, and the policy adds a footnote to criterion 4 saying no places have been offered under it.
Children directed through the Fair Access Protocol take precedence over anyone on the waiting list, including above the published admission number.
What an EHCP is: an Education, Health and Care Plan, a legal document from your council for a child with special educational needs. Where a plan names a school, that school has to offer a place, so those places are taken out of the number above before anyone else is ranked. It is not a route most families can apply through.
Taken from the school’s own determined admission arrangements. The full document is linked under sources.
What the official figures show
Schools and councils publish some of this and not all of it. The numbers below came from Freedom of Information requests, which anyone can make, and each one links to the reply it came from.
The school released the score of the 300th ranked candidate for 2025 entry, which was 219. It admits fewer than 300 girls, so the score that actually won the last place was higher than 219, not equal to it. The school has since put a number on exactly that: its own selection-test page says the cut-off on National Offer Day 2026 was 225, fifteen marks above the 210 required standard. Treat 219 as a floor, and 225 as where the bar actually landed last time.
How pupils here do at GCSE
This is based on how pupils at this school go on to perform in their GCSEs, five years after the 11+. Attainment 8 is their average result across eight subjects. Read it as a description of outcomes rather than of teaching: a selective school admits children who were already scoring well at ten, so a high position here reflects who the school takes in as much as what it does with them.
Scores from Compare school and college performance data in England, Department for Education, 2024/25, under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The Department publishes the scores and does not publish a ranking: the position above is ours, calculated over state-funded schools with a published score. See the full table.
Common questions
Two papers, Verbal Reasoning first and Non-Verbal Reasoning second, both multiple choice with answers on a separate machine-read sheet. The school tests nothing else: no English, no Maths, no writing. Scores are age-standardised and added together, and where two girls tie on the total, the Non-Verbal paper decides between them. The school publishes no question counts, but the specialist practice papers written for this test model it as 68 Verbal Reasoning questions in 45 minutes, then 72 Non-Verbal questions sat as six strictly timed bursts of 6 minutes, twelve questions at a time. Several Verbal sections ask her to mark two answers rather than one, so reading each instruction carefully matters as much as speed.
The admissions policy sets a required standard of 210, but reaching it makes her eligible rather than getting her a place. The school says the cut-off on National Offer Day 2026 was 225, fifteen marks above that floor, and the bar moves each year with how many girls apply and how they score. Results emails include the last five years of cut-offs so you can see the range for yourself.
No. The school publishes none, and says so plainly. The only official material is a short specimen paper sold at reception for £5 during term time, hard copy only: it is not available online and cannot be emailed. The school also links the free familiarisation guides from GL Assessment and CEM on its selection-test page. That is a list of practice resources rather than a statement of who writes the papers: the school does not publish that, and its 2027 admission policy names no exam board at all.
The school says it received 1,510 registrations to sit the test, its published figure for 2025 entry, against 168 places: about nine registrations for every place. It is heavily oversubscribed, and the school notes that no places have historically gone to girls living beyond the 9-mile catchment.
Yes, twice over. Girls in receipt of Pupil Premium get free access to online familiarisation resources through the school. And girls on Pupil Premium or Service Premium living within 9 miles who reach the required standard come second in the oversubscription order, straight after children in care.
No. A girl may sit the Selection Test once only, there is no second round, and the school does not offer a re-marking service; the answer sheets are machine-read. If she is ill on the day, tell the school before the test starts and send medical evidence promptly, and an alternative sitting is arranged in early October.
Two weeks out is exactly when a timed mock helps.