There are few things more important than choosing the right school for your child. The special atmosphere at Withington Girls’ School encourages and extends each girl not just academically but in every area of her life. We invite you to come and visit us and see for yourself all that Withington has to offer.

General Information about entry to the School

The main entry points to Withington are Year 3, Year 4, Year 7 and Year 12 with some availability of spaces in other Years.

Entry to the Senior School is by examination and interview. For the Junior School, there is an entrance assessment – prospective Junior pupils are not interviewed.  For Sixth Form entry, girls are required to gain a minimum of six 7-9 grades at GCSE, with 8-9 grades in the subjects they wish to study, and conditional offers are based on predicted grades, school references and an interview.

Entry to the Junior School

Entry to the Senior School

Entry to the Senior School is by examination and interview. Examinations are held in January of each year and those girls who have done well will be invited for interview in the three to four weeks following the examination day.

The Senior School Examinations for entry into Year 7 (Third Form) are for girls aged not less than 10 years 6 months and under the age of 12 years on 31st August in the year of entry.

Places do become available in other year groups and interested parents should contact our Admissions Officer, Ms Jane Ellis, on admissions@wgs.org or 0161 249 3371, for further information.

The Entrance Examination (11+)

Papers are taken in English (60 minutes), Mathematics (45 minutes), Verbal Reasoning (50 minutes) and Non-Verbal Reasoning (20 minutes).

Below are links to sample papers for English and Mathematics – please note we are not able to provide sample verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning papers.

English (60 minutes)
Mathematics (45 minutes)

We encourage girls to have a go, even when they are unsure. We are trying to discover how girls think, so even an answer with the wrong conclusion can be informative to us. We try to make sure the girls are as relaxed as possible on the day and we hope they will enjoy the challenge and the experience.

Past Papers

Please follow this link to download English and Mathematics papers from past years (please note the format for the Entrance Examination in January 2022 changed although past papers still offer a useful resource for purposes of examination preparation). We do not publish past verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning papers.

Interviews

Interviews take the form of an informal chat with two senior members of staff. Your daughter may be asked about her responses in the examination papers or she may be asked more general questions about her interests, things she enjoys at school or any other relevant topics. There is no particular ‘type’ of girl we are looking for here, and certainly, there are no ‘correct’ answers to most of the interview questions; the qualities we hope to see are a genuine enthusiasm for learning, a curiosity about the world and an ability to think about issues in depth. These qualities may display themselves in many different ways. At the end of the interview, parents are invited to join the conversation. This is not part of the selection procedure but an opportunity to ask any unanswered questions.

Entry into Years 8 to 10

The assessment process for new girls joining Year groups further up the School is slightly different and depends if there is space in the required Year. Please note, no sample papers are available. Please contact admissions@wgs.org or 0161 249 3371 for further information.