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Are you looking into Channing Senior School for the next step in your child’s education? Find out everything you need to know about the 11 plus admissions process, and how to help your child succeed.
Introduction to Channing
Channing School is a private day school for girls in Highgate, North London. Channing is a happy, purposeful place of intellectual enquiry and personal discovery.
The school aims to inspire its girls to develop scholarship, integrity, altruism and independence. It ensures every girl feel empowered, valued, and supported while providing a stimulating and vibrant educational experience. Entry to Channing is highly competitive, considering its outstanding results when it comes to higher education and university admissions. In 2022, 89% of GCSEs achieved at Grade 9, 8 or 7 (A*-A), while 43% achieved at Grade 9. In the same year, 73% of A Levels were achieved at A* or A.
Open Days at Channing
Channing host multiple Open Days in the Summer and Autumn terms for prospective students. You can book tickets for these on the school website. There is also a Virtual Open Event where you can hear from the Headmistress, staff and pupils and be guided through a virtual tour of the school. We have found girls who attend Open Events are better prepared in interviews and more confident upon entering in September.
Applicants hoping to join Channing in 2024 can sign up for the waitlist for the September 19th open day, or book a place on the September 26th open day.
Admissions at Channing
The first step to applying to Channing it to register on the school website. Applications are open all year round for three years in advance. Registration closes in mid November the year before you propose to join, so if you are applying to join in September 2025, you have until November 2024 to apply. The registration form required you to pay a fee of £150. After registering, Channing will request a confidential reference from your child’s current Headteacher. Applications for a 2024 place must be submitted by the 10th of November 2023.
There are 96 places available at 11 plus at Channing for outside applicants. Around 40 additional places will go to children coming up from the Junior School. Girls who currently have a sister at the school are given careful consideration but are not given automatic priority.
11 plus exam content at Channing
For entrance into Channing at 11 plus, girls sit a Cognitive Abilities Test set by the London Consortium. The entrance exam is split into six sections which tests Maths, Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning, English, puzzles and problem solving, and comprehension.
When you apply, you must indicate where your daughter will be taking the exam. Some primary schools host the London 11+ Consortium assessment and Channing encourages students to take the exam there if possible. This will help create a relaxed and familiar environment for you daughter as she works. Applicants are able to take the exam at any school in the Consortium. Channing will hold the assessment for one day, usually at the end of November, but if you cannot make the date, girls can sit the exam in any other London Consortium schools that they have applied to. The exam is scheduled for November 30th 2023 for applicants aiming to join Year 7 in 2024.
The exam is 100 minutes long, with a 30 minute break in the second half. The test will be online. Candidates will have a countdown clock in minutes on there screen and will have to manage their time themselves. The first half of the exam will consist of four timed sections: 20 minute for Maths, 10 minutes for Non-Verbal Reasoning, 20 minutes for English comprehension then 10 minutes for Verbal Reasoning. This section will be adaptive, meaning the questions will change depending on the candidates ability and performance. Part two consists of a 15 minute puzzle and problem solving section and a 25 minute creative comprehension. Part two will be non-adaptive meaning everyone will get the same questions. The test in intended to assess the child’s cognitive ability and potential in critical and creative thinking, analysis and problem solving. There is a familiarisation test available on Channing website.
Tailored tutoring could be the key to helping your daughter to stand out – from academic support to exam technique, our tutors can work with your child to provide them with the knowledge and self-confidence to tackle the online test. If you want an experienced third party to help you stay on track with your preparation, our specialist 11 plus tutors have significant Channing entrance experience.
The interview
All candidates registered for the 11 plus process are invited for a one-to-one interview with a senior member of staff. These take place in January after the entrance exam. In previous years, the interview has lasted around 15 minutes and girls were not asked to bring anything specific along with them. During the interview, girls were asked about their interests, both academic and beyond the classroom. Girls applying to join in 2024 will be interviewed on the 9th of January.
Channing is looking for enthusiastic, confident girls who will enjoy being at the school, the school will enjoy having, and who will make the most of what the school has to offer. It is important your daughter is able to engage and respond during a discussion.
To do well at the interview they must be able to clearly articulate themselves and answer the question given – rather than meander around a point. While preparation is the key to success in interview, Channing prefers not to have girls appear practised in the interview. If your daughter’s answers come across as rehearsed or planned, she will be less likely to get offered a place.
The thought of an interview can be quite daunting for some girls who find it harder to express their views. So, every year Mentor run individual and group sessions to build confidence. Focusing on interview prep and what to expect, we encourage children to develop answers and present their best self.
11+ scholarships at Channing
Many of our tutors have great success securing scholarships and are experienced with pushing the boundaries of learning for exceptional students. All applicants at Channing are automatically eligible for an academic scholarship. Those who perform exceptionally well on the entrance exam will be awarded an academic scholarship. Academic scholarships are worth up to 10% of annual school fees.
Channing also offers a Music scholarship at 11 plus. Applicants must submit the application form provided on the school website by late November. All applicants who meet the criteria published on the website will be invited to Channing for an in person audition in January. Scholarships are awarded to girls with exceptional ability and potential, who excel at the audition and pass the entrance exam. Music scholarships at Channing are worth up to 50% of the school fees and include free in school tuition for one instrument.
Meet our tutors for Channing Senior School
To guarantee your daughter the best chance of admission to Channing, offer her some additional support from one of our tutors. Many of our over 200 tutors are experts in the Channing 11 plus and with bespoke one-to-one tuition, they can help children to achieve success at exams and interviews.
With more than 40 years of experience in tutoring children to gain admission to some of London’s most competitive independent schools, we at Mentor have a wealth of knowledge on how best to prepare your daughter for entry to Channing.
For more information on our tutors’ unique approach to testing children in preparation for exams, contact our team.
More on Channing School
Channing is known for its high academic status, and for the kind, bright and independent girls it helps flourish. Despite the exceptional results achieved by girls, Channing has avoided garnering a reputation as a “hothouse”.
Being a smaller school, it is able to ensure that every student is visible so that every aspect of her education is personalised, and no one is left at the wayside. However, the size means Channing does not offer as many subjects in the sixth form. It is not the most culturally or economically diverse school however, but in recent years it has been making an effort to change this. Lindsey Hughes began as the Headmistress in 2020, the huge popularity that followed her from her previous position as Deputy Head of Lady Eleanor Holles in Hampton has only grown since she joined Channing.
The main entry points at Channing are 4+, 11+ and 16+. There are over 650 girls aged 4-18. Channing encouraged all its girls to find passion and skill in activities outside the classroom as well as in. Channing offers a wide range of clubs including art club, coding and robotics club, stand up comedy club and chess club. The ‘Adelante’ Spanish language programme is unique to Channing, launched in 2016, it has quickly become a defining feature of the school. The aim of the programme is to ensure that all pupils leave the school with a high degree of competency and fluency in Spanish.
Music is central to life at Channing, with 27 musical activities taking place weekly from Theory club to Jazz Band. On most Fridays Channing have the hugely popular “Music at Lunchtime” in which any pupil of any standard has the opportunity to play or sing a solo whether they have their music lessons in or out of school. Sporting achievement is celebrated at Channing, girls are welcome to join any of the clubs including netball, football, tennis and cheerleading, or go on one of the tours which have previously taken girls to Barbados for netball.
Other Independent Schools:
If you’re considering Channing, you might also find information on other Independent Schools interesting, find a list of other schools below:
- Alleyn’s
- City of London (Boys)
- City of London (Girls)
- Dulwich College
- Emanuel
- Highgate
- Ibstock Place
- JAGS
- KCS Wimbledon
- Latymer Upper
- Merchant Taylors’
- North London Collegiate School
- Putney High
- Royal Russell
- St Dunstan’s
- St Paul’s (Boys)
- St Paul’s (Girls)
- Streatham & Clapham High
- Sydenham High
- Trinity
- Westminster Upper
- Whitgift
- Wimbledon High
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