How to get into Royal Russell Senior School

Are you considering registering your child for admission to Royal Russell Senior School? Learn all about their 11 plus admissions process, and how you can help your child succeed.

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11 plus admissions process
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Interview
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Introduction to Royal Russell

An independent, co-ed day and boarding school, set among over 100 acres of gardens, Royal Russell educates pupils aged 3-18. Small class sizes and an emphasis pastoral care leads to a great level of attention paid to each student, with parents claiming communication between themselves and school staff is regular and productive. Although the school is less academic than other local independents, they deliver individual care to each student. So, bright children are still given all the tools they need to achieve, but outside of an overly pressured environment. Head for over 10 years, Chris Hutchinson made it his mission to enrich students’ experience beyond the academic – reflected in the fact that the school is renowned for its outstanding pastoral care.

With a good reputation for their footballing achievements, Royal Russell is a great choice for sporty children. The school’s facilities include a swimming pool, hockey pitch and floodlit all-weather games area. A cross-country running course also winds its way through the school grounds and planning permission for a new astroturf has been granted.

Entry points to Royal Russell Senior School are:

11+
13+
Sixth Form (16+)

Most children who attend the Junior School stay on at 11 plus, with a total of 96 places in Year 7. They receive about 250 applications each year at 11 plus, so making sure your child is prepared ahead of time is key – our 12 month programme can help here.

Royal Russell Senior School fees

For day pupils it’s £7,520 per term. For boarding, it’s £14,864.

Bursaries and scholarships are available.

11 plus open days at Royal Russell

We always recommend attending an open day before registering for entry to any school. It’s a unique chance for you and your child to get a feel for the place, meet teachers and ask any burning questions. With Royal Russell’s stunning setting and extensive facilities, this is particularly important when deciding which schools are right for your child. Attending also shows the school how interested you are in your child attending and gives them a chance to make a good first impression.

The next planned open day is on the 23rd of September, but before then you can also watch their virtual campus tour.

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The 11 Plus admissions process at Royal Russell Senior School

The registration deadline is usually mid November – all registration forms and scholarship and bursary applications need to be submitted by this deadline. For entry in 2024, you must register by November 6th.

The registration fee is £100 for day pupils and £150 for boarding pupils.

About half of the Year 7 intake will be students from the Royal Russell Junior School. Siblings of children already attending the school do get priority, additionally receiving a 5% discount on fees. The Senior School split by gender is about 43% girls and 57% boys.

Offers for those successful will be made in late January and early February – however, conditional scholarships will be offered from mid December. If your child isn’t immediately successful, they will be placed on the waiting list. Many children also apply to some of the more competitive single sex local independents, so a place on the waiting list does still mean there’s a real chance of eventually being offered a place if other applicants decline their offer.

Offers must be accepted by early March.

The Royal Russell 11 plus exam

Royal Russel will assess all candidates on the 4th or 5th of January 2024. Royal Russell’s 11 plus exam consists of:

An English paper with a comprehension exercise and extended writing
A maths paper covering problem solving and arithmetic skills
An online CEM test covering verbal, non-verbal and numerical reasoning.

Our tutors are experienced in getting students through this type of admissions exam. As well as extensive syllabus knowledge, our tutors have oodles of experience in teaching exam technique. Our extensive knowledge of the CEM format will also prove useful here – we can familiarise your child with the different question types they will find on the test and help them to work up to the speed of achieving a mark a minute.

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How to pass the 11 plus interview

All candidates are interviewed in person at the school in early January.

The interview is your child’s chance to really shine and show what they can do beyond their academic capabilities that the entrance exam will identify. Teachers conducting the interviews are looking for confident, engaging and well-rounded children who can express themselves well in conversation.

Preparation is, of course, key to interview success. However, children can very easily come off as having been over prepared, with answers that sound rehearsed. We offer individual and group interview practice sessions, providing children with an opportunity to build confidence, develop answers and present their best selves. Do get in touch with us to find out more.

Get an 11 plus scholarship to Royal Russell

Scholarships to Royal Russell are on offer for academics, as well as Art, Music, Drama and Sport. Sport scholars need to demonstrate outstanding ability in hockey, football and/or netball.

Scholarship application forms need to be submitted along with registration forms. Applications are then pre-screened and not all candidates will be invited to attend assessment or audition.

All applicants at 11 plus are automatically considered for an academic scholarship, which is awarded based on their performance in the entrance exam. Therefore, practice papers and mock exams in timed conditions are excellent preparation that is absolutely necessary if you’re hoping for a scholarship.

We offer scholarship tuition, with an exceptional track record in helping children achieve these. Our academic scholarship specialists ensure that children learn much more than the 11 plus syllabus. Your child will learn much more advanced and unknown work, with our teachers’ proven methods.

We also offer a dedicated scholarship course to ensure the work is reinforced. Our standard 11 plus courses remain important, as one must be up to speed on the earlier parts of the paper in order to have the time to crack the later scholarship question in the exam.

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Meet our tutors

Our 11 plus entrance specialists have proven results at the most competitive London schools. Masters at teaching and developing exam technique, our experienced tutors will prove imperative to your child’s 11+ journey and success. Our tailored approach and 40 years of experience mean you’re in safe hands.

Over 80% of our tutors are qualified teachers with many being examiners, head teachers or heads of department. All our tutors have an up-to-date DBS certificate and have been fully reference-checked. Wherever possible, we will match you with a tutor who has taught at Royal Russell Senior School themselves.

For more information on our tutors’ unique approach to testing children in preparation for exams, contact our team.

More information on Royal Russell School

Address: Royal Russell School, Coombe Lane, Croydon, CR9 5BX

Telephone: 020 8657 4433

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.royalrussell.co.uk

Local Authority: Croydon

School’s Unique Reference Number (URN): 101835

Gender: Co-educational

Age Range: 3-19

Get in touch

We have many tutors with expertise in 11 plus entrance to Royal Russell here at Mentor. Ready to guide you through the process, we can also help you navigate the new entrance format during Covid-19 measures. Get in touch today to find out more about how we can help your child to gain admission at 11+, or for more information on getting into top London schools.

Unit 6C Hillgate Place
Balham
London
SW12 9ER

020 8883 2519

[email protected]