Kensington Park School: 11 Plus (11+) Entrance Exam Information

Introduction

Kensington Park School (KPS) is an independent co-educational school for students aged 11 to 18, offering boarding from Year 9. The school benefits from its location in the centre of London, with the Senior School being next to Kensington Gardens and the Sixth Form being next to the Natural History Museum.

The academic curriculum at KPS is designed to encourage students to be curious learners who actively engage in the learning process rather than passively absorb information. In Years 7-8, students study a broad range of subjects. In Year 9, students begin to refine their subject choices as they prepare for GCSE courses. 

KPS has an extensive co-curricular programme, allowing students to pursue their passions, step out of their comfort zones to learn new skills and form strong friendships. Available activities include kickboxing, ice skating, debating and drama.

The wellbeing of all students is a priority at KPS. Tutors get to know their tutees well, putting them in an excellent position to spot any student who is struggling and step in to offer the necessary support and guidance. Additionally, the school has a nurse and counsellors. 

If you are interested in a Year 7 place for your child, please read on to learn about the KPS 11+ admissions process. 

Admissions Process for 11 Plus Entry to Kensington Park School

You are encouraged to visit Kensington Park School when your child is in Year 5 or the first term of Year 6. Open events are held every term, or you could arrange an individual visit. Visiting will enable you to learn more about the school’s ethos and see for yourself all it has to offer.

If you decide that KPS is a good fit for your child, you should email the admissions team to let them know. You will then need to submit a completed registration form, a copy of your child’s passport, a copy of their most recent school report and, if applicable, details of any medical issues, access arrangements or educational psychologist’s reports. You will also need to pay a £300 non-refundable registration fee.

Please note that a reference will also be requested from your child’s current school.

Later in November, not long after the registration deadline, your child will attend an assessment day at KPS. They will take an online assessment produced by Quest and be interviewed by the Head of KPS or the Head of the Senior School.

If you live overseas, the assessment and interview can take place remotely at your child’s current school or at a British Council office. 

Offers will be made before the end of the autumn term and will be based on performance in the assessments and interviews, as well as the quality of school reports and references. 

If your child is offered a place and you wish to accept it, you must do so by the early-March deadline. You will also have to pay a term’s tuition fees as a deposit. This deposit will be refunded to you, minus any outstanding balance, upon your child’s completion of their education at KPS.

Kensington Park School: Scholarships for Year 7 Entry

The following scholarships are available for Year 7 entry:

• Academic
• Art & Design
• Drama
• Music
• Sports

Academic scholarships are awarded to the candidates who perform the best in the entrance exam.

If you wish to apply for one of the other scholarships, you need to indicate this on your registration form and submit the requested information, as detailed here.  

Scholarships are reviewed annually and carry a fee remission.

Kensington Park School: Entrance Assessments for Year 7 Entry

The assessment day consists of the following:

• An online Quest assessment
• An interview

Online Quest Assessment

The Kensington Park School online Quest assessment comprises the following three modules:

• English

The English module will use a passage (fiction or non-fiction) to assess your child’s reading comprehension. Questions will require your child to extract information from the passage, make inferences, deduce word meanings from the context, identify language techniques and understand the reasons for the author’s choice of language. There may also be questions testing your child’s spelling, punctuation and grammar.

• Maths

The maths module will test your child on topics that are in the maths national curriculum, meaning they won’t be tested on anything that they haven’t covered at school. Additionally, questions will not go beyond Year 5 work. The relevant topics are number, place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percentages, measurement, properties of shapes, position and direction, and statistics. 

• Non-Verbal Reasoning

The non-verbal reasoning module will assess your child’s ability to answer questions that use visual information, such as diagrams and shapes. Spatial awareness is highly beneficial for this module. 

The maths and non-verbal reasoning modules are adaptive, meaning the difficulty level adjusts based on whether your child answers questions correctly or not. The idea is to keep candidates motivated and engaged by ensuring the level is appropriate for them. 

Interview

The interview is an opportunity for the Head of KPS or the Head of the Senior School to get to know your child and determine whether they would thrive at KPS. Your child will be asked about their hobbies and favourite school subjects. They will also be given the chance to ask any questions they have about life at KPS.  

It can be hard to know how to help your child prepare for a competitive entrance exam and interview, which is why we have compiled some top tips for you in the next section. 

Tips to Help Your Child Prepare for the Kensington Park School Year 7 Entrance Exam 

We hope that sharing the following tips with you helps to make your child’s preparation period stress-free.

• Focus on the journey and not the outcome, praising your child for all the time and effort they put in to enhance their skills and build their knowledge base. 
• Remember the importance of a growth mindset, which is about seeing setbacks as temporary and mistakes as an opportunity to learn and grow. Intelligence and abilities are not set in stone but can be developed with time, effort and the right attitude.
• Keep study sessions short, as research has shown that most 10-11-year-olds can focus effectively for around 20-30 minutes at a time. 
• Schedule plenty of breaks and time for your child to enjoy their hobbies so that the study sessions are not overwhelming but just a small part of your child’s life. 
• Encourage your child to read a little every day, as this is a fantastic way for them to build their vocabulary and enhance their reading comprehension.  
• Use flashcards for key facts that your child needs to learn, as flashcards are a great revision tool and make revision feel manageable. 
• Have discussions with your child so that they get used to organising their thoughts and expressing their opinions, which will be useful for the interview. You could ask them about the characters in a book they have read, why they like the hobbies they do and what they would do if they were the prime minister. 
• Incorporate puzzles to improve your child’s spatial awareness, such as jigsaw puzzles and tangrams. Your child will develop their skills without even realising it. 
• Use practice tests so that your child knows what to expect in the KPS online Quest assessment. Our KPS online Quest practice tests closely mirror the actual test, so your child can work through them to ensure there are no surprises on the day that could negatively impact their performance. They will be able to navigate the entrance exam with confidence, being used to the question types, format and timings, and having learnt from their mistakes using the answers and explanations we provide with our practice tests.

Our highly recommended resources are outlined below.

Kensington Park School: 11 Plus (11+)/Year 7 Entrance Exam Resources

Kensington Park 11+ Online Practice Tests

Our Kensington Park School 11+ Online Entrance Assessment Practice Tests are available on our other website, Pretest Plus, and provide realistic and highly accurate preparation for the actual exam. Each full mock test replicates the modules, timings and question types used in the real assessment, ensuring your child becomes familiar with the format and expectations. Covering Maths, English and Non-Verbal Reasoning, these tests are all pitched at the same difficulty level, allowing you to benchmark your child’s progress, track improvement and identify key areas for further practice.

11+ Kensington Park School Practice Test 1

11+ Kensington Park School Practice Test 2

11+ Kensington Park School Practice Test 3

11+ Kensington Park School Practice Test 4

✅ You can now purchase a bundle of all of our recommended resources for the Kensington Park School 11+ Online Test at a large discount. These are available on our other site, Pretest Plus. Click the button below to learn more:

11+ Kensington Park Practice Tests Bundle - Save 20%

Kensington School 11+ Skill Practice

The following Skill Practice exercises focus on one module that will come up in the Kensington Park School 11+ Online Test, allowing you to target the specific exam sections that your child finds challenging.

11+ Kensington Park School Mathematics

Don’t forget to use the code eppdiscount at checkout to get 10% off orders over £70 and 20% off orders over £250 if you don’t buy a bundle.

Please do contact us if you have any questions about our resources. We will do our best to help you. We want to take this opportunity to wish your child all the best in their entrance exam for admission to Kensington Park School.

The information provided about Kensington Park School was believed to be correct at the time of publishing. However, please be aware that there may be future changes. We advise you to contact the school directly if you need clarification on anything. School contact details are provided within the post.

Please note that Exam Papers Plus is an independent publisher of practice tests and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publishers of the Quest online assessments or any other test publisher.