The King’s School Chester: 11 Plus (11+)/Removes Entrance Exam Information

Introduction

The King’s School Chester is an independent school for boys and girls aged 4 to 18. It has an enviable reputation and has won many accolades over the years, including being named The North West Independent School of the Year 2024 in The Sunday Times Parent Power Guide and School of the Year by the Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools.

Students achieve superb results in public exams, enabling leavers to secure places at prestigious universities on competitive courses. Sixth Form students are fully supported in making applications to Oxbridge, with five Upper Sixth students receiving offers in 2025. The support offered includes tailored mock interviews.

The co-curricular programme at King’s is an important part of school life. Wherever a student’s passions lie, there will be clubs and societies for them to join. There are also numerous opportunities for pupils to participate in residential trips, helping them to develop resilience and independence. 

Pastoral care is taken very seriously at The King’s School. All members of the school community are expected to treat each other with respect to create a positive and nurturing environment in which everyone can thrive. All students have trusted adults they can turn to if they have any worries.

If you are interested in your child starting King’s in Year 7 (Removes), please read on.

Admissions Process for 11 Plus Entry to The King’s School Chester

Visiting The King’s School Chester is the best way to learn more about the school and determine if it is a good fit for your child. You can attend the main Senior School Open Day in September and arrange a personal tour. Additionally, you can book your child onto a Taster Day, allowing them to meet current pupils and participate in lessons.

If you decide that King’s is the best school for your child, you should then fill out the online registration form and pay the non-refundable £60 registration fee. This must be done by the deadline in January of Year 6.  

In January of Year 6, a week after the registration deadline, your child will take an online Quest exam and a 30-minute creative writing paper at King’s so the school can see whether your child would be able to access their challenging curriculum. Your child will also be interviewed.

When deciding whether to offer your child a place, King’s will review not only your child’s results in the entrance exams but also a report and reference from your child’s current school. 

You will be required to fill out an acceptance form and pay a £500 deposit if your child is offered a place and you wish to accept it.

The King’s School Chester: Scholarships and Bursaries for Year 7 (Removes) Entry

Entrance scholarships worth £50 are available for Year 7 entry. They are awarded to those who performed the best in the entrance exams, with up to 20 awards being given.

Music scholarships are also available for Year 7 entry. Applicants should be of at least Grade 4 standard on their chosen instrument. A music scholarship is worth the equivalent of a year’s instrumental tuition fees.

Bursaries are means-tested awards that are designed to enable the most academically gifted candidates to attend King’s whose families cannot afford the full fees. If you intend to apply for a bursary, you must do so by the September deadline one year before entry. Please be aware that only a limited number of bursaries are available. 

The King’s School Chester: Entrance Exams for Year 7 (Removes) Entry

King’s Online Quest Entrance Exam 

The online Quest exam is divided into two parts, with a small break between them.

Part One has three sections:

• Maths: This section will last 20 minutes, and questions will not go beyond the Year 5 maths national curriculum. 
• English: This section will last 30 minutes. Questions will assess your child’s reading comprehension, spelling, punctuation and grammar, without exceeding the Year 5 national curriculum.
• Non-Verbal Reasoning: This section will last 10 minutes. Questions will evaluate your child’s spatial and visual reasoning skills. 

Part Two has two sections:

• Puzzles and Problem-Solving: This section will last 15 minutes. Your child will need to answer questions on interactive puzzles to demonstrate their ability to think logically and critically. 
• Creative Comprehension: This section will last 20 minutes. Your child will encounter a range of sources that share a common theme. Questions will test their ability to interpret the sources and assimilate information from multiple sources simultaneously. 

The maths and non-verbal reasoning sections are adaptive, which means questions will get harder or easier depending on how your child is performing. Once your child has answered a question in the adaptive sections, they will not be allowed to change their answer. 

All the other sections are non-adaptive, meaning your child will encounter the same questions as all the other candidates. In these sections, your child will be able to return to previous questions and change their answers.  

King’s Written English Paper

The English creative writing paper will last for 30 minutes. Your child will be expected to demonstrate, amongst other things, the ability to do the following:

• Follow all the instructions given
• Use a wide and interesting vocabulary
• Use sensory details
• Spell accurately
• Use punctuation correctly
• Use correct grammar
• Use paragraphs appropriately

Interview

The interview is an opportunity for King’s to get to know your child better and assess whether they will flourish at King’s and make the most of all that is on offer. 

You can expect your child to be asked to talk about their favourite school subjects and hobbies. 

We know that competitive entrance exams can feel daunting; however, they don’t need to be because there are plenty of steps that you can take to ensure that your child is fully prepared. Please review our top tips below. 

Top Tips to Help Your Child Prepare for The King’s School Chester Year 7 Entrance Exam

The following tips will help your child approach King’s assessment day feeling fully prepared and confident:

• Encourage regular reading: Reading a wide range of texts will build your child’s vocabulary, improve their reading comprehension and spark their imagination.  
• Promote regular writing: Practising short, timed writing tasks at home will boost your child’s confidence for the creative writing paper, getting them better at organising their thoughts when under time pressure.
• Practise core skills: Revisit Year 5 maths and English topics so your child has a strong knowledge base. Additionally, utilise puzzles and logic games to enhance their problem-solving and reasoning skills.
• Help them talk with confidence: Discuss your child’s favourite school subjects, hobbies and current affairs with them so they are comfortable expressing themselves and giving their opinions. This will be invaluable for their interview.
• Embrace a growth mindset: Teach your child that we can all improve our skills with time and effort because our abilities are not set in stone. Praise them for all their achievements, no matter how small, and view mistakes as a chance to learn.
• Know what to expect: Make sure that your child understands the format of the assessments so there are no surprises on the day. They can, for example, work through our online Quest practice tests to become familiar with the layout, timings and question types they will encounter on the day. The answers and explanations provided with the tests will also enable your child to learn from their mistakes, leading to a polished performance when it matters most.

Please look at our recommended resources below.

The King’s School Chester: 11 Plus (11+)/Year 7 Entrance Exam Practice Materials

The King’s School Chester 11+ Online Practice Tests

Our The King’s School Chester 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, Creative Comprehension and Puzzles & Problem Solving, 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+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 1

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 2

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 3

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 4

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 5

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 6

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 7

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 8

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 9

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 10

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 11

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 12

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 13

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Practice Test 14

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The King’s School Chester 11+ Skill Practice

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

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Mathematics

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Creative Comprehension Pack 1

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Creative Comprehension Pack 2

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Puzzles & Problem Solving Pack 1

11+ The King’s School, Chester, Puzzles & Problem Solving Pack 2

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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 and at senior school.

The information provided about The King’s School Chester 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 Quest or any other test publisher.