St James Senior Boys’ School 11 Plus (11+) Entrance Exam Information
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Table of Contents
Introduction
St James Senior Boys’ School is an independent day school for boys, located in Ashford, Surrey. Noted for its distinctive approach to education, the school has recently had its site modernised with state-of-the-art facilities, including a Design Technology workshop, rugby pitches, a cricket square and an athletics track.
In Year 7, pupils study art, biology, business studies, chemistry, classical civilisation, design technology, drama, economics, English, MFL, geography, government & politics, Greek, history, ICT, computing, Latin, mathematics, music, physical education, philosophy of religion, physics and Sanskrit.
The learning experience at St James’ is peculiar for several reasons. The school utilises a philosophical approach to the development of essential life skills, targeting the conscious, intelligent and loving aspects of pupils’ personalities. In line with this, boys practice stillness, meditation and reflection techniques as part of the school routine, plus, they study the Sanskrit language as a compulsory subject, aiming to help them grasp maths, science and other languages better.
Equally inspiring, the extra-curricular programme is broad and diverse, offering a variety of opportunities which range from the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Young Enterprise and Debating & Public Speaking, to Ornithology, Theoretical Physics and Chess.
While encouraging the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical well-being of boys, the school boosts their talents and skills and actively prepares them for a productive adulthood. In return, they grow in self-awareness, stillness and attention, and utilise the school’s philosophy in their daily lives long after they finish school.
St James Senior Boys’ School 11 Plus (11+) Exam Information
Address: Church Road, Ashford, TW15 3DZ
County: Surrey
Admissions info: admissions@stjamesboys.co.uk or 01784 266 933
School type: Independent day school for boys
Number of students: 400 (approx.)
Open days: Throughout the year
Exam date: January of Year 6
Exam type / Board: School’s own
Open Events for St James Senior Boys’ School 11 Plus (11+) Entry
The school hosts an Open Day in October, designed to provide families with an opportunity to explore St James, meet teaching staff and tour facilities. There will also be a speech from the Headmaster and some of the senior pupils.
To see the school in action, you should attend a pupil-led school tour, during which you will visit lessons and hear more about the learning experience at St James’ from the Headmaster himself.
Click here to book a spot for the open events/tours.
St James Senior Boys’ School 11 Plus (11+) Admissions
To register your son with the school, you should complete and submit the registration form, together with a recent full school report, by the deadline in late November. The registration fee is £125. There will also be an interview with a member of the Senior Management Team, which usually takes place following the entrance exams in January.
Offers of places are made by the beginning of February. Aside from looking into academic ability, the school amidts pupils’ on the basis of their capacity to contribute to the school with their talents and enthusiasm, as well.
St James Senior Boys’ School 11 Plus (11+) Scholarships and Bursaries
The school offers Scholarships for Sport and Music, along with Headmasters Scholarships, only awarded to candidates who perform outstandingly well in the entrance assessments (interview and exam). There will also be an academic interview with the school’s Director of Education.
Sports Scholarships are awarded in the areas of Athletics, Basketball, Cricket, Football, Hockey, Rugby and Tennis. Applicants will be practically assessed in the spring term.
Music Scholarships are awarded to applicants who play instruments (at Grade 5 or above) that typically feature in a classical orchestra.
Click here to download Scholarship Application Forms.
The school’s Bursary fund awards bursaries to families in financial need. The application form should be submitted along with full documentation, such as declaration of financial circumstances and original verification papers.
The application process formally begins once you tick the ‘bursary request’ box on the registration form. The deadline for applications is in late November of the year preceding entry.
St James Senior Boys’ School 11 Plus (11+) Exam Format
The St James Senior Boys’ School 11+ exam consists of the following tests:
- English (90 mins)
- Mathematics (60 mins)
- Verbal Reasoning (45 mins + 15 mins practice)
The English paper examines both comprehension and writing skills, including inference, spelling, vocabulary and punctuation. Marks will be awarded for good use of imagination, creativity, form, purpose, organisation, cohesion and sentence structure.
The maths exam assesses your son’s problem-solving abilities and arithmetic skills. The paper will include questions on number, measurement, geometry, algebra and statistics.
The Verbal Reasoning paper is designed to test and assess his logical thinking, use of English language and vocabulary.
Please see below for further details and recommendations on how to prepare for the St James Senior Boys’ School 11+ entrance examination.
How to Prepare for the St James Senior Boys’ School 11 Plus (11+) Exam
To successfully prepare your child for the St James Senior Boys’ School 11+ exam, we recommend that you utilise resources that provide an insight into the types of questions that they could be asked in the actual exam. Our practice papers offer exactly that and much more.
Aside from reflecting the demands of the St James Senior Boys’ School 11+ exam, our practice tests will help you identify any weaker areas that require additional work, and thus enable you to adjust your child’s study schedule accordingly. Students who approach preparation in such a methodical way generally have a competitive advantage over their peers who prefer a less structured approach.
Our practice tests tend to make the preparation process easily manageable and less demanding in order for your child to feel confident and less stressed about the upcoming 11+ exam. For that reason, they are used successfully by tens of thousands of students every year.
They are age-appropriate, yet challenging, and are available for immediate download, print and use after purchase. Our recommendations to help your child prepare for the St James Senior Boys’ School 11 plus entrance examination can be found below.
St James Senior Boys’ School 11 Plus (11+) Exam Practice Papers
NOTE: The following English and Mathematics practice tests are in standard format, which means that students need to write in their own answers rather than choose from a list of multiple-choice options. This matches the 11+ Exam format used by the school.
English
We highly recommend the following packs to prepare successfully for the St James Senior Boys’ School 11+ English paper. They will help improve your son’s comprehension skills, such as inference, and writing skills, including spelling, vocabulary and punctuation:
Comprehension
11+ Complete Comprehension Guide
Writing
11+ English Bundle
If you’d like to have your child’s writing assessed and marked, you may be interested in our Writing Marking Service. Please click here to learn more.
Mathematics
We highly recommend the use of the following packs to help develop your son’s arithmetic and problem-solving skills within the examination context of the St James Senior Boys’ School 11+ maths test:
Full Practice Tests
Skill Specific Practice
11+ Fractions, Decimals & Percentages
11+ Reflection, Rotation & Symmetry
11+ Mathematics Bundle
Verbal Reasoning
Practice tests
To prepare your son for the St James Senior Boys’ School Verbal Reasoning paper, we strongly recommend the use of the following packs:
Skill specific practice
The following topic specific packs will help your son prepare for the various question types that could come up in the St James Senior Boys’ School 11+ Verbal Reasoning exam:
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Anagrams
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Analogies
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Compound Words
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Embedded Words
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Form a Word
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Insert a Letter
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Letter Analogies
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Letter Calculations
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Letter Codes
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Letter Sequences
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Move a Letter
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Number Analogies
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Number Calculations
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Number Sequences
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Shuffled Sentences
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Synonyms
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Word Completion
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Word Match
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Word Opposites
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Word Pairs
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Word Puzzles
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Word Relationships
11+ Verbal Reasoning Bundle
Interviews
11+ Interviews – The Complete Guide
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Our practice tests aim to show what sort of questions were included in St James Senior Boys’ School 11+ past papers. The information provided about St James Senior Boys’ School was believed to be correct at the time of publishing. However, please be aware of future changes. We advise you to contact the school directly if you are unsure of anything. School contact details are provided within the post.
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