Newstead Wood School 11+: guide for 2028 entry

For girls in Year 5 now, who would sit the Selection Test at the end of September in Year 6 to join Year 7 in September 2028. Dates and format are taken from Newstead Wood School's own admissions pages and its admission policy for September 2027 entry.

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At a glance

School: Newstead Wood School, Orpington: a girls' grammar school (an academy) in the London Borough of Bromley
The test: The school's own Selection Test: one Verbal Reasoning paper and one Non-Verbal Reasoning paper. There is no English or Maths paper
Places: 168 in Year 7 (September 2027 entry)
Qualifying score: 210 for September 2027 entry. The school can set the standard higher or lower so that its places are filled
Last cut-off: Not published. The school emails each family the cut-off scores for the last five years with the test results
Where you live: Girls living within 9 miles of the school, measured in a straight line, come before girls further away

Key dates

For 2028 entry (test expected at the end of September 2027, going by the school's pattern)

Newstead Wood School has not published exact dates for September 2028 entry yet. Its admissions page gives this pattern: the registration form opens in the summer term of Year 5, the test is at the end of September in Year 6, results are emailed in October at least a week before the council deadline of 31 October, and offers come on the first working day of March. The school says its Year 7 open morning for girls now in Year 5 will be in late June 2027.

Source: Newstead Wood School: Admissions

This year's dates (2026 test, 2027 entry), as a guide to the pattern

Friday 1 May 2026: Online Supplementary Information Form opened
Tuesday 30 June 2026 (midnight): Registration closed. Late registrations are not accepted
Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September 2026: Selection Test
Friday 16 to Thursday 22 October 2026: Results emailed to parents

Source: Newstead Wood School: Admission Policy 2027-28 (PDF)

Get an email when Newstead Wood publishes new 11+ dates

We check the official admissions pages every morning. When registration, test dates or results are announced, we'll send you a short email saying what changed and where to find it. We use your address for nothing else.

We email you first to confirm. Alerts come from Eleven Plus Academy, not the school. Privacy policy.

The two papers

Paper 1: Verbal ReasoningWord and letter puzzles: meanings, codes, sequences and logic. The school doesn't publish the length or the number of questions.

Paper 2: Non-Verbal ReasoningShape and pattern puzzles. If two girls have the same total, the Non-Verbal score decides who ranks higher. Scores are adjusted for age before girls are ranked.

Only reasoning is tested

Unlike many 11+ tests, Newstead Wood's has no English comprehension, no creative writing and no maths paper. Both papers are reasoning. Strong reading and number skills still help with verbal reasoning puzzles, so they are worth keeping up alongside the reasoning practice.

The 9-mile rule

Among girls who reach the required standard, the school's policy puts looked-after children first, then girls within 9 miles who receive Pupil Premium or Service Premium, then other girls within 9 miles (and daughters of staff of two or more years) in order of score, then girls outside 9 miles in order of score. The policy says no places have been offered to girls outside 9 miles because the school is so oversubscribed. Distance is measured in a straight line from your home to the school's main entrance.

Register in the summer term of Year 5

To sit the test you fill in the school's online Supplementary Information Form. For September 2027 entry it was open from 1 May to midnight on 30 June 2026, and late registrations were not accepted. You still have to name the school on your council's application form, which is due on 31 October.

What the school doesn't publish

The school doesn't say how long each paper is, how many questions it has or who writes it, and it doesn't sell past or practice papers. Its selection test page links to free familiarisation material from both GL Assessment and CEM. Tutoring sites describe the papers as multiple choice. Our practice papers in this style are 40 minutes each, which is an estimate.

Five verbal reasoning sample questions

These are our own questions, written in the style of verbal reasoning tests so you can see the level. They are not taken from any real paper. Tap a question to see the answer and the method. Non-verbal reasoning needs pictures: practise it in the app, or in the free printable Newstead Wood-style taster paper further down this page: a few questions from each of the two papers, with the answers.

1. Which word is closest in meaning to frail?

A) sturdy
B) delicate
C) angry
D) swift

Answer: B) delicate. Frail means weak and easily hurt or broken. Delicate also means easily damaged, so it is closest. Sturdy means the opposite.

2. Find the next pair of letters in the series: AZ, BY, CX, ?

A) DW
B) DV
C) EW
D) DX

Answer: A) DW. The first letters go forwards through the alphabet: A, B, C, so next is D. The second letters go backwards from the end: Z, Y, X, so next is W. The answer is DW.

3. If LAMP is written as MBNQ in a code, how is SOFA written?

A) RNEZ
B) TPGA
C) TPGB
D) UQHC

Answer: C) TPGB. Each letter of LAMP moves one place forward in the alphabet: L to M, A to B, M to N, P to Q. Do the same to SOFA: S to T, O to P, F to G, A to B, which gives TPGB.

4. Which word does not belong with the others: robin, sparrow, salmon, thrush?

A) robin
B) sparrow
C) salmon
D) thrush

Answer: C) salmon. Robin, sparrow and thrush are all birds. A salmon is a fish, so it is the odd one out.

5. What number comes next in the series 2, 5, 11, 23, ?

A) 46
B) 47
C) 45
D) 49

Answer: B) 47. Each number is doubled and then 1 is added: 2 × 2 + 1 = 5, 5 × 2 + 1 = 11, 11 × 2 + 1 = 23. So the next number is 23 × 2 + 1 = 47.

What a Year 5 parent can do now

Check that you live within 9 miles of the school in a straight line, since girls further away have not been offered places.
Watch the school's admissions page for the 2028 registration form, expected in the summer term of Year 5, and the open morning in late June 2027.
Start short, regular verbal and non-verbal reasoning practice now, building towards two timed reasoning papers.

Free Year 5 baseline check: 20 questions in 15 minutes

How to prepare

Practise verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning little and often, mixing the question types.
Work through the free GL Assessment and CEM familiarisation material the school links to.
Build up to two timed reasoning papers in one sitting, with a short break between them.
Keep reading widely: a strong vocabulary helps with verbal reasoning.

Try a free Newstead Wood-style mock

Set out like the papers the school or area describes, with your child's score at the end and, where the school sets a writing task, their writing marked from a photo. Where a timing is not published, ours is an estimate. Free 7-day trial, no card needed.

Start my Newstead Wood-style mock

Or get a free Newstead Wood-style practice paper (PDF)

Our mocks follow the published format where there is one. The timings we estimate and the questions are our own, not real past papers.

The other 38 school and area guides

Blackheath High 11+ guide · Eltham College 11+ guide · Dulwich College 11+ guide · Alleyn's 11+ guide · Kent Test guide · Bexley 11+ guide · Colfe's 11+ guide · St Olave's 11+ guide · Tiffin Girls' 11+ guide · Trinity School (Croydon) 11+ guide · Whitgift 11+ guide · Sydenham & Dulwich Girls 11+ guide · Bromley High 11+ guide · Medway Test guide · Tiffin 11+ guide · Sutton SET guide · ISEB Pre-Test guide · London 11+ Consortium guide · Latymer Upper 11+ guide · Henrietta Barnett 11+ guide · Dame Alice Owen's 11+ guide · QE Barnet 11+ guide · Redbridge 11+ guide · Buckinghamshire Transfer Test guide · Essex CSSE 11+ guide · Slough Consortium 11+ guide · Kendrick School 11+ guide · Bournemouth and Poole 11+ guide · South Wilts Grammar 11+ guide · Bishop Wordsworth's 11+ guide · Torbay grammar schools 11+ guide · Plymouth grammar schools 11+ guide · Lincolnshire 11+ guide · West Midlands grammar schools 11+ guide · Wirral 11+ guide · Ripon Grammar School 11+ guide · Lancaster Royal Grammar 11+ guide · Northern Ireland SEAG Transfer Test guide

More free practice: Free 11+ Maths practice questions → · Free 11+ Verbal Reasoning practice → · Free 11+ Fractions questions → · Free 11+ Vocabulary questions →

Quick answers

What is in the Newstead Wood 11+ exam?

Paper 1: Verbal Reasoning. Word and letter puzzles: meanings, codes, sequences and logic. The school doesn't publish the length or the number of questions. Paper 2: Non-Verbal Reasoning. Shape and pattern puzzles. If two girls have the same total, the Non-Verbal score decides who ranks higher. Scores are adjusted for age before girls are ranked.

How can my child practise for the Newstead Wood 11+?

Practise verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning little and often, mixing the question types.

Sources

Checked 26 October 2026. Schools change their tests, so always confirm dates and details on the official pages below.

Eleven Plus Academy is independent. It is not affiliated with Newstead Wood School, United Learning, GL Assessment, CEM or the London Borough of Bromley.