Our Ultimate Guide to Westminster School 16+ Entrance: Tests, Interviews and Tutors for 2024
What to consider before applying to Westminster
Boarding or Day?
This decision will be both financial and practical. Being a boarding student at Westminster School can bring a wealth of benefits: no commute time, after-school academic and extra-curricular activities, opportunities to build closer friendships, incredible central London location for weekend activities such as museums, galleries, theatres etc.
You will find that a lot of the boarders, although they are technically full-time boarders, will go home at the weekends. The school boarding community is a lot smaller at the weekends than it is during the week. However, the school regularly organises activities for the weekend boarding community too, so you would not be lonely if you did choose to stay in school full time.
Another thing to consider is that even if you are a day pupil, you are able to enjoy many of the benefits available to boarders, such as use of the library until 9pm, use of the sports hall in the evenings and access to all school meals during the week.
If you are a scholar in College (the scholars’ house) you will have to board, but included within the scholarship is a significant reduction of the fees. There are also bursaries available. Find more information here.
What A-Level subjects do you want to study?
You will need to inform the school of your A-Level choices before the exams and interviews, because you will be tested and interviewed in each of your subject choices.
This decision needs to be an authentic reflection of what you would want to study for A-Levels, but there is also an element of strategy involved, since your admissions decision will be based on your performance in these subjects. There is scope for flexibility once admitted - it is quite common for students to switch subjects within the first few weeks. As long as you can prove a high standard of previous study (A* or 8/9 at GCSE) and that you will be a motivated student of that subject, the school tend to be pretty understanding when it comes to subject changes. Of course, it is unlikely that you will be able to switch all four, since it will all be dependant on the timetable blocks that are created at the start of the year. However, if you are deciding between two subjects and you know you will perform better in an entrance exam/interview in one rather than the other, select this one for the application process. You can always ask to switch later if offered a place.
The 16+ Westminster Admissions Process: Overview
Westminster Registration
The online registration for Sixth Form opens the year before entry, usually at the beginning of June, and closes at the end of September of the same year.
Precise registration dates for the following year’s entry are published in February of the year before, so for details for 2025 entry you would need to check at the end of February 2024 for the application dates and details.
After the registration process, the admissions assessment process consists of two steps:
Exams (Saturday in early November)
Interviews (Saturday in late November)
Offers of admission are sent out in the first week of December. Westminster School operate a waiting list, and wait-listed candidates will be contacted if they are going to be offered a place.
The offer of a place at Westminster School is conditional on the student achieving a minimum of eight (I)GCSE passes at A / 7 grade, of which at least four are at A* / 8-9 in the subjects to be studied at A Level.
Westminster School Sixth Form has an intake of about 200 boys and girls . The number of girls admitted at 16 plus is significantly higher than the number of boys, since this is the only entrance opportunity available to girls. 11 plus entrance, by contrast, is available to boys only.
The Westminster Tests
As part of the registration process, each candidate will be asked to select the four subjects they wish to study at A Level, and in which they will be asked to sit an entrance examination.
Candidates sit examinations in each of the four subjects selected, each lasting 45 minutes.
These exams tend to be skill-based rather than content-heavy. Being confident in your GCSE syllabus will be important, and you expect the level of difficulty of the exam to be above that of the GCSE exams. However, this is not to say that you need to spend months studying extra content for your four subjects. Instead, work on the key skills necessary to be a successful student in that subject. This might be translation, algebra, balancing equations, reading graphs, analysing literature, evaluating an experiment, analysing a historical source or reviewing a piece of art or theatre.
The school website has a page for each subject available at A-Level. By visiting any of these pages, you will find information regarding the entrance assessment for that subject.
Explore the subjects available here.
The Westminster Interviews
Candidates who have performed most strongly in the examinations will be invited for interviews at Westminster in late November.
Candidates invited to interview will complete the following:
20-minute interviews in each of their four examination subjects;
40-minute Thinking Skills Assessment;
General interview.
In advance of the interviews, all candidates write a personal statement. The school will provide questions and headings to help with this.
In addition, Westminster School will write to the Head of the candidate’s current school for a reference to support the selection process.
Tips For Westminster Test And Interview Preparation
1) Choose subjects you will enjoy preparing and that you are naturally suited to succeeding in. The entrance exams and interviews are designed to be challenging, and they will take quite a lot of preparation in order to succeed. You will make the process so much more difficult if you select subjects you dislike or find really difficult.
2) Do your research. Read through all the information available on the school website and decide whether you think you would do well if assessed via the methods they outline. For example, applying for English A-Level, if your weakest skill is unseen literary analysis and this forms the basis of the entrance exam, perhaps this is not a wise choice as an admissions subject.
3) Practise the skills that the department identify as part of the admissions process. Start this preparation over the summer before admission, to give yourself lots of time to solidify your skills. The exams are not content-heavy, so last-minute cramming will not be very helpful.
4) You will probably want some help with this preparation. Start by talking to your teachers at your current school and also consider finding a tutor. Tutor websites such as U2 tuition can offer tutors who have studied at Westminster School themselves so are highly familiar with the application process.
5) You will be able to talk much more convincingly about specifics than you will about the subject in vague or general terms. So, develop your own interests: if you want to study English, what kind of literature do you love and why? If you are passionate about Physics, watch some documentaries or online lectures about a particular topic that you enjoy. You will then be able to talk about this in an animated and persuasive way. The process of developing your interests will also help you to decide whether this is really the right subject for you.
6) Practice Makes Perfect! Since these exams and interviews will test skills, aptitude and enthusiasm, the best way you can prepare is to practise. Work out what the exam will consist of and ask someone - a teacher or tutor - to set you some practice questions. Try some skill-based questions from exams that are aimed at Sixth Form students like the old AS Levels or even some Oxbridge entrance exam style questions. Get your parents to ask you questions about why you love your subject, or what you think about certain relevant topics. The more you practise the skills needed in the exam and the more you practise talking about your subjects in an interview-style environment, the better you will perform.
What Are Westminster Looking For?
The school website offers this view of its pupils:
“Westminster School’s reputation as one of the world’s foremost centres of academic excellence is built upon our pupils’ genuine enjoyment of open-minded enquiry, rigorous discussion and the search for explanation well beyond any examination syllabus. Westminster is a safe, stimulating and supportive environment: pupils enhance their intellectual, physical, spiritual and social development by taking full advantage of the many opportunities available to them in art, drama, music, sport and volunteering in the community.”
They are looking for:
Academic Excellence
Intellectually Curiosity
Highly Motivated Students
Community Minded Students
Westminster School is highly prestigious and the selection process is highly competitive. They are looking for the students who will achieve the top grades and go on to great Universities, but also who will be committed and passionate members of the class and who will immerse themselves in academic life beyond the classroom. In your application you need to display this passion and commitment as well as your potential for academic excellence.
You need to show that you would throw yourself into the opportunities available at the school, such as societies, essay competitions, lecture series, extra-curricular activities, drama, art, sport, volunteering and more. Do your research and be ready to tell your interviewers what you would hope to do beyond the classroom at Westminster.
Show commitment to the hobbies and intellectual passions that you have already, and convince them that you would bring this same energy to life at Westminster!
Read more at: Westminster School Website, or book a free consultation for a private tutor with U2 Tuition.
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