Highgate School 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide

Highgate School is a co-educational independent day school in Highgate, London. It contains a Pre-Preparatory School (for 4 to 7-year-olds), a Junior School (7 to 11-year-olds), a Senior School (11 to 16-year-olds) and a Sixth Form (16 to 18-year-olds). The school was founded in 1565 when Queen Elizabeth I allowed Sir Roger Cholmeley to found a grammar school in Highgate, where boys and young men were instructed in Latin, Greek and the principles of religion. Girls were fully integrated into Highgate in 2004, and in the present day, Highgate supports over 1330 students in total, of whom 950 are in the Senior School. Highgate promotes the cultivation of individual curiosity, the enjoyment of learning for its own sake and the nurturing of confidence, creativity and risk-taking.

According to the Good Schools Guide, “few London schools can boast the wealth of space and facilities at Highgate”, since it is “blessed with playing fields and space beyond the dreams of other London schools”. Highgate combines Victorian buildings (including the Central Hall classrooms, chapel and library) with modern facilities (including an auditorium, recital spaces, an art studio, science laboratories and a swimming pool). There is also a vast range of extra-curricular activities on offer at Highgate, ranging from bicycle maintenance to beekeeping to photography, as well as sports, clubs and trips, and the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Upon joining the school, students also join one of twelve Houses – Northgate, Southgate, Westgate, Eastgate, Queensgate, Kingsgate, Midgate, Fargate, Heathgate, The Lodge, School House and Grindal – as a part of which they may participate in inter-house competitions.

In addition, Highgate has received many awards over the years; the Sunday Times Schools Guide featured Highgate as one of the Top 10 independent schools in London and in 2021 they named them Independent School of the Decade. Highgate also won Independent School of the Year by ISOTY in 2019 and by the Times Educational Supplement in 2020. Finally, Highgate won the award for Independent School of the Year for Contribution to Social Mobility in 2019, and a TES judge praised Highgate for providing “a broad and creative curriculum for every subject area and within every year group. In the senior school, Year 11s enjoyed record success last year in public exams, with results that placed Highgate in the top academic tier of UK independent schools, while the sixth form also enjoyed record exam success in 2019.”

Indeed, Highgate’s record of academic performance supports this claim. In their 2024 exam results, 82% of GCSE grades were 9-8 and 78% of A-Level grades were A*-A.