Newstead Wood School is a selective girls' grammar school in Orpington, in the London Borough of Bromley, run as an academy within the United Learning Trust. For September 2027 entry its published admission number (PAN) is 168, and girls are selected on a two-paper Selection Test — Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning only, with no mathematics or English component. The required standard is a score of 210, though the actual cut-off on National Offer Day 2026 was 225.
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Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppUpdated for September 2027 entry - Newstead Wood School's Selection Test, admission number and key dates
Newstead Wood School's Year 7 Selection Test for September 2027 entry consists of two papers - Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning only, with no mathematics or English component - confirmed directly in the school's own 2027-28 admissions policy and its published Selection Test guidance. The school's published admission number (PAN) for September 2027 is 168, and the required standard is a score of 210, though the actual cut-off on National Offer Day 2026 reached 225.
This page also sets out the school's full oversubscription order for an over-subscribed intake, the registration and test dates confirmed by the school and the London Borough of Bromley for the September 2027 cycle, 2026 appeals figures, and current GCSE performance data from the Department for Education.
Newstead Wood's Year 7 Selection Test is set and run by the school itself: its own admissions policy states the test "will consist of papers in Verbal and Non-Verbal reasoning", and its Selection Test guidance confirms plainly that "we do not test on any other subjects" — no mathematics, no English. That is a different exam from other Bromley grammar-school tests that do include a mathematics paper, so a family should never assume one preparation plan covers every Bromley 11+ school.
Scores are age-standardised and calculated by an independent external company across the whole test cohort, using Optical Mark Recognition to read answer sheets; the school does not offer a re-marking service. The required standard for a place is a score of 210, the baseline set out in the admissions policy — though the school will raise that baseline if 210 is not enough to fill the 168 available places. In practice, demand does exactly that: the cut-off on National Offer Day 2026, the most recently completed cycle, reached 225. Where two girls finish with the same overall score, the Non-Verbal Reasoning paper is used to separate them.
The test itself is multiple-choice, with answers marked on a separate answer sheet. No past papers are published, but a short specimen paper showing the question style can be bought directly from the school's reception for £5, in hard copy only. Registration for the Selection Test held in September 2026 (for September 2027 entry) opened through the school's own Supplementary Information Form on 1 May 2026 and closed at midnight on 30 June 2026; late registrations are not accepted under any circumstances.
Newstead Wood School is a girls' grammar school in Orpington, run as an academy within the United Learning Trust; the London Borough of Bromley's own 2027/2028 admissions booklet lists its status as "Academy" and its intake as "Girls Selective (Grammar)". The Department for Education's Get Information about Schools service records the same academy trust, an admissions policy of "Selective", and 1,347 pupils on roll. The school's published admission number (PAN) for Year 7 entry in September 2027 is 168 girls, confirmed both in the school's own admissions policy and in Bromley's booklet.
Demand for those 168 places is intense. For the most recently completed cycle, Bromley's own booklet records 639 applications naming Newstead Wood against 190 places eventually offered — a mix of on-time places at the required standard and later waiting-list offers. Ofsted no longer issues an overall effectiveness grade for any state-funded school from September 2024 onward, so a single-word rating is not available for comparison with older inspection reports.
Academic outcomes are strong by national measures. In the Department for Education's most recent published performance tables (April 2026, covering the cohort that completed Year 11 in summer 2025), Newstead Wood recorded an Attainment 8 score of 82.8, against 50.4 across Bromley local authority schools and 46.1 across all state schools in England. Every pupil in that cohort — 100.0% — reached grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSEs, against 53.5% in Bromley and 45.4% nationally, and 74.4% of the cohort entered the full English Baccalaureate suite of subjects, against 54.8% in Bromley and 40.5% nationally. The DfE does not publish a Progress 8 score for Newstead Wood for 2024/25 or 2025/26, because no Key Stage 2 baseline data exists for those year groups following pandemic-era disruption to primary assessment.
The school's own sixth form pages describe outcomes rather than naming a specific destination list: "the vast majority of our students go on to study at university, many of them at Russell Group institutions."
In our experience preparing children for Newstead Wood's Selection Test, the same weaknesses appear repeatedly. Identifying them early gives families the best chance of addressing them before they become costly on exam day.
One preparation tip specific to Newstead Wood's Selection Test: because the verbal reasoning section includes question types that rotate across different formats — such as analogies, coded sequences, and odd-one-out problems — children benefit significantly from systematic exposure to every question type, not just the ones they find comfortable. Practising only familiar formats creates a false sense of readiness.
Our 11+ specialists prepare Newstead Wood applicants specifically for the school's own two-paper Selection Test — Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning only — rather than treating every Bromley grammar-school application the same way. Our students have achieved a 95%+ offer rate across selective school entry. For a side-by-side look at how Newstead Wood's test compares with other Bromley options, see our Bromley 11+ guide. Book a free consultation to discuss a preparation plan built around Newstead Wood's actual test format.
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Our specialist 11+ tutors build a preparation programme around Newstead Wood's actual two-paper format — concentrated verbal and non-verbal reasoning practice, not generic 11+ tuition that assumes a mathematics paper the school does not set.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppScoring at or above the required standard does not guarantee a place: Newstead Wood is, in its own words, "heavily over-subscribed", so the admissions policy sets out a strict order of priority once the required standard has been met. Girls with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan naming the school are admitted within the 168-place PAN once they have demonstrated the required academic standard through the test. After that, places go first to Looked After and previously Looked After children scoring at or above the required standard, then to girls within a 9-mile radius of the school who are in receipt of Pupil Premium or Service Premium funding and who meet the required standard.
The remaining places are allocated strictly in score order: first to girls living within the 9-mile radius (and to the children of long-serving staff who live outside it), and only then to girls living beyond the 9-mile radius. The school's own policy records that because it is so heavily oversubscribed, "no places have been offered to girls who only qualify under section 3.3.2 above" — its clause covering girls who live beyond the 9-mile radius. The London Borough of Bromley separately publishes, each September, the date by which a family must already be living inside the 9-mile catchment; that date has typically fallen within the second week of December.
Bromley's other selective school, St Olave's Grammar School, admits boys only — its own admissions page states that "applications are invited from boys who are in Year 6 at Primary School at the time of the Stage 1 Entrance Test" — and runs its own separate test on its own dates. The council's own guidance confirms Bromley has "two selective (grammar) schools (St Olave's Grammar School and Newstead Wood School)", each contacted directly because "the Council is not involved in this process". Families weighing both schools are managing two separate applications with two separate registration windows; our guide to St Olave's designated area and our St Olave's Grammar School preparation page cover its test format and geography rules in full.
Appeals are possible but rarely change the outcome. Bromley's own 2026 figures record 17 appeals heard for Newstead Wood and none — zero — upheld. A waiting list is maintained from National Offer Day until the end of the calendar year: for September 2027 entry, that is from 4 March 2027 until 31 December 2027, and any place that becomes available during that window is offered to the next girl in rank order.
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The Selection Test, registration and offer process for 2027 entry runs across roughly ten months, from 1 May 2026 to 1 March 2027. Every date below is confirmed either on Newstead Wood's own admissions pages or in the London Borough of Bromley's Secondary Education in Bromley 2027/2028 booklet.
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| Registration (SIF) opens | 1 May 2026 |
| Registration (SIF) closes | 30 June 2026, midnight |
| Selection Test held | 25 and 26 September 2026 |
| Test results emailed | 16 to 22 October 2026 |
| Common Application Form national closing date | 31 October 2026 |
| National Offer Day | 1 March 2027 |
| Waiting list maintained | 4 March 2027 to 31 December 2027 |
Source: Newstead Wood School and London Borough of Bromley, retrieved 25 September 2026.
Missing the May-to-June registration window rules a child out of the September 2026 test entirely, regardless of ability, so families should treat 1 May as the date that matters most — well before the 31 October Common Application Form deadline most guides emphasise.
Building a timetable around these dates?
Our specialist 11+ tutors plan backwards from Newstead Wood's own registration and test dates, so preparation peaks for the actual September Selection Test rather than a generic 11+ timeline.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppYear 5, January to April: Begin with a diagnostic assessment to identify where your daughter currently stands in verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. Use this to build a targeted plan rather than working through generic workbooks from page one. Focus on introducing question types she has not seen before and building vocabulary and reasoning speed.
Year 5, May to July: Increase the pace and variety of practice. Introduce timed sections — not full papers yet, but individual sections completed against the clock. Begin working on non-verbal reasoning systematically, ensuring every question type has been covered at least once.
Year 5 summer holiday: This is a critical window. Maintain momentum rather than taking a full break. Introduce full timed practice papers and begin reviewing errors carefully. The goal is not just completing papers but understanding why mistakes happen.
Year 6, September to exam date: Shift to exam simulation — full papers under realistic conditions, followed by detailed review. Work on managing time across the whole paper, not just individual sections. Address any remaining weak areas with focused practice rather than more full papers alone.
Leading Tuition provides 1-to-1 specialist tutoring for children preparing for Newstead Wood School's Selection Test specifically. Our tutors are familiar with the test format, the question styles used, and the standard required to be genuinely competitive for a place at Newstead Wood.
We begin with a diagnostic session to understand where your daughter is starting from, and we build a preparation plan around her specific needs — not a one-size-fits-all programme. Progress is reviewed regularly, and we adjust the focus as the exam approaches. Parents receive clear, honest feedback throughout so there are no surprises in the final weeks before the test.
Preparation for a school as selective as Newstead Wood requires consistency over time. We work with families who start early and those who come to us later in the process, and we are straightforward about what is realistic given the time available.
For official entry requirements and registration details, see the Newstead Wood School admissions.
We also work with many Bromley families already using our wider Bromley tutoring for other subjects, alongside 11+ preparation.
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Book a free consultation and our specialist 11+ tutors will build a programme around Newstead Wood's actual Selection Test — verbal and non-verbal reasoning, not a generic Bromley 11+ course.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppReviewed September 2026: Newstead Wood School's Selection Test format, admission number, oversubscription criteria and key dates for September 2027 entry checked against the school's own 2027-28 admissions policy and Selection Test pages, the London Borough of Bromley's Secondary Education in Bromley 2027/2028 booklet and its own secondary admissions webpage, and the Department for Education's Get Information about Schools and Compare School and College Performance services.
Two papers only: Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. The school's own guidance states plainly that it does not test any other subject, so there is no mathematics or English paper at Newstead Wood, unlike some other Bromley-area entrance tests that do include one. Both papers are multiple-choice, marked using Optical Mark Recognition and standardised by an independent external company. Primary schools rarely teach the coded sequences and spatial-pattern questions non-verbal reasoning uses, so even strong readers and mathematicians usually need dedicated practice before sitting the test.
For most children, yes — but the nature of that difference matters. Tutoring does not manufacture ability that isn't there. What it does is ensure a child is fully familiar with the verbal and non-verbal reasoning question types, has practised under timed conditions, and has had gaps in their knowledge identified and addressed. For a test as competitive as Newstead Wood's, with a required standard of 210 and a cut-off that reached 225 in the most recently completed cycle, arriving underprepared is a significant disadvantage regardless of underlying ability.
For a school as selective as Newstead Wood, most families benefit from beginning structured preparation in Year 5 — ideally by January or February at the latest. That gives approximately seven to eight months before the September Selection Test. Children who begin in the summer term of Year 5 can still prepare effectively, but the timeline is tighter and the pace needs to be managed carefully.
A borderline result means your daughter's score fell close to, but below, the required standard, or above the required standard but below the rank-order cut-off needed for an offer. In that situation, she can be placed on the waiting list, which for September 2027 entry runs from 4 March 2027 to 31 December 2027, and movement does happen as places are declined. Formal appeals are possible but rarely change the outcome: Bromley's own 2026 figures record 17 appeals heard for Newstead Wood, none of them upheld. If your daughter is borderline, understanding her waiting-list position and keeping other school options open in parallel matters more than an appeal.
No. Newstead Wood is a state-funded academy within the United Learning Trust, and the London Borough of Bromley's own admissions booklet records its status as "Academy" with a selective, grammar-school intake. Places are allocated purely on Selection Test performance and the school's published oversubscription criteria, not on payment of fees. It is sometimes confused with the area's independent schools because of its academic selectivity and strong GCSE results, but admission works through the same local-authority coordinated process as any other state secondary school in Bromley.
Very. The school's published admission number for September 2027 is 168 girls, and for the most recently completed cycle Bromley's own admissions booklet recorded 639 applications naming Newstead Wood against 190 places eventually offered. The baseline required standard is a score of 210, but the actual cut-off on National Offer Day 2026 reached 225, and the school states plainly that it has historically made no offers to girls qualifying only by living outside its 9-mile catchment. A strong score is necessary but not, on its own, sufficient.
Our specialist 11+ tutors build a programme around Newstead Wood's actual Selection Test format — concentrated Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning practice, not a generic Bromley 11+ course that assumes a mathematics paper the school does not set. We begin with a diagnostic assessment, build a plan around your daughter's specific gaps, and adjust the focus as the September test date approaches, with honest feedback throughout so there are no surprises in the final weeks. Our students have achieved a 95%+ offer rate across selective school entry. Book a free consultation to discuss a plan built around Newstead Wood specifically.
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