Admissions Guide

You will need to complete a registration form and pay a non-refundable £100 registration fee. You will find the form here.

Usually, we welcome around 65 students into our First Form (Year 7). A further 25 to 30 students will join at Third Form (Year 9) and around 20 students will join us in the Lower Sixth (Year 12).

Yes. For First Form (Year 7) and Third Form (Year 9) entry, prospective pupils are required to complete the ISEB (Independent Schools Examination Board) Common Pre-Test. Those looking to join our Second Form, Fourth Form or Fifth Form will usually need to sit an entrance examination which may in the form of an online or paper test.

For Lower Sixth (Year 12) places, conditional offers will be made in advance of GCSE results. On that basis, no additional entrance tests are required. If you are looking for your child to join the Lower Sixth from outside of the UK (and they have therefore not sat GCSEs), they will then need to sit an entrance examination.

Places for entry are offered primarily subject to academic ability, but special consideration will be given to children with siblings already in the School or joining concurrently as well as the date of registration. Further information can be provided by the Admissions Office.

Please refer to our specific Scholarship and Bursary pages for more information.

Yes we do, provided we receive a copy of a report from an educational psychologist or a similarly qualified assessor. We offer individual learning support lessons in Literacy, Numeracy and Study Skills, all at an additional charge. In some circumstances, general in-class support is offered, but not individual support in class.

The majority of those receiving support have mild learning difficulties (dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia). Support lessons will be provided in place of a timetabled lesson, but not in place of a core subject lesson.

If your child receives any form of learning support, then please include this information on the Registration Form where requested. Informing us of any special needs will help your child as we will then be able to liaise with their existing school on current learning support provision and be able to provide any necessary examination concessions, where relevant.

Yes. We have a fully-integrated international community, making up approximately eight per cent of the School roll. Overseas applicants should register in the usual way, as detailed above, and can take an entrance examination in their own country. Please refer to our International Admissions page for more information or contact the Admissions Office for specific details.

Yes. English as an Additional Language (EAL) lessons are available for all overseas pupils. There is a termly charge of £600 for these lessons. For younger pupils, EAL lessons are timetabled instead of a modern language. Sometimes we insist that as a condition of entry pupils are to have extra, chargeable, EAL lessons, or attend a language school prior to entry to SVS.

In addition to high-quality EAL, which is taught by experts, we also offer conversational English, multi-media language support and a programme of cultural visits at weekends to enable our overseas pupils to gain a full understanding of British life. We have recently established a tutorial support scheme especially aimed at pupils from other countries. This complements the school’s already strong pastoral framework.

Non-native speakers will be prepared and entered for the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam and the IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) ESL exam. For further information and to obtain the necessary application forms, please contact the Admissions Office.

The acceptance deposit for all UK and EU-based students is £1,000. Applicants who live outside the EU are required to pay a term’s fees by way of a deposit. In the event that the applicant does not take up the place after acceptance, the deposit will not be refunded. The deposit will be credited against the pupil’s final invoice and any credit balance refunded. The deposit does not attract interest.