Applying to Harris Westminster Sixth Form
Thank you for your interest in Harris Westminster Sixth Form. Applications for September 2027 entry will open on 11 September 2026.
Harris Westminster Sixth Form provides an outstanding academic education for able and ambitious students from across London, whatever their background. Our admissions process is designed to identify academic potential as well as previous achievement. We particularly welcome applications from students who receive, or have previously received, government means-tested Free School Meals.
Entry is through two entrance examinations and, for applicants who reach the required standard, one academic interview.
Applicants who meet the required threshold after the entrance exams and interview may be offered a place. All offers will be conditional on gaining the following GCSE grades:
- at least six GCSE grades at 7 to 9;
- at least grade 5 in both English Language and Mathematics;
- at least grade 7 in each subject they intend to study at A level;
- where a subject has not been studied at GCSE, an appropriate alternative is required;
- those wishing to study Further Mathematics need grade 8 or 9 in GCSE Mathematics, or at least grade C in a higher qualification such as Additional Mathematics FSMQ or AS Mathematics.
Key dates
|
Stage |
Date |
|---|---|
|
Applications open |
11 September 2026 |
|
Open Evenings (ticketed) |
September to December 2026, see here |
|
Applications close |
4 December 2026 |
|
Entrance examinations |
16 January 2027 |
|
Interviews |
13 February 2027 |
|
Offers sent |
19 March 2027 |
|
Induction Events |
Week beginning 28 June 2027 |
|
Enrolment |
19 August 2027 |
These dates are fixed. Applicants should ensure that they are available for the entrance examinations and interview before applying.
You can find our Admissions Policy here.
Choosing your subjects
All students at Harris Westminster study four subjects:
- three A levels;
- one additional subject, chosen from A-level Further Mathematics, Core Maths or the Extended Project Qualification.
Further Mathematics is a two-year A level. Core Maths and the Extended Project Qualification are one-year courses.
There are some restrictions on subject combinations:
- Further Mathematics must be studied alongside A-level Mathematics.
- Core Maths cannot be studied alongside A-level Mathematics.
- Students taking two or three sciences must also take either Core Maths or A-level Mathematics.
- You can take only one Westminster School subject: Drama, Russian, Latin, Greek, German, Music
- Students who are native speakers of Russian cannot be considered for the Russian course.
|
Choose THREE from the following A level subjects |
Choose ONE of the following subjects |
|
Art; Art History; Biology; Chemistry; Drama & Theatre Studies*; Economics; English Literature; French; Further Mathematics; Geography; German*; Greek*; History; Latin*; Mathematics; Music*; Philosophy; Physics; Politics; Russian*; Spanish |
Further Mathematics (the 2-year A level) Core Maths (a 1-year course) Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) (a 1-year course) |
* These subjects are taught at Westminster School. You can only take one of them and they will require that you take an additional entrance exam and interview. This process does not affect your Harris Westminster Sixth Form offer. If you are not offered a place on a Westminster School course, you will simply switch to a subject taught at Harris Westminster Sixth Form.
You will enter four intended subjects on your application form. You do not need to rank them in order of preference, and an offer is not tied permanently to that particular subject combination. There will be opportunities to request changes after applying and again at enrolment, provided that you meet the relevant GCSE requirements.
For further details about choosing your four subjects, see here.
Completing your application
Applications must be made through the Harris Westminster Sixth Form application form on our website – here.
As part of the application, you will be asked to:
- select four intended subjects;
- choose two subjects in which to sit entrance examinations;
- choose the subject in which you would like to be interviewed;
- provide your current home address;
- provide the name of your current school, tell us whether it is government-funded or fee-paying and, if it is fee-paying, whether you receive a bursary covering 100 per cent or more of the fees;
- tell us if you normally receive extra time in your exams;
- tell us if you currently receive, or have ever received while at secondary school, Free School Meals.
You may choose entrance examinations in any two subjects that we offer, apart from Further Mathematics, Core Maths and the Extended Project Qualification. We recommend choosing the two subjects in which you think you are most likely to perform strongly.
If you choose Mathematics and Further Mathematics as two of your subjects, you must sit the Mathematics exam. There is no exam in Further Mathematics.
Your interview subject does not have to be one of your entrance-test subjects. You should choose the subject in which you think you will be best able to demonstrate your interest, ability and potential.
Applicants who have previously sat the Harris Westminster entrance examinations cannot reapply in a later year, because they would have an unfair advantage over first-time applicants.
Applicants in particular circumstances
Home-educated students and students attending school outside England may apply through the same process as other applicants.
Home-educated applicants should state the type of school they most recently attended. Applicants who have never attended a school should select “fee-paying school” on the application form.
Applicants attending boarding school should give the parental or home address to which they return during school holidays. An applicant may tell us if their address later changes, but their admissions priority will be based on their address at the time of application.
Providing evidence of your circumstances
Our admissions priorities take account of applicants’ circumstances and the type of school they attend.
We shall send you a form which you will need to get your current school to complete confirming, where applicable:
- whether you attend a government-funded or fee-paying school;
- whether you are currently eligible, or were previously eligible during secondary school, for government means-tested Free School Meals;
- whether you are a Looked after child or previously Looked after child;
- whether you receive a bursary covering 100 per cent or more of the fees at a fee-paying school.
A Looked after child (LAC) in the UK is a child under 18 who is in the care of their local authority for more than 24 hours, either through a court order or parental agreement.
This information should be provided before the entrance examinations in January. We will still consider evidence received after this point, but applicants should arrange for it to be submitted as promptly as possible because it may affect our ability to place them in the correct priority group (see the admissions policy)
Access arrangements
The entrance examinations are taken electronically. The access arrangement available during the admissions tests is additional time.
Applicants who normally receive additional time should indicate this on their application form. No separate supporting evidence is required, and an existing school arrangement will normally transfer to the Harris Westminster entrance examinations.
Applicants with a disability, medical need or special educational need should contact the admissions team at admissions@harriswestminstersixthform.org.uk. Although additional time is not available during the interview, we may arrange for a current student to support an applicant before and after the interview.
The entrance examinations
Every applicant sits exactly two entrance examinations on 16 January 2027.
The examinations are taken electronically. Applicants may request to sit them at Harris Westminster using the school’s computers.
If you choose Mathematics and Further Mathematics as two of your subjects, you must sit the Mathematics exam. There is no exam in Further Mathematics.
For further details about the entrance exams and how to prepare for them, see here.
Selection for interview
After the entrance examinations, a threshold score will be set. Applicants who reach this threshold may be invited to interview, up to a maximum of 700 applicants.
If more than 700 applicants reach the threshold, the published admissions priorities will be used to decide who is invited. See the admissions policy here.
Applicants will normally be told within three weeks of the examinations whether they have been invited to interview. At the same time, all applicants will receive their entrance-test scores.
An applicant who does not reach the test threshold cannot be offered a place or placed on a waiting list.
The academic interview
Each shortlisted applicant attends one 15-minute academic interview on 13 February 2027.
The interview:
- is in the subject selected by the applicant;
- is conducted by one of our teachers;
- takes place in person at Harris Westminster.
For further details about the interviews and how to prepare for them, see here.
How the final score is calculated
Entrance-test and interview marks are combined to produce an overall admissions score.
The weighting is:
- four parts entrance-test performance;
- one part interview performance.
A qualifying score is then set. Every applicant must reach this score before they can be considered for a place. Applicants will be told their own score, the qualifying score and the reason if they have not been offered a place.
How places are prioritised
Applicants who reach the qualifying score are prioritised in the following order:
- Looked after and previously Looked after children.
- Applicants living in Greater London at the point of application who qualify for, or have whilst at secondary school qualified for, government means-tested Free School Meals in the UK.
- Applicants living in Greater London at the point of application whose overall score places them among the top 100 applicants.
- Applicants living in Greater London at the point of application who attend a UK government-funded school, or who receive a bursary covering 100 per cent or more of the fees at a fee-paying school at the time of application.
- All other applicants living in Greater London at the point of application.
- Applicants living outside Greater London.
Applicants living outside Greater London are welcome to apply, but they are placed in the sixth priority group unless they are a Looked after or previously Looked after children
Within each priority group, applicants are ranked according to their combined entrance-test and interview score. If applicants are tied for the final available place, priority is given to the applicant living closest to the school, measured in a straight line from the applicant’s front door to the school’s front entrance. Any remaining tie is decided by an independent drawing of lots.
Your priority group is based on your circumstances and home address at the time of application. Future plans to move into Greater London cannot be taken into account.
We are unable to take account of an applicant's SEND status or personal or medical circumstaces except Free School Melas eligibility and Looked after child status.
Conditional offers
Offers will be sent by email on 19 March 2027. Successful applicants will be told the date by which they must accept their offer.
All offers are conditional on the applicant achieving the required GCSE results. To have an offer confirmed, applicants normally need:
- at least six GCSE grades at 7 to 9, or equivalent qualifications;
- at least grade 5 in both English Language and Mathematics;
- at least grade 7 in each subject they intend to study at A level.
Where a subject has not been studied at GCSE, an appropriate alternative is required. In particular:
- applicants wishing to study Economics without GCSE Economics need at least grade 7 in Mathematics;
- applicants wishing to study a humanities subject need at least grade 7 in an essay-based subject;
- applicants wishing to study Further Mathematics need grade 8 or 9 in GCSE Mathematics, or at least grade C in a higher qualification such as Additional Mathematics FSMQ or AS Mathematics.
International GCSEs are treated in the same way as GCSEs. National qualifications from other countries and the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme may also be accepted. The school will assess their equivalence, subject coverage and grades at enrolment.
Applicants choosing subjects taught through Westminster School may need to complete additional assessments after receiving an offer.
GCSE results and enrolment
Conditional offer holders should attend Harris Westminster in person to enrol on 19 August 2027, bringing their GCSE results document.
Changing subjects
Offers are not made for a permanently fixed subject combination. There will be designated opportunities for applicants to request changes to their subjects after applying. Further changes may be requested at enrolment, provided that the GCSE grade requirements are met.
Waiting lists and late applications
Late applications will normally be considered only after successful on-time applicants have enrolled.
A Looked after child applying after the deadline should complete the application and email the admissions team to explain that it is a late application from a Looked after child.
Applicants who reach the qualifying score but are not offered a place may ask to join the waiting list. The waiting list is maintained until the end of September and follows the same priority criteria as the main admissions process.
Waiting-list offers can be made only after all conditional offer holders have been enrolled and where places remain available in the applicant’s intended subjects.
Contacting the admissions team
Questions about applications, access arrangements or individual circumstances should be sent to Admissions@harriswestminstersixthform.org.uk
