Entry at Sixth Form

We would be delighted to welcome you and your child at a visit to the Senior School in the months prior to application.  Joining us at an Open Afternoon or our Open Day will give you an opportunity to hear from the Master, Helen Pike, and meet our Heads of Departments.  The Master’s talk includes a pupil panel and we very much welcome questions from pupils as well their parents.

You will find information about our full list of open events on our Open Events page.

Book a visit

To register your son or daughter, please complete the online registration form. You will be required to upload an electronic copy of their birth certificate or passport and make an online payment of the registration fee (£180 (inclusive VAT) for UK applicants; £300 (inclusive VAT) for applicants living overseas).

The registration form will ask you to indicate which four A Levels your son or daughter may be considering. These are indicative only at this stage. The form will also ask you if there are any medical conditions or specific learning difficulties that the School should be made aware of, so that access arrangements may be put in place if applicable. There is no need to register a very long time in advance, but do please bear in mind the registration deadline of 30th September.

In the weeks leading up to our admissions tests and interviews, we will contact you to request some additional information, including the GCSEs your son or daughter is taking, confirmation of A Level choices, his or her interests and a photo. The choices made at that point will be the subjects in which the candidate will be tested and interviewed. HMC guidelines recommend that we ask for a reference from each candidate’s current school. We will do this in early October. All candidates who wish to proceed at this stage will be invited to our entrance test day in November and, subject to performance in the tests, to interview.

Apply online

On the test day, a Saturday in early November,  applicants will take three written tests. Two of these will be in subjects they have indicated as subjects they wish to study at A Level. Candidates will be given papers in all four of their A Level choices on the day, and will have an opportunity to read them before deciding which two to answer. The only exception to this is that those candidates applying for Maths or Maths & Further Maths A Level must take the Maths test.

The third test will be a Verbal Reasoning test. Each test lasts 45 minutes.

There is no written test for Art A Level; all candidates for Art will instead be required to submit a digital portfolio. They will therefore have a choice of their other A Level subjects for written papers.

Our subject tests are all based on the GCSE syllabus and are designed to identify potential and not simply current attainment. No special preparation is expected or required, and there will be a breadth of questions to which candidates will be able to apply their knowledge. We would recommend that your son or daughter has a look at our sample papers in order to gain familiarity with the format of the questions.

On the test day, candidates will have a break between papers as well as lunch, giving them an opportunity to meet some of our current Sixth Form pupils. Assessments for Art, Drama and Sports Scholarships will take place in the afternoon after the written tests (the deadline for Music Scholarship applications is not until January, so auditions for Music Scholarships will happen later). Take a look at our Scholarships page for more information.

Your son or daughter may like to read the Frequently Asked Questions below, which give some guidance on what to expect, and will answer some of the questions he or she may have before coming to MCS for the tests.

Selected candidates will be invited back for interview on the basis of their performance in the entry tests. These candidates will also be invited to attend our Sixth Form A Levels Options Evening in mid November ahead of the interviews, which take place on a Saturday in late November. This event is optional, but gives candidates the opportunity to find out more about the subjects they plan to study. Candidates not being invited for interview will be notified by email in advance of the Options Evening.

Candidates will have two interviews: a general interview with a member of the Sixth Form team or one of our senior academic staff, and an interview in one of the subjects they have indicated as A Level choices.

The general interview will focus on academic and extra-curricular interests, GCSE predictions, ideas for A Level choices and ideas for the Waynflete Studies project. The interviewer may ask about university plans or career aspirations, and this is also an opportunity for candidates to ask questions about Sixth Form at MCS.

The subject interview will be with a subject specialist in one of the candidate’s chosen A Level subjects, and will be academic in focus. It may or may not be in one of the subjects on which the candidate has written a test paper. The subject for interview will be chosen by MCS and cannot be changed at a candidate’s request.

Each interview will last up to 30 minutes, and we aim to make candidates feel at ease as much as possible, so that they enjoy the experience and are able to show us their skills and interests as best they can.

There will also be an opportunity for candidates to spend some time with our current prefects. This will give them the opportunity to relax and get to know one another and to ask our prefects about life at MCS in an informal setting – it does not form part of the assessment.

The purpose of the interviews is to give us an insight into each applicant’s academic interests and capabilities, to help us to see beyond their performance record and to assess their ability to learn. The ability to engage with new ideas is important, as is self-motivation and

Selected candidates will be invited back for interview on the basis of their performance in the entry tests. These candidates will also be invited to attend our Sixth Form A Levels Options Evening in mid November ahead of the interviews, which take place on a Saturday in late November. This event is optional, but gives candidates the opportunity to find out more about the subjects they plan to study. Candidates not being invited for interview will be notified by email in advance of the Options Evening.

Candidates will have two interviews: a general interview with a member of the Sixth Form team or one of our senior academic staff, and an interview in one of the subjects they have indicated as A Level choices.

The general interview will focus on academic and extra-curricular interests, GCSE predictions, ideas for A Level choices and ideas for the Waynflete Studies project. The interviewer may ask about university plans or career aspirations, and this is also an opportunity for candidates to ask questions about Sixth Form at MCS.

The subject interview will be with a subject specialist in one of the candidate’s chosen A Level subjects, and will be academic in focus. It may or may not be in one of the subjects on which the candidate has written a test paper. The subject for interview will be chosen by MCS and cannot be changed at a candidate’s request.

Each interview will last up to 30 minutes, and we aim to make candidates feel at ease as much as possible, so that they enjoy the experience and are able to show us their skills and interests as best they can.

There will also be an opportunity for candidates to spend some time with our current prefects. This will give them the opportunity to relax and get to know one another and to ask our prefects about life at MCS in an informal setting – it does not form part of the assessment.

The purpose of the interviews is to give us an insight into each applicant’s academic interests and capabilities, to help us to see beyond their performance record and to assess their ability to learn. The ability to engage with new ideas is important, as is self-motivation and enthusiasm for the chosen subjects. We are also interested in finding out what motivates and interests our candidates beyond academic study. This will help us assess the contribution they may bring to the broader life of the School and to ensure that MCS is an environment in which they will flourish.

enthusiasm for the chosen subjects. We are also interested in finding out what motivates and interests our candidates beyond academic study. This will help us assess the contribution they may bring to the broader life of the School and to ensure that MCS is an environment in which they will flourish.

We base our decisions on the whole picture of each candidate built up during the admissions process. Our tests and interviews are designed to explore the ways in which each candidate thinks, helping us to assess overall promise. In assessing a candidate’s future potential, we also take a keen interest in the school reference and any other applicable information.

Places are offered in early December and you will need to confirm that you wish to accept the place by returning the correct forms and paying a deposit by the acceptance date in early January. The deposit is currently £1,500 for candidates living in the UK and will be adjusted for those who have been awarded a bursary. For candidates who live overseas, the deposit is £2,500.

Offers of a place are conditional on achieving six A*, 8 or 9 grades at GCSE, including in the subjects the candidate intends to study for A Level, and we find that many of our offer holders exceed this. Those studying IB will need a a minimum of seven Grade 6s. We do not intend to make offers that applicants cannot obtain, and we will only give offers to those whom we are confident will thrive here.

Sixth Form applicants who wish to take Further Maths at A Level will need to secure a 9 in GCSE Maths and to have reached a qualifying mark in our Maths entrance exam. Applicants who would like to look at the option of taking Further Maths following GCSE results will need to have either an A in AddMaths or a 9 in GCSE Further Maths.

Those studying IB will need to have reached the qualifying mark in our Maths entrance exam and have a 7 in Maths and a minimum of six Grade 6s.

We reserve the right to re-test and/or re-interview if an applicant changes their subject choices subsequent to tests, offer or acceptance of offer.

Sixth Form applicants whose first language is not English are required to have obtained either a strong pass at GCSE/IGCSE English (Language) or IELTS level 7, including a minimum of 7.0 in each of the components (for further information please go to www.ielts.org and choose the IELTS Academic option). All those whose first language is not English should discuss their circumstances with the Registrar.

To welcome them to the year group, offer holders are invited in March to join our current Year 11, members of our Sixth Form Team and senior members of staff for our Induction Quiz.

Important enrolment information is sent out in May. In June, after GCSEs have taken place, we hold an induction afternoon for new pupils, where they will meet other new pupils, teachers in their chosen A Level subjects, and their Housemaster. Parents are invited to attend for refreshments. We will then wait to hear confirmation of the GCSE results at the end of August. There will be two further induction days in September just before the beginning of term to help new and existing pupils embark on the Sixth Form journey.

Visit our Scholarships page for information, including the deadlines for application, which is done independently of registration.

You cannot apply for an Academic Scholarship. They are based on GCSE results and award letters will be sent out in September, following the start of term.

In general this is not possible. The one exception is for pupils wishing to take Maths and Further Maths, which it is possible to study in one ‘block’. You can read more about this in the Maths section of our Sixth Form Curriculum Guide.

Most people applying for these subjects will be in the same situation. You are likely to have done some reading in order to feel this is a subject you would like to study, and you will be able to apply that knowledge to questions. We will not expect you to have very significant levels of subject specific knowledge. It is worth bearing in mind that we do ask pupils to think twice before taking more than two subjects at A Level that they have not taken at GCSE.

Tests will take place in early November 2025, with Art, Drama and Sport Scholarship assessments that afternoon. Interviews will take place at the end of November 2025.

Our Sixth Form Options Evening will be held in mid November.

If you are interested in applying for September 2024 entry, the admissions process has now been completed.  Please contact [email protected] if you would like to discuss the possibility of a late application.

Yes. In early October we will ask you to let us know whether or not you would like to attend the Options Evening. If you are not invited to interview, we will let you know prior to the Options Evening.

You should wear whatever you feel comfortable wearing. You do not need to come in school uniform on either day.

No. On the test day you will be given questions in the four subjects you have selected for A Level. You will have a short time at the start of the exam to read the questions and decide which ones you would like to answer. The only exception to this is for pupils who wish to take Maths or Maths & Further Maths at A Level, who must answer the Maths paper.

You can read a summary of the structure of each test, as well as an outline of the skills and knowledge needed for each subject. You can also take a look at our sample papers.

If this is your normal way of working for exams, we would need evidence of this in advance of the tests in order to allow us to make appropriate arrangements. Otherwise, written tests will be taken on paper.

No. Interviews will be allocated based on one of your four chosen A Level subjects.

We want you to be relaxed at the interview. If you do not understand a question, please ask, and listen carefully to the guidance your interviewer offers. Even if you find a question difficult, do your best to talk through your thinking (‘show your working’!).

Discussion of extra-curricular activities and interests forms part of your general interview, and your ability to contribute to the varied extra-curricular life of the School is an important factor in the selection process.

You will be asked to confirm your A Level choices in early October. Your tests and interviews will be based on the information supplied at that point. If you subsequently change your A Level choices, you may be required to sit a test and/or have an interview in the new subject(s) you have chosen.