Two questions usually come up before any league table when families ask me about independent schools: which schools could my child get into, and how would we pay the fees?

I prepare children for independent school English papers as well as grammar school tests. Below are the latest national top ten, what each school asks of applicants, what VAT has changed and how bursaries and 11+ entry work.

How Are Private Schools Ranked?

The most widely quoted ranking is The Sunday Times Parent Power guide. Its 2026 edition, published in December 2025, ranks independent schools on their summer 2025 GCSE and A-level results. As The Sunday Times explains in its guide to how the schools were chosen, the measure is the share of entries awarded top grades.

It measures exam results only. It does not include pastoral care, sport, music, class sizes or how much a school adds for a child of a given starting point. Most of the schools near the top are also highly selective, so their results partly reflect who they admit.

The Top 10 Private Schools in the UK

These are the top ten independent schools in the Parent Power 2026 ranking, as published by The Sunday Times and summarised by the Independent Schools Council:

  1. St Paul's School, Barnes, London
  2. Brighton College, Brighton
  3. North London Collegiate School, Edgware, London
  4. Godolphin and Latymer School, Hammersmith, London
  5. Guildford High School, Guildford
  6. St Paul's Girls' School, Hammersmith, London
  7. King's College School, Wimbledon, London
  8. Westminster School, London
  9. City of London School for Girls, London
  10. Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith, London

Every school in the top ten is in London or the South East. Highly selective independent schools are concentrated there, so if you live further afield, the regional lists in the same guide are more useful.

The Top 10 at a Glance

A ranking tells you nothing about who each school takes or how it selects them. This is what each school says on its own admissions pages for 2027 entry.

  • St Paul's School: boys aged 7 to 18, day and boarding. Entry is at 7, 8 and 11 to St Paul's Juniors and at 13 and 16 to the senior school. Free and subsidised places are available for households earning less than £120,000 a year.
  • Brighton College: co-educational, ages 3 to 18, day and boarding. Senior entry is at 11, 13 and 16. Its bursary policy says awards are "typically in the 5%-30% range" and boarders are not eligible, with fully funded places offered at 16 through its Opening Doors scheme.
  • North London Collegiate School: girls aged 4 to 18, day only. Year 7 is the main entry point. The school sets its own written English and maths papers of 1 hour 15 minutes each, with no verbal or non-verbal reasoning, followed by an interview for some candidates. Bursaries can cover up to 100% of fees.
  • Godolphin and Latymer School: girls aged 11 to 18, day only. It is a member of the London 11+ Consortium, and bursaries range from 10% to 100% of fees.
  • Guildford High School: girls aged 4 to 18, day only, with entry at 4, 7, 11 and 16. At 11+ there is an online Cambridge test in November covering verbal and non-verbal reasoning and maths, then a short interview in January.
  • St Paul's Girls' School: girls, day only. Stage one is the ISEB Common Pre-Test. Stage two is the school's own papers in English, maths and general comprehension, followed by an interview of about 20 minutes. The maximum bursary is the full published fee.
  • King's College School, Wimbledon: boys aged 7 to 18 and girls in the sixth form, day only. Free and subsidised places are offered at 11+, 13+ and 16+.
  • Westminster School: boys join at 13 and girls at 16, with day and boarding places. The school is moving to full co-education by 2030, and the first girls join Year 9 in 2028. Candidates sit the ISEB Common Pre-Test in Year 6, then further tests and an interview. Means-tested bursaries go up to 100% of day fees.
  • City of London School for Girls: girls, day only. Candidates sit a one-hour Cambridge Select Insight test in November, then English and maths papers in January and an interview. Bursaries can cover up to 100% of fees.
  • Latymer Upper School: co-educational, day only, with senior entry at 11 and 16. It sets its own English and maths papers, followed by an interview. Bursaries cover between 25% and 100% of fees.

Even within the top ten, children face at least four different first-stage formats: the ISEB Pre-Test, a Cambridge test, a consortium test and a school's own written papers. So with every family, I start with the admissions page rather than the ranking.

Top Independent Schools Outside London and the South East

The same guide names a top independent secondary school for each region. Its regional guides name these:

  • North: Queen Ethelburga's College, York
  • East: The Perse School, Cambridge
  • East Midlands: Nottingham High School
  • West Midlands: King Edward VI High School for Girls, Birmingham
  • Scotland: St Leonards School, St Andrews (for GCSEs and A-levels) and St Mary's Music School, Edinburgh (for Highers)
  • Wales: Cardiff Sixth Form College

Cardiff Sixth Form College takes students from 16, so it is not an 11+ option. For the South West, reports of the guide name different schools, so I have left that region out rather than guess.

Private Schools in 2026: Fees, VAT and Pupil Numbers

Since 1 January 2025, private school fees have been subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20%, according to HMRC's guidance. Private schools in England with charitable status also lost business rates relief from April 2025, as set out in the government's policy paper. A legal challenge to the VAT policy was dismissed by the High Court on 13 June 2025.

The Independent Schools Council's 2026 census shows the effect:

  • 526,611 pupils at 1,455 ISC schools, a fall of 3.5% on 2025
  • average fees up 4.4% between January 2025 and January 2026, before VAT
  • £2.1 billion of fee assistance, supporting 183,705 pupils (34.9% of all pupils)

The last figure matters if you are hoping for help with fees. Fee assistance covers bursaries, scholarships and other discounts, and many of the schools above offer means-tested bursaries.

How Bursaries and Scholarships Work

The two are easy to confuse. The Independent Schools Council explains the difference:

  • Bursaries are means-assessed on a family's finances and are usually reassessed every year.
  • Scholarships reward pupils who are particularly strong in an area and are not usually means-tested. A child can hold both.

Scholarships tend to be small. Guildford High School's are worth about 5% to 10% of fees, for example. Bursaries are where the large reductions are.

A few things I would want any family to know before applying:

  • Income limits vary widely. North London Collegiate says families with income under £40,000 are likely to be considered for a 100% bursary. St Paul's School considers households earning under £120,000. St Paul's Girls' says families earning above £150,000 are unlikely to be considered.
  • The child must win a place first. Westminster puts it plainly: "Candidates must first win a place on academic merit." The bursary is assessed separately.
  • Deadlines come early. At 11+, bursary forms are usually due in the autumn of Year 6, around the same time as registration. At 13+, they can be due much earlier: St Paul's asks for 13+ bursary applications in the June of the year before entry.
  • Boarding is often excluded. Brighton College's bursaries are not open to boarders, and Westminster generally does not award bursaries for boarding.

How 11+ Entry to Independent Schools Works

There is no single test. Most selective independent schools use some combination of these:

  • The ISEB Common Pre-Test. Four online, adaptive assessments in maths, English (reading comprehension and grammar), verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, used by many leading independent schools. Children can sit it between the autumn and spring terms.
  • Cambridge Select Insight. A digital test of numerical, verbal and non-verbal ability from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, used by some schools.
  • The school's own papers. Often an English paper with a comprehension and a piece of creative writing, plus maths.
  • Interview, references and sometimes a group activity.

Each school publishes its own process on its admissions page, and the details change, so check every school on your list for the year your child applies.

The English paper is where I see the most variation between children. In the independent school papers I prepare students for, the comprehension questions tend to ask for longer, reasoned answers, and the creative writing task carries real weight. Children who have only practised multiple choice can find that a big step. My guides to 11+ comprehension and 11+ creative writing cover both in detail.

Choosing Beyond the League Table

When families ask me to help them narrow a list, these are the questions I suggest:

  • Is the school's pace right for your child? A school at the top of the table moves fast. Some children thrive on that and some are happier where they are near the top of the class.
  • What happens at 16? Some schools take new pupils into the sixth form, and some girls' and boys' schools become mixed at that point.
  • What does the day look like? Travel time, wraparound care and boarding options all matter for family life.
  • What is the full cost? Add VAT, uniform, trips and lunches to the headline fee.
  • How does your child feel after the open day? Their reaction is often the most reliable guide.

Registering, and Applying to Grammar Schools Too

When do we need to register?

For 11+ entry in September 2027, Latymer Upper's registration closes on 12 October 2026, City of London School for Girls closes on 30 October and St Paul's Girls' on 6 November. For 13+ the process starts sooner still: Westminster's registration closes on 30 September of Year 6.

Can my child apply to grammar and independent schools?

Yes, and the timing allows it. Most grammar school tests are in September, while the independent school tests above run from November to January. The English skills overlap, so preparation can carry on from one round to the next, with a change of format for written papers.

From Shortlist to Application

  1. Use the national and regional lists to build a shortlist you can realistically travel to.
  2. Read each school's admissions page for the test format, dates and bursary deadlines.
  3. Visit in Year 5 and take your child with you.
  4. Prepare for the formats you will meet, especially any written English paper.

For the written English papers many of these schools set, I offer 11+ English tuition and 11+ mock exams in the same style. Everything else I teach is on my services page.