13+ Day Entry

Joining as a Day Pupil in Year 9

Each September approximately 50 pupils join us as in LC3 (Year 9 / 13+), around 20% of whom come as Day students. They join one of our three Junior Day Houses where they make local friends, whilst spending lots of time with boarders during school hours and at many social events throughout the year.

Our experienced tutoring and pastoral staff help them settle in to College and their new routine, and remain with them through their GCSE exams.

If you're interested in visiting us, please see our Visits & Open Days page for more details on how to book.

Three CLC Biology students takes part in a dissection workshop

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Year 9 Admissions Process

Visit College

An in-person visit will help you imagine life as part of the CLC community. We hold Open Days at intervals throughout the academic year, or you can book a private tour with our Admissions team.

Please note that pre-booking is required for all visits.

Cheltenham Ladies' College buildings

Register your daughter

We encourage you to Register as soon as you have decided College is an option for your daughter. You do this via our Admissions Portal, and it means we can keep in touch, invite you to events and inform you of key deadlines.

Deadline: 1st July of Year 6

Return an Entrance Exam Form

Registered parents will be sent a link to an Entrance Exam Form to complete. This confirms you want to go ahead with your daughter's application and enter her for the Assessment Day.

Deadline: 1st August before starting Year 7 (ie during the summer holidays between Year 6 and Year 7)

Assessment

It is important for us to meet all our candidates as part of the entry process in order for us to get to know them as learners and potential members of our community. Year 9 candidates are required to attend an Assessment Day, which includes group discussions, activities and complete written and adaptive online tests in Maths, English and Verbal Reasoning. The day provides another opportunity for girls to meet their peers and find out about the opportunities at CLC.

Assessment Days take place in the Autumn Term of Year 7 at CLC.

For students currently attending a UK Prep School that finishes at the end of Year 8: An early entry assessment is available to be taken during Year 6. Assessment for this entry point would take place at the same time as the assessment for candidates sitting the LC1 (Year 7) tests. Please contact our Admissions Department to find out more if you would like to be considered for this route.

Briefing Papers

Each year, we make available a Briefing Paper summarising the subject content and skills we assess along with a suggested reading list, and a link to a Verbal Reasoning familiarisation exercise:

Offers

Our team of assessors review each candidate’s performance across the assessment day feedback, her performance in the entrance exams and the reference we request from her current Head Teacher.

Places are offered in December of Year 7.

In the February of Year 6, the girls with the strongest performance in the entrance exams are invited to assessments and interviews for an Academic Scholarship or auditions for a Music Scholarship. Our scholarships do not carry fee remission, but Scholars benefit from our bespoke Scholarship Programme.

Scholarships

We are immensely proud of our Scholarship Programme, which covers Academics, Music, Art and Sports.

While scholarships do not carry a fee remission, they provide talented students with extra tuition, networking events and opportunities to develop their skills.

We will send scholarship information to all those who have accepted their place in the summer of Year 7.

Scholarship assessments take place in the January and February of Year 8.

Join College!

In June of Year 8, parents receive confirmation of their daughter's House and be given access to an online portal containing our joining information and forms to be completed.

In late June / early July, you'll have contact with your new Houseparent.

The Autumn term begins at the start of September. Arrangements vary each year, but new students tend to have an induction a day or two before the term begins, to give them chance to settle in.

Key Dates

For specific dates and deadlines for Year 9 entry in September 2026/27, please use the link below. Please note, these will open as PDF documents.

Key dates for Year 9 entry in September 2028 will be available shortly.

Late Entry

If you have missed the application deadlines we are occasionally able to fast track an application, although we cannot guarantee that this will result in a place. Please do contact our Admissions team using the Request a Call Back option on the Admissions Portal for a conversation about late entry options for your daughter.

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