The Henrietta Barnett School (HBS) is the top-performing state secondary school in the UK — and one of the most competitive 11+ entries in the country. A selective grammar school in Hampstead Garden Suburb, North London, it offers a genuinely world-class education at no cost to families, making it the holy grail for parents in NW11, N2, NW3 and across North London. Preparation for HBS requires specific, targeted work — and it starts early.
About The Henrietta Barnett School
HBS is located at Central Square, Hampstead Garden Suburb, NW11. It is a girls' state grammar school educating around 740 pupils from Year 7 to the Sixth Form, and it is consistently the top-ranked maintained school nationally for A-level and GCSE results. University destinations include Oxford, Cambridge and the top universities nationally and internationally.
Crucially, HBS is a grammar school: it admits girls entirely on the basis of the selective 11+ examination administered by the consortium of North London grammar schools. There are no fees, no catchment restrictions (girls can apply from anywhere in England) and no donations or contributions required. The only criterion is performance on the exam.
The 11+ process for HBS
The Henrietta Barnett School participates in the North London Grammar School Consortium (NLGS) 11+ examination, typically administered in September of Year 6 — earlier than most independent school 11+ dates. The process:
- Registration in July of Year 6 — families register directly with the school or via the consortium system. Registration closes before the start of Year 6.
- Stage 1: GL Assessment papers in September/October of Year 6 — the exam consists of verbal reasoning (VR) and non-verbal reasoning (NVR) papers administered by GL Assessment. Both papers are time-pressured and require accuracy and speed across a wide range of question types.
- Stage 2: shortlist — girls who score highly on Stage 1 are invited to Stage 2, which includes additional assessments.
- Offers — made on the basis of the full Stage 2 scores, with any appeals process following.
The timing — September of Year 6 — means that preparation must be complete by the end of the summer holiday. This is significantly earlier than most other 11+ dates, and it requires careful planning.
What the papers test
- Verbal reasoning (GL Assessment) — a comprehensive range of VR question types including word analogies, codes, sequences, missing words, letter patterns and logical deduction. Girls need to complete a large number of questions quickly and accurately; time management is as important as knowledge.
- Non-verbal reasoning (GL Assessment) — pattern recognition, shape sequences, matrices, reflection, rotation and spatial reasoning. NVR in particular is a skill that can be significantly improved with targeted practice.
Unlike independent school 11+ exams, HBS does not assess English comprehension or Mathematics as separate papers. The VR and NVR papers are the entire exam. This makes the preparation highly specific — and the competition intensely concentrated on these two areas.
How selective is it?
HBS is extraordinarily selective. Thousands of girls sit the exam each year; approximately 93 places are available. The girls who gain places are typically in the top two or three per cent of the national distribution for VR and NVR reasoning ability. Many candidates who score in the very high 90th percentile are still not successful.
The school draws applications from across London, Surrey, Hertfordshire and Essex. Distance from the school does not disadvantage an applicant: if a girl scores highly enough, she will receive an offer regardless of where she lives.
When to start preparation
Given the September Year 6 exam date, preparation must be complete before the summer holidays of Year 6. Most families targeting HBS begin structured preparation in September of Year 5 — a full year before the exam. Some begin in Year 4 for children who need more time to develop NVR skills or who are building VR vocabulary.
Unlike other 11+ preparations, HBS preparation is focused and narrow: VR and NVR only. This makes the preparation programme more specific but also more manageable.
Preparation strategy
- GL Assessment VR papers. Work systematically through all major VR question types: analogies, codes, sequences, letter patterns, word puzzles. The goal is automatic recognition of the question type and a reliable, fast method for each. Accuracy at high speed is what the exam rewards.
- NVR systematic coverage. Non-verbal reasoning can be significantly improved with practice. Cover all major NVR types — shape codes, matrices, rotation, reflection, odd one out, cubes — and practise under timed conditions.
- Timed practice from Year 5. Girls need to be working through papers under exam-time conditions well before the September exam. Speed and accuracy under pressure are the skills being assessed, and both require repeated timed practice.
- Vocabulary building. VR rewards broad vocabulary. Reading widely is the most effective vocabulary builder, alongside specific work on word roots, prefixes and suffixes.
- Exam-day strategy. With GL Assessment papers, girls who cannot answer a question immediately should skip it and return later — running out of time on easy questions due to getting stuck on hard ones is a common cause of preventable mistakes.
Finding a specialist tutor
HBS preparation is specific and well-defined — the best tutors know the GL Assessment format in detail, have practised all the relevant question types with students, and can build both accuracy and speed systematically over the preparation period. Experience with the North London grammar school consortium is particularly valuable.
Browse tutors experienced with grammar school 11+ and HBS preparation in North London, or search the parent portal for tutors matched to VR and NVR preparation.