Application Information

Dame Alice Owen’s School is a secondary day school for boys and girls aged 11-18. Originally founded in 1613, we are Voluntary Aided in status and admit children across the ability range. 65 children per year out of the available 200 places, however, are selected according to aptitude and ability as determined by the Governors’ Entrance Examination and an additional 10 places are selected by Music Aptitude tests.

Applications are welcome from parents whose children are likely to make a full and committed contribution to the extra-curricular life of the school, and to benefit from the extensive additional facilities and opportunities provided by the Dame Alice Owen Foundation. Our Governors are legally responsible for admissions to the school, and offers of places are approved by our Governors’ Admissions Committee. Governors are fully committed to maintaining our family focus with the sibling criterion, whilst retaining partial selection and musical aptitude.

SECONDARY TRANSFER ADMISSION 2027

Please refer to our Key Dates for all important dates and deadlines—including Secondary Transfer 2026 and 2027. For other queries, check our FAQs before contacting the Admissions Office, so we can prioritise calls.

Applying under Musical aptitude and/or Academic Criteria

If you wish your child to be considered for a place under these criteria, they must sit the relevant assessment tests. You must ensure that your child is registered for, and attends, the appropriate entrance tests.

Test Registration

To register, you must complete the online Test Registration Form (Music and Academic Tests).

Registration will be open from 10:00 am 29 April 2026 until 4:00 pm 10 June 2026

The Test Registration page is available here

Test Information

Our Verbal Reasoning paper is produced by GL Assessment
Our English and Maths tests are set in-house by our school.
Our Musical Aptitude test is set in-house by our school.
Familiarisation papers to help your child prepare for our tests are available here

Please note: We are not part of the South West Herts Consortium, our tests are unique to our school.

Siblings and the Entrance Tests

Siblings of children who are attending the school at the time of application (excluding those whose siblings joined the school in the Sixth Form) are not invited to sit our entrance tests, as they are allocated places before candidates under the academic and music test criteria. Please refer to our Admissions Arrangements for the full definition of “sibling”. You will need to complete a Secondary Transfer application for your child at the start of year 6.

All applicants

All applicants must complete a Secondary Transfer Application for their child through their home Local Authority at the start of Year 6, before 31 October.

Further information about the School and the Admissions process can be found via the links below:-

Admission Arrangements	Key Dates	Familiarisation Papers
Results	Entrance Exam Information	EHCP Applications
Access Arrangements	Music Test Information	Islington Applicants

Secondary Transfer 2026 – Allocation Information (updated 1st May)

Academic Places: Offered up to and including ranked position number 116
Music Places: Offered up to and including ranked position number 13
Distance Criterion 2– Furthest allocated home-school distance is 337.90 metres from the school’s address point.