Dame Alice Owen’s School

Admissions and 11 Plus exam information for Dame Alice Owen’s School. Use the site to help you find out how to be successful with an 11 Plus exam application to Dame Alice Owen’s School.

11 Plus Entry Information for Dame Alice Owen’s School

This is a large school, with the majority of students living locally although a sizeable number travel from a wide area of North London. About 20 places a year are reserved for children living in Islington. This is a legacy of the school’s original foundation some 400 years ago, in Islington. Some places (65) are awarded by academic selection and the overall attainment on entry to the school is very high. There are 10 places assigned on musical aptitude. Measures of social prosperity are higher than the national average. The school has been a specialist language college since 1996 and recently added science as a second specialism.

County	Hertfordshire
Address	Dame Alice Owen’s School, Dugdale Hill Lane, Potters Bar EN6 2DU
Type	Mixed partially selective
Pupils	1,438
Places in Year 7	200 – 32% selective 10% musical ability
Open Days	October
Competition	4+ applicants for every place
Exam Format	GL 11 Plus – Maths, Verbal Reasoning and English
School Website	http://damealiceowens.herts.sch.uk

Dame Alice Owen’s School 11 Plus Exam Format

The 11 Plus test for Dame Alice Owen’s is set by GL and includes two parts with three papers. The top 325 students that took part in Part 1 will be invited back to sit papers 2 and 3.

Paper 1	50 minute long verbal reasoning paper. Consists of 80 multiple choice questions split into sections. At the beginning of each section there will be an explanation of what to do.
Paper 2	60 minute long English paper. This includes a 40 minute comprehension section followed by a 20 minute writing section.
Paper 3	60 minute long Mathematics paper. This includes 50 free response questions.

Dame Alice Owen’s School 11 Plus Exam Paper

Some publishers do have access to the exam format and produce their own mirror papers which aim to replicate what an 11 Plus exam for this school might look like.

We understand that these publishers get the information from familiarisation packs sent to parents, teachers, local tutors and pupils who have sat the test. The tests can of course change at any time and these papers only aim to give a good idea of what to expect, however, they are very useful and most parents use them at some point.

The ones we would suggest are from Learning Street. They are of high quality and cheaper than any others we have seen. Direct links to the papers are below and Learning Street produce them as mock exams which is unique (so you can run your own mock exam at home). Links to the papers are below:

Dame Alice Owen’s 11 Plus Mock Exam 1

Dame Alice Owen’s 11 Plus Mock Exam 2

Dame Alice Owen’s 11 Plus Mock Exam 3

Dame Alice Owen’s 11 Plus Mock Exam 4

Dame Alice Owen’s 11 Plus Mock Exam Papers Bundle (Packs 1-4)

How to prepare for the Denmark Road High School 11 Plus Exam

Essentially you have 5 options when it comes to helping your child to prepare.

1/ Some parents use a Private Tutor. If you want to start your search for a suitable one, we provide links to some Private tutors in Hertfordshire to help you. These can cost between £2500 and £6000 a year. For help thinking about which private tutor might be right for you see our guidance page.

2/ Other parents use a Tuition Centre with group tuition. If you want to start your search for a suitable one, we provide links to some Tuition centres in Hertfordshire to help you. These can cost between £1500 and £3500 for a year. For help thinking about which tuition centre might be right for you see our guidance page.

3/ If you are thinking of preparing at home using books then our 11 Plus Exam papers and books section provides lots of links and advice to help you choose which books to use and what to focus on. Preparation plans are also provided. Using this method is great for those parents prepared to take a more hands on approach. The average parent using this method spends about £300 on books and papers during the final year of preparation.

4/ A great option is a structured course. These courses gradually build up skills so you can focus on helping your child with the work provided. The best supplier is Learning Street which helps you prepare your child from home, ranging in price from £12 to £89 ( full cost – not monthly cost) it is the cheapest method of preparation. To find out their course suggestions for Dame Alice Owen’s School 11 Plus preparation click the link.

5/ Online preparation. This is not something we recommend. Online solutions are growing more useful and reliable and for some aspects of preparation they can be useful but certainly not for all your preparation needs. They are also very expensive for what they provide with some coming in at £600- £1000 for a year depending on which options you select. For our rationale on why we believe online preparation is not a good solution yet click through to the page 11 Plus online preparation.