Welcome to Sevenoaks. Our role is to give you the information you need to decide whether Sevenoaks is the right school for your child and, if so, to help you through the admissions process. If you think Sevenoaks is a good fit for your family, we very much hope that you and your child will visit Sevenoaks: there’s no substitute for seeing the school in action.

Although founded in 1432, Sevenoaks is modern, forward-thinking, fully co-educational, unstuffy, diverse, non-denominational and open-minded.

All our Sixth Formers take the International Baccalaureate Diploma, which has been taught at Sevenoaks for nearly 50 years. In the Middle School, all students study for IGCSEs and GCSEs, alongside our own core curriculum which encourages critical thinking.

Academically, Sevenoaks is fast-paced and both our exam results and university entry statistics are impressive, although we are emphatically not a hot house. Students leave us as broadly educated critical thinkers and creative problem solvers.

Meet the Team

Lorna Dolan

Director of Admissions

After studying English at St John’s College, Oxford, Lorna worked as a theatre agent and reviewer before joining the Financial Times, where her roles included Deputy UK News Editor, Arts Editor and Editor of the Weekend section (now Life & Arts).

In 2006 she decided to follow her longstanding vocational desire to teach. She started at Sutton Valence School, then went to Ashford School as Head of English. She joined Sevenoaks as a Sixth Form Divisional Head before becoming Head of Sixth Form Admissions for five years.

Her husband is a dramaturg and translator for international theatre festivals across Germany and Austria; he and Lorna lived in Hamburg for several years. She has three children, one of whom is an Old Sennockian.

Sébastien Coquelin

Assistant Director of Admissions, Sixth Form

Sébastien joined Sevenoaks as a French teacher in 2008. He was first Assistant Housemaster and then Housemaster of Johnsons for 13 years.

He has also been staff liaison for the Friends of Sevenoaks. He continues to teach French alongside his role of Assistant Director of Admissions, Sixth Form. Sébastien’s wife is an Old Sennockian and teaches at the school. All three of their children studied or are currently studying at Sevenoaks School.

Olivia Power

Assistant Director of Admissions, Year 7 and Financial Assistance

After studying Theology and Religious Studies at Cambridge, Olivia joined the Teach First programme, working at Parliament Hill School in Camden.

In 2014, Olivia joined Sevenoaks School as a Critical Thinking and an IB Theory of Knowledge (TOK) teacher. Since then, her roles have included Head of Critical Thinking, Residential Boarding Tutor of Girls’ International House, Head of Debating and Acting Head of Philosophy.

Olivia is half-American and has lived in Portugal, Canada and the US. Her partner also works at Sevenoaks School as Head of Philosophy.

Catherine Taylor

Registrar

Catherine studied Classics at Trinity College, Oxford, before working for several years in social research.

She moved into education in 2014, where she worked in an admissions role in the primary sector before joining Sevenoaks. She has two children at the school who both joined in Year 7.

Emily Smith

Sixth Form Registrar

Emily graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in Music and worked in the classical music industry.

She joined the admissions team in 2012, having previously worked as the Headmaster’s PA in a state secondary school.  Emily has two young children.

Melanie Fearfield

Assistant Registrar

Melanie works alongside both Registrars and across all applicant age groups.

Hannah Gwyther

Visas & Scholarships

Hannah manages the visa sponsorship and scholarship processes. She also supports the Admissions team more generally.

Hannah spent ten years as a management consultant before moving to a regulatory compliance role at a global investment bank. She lives in Sevenoaks with her husband and two children (who both attend Sevenoaks School).

Georgie Butler

Admissions Co-ordinator

Georgie joined the Admissions Team in July 2023, having come from a Human Resources background.

She works across all admissions entry points and will often be your first point of contact when starting an initial enquiry to Sevenoaks School.

Georgie holds a BA in Sociology and has good local knowledge having grown up locally.

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Entry points

We have entry points for boarders and day pupils at 16+ and 13+, and for only day pupils at 11+. We take about 80 students at age 11, a further 100 at age 13, and roughly 80 to 90 at age 16, when we increase the cohort by nearly a third.

We are occasionally able to take one or two new students for Year 8 (12+) or Year 10 (14+). Please email if you wish your child to be put on the waiting list to test for one of these places. We never take new students into Years 11 or 13 (Upper Sixth).

The school community

Sevenoaks is a co-educational school of around 1200 students with an even mix of boys and girls. There are no boarders in the Lower School, but over 40% of our students aged 13-18 board – about 450 in total. Day and boarding students are exceptionally well integrated and they both have lessons on most Saturday mornings in term-time, followed by sports in the afternoon.

70

nationalities represented in our student body

Global in outlook

While most of our students are British, Sevenoaks has for many decades been global in outlook, with students from across Europe, Africa, Asia and America, and occasionally Australasia. We have more than 70 nationalities represented in our student body.

For FCDO families, the lack of boarding in Lower School does not affect the Continuity of Education Allowance. Contact the Admissions Office for more details.

Sevenoaks is a warm and welcoming school with a firm commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.

Learn more

Visit the school

We hold a number of Open Mornings and Group Visits throughout the year which give a general introduction to the school, a tour of the campus and, if appropriate, a visit to a boarding house. Following a visit you can arrange an individual meeting with a member of the Admissions team. We also offer virtual events if you are unable to visit us in person.

  Book a visit   virtual tour

Criteria for entry

Sevenoaks is a strongly academic school and we select students we believe will flourish in an intellectually exciting environment. All candidates are assessed through entrance tests, group discussion tasks and references or reports from the candidate’s current school.

A culture of mutual respect

The success of our students is partly due to a culture of mutual respect, admiration of success in any field whether academic or co-curricular, and a collaborative and supportive outlook within our student body. The character of our students is therefore very important to us and this is assessed through the group discussion task. The Admissions team also welcome the opportunity to get to know candidates during individual family meetings.

We are also keen to identify students who will benefit from our balanced and well-rounded education, and who will make a positive contribution to the life of the school. We therefore gather information about each candidate’s wider co-curricular interests through a personal statement at 16+, or a form which parents complete for younger candidates.

“The educational focus here is on developing roundedness, and we are most proud that our students are kind, empathetic, collaborative and grounded people who can get along with anyone.”

Lorna Dolan, Director of Admissions

Agents

We are very happy for families to apply directly, but we are also willing to receive applications from agents. We pay commission to just a handful of agents with whom we have a long history and a formal agreement.

Contact us

Where Next?

Entry at 11+

Entry at 13+

Entry at 16+