Westminster School
Dat Deus Incrementum
With origins tracing back to a Benedictine school before the Norman Conquest and re-founded by Elizabeth I in 1560, Westminster School sits within the precinct of Westminster Abbey, in the centre of London. Having admitted girls to its Sixth Form for decades, the school is moving in phases towards full co-education across every year group.
Key Facts
Location : Little Dean's Yard, Westminster, London
Type : Boys' day and boarding, Co-educational Sixth Form
Age Range : 13 to 18
Pupil Numbers : Approx. 750 pupils
Founded : 1560
Motto : Dat Deus Incrementum ("God Gives the Increase")
Academic Profile
Pupils at Westminster follow a rich and distinctive curriculum, encouraged to pursue the subjects they excel in and those they most enjoy, before taking their GCSEs. In the Sixth Form they study A Levels alongside rotating Cultural Perspectives courses, and Old Westminsters proceed to Oxford, Cambridge, and leading US universities.
Co-Curricular Life
Music is exceptionally strong, taught in the Manoukian Music Centre with its recital hall, recording studio, and concert grand pianos, and given a setting few schools can rival through the pupils who sing and play at services in Westminster Abbey itself. Drama is busy and pupil-led, with around ten productions a year across whole-school musicals, year-group plays, and specialist projects, staged in the school's own studio theatre. Sport centres on a longstanding rowing tradition on the Thames, through one of the oldest school boat clubs in the world, alongside cricket, football, fencing, and the school's own game of fives, supported by an extensive central London sports centre.
Admissions Essentials
Pupils currently join Westminster School in Year 9, at age thirteen, with registration in Year 5 and a deadline in the autumn term of Year 6, ahead of a two stage examination, an online assessment followed by a second round of papers and an interview for those invited back, with offers in the spring term. Girls join the school's Sixth Form at 16+, with a separate registration and examination process, and will in time also enter directly at Year 9 as the school completes its move to full co-education. At Year 9 entry, Westminster offers two scholarships, an academic award through the school's historic Challenge examination and a separate award for music.
In Essence
For a child with a genuinely open and curious mind, Westminster brings together a long tradition of independent thinking, a cosmopolitan community gathered from across the world, and the worldly confidence that comes of growing up in the centre of London.