Every year, around 260 new pupils join Wellington at a number of different stages.

• c.200 enter Third Form (Year 9) at 13+
• A small number enter Fourth Form (Year 10) at 14+
• c.50 enter the Sixth Form (Year 12) at 16+

Due to the difficulties of moving school in the middle of GCSE, A Level, or IB Diploma courses, it is very rare for boys or girls to join Wellington at any other stage.

13+ admissions 16+ admissions

From 2021, our new pupils will be almost exactly 50% boys and 50% girls. 80% join as boarders and 20% travel to the College each day as day-pupils. It is our very strong recommendation, if parents do not know whether they would like their child to be a boarder or day pupil at Wellington, register them for a boarding place as only in exceptional circumstances are we able to transfer pupils from day to boarding status once they have joined the College.

Wellingtonians on their first day

Most, but not all, of our 13+ joiners into the Third Form come from UK prep schools and over 100 feeder prep schools are represented in the current body of Wellingtonians. We also welcome, on average, 20-30 pupils into the Third Form from other educational backgrounds such as grammar schools, 11-18 day schools, state schools and international schools. We are keen to retain this diversity of intake and there is no right or wrong ‘route’ for preparing a child for joining Wellington.

Our Sixth Form intake is highly diverse with around half of our new pupils joining from a variety of UK schools and the other half coming from international contexts all around the world.

From where do Wellingtonians join?

• 58% of current pupils joined from prep schools outside the M25
• 15% joined from prep schools inside the M25
• 16% joined from state, grammar and 11-18 schools
• 11% joined from international backgrounds
• 125 current Wellingtonians live overseas in over 30 different countries including Brazil, Canada, India, Italy, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Singapore and USA
• Most UK-based pupils live in the South-East although current Wellingtonians also live as far afield as Cheshire, Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Suffolk and Yorkshire