Best schools in Surrey 2026: State, grammar and independent

Choosing a secondary school in Surrey looks confusing at first because the obvious 11+ playbook doesn't apply. There are no state grammar schools inside the historic county of Surrey itself. Families looking for a selective state route apply across the border into the London boroughs of Sutton and Kingston, or into Bromley and Wandsworth, depending on where they live.

This guide covers the realistic options: A handful of high-performing comprehensives, the nearby out-of-county grammars Surrey parents most often target, and the strong independent sector across the county. It's deliberately honest about where Surrey families end up applying, rather than pretending there's a tidy in-county selective system.

Surrey County Council ended selection in the 1970s. The selective schools that used to exist in the county were either converted to comprehensives or, in a few cases, became independent. The result is that Surrey, despite being one of the most affluent counties in England with high demand for academic schooling, has no maintained 11+ system of its own.

The one exception sometimes counted as a Surrey grammar is Nonsuch High School for Girls in Cheam (SM3 8AB). Geographically it sits in the London Borough of Sutton, on the border with Surrey, and many of its pupils come from north Surrey. Nonsuch is administered under Sutton's coordinated admissions scheme and uses the Sutton selective tests, not a Surrey route.

If you live in north or north-west Surrey, three London-borough selective clusters are within reach: The Sutton schools, the Kingston schools and (for families further east) Wallington / Wilson's. Each cluster runs its own test, so families chasing more than one cluster need to plan for multiple sittings.

These schools are all heavily oversubscribed. The Sutton schools and the Tiffin schools each have their own distance-based admissions criteria, and inner priority distances have tightened over the past decade as demand has grown. A Surrey family in Walton-on-Thames is realistically within reach of Tiffin; one in Guildford or Farnham probably isn't, and would be better focusing on the independent sector or strong local comprehensives.

Surrey's comprehensives include several that achieve results comparable with the nearby grammars on Progress 8 and GCSE attainment. They're worth a serious look as a first preference, not as a fallback.

Gordon's School is unusual: It's a state boarding school, which means it charges only for boarding (not tuition) and tends to be substantially cheaper than independent boarding. The Catholic schools all give faith priority in their oversubscription criteria, so non-Catholic applicants need to read the admissions arrangements carefully before relying on them as a preference.

Surrey has one of the densest concentrations of independent secondary schools in the country. Day fees in 2026 typically sit between £8,000 and £11,500 a term at the senior schools, with full boarding pushing into the £18,000-£20,000 per term range at the larger schools. Several offer means-tested bursaries that can cover a substantial proportion of fees for families who qualify.

Most Surrey independent schools run their own 11+ entrance papers in maths, English and either reasoning or a general paper, plus an interview. A handful use the ISEB Common Pre-Test as a first sift, with their own paper as a follow-up. Registration deadlines vary, but the autumn term of Year 5 is the right time to start checking each school's calendar. Registration usually closes around the autumn term of Year 6 at the latest.

For the state system (in or out of county), Surrey families use the Surrey County Council Common Application Form. You can list state schools in any local authority area in England on the same form. The CAF deadline is 31 October of Year 6 for September 2026 entry, with National Offer Day on 1 March 2026.

For independent schools, the application is direct to each school. Most senior schools close registration during the autumn term of Year 6, with entrance papers usually sat in January of Year 6 and offers made in February before the state National Offer Day. If your child sits independent papers and gets offers, you can hold an independent offer while waiting for the state outcome – but read each school's acceptance deadline carefully.

Different routes need different preparation, and the worst thing you can do is prep for all of them at the same level of intensity. A child sitting Tiffin, Sutton and three independents in Year 6 will be exhausted before anyone has marked a single paper.

If the realistic target is a Surrey comprehensive, no formal 11+ prep is needed – keeping up with KS2 schoolwork and reading widely is enough. If the target is an out-of-borough grammar (Sutton or Tiffin), familiarisation with the relevant test format from spring of Year 5 onwards is sensible, with weekly timed practice from the summer holidays of Year 5. If the target is an independent senior school, focus on the school's own past papers (most publish samples), strong written English, and a calm, conversational interview style.