Updated 10 August 2026
Dame Alice Owen’s School offers up to ten Year 7 places each year through musical aptitude. These highly competitive places are awarded following a listening-based Music Aptitude Test and a second-round musical performance.
Although families often search for the “Dame Alice Owen’s music scholarship”, the school officially describes this as admission by musical aptitude. It is a selective place at a state-funded school rather than a scholarship carrying a financial award.
For September 2027 entry, the first-round test takes place on Tuesday 1 September 2026. Successful candidates will then be invited to perform between Monday 28 September and Thursday 1 October 2026.
At SE22 Piano School, we provide specialist one-to-one preparation for both rounds of the Dame Alice Owen’s admissions process.
SE22 Piano School is closed during the summer holidays. Until September, all Music Aptitude Test preparation is delivered online via Zoom and must be booked in advance through Eventbrite. No in-person preparation sessions are currently available.
Book a one-to-one Dame Alice Owen’s Music Aptitude Test lesson on Zoom
Important registration information
Registration for the 2026 tests opened on 29 April and closed at 4pm on 10 June 2026.
The school states that late registrations will not be accepted. This guide is therefore intended primarily for families who have already registered for September 2027 admission.
Families who registered but did not receive their test information should check their junk or spam folder and contact the Dame Alice Owen’s Admissions Office immediately. Test information was due to be sent by email on 25 June.
Full details can be found on the school’s official test registration page.
Families who missed this year’s deadline can still use this information to begin preparing early for a future admissions round.
Key dates for September 2027 admission
- Tuesday 1 September 2026: First-round Music Aptitude Test
- Friday 18 September 2026 at 5pm: First-round results emailed
- Monday 28 September–Thursday 1 October 2026: Second-round musical performances
- Tuesday 13–Thursday 15 October 2026 at 9am: School-in-action tours
- Friday 23 October 2026: Final music rankings emailed
- Saturday 31 October 2026: Secondary school Common Application Form deadline
- Monday 1 March 2027: National Allocation Day
- Wednesday 3 March 2027: Allocation information emailed by Dame Alice Owen’s School
The current timetable is available on the school’s official admissions key dates page.
Who can apply for a music place?
Children normally need to meet one of the following conditions at the relevant registration and application dates:
- Their permanent home address is within the Dame Alice Owen’s Local Priority Area; or
- They meet the school’s definition of being educated within Islington.
The Local Priority Area includes specified parts of Hertfordshire and north London, including all or parts of EN2, EN4, EN5, N11, N12, N13, N14, N20 and N21.
Eligibility can depend on the precise postcode sector, parish or individual address. Families should check the current information on the school’s Local Priority Areas page.
Applicants who qualify under the sibling criterion are not permitted to sit the selection tests because the sibling criterion has higher priority under the school’s admissions arrangements.
What is included in the first-round test?
The first stage is a group listening assessment containing 60 questions.
It covers four areas of musical listening:
- Pitch: 20 questions
- Melody: 10 questions
- Texture: 20 questions
- Rhythm: 10 questions
No instrument is required for this stage. Children do not need a music grade or formal music theory qualification.
The assessment measures how accurately a child hears, remembers and compares unfamiliar musical sounds. This is very different from simply enjoying music or progressing successfully through instrumental grades.
The school publishes a detailed description on its Music Test Information page.
What score is required?
Candidates must score at least 50 out of 60 to qualify for the second round.
However, achieving 50 does not reset the competition. Marks from both rounds contribute to the final combined score, which means that every mark gained during the listening test can remain important.
The school does not publish the weighting used between the listening assessment and the performance round.
Children should therefore aim to achieve the strongest possible first-round result rather than regarding 50 as the ultimate target.
Does Dame Alice Owen’s provide practice tests?
Dame Alice Owen’s School does not currently provide official practice recordings for the Music Aptitude Test.
This can make it difficult for families to judge:
- whether practice materials reflect the correct test structure;
- which listening areas are causing difficulty;
- whether a child is working accurately enough for the qualifying threshold;
- how well they maintain concentration under timed conditions;
- whether repeated mistakes reflect uncertainty, rushing or misunderstanding;
- when a child is genuinely ready for the assessment.
Generic Music Aptitude Test resources can help develop listening skills, but Dame Alice Owen’s produces its own assessment. Materials designed for another school should not automatically be treated as an exact replica.
During a one-to-one Zoom preparation lesson, we can assess the child across the different sections, identify areas requiring attention and recommend the most useful next steps. Lessons are tailored to the individual child rather than following a single generic programme.
With only a few weeks remaining before the test, preparation should now be focused. Simply completing large numbers of practice questions without understanding why mistakes occur is not always the best use of the remaining time.
Book a specialist Music Aptitude Test lesson on Zoom
Is the test difficult?
The qualifying mark of 50 out of 60 means that candidates can only afford a relatively small number of errors.
Some children find one section considerably harder than the others. Texture questions, in particular, can be unfamiliar because candidates need to recognise several notes sounding simultaneously.
Other children hear the musical differences correctly but lose marks through hesitation, concentration problems or uncertainty about the response format.
Effective preparation is therefore about more than repeatedly listening to musical examples. Children also need to become comfortable making quick, accurate decisions under test conditions.
Our related articles explain more about the skills involved:
- Building secure pitch, rhythm, melody and texture skills
- Why texture is often the hardest part of the Music Aptitude Test
- Helping children become active listeners
- How singing helps develop aural skills
- Exposure, not cramming: building musical listening skills
What happens in the second round?
Candidates who achieve at least 50 in the listening test are invited to a musical performance assessment.
Each candidate has a total performance slot of five minutes.
The school allows:
- any musical instrument;
- singing;
- more than one instrument;
- more than one piece, provided everything fits within five minutes;
- an accompanist supplied by the school; or
- a backing track.
Candidates may not bring their own accompanist.
Grade certificates and other supporting documents are not considered as part of the assessment.
The final music ranking is calculated from the combined marks achieved across the listening test and performance. The candidate with the highest combined result receives rank one.
Preparing for the performance round
Candidates should not wait for the first-round result before preparing their performance.
Results are released on 18 September, while the earliest second-round performances take place on 28 September. This can leave as little as ten days between the two stages.
Choosing suitable music is an important part of the preparation process. The hardest piece a child can play is not necessarily the piece that will represent them most successfully under audition conditions.
An online performance-preparation lesson can help with:
- selecting appropriate repertoire;
- checking that the programme fits the five-minute limit;
- deciding whether to use one or more pieces or instruments;
- developing musical communication;
- identifying passages that may become insecure under pressure;
- preparing the beginning and ending;
- practising performance recovery;
- planning accompaniment or backing-track requirements;
- completing a realistic mock performance.
Online Round Two preparation is available for instrumentalists and singers. Candidates should have their instrument, audition music and any intended backing track or accompaniment available during the Zoom lesson.
Book an online Round Two preparation lesson through Eventbrite
Does a child need to be Grade 5?
There is no official minimum grade for a Dame Alice Owen’s music place.
The school does not consider instrumental grade certificates during the assessment. A higher grade may indicate greater technical experience, but it does not guarantee a sufficiently high listening-test result or a successful performance.
A child should be assessed according to what they can demonstrate musically, not simply the most recent examination certificate they possess.
Is it better to perform on several instruments?
Dame Alice Owen’s permits candidates to perform on more than one instrument, but there is no published evidence that multiple instruments automatically receive additional marks.
There is also no official rare-instrument bonus.
Using more than one instrument may be suitable for a genuinely versatile candidate, but every performance and changeover must fit within the five-minute slot.
For many children, one confident and musically convincing performance is a stronger choice than dividing the limited time between several instruments. This is something that can be evaluated during an individual online Round Two preparation lesson.
How competitive are the music places?
Dame Alice Owen’s offers up to ten musical aptitude places from a Year 7 intake of 200.
For 2026 entry, the school recorded 338 music registrations for ten places. In recent admissions rounds, registrations have consistently approached or exceeded 300.
The lowest music rank offered a place on National Allocation Day has varied between 11 and 15 during the last five years. This can happen when a higher-ranked candidate receives a school placed higher on their Common Application Form or qualifies under another admissions criterion.
Families should nevertheless aim for a final ranking inside the top ten. A rank outside the first ten may remain in contention, but it cannot guarantee an offer.
Previous figures can be viewed through the school’s historical admissions information.
The final ranking is not a school offer
The music result emailed on 23 October is a rank rather than a formal offer.
Families must still include Dame Alice Owen’s School on their home local authority’s Common Application Form by 31 October.
The school does not see the order in which families list their preferences. However, the local authority will offer the highest-preference school for which the child qualifies.
Dame Alice Owen’s should therefore be listed above every school the family would prefer less, but below any school they genuinely prefer more.
The school provides further guidance on its Secondary Transfer Admissions FAQs page.
Where does the test take place?
The assessments are held at:
Dame Alice Owen’s School
Dugdale Hill Lane
Potters Bar
Hertfordshire
EN6 2DU
Potters Bar railway station is approximately one mile from the school.
Parking and waiting space at the school are extremely limited, and parents are not normally able to remain on site during the assessment. Families should follow the arrival, entrance and collection instructions contained in the individual invitation.
Travel information is available on the school’s official travel page.
Online Music Aptitude Test preparation with SE22 Piano School
SE22 Piano School has extensive experience preparing children for Music Aptitude Tests and music scholarship assessments at state secondary schools across London and the UK.
Our specialist one-to-one Zoom lessons can support candidates with:
- all four Dame Alice Owen’s listening sections;
- school-specific test preparation;
- identifying individual strengths and weaknesses;
- timed test technique;
- confidence and concentration;
- second-round repertoire selection;
- instrumental or vocal performance preparation;
- mock tests and mock performances.
Online lessons allow families to receive individual preparation from anywhere in the UK. Children can work from a familiar environment while sharing answers, recordings, audition music and live instrumental or vocal performances with the tutor.
No tutor can guarantee a selective school place. What specialist preparation can do is help ensure that a child understands the assessment, knows where improvement is needed and is able to demonstrate their musical ability as confidently as possible.
Book an online preparation lesson
During the SE22 Piano School summer closure, Music Aptitude Test preparation is available exclusively online via Zoom. All sessions must be booked through Eventbrite.
Book a one-to-one Music Aptitude Test or Round Two performance lesson on Zoom
