Portsmouth High School GDST
11+ Admissions Guide 2026

Portsmouth High School is an independent day school for girls, founded in 1882 and based on a site it has called home for 140 years. The school is part of the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST), which holds overall responsibility for governance, supported by a board of local governors. The prep school, Dovercourt, occupies its own grounds close to the main school site. The school welcomes pupils from the age of three through to eighteen. The prep school, which includes the early years, caters for girls aged three to eleven, while the senior school takes pupils from eleven to eighteen and includes a sixth form. The school is committed to individual excellence and to encouraging girls to be creative, independent and ambitious within a caring and friendly environment. Pupils come from a diverse range of backgrounds and a wide geographical area around Southsea. The school supports pupils with a variety of needs, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those for whom English is an additional language, ensuring that every girl has access to the help and opportunities she needs. More able pupils are offered extension activities and opportunities suited to their abilities.

Pupils are permitted to have a mobile phone in the senior school, but when and where it can be used is controlled and limited