Grammar Schools in Dorset

The registration window for the Dorset Consortium 11 Plus Entrance Examination is fairly long, opening in April and closing in September when your child in in Year 5 or right at the start of Year 6. Registration can be completed using any of the schools’ websites and details of the test date will be sent to those who have successfully registered.

There are four schools which use the Dorset Consortium 11 Plus Entrance Examination: Bournemouth School, Bournemouth School for Girls, Parkstone Grammar School and Poole Grammar School. Bournemouth School and Poole Grammar School are boys-only at Year 7, and Bournemouth School for Girls and Parkstone Grammar School are both girls-only at Year 7.

There are four schools which use the Dorset Consortium 11 Plus Entrance Examination. It is unlikely that this number will change in the near future, although it is worth noting that there are two other schools in the local area which are partially selective: Poole High School and Budmouth Academy. These two schools have their own criteria for Year 7 admissions.

The results of the Dorset Consortium 11 Plus Entrance Examination come out around three weeks after the examination is taken. This is very quick because the tests are marked by computer. The results come out in time so that parents can make an application to either a selective or non-selective school based on whether or not their child has been assessed as grammar school standard.

The Dorset Consortium 11 Plus Entrance Examination is held towards the end of September. Parents who have registered successfully on the website of one of the four grammar schools will be sent details of the test date as soon as possible after registration.

There are three papers in the Dorset Consortium 11 Plus Entrance Examination and each lasts between 45 and 50 minutes, meaning the total duration of the exam is around 2 hours. There are breaks between each paper, although they are all taken on one day, so it will be a busy and important day for your child.

The Dorset Consortium 11 Plus Entrance Examination has three papers: English, Maths and Verbal Reasoning. There is no Non-Verbal Reasoning paper in the exam, but reasoning generally may be unfamiliar to your child as they have not studied it at school, so careful preparation is needed for the Verbal Reasoning paper. English and Maths are both tested at Key Stage 2 level, with some extension questions.

The Dorset Consortium 11 Plus Entrance Examination is written by GL Assessment. GL Assessment is a nationwide provider of 11 Plus papers and sets and marks many of those tests set by local authorities to determine grammar school admissions. As the tests are marked by computer, there is little to no margin for error in the marking, meaning it is a fair and standardised process for all children.

The examination usually lasts around two hours, and there will be different numbers of questions in the paper depending on the topic. For Maths and English, your child should expect to spend around one minute per question, meaning there will be around 45 questions on each paper. For Verbal Reasoning, there will be more questions and less time per question, so expect possibly up to around 80 questions on this paper.

There is no recourse to a remark, as the papers are marked by computer. However, once results have been released and parents have applied for a specific school, they must await Secondary School National Offers Day in March to find out which school their children has been offered. If at this point they are unhappy with the offer, they can appeal via an independent panel.

Each of the four grammar schools in the Dorset Consortium have separate baseline score beyond which they will consider your child for a place. If a child achieves this score then the school will apply its own admissions criteria, meaning not all the children who gain that specific mark or higher will be offered a place.

There are three papers in the examination, and it will depend on your child’s ability in English, Maths and Verbal Reasoning as to how challenging they find the test. Whilst both English and Maths are taught at primary schools, Verbal Reasoning is not generally taught, and so this area may well need some extra help. This can make the examination challenging for some children.

When children take the 11 Plus, their scores will be ranked in order from highest to lowest, and the top number which matches the published admissions number of that school in the consortium will be offered places. There is historical information available on the lowest score which achieved a place, available on the council website. It is important to look at this before applying for a place, as it will indicate, following assessment and preparation, whether your child is able to access that mark.

The scores which children need to achieve to be offered a place will vary between schools. There are four schools in the consortium so it is very simple to look at their admissions criteria and check you are eligible. Schools also have priority postcode areas and it is unlikely that if the school is oversubscribed that a place will be offered to a child outside these postcode areas.

All four schools in the consortium will rank the scores of the children who apply in order, and so the schools which are likely to have the highest baseline scores beyond which children will be offered a place are those with the smallest number of places in Year 7. This number will also depend on how many children meet the admission criteria for that specific school and how many children are living in the priory postcode areas at the time.

All four schools in the consortium will rank the scores of the children who apply in order, and so the schools which are likely to have the lowest baseline scores beyond which children will be offered a place are those with the largest number of places in Year 7. This number will also depend on how many children meet the admission criteria for that specific school and how many children are living in the priory postcode areas at the time.