Grammar Schools in Kingston

To register your child for the Kingston 11 Plus for either Tiffin Girls’ School or Tiffin Boys’ School, parents must complete a Supplementary Information Form, available on both of the school websites. This must be submitted before the deadline, which is usually set as the end of the summer term when your child is in Year 5. The test is then taken at the start of Year 6.

There are two schools which use this examination format: Tiffin Girls’ School and Tiffin Boys’ School. Both these schools are selective state schools and have a very strict catchment area. It is worth noting that less than a third of children who take the stage one test are invited back for the stage two test, and following this, not all children are offered places. Only around a quarter of those who take the stage two test are offered a place in March.

There are only two schools in Kingston which use an 11 plus selection process for entry into Year 7: Tiffin Girls’ School and Tiffin Boys’ School. There are other grammar schools close to the Kingston area: Sutton, for example, has grammar schools. It is important to check the catchment area to see which school is best for you to apply to based on your postcode.

Results for the Kingston 11 Plus are released in stages. The first stage of the exam takes place in September, and results of this stage will be given to families around three weeks later. After this, stage two takes place quickly afterwards, and results are then not revealed until National Secondary Schools Offer Day, which takes place in March. If your child has been taken forward to stage two, it means they are grammar school standard, but with both schools so heavily subscribed, parents must wait until March to find out which school they have been offered.

The Kingston 11 Plus has two stages and both take place in the Autumn term of Year 6. This is either in late September or early October; the dates do change each year and sometimes result in the stage two test being pushed back to November.

The duration of the Kingston 11 Plus exam first stage is around two and a half hours. Each paper, which is partly multiple choice and partly short answer, is around one hour long, and there is a short break in between. The second stage of the exam, run by the schools themselves, is likely to be slightly longer, as the papers are more complex. Both stage one and stage two will take place on individual mornings in the Autumn term of Year 6.

The Kingston 11 Plus exam, run by GL Assessment for its first stage and the school for its second stage, only assesses English and Maths. In the first stage, these are multiple choice or short answer questions, whereas in the second stage these are longer answer questions which require the student to show their working out. There is no verbal or non-verbal reasoning assessed in either stage, although there will be some questions which test aspects of verbal reasoning such as choosing the correct word or spelling.

The Kingston 11 Plus exam is written by GL Assessment for its first stage, and the schools, Tiffin School and Tiffin Girls’ School for its second. GL Assessment provides many of the 11 plus exams which take place all over the UK, and provides familiarisation materials on its website, although these are likely to be far easier than the Tiffin tests.

The number of questions on the Kingston 11 Plus exam hovers around 100 for each paper. These tests are challenging, and timing is almost always a significant issue for applicants. Children are likely to have to work to a speed of around 30 to 45 seconds for each question in stage one, and around one minute per question in stage two.

Due to the fact that stage one tests are marked by computer, there are no re-marks allowed. Children who do not progress to stage two are not offered a place and there is no right of appeal aside from the independent appeal following National Secondary Schools Offer Day in March. At this stage everyone has the right to appeal their child’s school place but if they have not been assessed as grammar school standard and do not meet any extenuating circumstances, the appeal is unlikely to be successful.

When considering the Kingston 11 Plus, it’s important to note that there isn’t a specific pass mark. This is because the number of children accepted into Year 7 every year is 180 (this can change slightly from year to year so worth checking.) This means that once the test scores have been standardised and any leeway added for age or personal circumstances, only the top 180 children will be offered a place. Because so many children apply each year for the Tiffin schools, only around 10% will ultimately be successful.

The Kingston 11 Plus test is a very challenging test, probably one of the most challenging in the country. This is simply due to the fact that the school needs to be able to decide on 10% of applicants, and it is much easier to do that if the final standardised scores are more diverse. The Maths and English which children will encounter in the tests is likely to be extension work based on the Key Stage 2 curriculum and will not necessarily reflect specific topics they have learnt about at school.

A good score on the Kingston 11 Plus would be one which places the child in the top 15% of applicants. This means children should be looking to achieve 85% on practice papers. Whilst this may seem high, this is an unusually competitive test and there is no doubt that every year hundreds of families are disappointed with the results.

Yes, the Kingston 11 Plus pass mark does differ but only between the two schools and only because they have a published admissions number. This means that if more applicants apply to the girls’ school, those who are successful will need to achieve a higher score. Conversely, if fewer applicants apply in one specific academic year to the boys’ school then that will result in a lower pass mark.

Kingston has two extremely competitive schools: Tiffin School (for boys) and Tiffin Girls’ School. Both schools have high pass marks and both receive the same number of applicants per year: around 1500. Both schools have one of the highest ratios of applicants to places, with only between 10% and 15% of original applicants achieving places for entry to Year 7. It should be noted that there are a number of other secondary schools in the local area, both state and independent, which have different admissions criteria.