Grammar Schools in Lincolnshire

To register for a place in one of the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools, parents complete a registration form, which is sent to those children attending Lincolnshire primary schools. If a child wishes to sit the 11 Plus from outside Lincolnshire, or from an independent school, parents can download the registration form from the consortium website, either as a pdf or a word document, and return it by post to the grammar school to which they are applying.

The Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools is composed of fifteen schools, four girls’ schools, four boys’ schools and seven co-educational schools. There is also one grammar school in Lincolnshire which sets its own 11 Plus test and is not part of the consortium. Parents should check carefully that the school to which they are applying meets their needs.

The Lincolnshire Consortium is made up of fifteen grammar schools. It is possible that there could be changes to this provision in the future, so it is important to keep abreast of any changes on the consortium website.

Results for the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools’ entrance exams are released near the start of October, around a month after the tests have been taken. This allows for time for marking, but also gives parents time to apply to specific schools in the knowledge that their child has been assessed as grammar school standard.

The entrance examination for the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools is right at the start of Year 6, in September. Depending on where the test is being taken, it will be sat by children on one or two days. Primary school children will take the test on two separate weekdays at their own school whereas others will take it at a grammar school on one day, normally a Saturday to allow for space at the venue.

The exam is designed to last around two hours, although it can be split up over two days, meaning each paper would last around 50 minutes, with some extra time to allow for practice questions and instructions.

The subjects assessed in the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools are verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning (including spatial reasoning). There are no Maths or English questions, and it is therefore really important that careful preparation takes place prior to the exam. Children might be unfamiliar with both types of reasoning, and will have been unlikely to have covered these question types in their lessons at school. Practice papers are sent to Lincolnshire primary schools, but there are also familiarisation papers available on the GL Assessment website for use by parents and children.

GL Assessment write and mark the Lincolnshire Consortium 11 Plus exam. GL is a nationwide provider of 11 Plus tests and assessments, and offer practice materials on their website. The advantage of marking by computer is that there is an extremely high level of accuracy, meaning re-marks are not offered.

There are likely to be around 70 to 80 questions in each paper, giving children around 45 seconds for each question. The aim of this is to test both timing and accuracy, and give all children a level playing field from which to aim towards a selective school. There are likely to be short sections in both tests which are timed separately.

It is only possible to appeal once secondary school offers have been sent out on National Offer Day, which is always in March. Prior to this, although parents will know whether or not their child has been assessed as of grammar school standard, they will not know which school they have been offered. Appeals take place via an independent panel.

Although this can vary from year to year, in general the pass mark for a child to be assessed as grammar school standard is 220 as a combined score on both papers, Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning. The maximum a child can score when both papers are added together is 282, and an average child will score around 200. It is important to remember that the results are age-weighted and standardised.

The test covers two subjects, Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning, meaning that it really depends how strong the child’s aptitude is for these subjects. Grammar schools in the consortium are generally over-subscribed, and only the top 25% of children will be assessed as grammar school standard. Plenty of practice on these subjects is desirable, especially as they are unlikely to have been taught in schools.

It is important to aim for a score above 220 as this is considered the pass mark. However, achieving this does not guarantee an offer from the school of your child’s choice, as there will be over-subscription criteria which will be applied following the 11 Plus exam. It is important for parents to check the admissions policy on the website of the school to which they are applying.

The pass mark does not differ between schools but the admissions criteria do differ, and some schools may have higher scores at which they accept children, depending on these. Whilst schools may or may not have catchment areas, there could be sibling priorities, or children living the closest to the school could be prioritised over others.

It is important to look carefully at the admission policy of the school to which you are applying. For example, Boston Grammar School does not have a catchment area but does prioritise siblings. King Edward VI Grammar School, on the other hand, does have a catchment area and ranks children by score if the admissions year is oversubscribed.

There may sometimes be schools in the consortium which are not over-subscribed, which would mean that every child who applies for a place and has been assessed as grammar school standard would automatically be offered a place. Different schools also have different published admissions numbers into Year 7: Skegness Grammar School is 132, whereas Spalding High School is 150. A larger published admission number gives a higher chance of entry.