The Birmingham 11 plus is one shared entrance test used by eight selective grammar schools in and around the city. Children sit two multiple-choice papers in September of Year 6, after their parents register during Year 5, and a standardised score decides who qualifies for a place.
Treat this as the map of the whole thing, the schools, the paperwork, the sitting itself, and follow a link out whenever one number or one date needs unpicking in detail.
Which schools use the Birmingham 11 plus?
Eight selective schools in and around the city admit through the same entrance test. Six of them belong to the King Edward VI Foundation, which lists them on its own site and states that applications for entry to Year 7 at any of them are made through your local authority by 31 October, when your child is in Year 6. Two more, in Sutton Coldfield, sit outside the Foundation and publish the same timetable on their own admissions pages.
- King Edward VI Aston School
One of the six King Edward VI Foundation schools, entered through the Foundation's own timetable.
- King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys
A Foundation school for boys; the Foundation runs one registration for all six of them.
- King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls
The Foundation's girls' school in Kings Heath, admitting at eleven on the same shared test.
- King Edward VI Five Ways School
The Foundation school that admits both boys and girls at eleven.
- King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys
A Foundation school admitting boys at eleven in Handsworth.
- King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls
A Foundation school admitting girls at eleven in Handsworth.
- Bishop Vesey's Grammar School
Outside the Foundation, testing on the same day and publishing the same qualifying score of 205 for 2027 entry.
- Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls
Outside the Foundation, and the school that publishes the birth window for this cycle.
One consortium registration covers all eight, and the result it produces is read by the other selective schools in the wider West Midlands partnership as well. The registration, the marking and the result are shared. The sitting is not. Adding Walsall or Wolverhampton to a preference list asks nothing more of a Birmingham family, because those schools published the same Saturday. Adding one of the Newport schools in Shropshire means a second sitting, on the Monday they published for themselves. Adding a Warwickshire school means a second registration as well, made on the county's own Parent Portal and closing at its own time, four days after the consortium's. Name schools in more than one area and you should assume a second registration, a second closing time and a second day in a hall until each authority tells you otherwise.
What do the two papers actually contain?
The King Edward VI Foundation publishes the shape of it plainly. Candidates sit two papers, and the Foundation states that each is “approximately 60 minutes long (which includes time for instructions and example questions)”. It is worth reading that parenthesis twice. The working time is shorter than the hour it sounds like.
Four areas are sampled: “English Comprehension, Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and Non-Verbal/Spatial Reasoning”. They do not count equally. The Foundation's published wording is that “the weightings for the test results are 50% for English/verbal reasoning, 25% for non-verbal reasoning and 25% for mathematics”, and we read that as a reason to give reading and vocabulary more of the preparation year than the shape puzzles that feel more urgent. That last step is our inference from where the marks sit, not something the Foundation says.
There is no writing task. The Foundation states that “there are no sections of writing within the test”, that all of it is multiple choice, and that children record their answers on a separate answer sheet. Working with a real answer sheet is a skill in itself, and a child who slips a row can lose a run of marks while thinking perfectly clearly.
The papers themselves are not written by the schools. The Foundation states that “the test is provided by GL Assessment”, and a full familiarisation guide is available from the Foundation to download. Who publishes the test, and what each body says about it gathers every published description in one place. Pathway Eleven is an independent service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by GL Assessment.
Source: King Edward VI Foundation, entrance test information. Checked 5 September 2026.
Two published timings, and which one governs. The Foundation says approximately 60 minutes a paper. Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls describes two papers of approximately 45 minutes on its own Year 7 admissions page, checked the same day. We have not reconciled them, because reconciling published figures is guessing. The letter your allocated test centre sends in September is the version that applies to your child.
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When do you register, and how?
Registration is an online step a parent completes in the summer term of Year 5, on the shared consortium site, and it is nothing to do with the application for a school place. Nobody does it for you. These are the dates the Foundation published for the cycle that ends in entry in September 2027.
| Stage | Published date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Test registration opens | Tuesday 5 May 2026 | King Edward VI Foundation |
| Reasonable adjustments deadline | 4pm, Friday 12 June 2026 | King Edward VI Foundation |
| Test registration deadline | 4pm, Friday 26 June 2026 | West Midlands Grammar Schools |
| Entrance test | Saturday 12 September 2026, morning or afternoon session | King Edward VI Foundation |
| Results to families | By Friday 16 October 2026 | King Edward VI Foundation |
| Council preference form deadline | Saturday 31 October 2026 | King Edward VI Foundation |
| Offers made by the local authority | Monday 1 March 2027 | King Edward VI Foundation |
The consortium site now reads “September 2027 Entry, NOW CLOSED” for that registration, with the deadline recorded as 4pm on 26 June 2026. The window for the following year had not been published anywhere we could read on 5 September 2026. Our page on how to register for the West Midlands 11 plus sets out the pattern and says exactly what is and is not published yet.
The Foundation gives 31 October 2026 as the preference-form date and prints no closing time beside it. Councils publish their own, and they are not all the same: Walsall's is 10pm. Open the page your own council publishes and diarise the hour, not the day.
Birmingham City Council refused an automated request on 5 September 2026, so no figure on this page is taken from it. The council dates the estate does carry were read on 31 August 2026 and are set out, with their sources, on the West Midlands 11 plus dates page.
The registration date is fixed and the preparation is not, which is the half you can still do something about. Start a free week of Pathway Eleven: the week opens with a Starting Assessment and then runs a daily plan built from it. Every question in the bank is reviewed and approved by a qualified teacher before it reaches a child. Full mock rehearsals are part of full membership rather than the trial, and they unlock from Year 4.
What happens on test day?
The test for entry in September 2027 falls on Saturday 12 September 2026, and the Foundation states that “two sessions will be held (AM and PM)”. Which one your child sits, and where, is not a choice you make. The Foundation is explicit that registration is directed “based on your home address” and that “you will not have the option of choosing where your child sits the entrance test”.
The consortium says the test information will be posted to your home address in September, before the sitting. It does not say who sends it, so we will not either. That letter carries the session time and the venue, and the venue may well be a school you have no intention of applying to. Read it rather than any table, including this one.
Age matters for eligibility as well as for scoring. Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls publishes the birth window for this cycle as children born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016. That is one school's published window, not a regional rule, and we have not found the consortium publishing one of its own. If your child's birthday sits anywhere near either end of it, read the window published by each school you are considering before you do anything else.
How is the score used?
Not as a mark out of a total. The Foundation states that “the scores for each section are standardised to take into account differences in age, meaning younger children are not disadvantaged compared to children in the same cohort who could be almost a year older”. It also states that it does not publish raw scores, or how many marks are available, which is why no honest calculator can turn a mock result into a predicted score.
Two numbers then do the work. For entry in September 2027 the Foundation publishes a qualifying score of 205 and a priority score of 224. Bishop Vesey's Grammar School states the same qualifying score of 205 on its own Year 7 admissions page. Qualifying is a threshold; the priority score is used to rank among those who cleared it. Our guide to the two thresholds and the published cut-off history takes both apart in detail, school by school and year by year.
If the words standardised score mean nothing to you yet, a good score, explained without a postcode is the place to start; it covers the scale before any Birmingham figure is applied to it.
A score is not an offer. Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls says so directly of the results email it sends: it is not an offer of a place. The offer comes from your council on 1 March 2027, from the preference form you submitted by 31 October 2026. Our results guide, from the October letter to national offer day, walks through what happens in between.
Extra time, a separate room, a modified paper: who asks, and by when
Reasonable adjustments, which schools and test administrators also call access arrangements, are the changes that let a child sit the same paper as everyone else on fair terms. In practice that means things like extra time, an enlarged or otherwise modified paper, a coloured overlay, rest breaks, or a room away from the main hall.
They are for children who already have that kind of support in place: a child with an education, health and care plan, a child on the school's SEN register, a child with a diagnosed condition affecting reading, writing, attention, hearing, sight or health, or a child who is routinely given extra time in class assessments. The evidence comes from the child's school rather than from a parent, so the first conversation is with the class teacher or the SENCo, not with the consortium.
The date is the part that catches people. The King Edward VI Foundation publishes the reasonable adjustments deadline as 4pm on Friday 12 June 2026, and the registration deadline as 4pm on Friday 26 June 2026. The adjustments window therefore shuts a fortnight before the registration window does. A parent who registers comfortably inside the June deadline can still have missed the only date that mattered to their child. Ask the school in the spring term, and register early enough that the adjustments request travels with it.
Source: King Edward VI Foundation, admissions timetable. Checked 5 September 2026.
What do the schools publish about priority and catchment?
Each school publishes its own admissions arrangements, and they differ. Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls publishes the order it applies where two candidates share a score and one place is left: looked-after or previously looked-after children first, then students eligible for the pupil premium, then those who live closest to the school. Bishop Vesey's Grammar School refers on its Year 7 page to a reasonable commutable distance to the grammar schools in Birmingham, and states that it offers free 11 plus preparation and key stage 2 support to pupil premium pupils.
Waiting lists are automatic rather than something you join. The Foundation states that a child “will automatically be placed on the waiting list for any schools listed higher than the school offered on your preference form providing they have achieved the qualifying score or above”.
Everything in this section is a summary of a page that can change between now and the year your child sits. Read the arrangements published by the specific schools you care about, for the year you are applying in, before you fix a preference order.
Check this first: qualifying scores, places, priority areas and deadlines all move on an annual cycle and are copied around long after they stop being true. Every figure above was read on 5 September 2026 on the page it links to. Before you act on any of it, open that page.
King Edward VI Foundation admissions timetable and the consortium's own site. Check the school's official admissions page for this year's figures.
Pathway Eleven has no connection to these schools, to the King Edward VI Foundation, to the consortium or to any admissions authority. We cannot register a child, confirm eligibility, or say anything about catchment or your chances.
Questions Birmingham parents ask
Which schools does the Birmingham 11 plus cover?+
Eight selective schools: the six King Edward VI Foundation grammar schools at Aston, Camp Hill, Five Ways and Handsworth, plus Bishop Vesey's Grammar School and Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls. The registration, the marking and the result are shared. The sitting is not, so a family that also names a Shropshire school meets a different test day, and a family that names a Warwickshire school registers a second time as well.
What is the Birmingham 11 plus qualifying score?+
For entry in September 2027 the King Edward VI Foundation publishes a qualifying score of 205 and a priority score of 224, and Bishop Vesey's Grammar School states the same qualifying score of 205. Both were read on 5 September 2026. The figures are set for each cycle, so check the Foundation's own results page for the year your child sits.
When is the Birmingham entrance test?+
The test for entry in September 2027 is on Saturday 12 September 2026, in either a morning or an afternoon session. The Foundation allocates the session and the venue from your home address, and states that you will not have the option of choosing where your child sits the test.
How long are the papers?+
The King Edward VI Foundation states that candidates sit two papers, each approximately 60 minutes long including time for instructions and example questions. Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls describes two papers of approximately 45 minutes on its own page. The letter from your allocated test centre is the version that applies to your child.
Is registering for the test the same as applying for a place?+
No, and the two are easy to run together. Registration for the test goes to the consortium during the summer term of Year 5. The application naming your preferred schools goes to your local council on the common application form by 31 October in Year 6. One does not stand in for the other.
Does a qualifying score guarantee a place?+
No. Qualifying establishes the standard; the offer is decided by each school's own published admissions arrangements applied to the children who qualified, and the offer itself comes from your council on national offer day. A results letter is not an offer of a place, as the schools state themselves.
Reading list for a Birmingham family
Two dates in the summer term of Year 5 decide whether any of the rest of this applies to your child, and neither of them can be repaired later. Everything after them is arithmetic somebody else does. It is worth saying plainly, on a page like this one, that most children who sit this test will not be offered a selective place: there are far fewer places than candidates, and that is a fact about the supply of places rather than a verdict on a child. What the score means and what happens next covers October, including what to say if the news is not the news you hoped for, and how much 11 plus practice a day is the page to read if the preparation has started to fill the evenings.
- How to choose an 11 plus tutor in Birmingham, five questions to ask, the warning signs and the published local rates.
- 11 plus mock exams in Birmingham, what a good mock replicates, and what to ask a centre.
- The West Midlands 11 plus entrance test, the shared test explained, with a page for every partnership school.
- Birmingham 11 plus standardised scores explained, what the number on the results letter means and every cut-off the schools have published.
- How to register for the West Midlands 11 plus, the two portals, the two closing times and what is not published yet.
- West Midlands 11 plus results, the score, the preference form, waiting lists and appeals.
- How much 11 plus practice a day, what a session should look like and the signs it has become too much.
- West Midlands 11 plus dates and deadlines, the whole region on one page, date by date and source by source.
- 11 plus preparation in Year 5, term by term through the year the two Birmingham deadlines fall in.
- 11 plus preparation in Year 4, the year that quietly does most of the work.
- All 11 plus guides for parents, the whole library in one list.
The free week opens with a Starting Assessment and turns it into a daily plan weighted the way the published result is. Full mock rehearsals are part of full membership rather than the trial, and they unlock from Year 4.
What the Foundation and the council publish, and when we read it
Every date, score and policy on this page was read on the publishing body's own page on 5 September 2026.
- King Edward VI Foundation, admissions timetable, the 2027-entry dates.
- King Edward VI Foundation, entrance test information, papers, timings, weighting, answer sheet and test centres.
- King Edward VI Foundation, results and offers, results date, standardisation, qualifying and priority scores, waiting lists.
- King Edward VI Foundation, grammar schools, the six Foundation schools and the application route.
- Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls, Year 7 admissions, registration window, paper timings, results and tie-break order.
- Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, Year 7 admissions, the same cycle and the qualifying score.
- West Midlands Grammar Schools, the shared portal, its 4pm closing time and the posting of test information.
Birmingham City Council's grammar schools page refused an automated request on 5 September 2026. Nothing on this page is attributed to it. Its published dates, read on 31 August 2026, are on our dates page.