Carre's Grammar School 11+ Admissions: Assessment, Registration and Places

Entry to Carre's Grammar School at 11+ depends on a child reaching the qualifying standard in the Lincolnshire 11+ test, then being named as a preference on the family's application to their home local authority. The test, set and standardised by GL Assessment on behalf of the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools, covers verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning only; a standardised score of 220 marks the qualifying line, representing roughly the top quarter of the ability range in the county's selective areas.

Passing the test does not itself secure a place. The school takes boys only from Year 7 to Year 11, with girls joining an already co-educational Sixth Form run jointly with Kesteven and Sleaford High School, and applies published oversubscription criteria whenever qualifying applicants exceed its 120 places in Year 7.

How many places are available at 11+

Carre's Grammar School admits 120 boys into Year 7 each year, its Published Admission Number as set by the school's governing body, which acts as its own admissions authority. Selection aims to identify roughly the most able quarter of the age range in the county's selective areas, not to allocate places by catchment or feeder-school guarantee alone.

Boys already at the school move up together to Year 11, and from Year 12 the Sixth Form widens to include girls through the Sleaford Joint Sixth Form partnership with Kesteven and Sleaford High School, though that later stage runs under a separate admissions policy.

How the 11+ assessment works

The Lincolnshire 11+ is set and standardised by GL Assessment on behalf of the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools, and the school uses this shared test. Candidates sit a Verbal Reasoning paper and a Non-Verbal Reasoning paper on separate Saturdays a week apart, either at their own primary school or at the grammar school where they have registered.

Both papers are multiple-choice, with answers shaded onto an Optical Mark Reading sheet. The Verbal Reasoning test opens with a short preliminary practice section, and the Non-Verbal Reasoning test is divided into parts, each preceded by a few unmarked practice questions, so children know what a section asks before it counts. Scripts are marked externally and the raw scores are age-standardised, allowing for a child's exact date of birth within the year group before the qualifying score is applied.

Registering and the admissions timeline

Registration for the 11+ test itself is separate from applying for a school place, and families arrange it directly with the school's Admissions Officer. Children then sit the Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning tests on the dates the Lincolnshire Consortium sets each cycle, and results are emailed to parents some weeks later.

Sitting the tests does not amount to an application. Parents resident in Lincolnshire must still submit a Common Application Form naming the school as a preference to Lincolnshire County Council, while families living elsewhere apply through their own local authority, which forwards the preference under the county's co-ordinated admissions scheme; the closing date falls in the autumn before entry, and the school publishes the exact date on its admissions pages. Local authorities issue offers in the following spring, after which the school writes to confirm places.

Catchment area and oversubscription criteria

The school has no defined catchment area, so any boy who reaches the qualifying score of 220 may apply regardless of where his family lives. Places go first, by law, to children with an Education, Health and Care Plan naming the school, and any remaining places among qualified applicants follow the published order below.

Where distance cannot separate applicants for the final place, an independent person not employed by the school or the local authority's Children's Services draws a lottery.

• Children who are, or have been, in local authority care
• Children registered for Pupil Premium, including free school meals claimed at any point in the past six years
• Children with a sibling already at a Robert Carre Trust school
• Children who attended one of eighteen named partner primary schools from the start of Year 6
• Children living closest to the school, by straight-line distance

How to prepare for the verbal and non-verbal reasoning tests

Preparation centres on the two skills actually tested, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, since the Lincolnshire test does not include maths or English comprehension papers. The consortium sends familiarisation papers to feeder primary schools each summer for practice during the final term or the autumn before the tests, and children outside those schools can request commercially printed GL Assessment practice packs in the multiple-choice format instead.

The school also offers free access to Atom Learning's online practice platform for Pupil Premium-eligible families once verified by their primary school, with a short free trial open to others. Because the actual test may include question types beyond the practice papers, the most useful preparation tends to be short, regular sessions that build familiarity with instructions and timing pressure, since no set of practice papers covers every possible question style, and a calm, well-rested child on the day matters as much as the practice itself.

In-year admissions and appeals

Families applying outside the normal September Year 7 round, for example after a house move, use the school's in-year admission process. The school assesses these applicants with a Cognitive Ability Test to check whether their ability falls within the top 25% of the range for their age group, and offers a place only if one is available up to the Published Admission Number for that year group.

Parents whose son does not qualify, at the normal 11+ stage or in-year, can appeal to an independent panel; this system runs separately from the admissions process itself, and a parent may only appeal once in a school year unless circumstances change significantly. The panel's decision is binding on both the family and the school.

Related guides

• Lincolnshire grammar schools guide
• Grammar schools in England: the full directory

Preparing for the Carre's Grammar School 11+ with Taylor Tuition

The Carre's Grammar School 11+ rewards steady preparation over a year or so, with the last term given to timed practice and interview confidence. Having prepared pupils for entry to leading independent and grammar schools, with placements including Westminster, St Paul's, Wycombe Abbey and Eton, our tutors match the programme to the school's assessment format and to where the child is starting from.

Because the pool includes former heads of department, exam-board examiners and teachers from independent and boarding schools, and more than half of our tutors hold Qualified Teacher Status, families get a tutor who understands what the assessors are looking for. Every tutor who works with children holds an enhanced DBS check.

Families work with us online from anywhere in the UK or abroad, and in person in central London. Fees start from £50 per 50-minute session and depend on tutor level and subject, with no registration fee and a free initial consultation to talk through your child's current level and the timeline to the 11+. Families receive progress reports after sessions and have a dedicated point of contact, and we reply to enquiries within one working day with tutor recommendations.

Read more about our 11+ entrance exam tutors, or send an enquiry and we will come back with tutor recommendations.