Key Facts
| School type | State funded, voluntary aided, non-denominational selective grammar school, boys, 11 to 18 |
|---|---|
| Location | Skipton, North Yorkshire |
| Entry points | 11+ (Year 7, main entry point); in-year entry to Years 8-11 from September and Year 7 from January; external entry to Year 12 (16+) based on GCSE results |
| Assessment | FSCE Paper One (multiple-choice) and Paper Two (short written answer) in English and mathematics only; no non-verbal reasoning, no creative writing, no interview |
| Test provider | FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise Ltd) |
| Registration deadline | 12:00pm (noon) on 31 August 2026, for Year 7 entry in September 2027; registration opened 13 April 2026 |
| Assessment date | Saturday 26 September 2026 (for Year 7 entry in September 2027) |
Figures correct at the time of writing — always confirm current fees and deadlines with the school directly.
Entry to Ermysted's Grammar School at 11+ depends on sitting the school's own entrance test and then naming Ermysted's on the local authority's Common Application Form, since passing the test alone does not secure a place. The school, a selective boys' grammar on Gargrave Road in Skipton, sets a Published Admission Number of 128 places in Year 7 and runs its own selection process independently of North Yorkshire Council, which then allocates the place once the school has identified who has met its required standard.
Boys living within the school's defined catchment area around Skipton and the surrounding Dales villages are given priority over those from further afield if the school is oversubscribed, though applicants from outside the catchment may still be admitted once catchment places are filled. Every candidate, regardless of address, must register for and sit the entrance test to be considered.
How many places are available at 11+
Ermysted's has a Published Admission Number of 128 places for Year 7 entry, the school's main point of intake. A further 35 places are made available in Year 12 for external applicants, who are selected on GCSE results; there is no further entrance test. Boys can also apply for in-year entry: vacancies in Years 8 to 11 are considered from September, and Year 7 vacancies from January onward, each assessed using the school's own in-house tests in English, science and mathematics.
How the 11+ assessment works
The entrance test is supplied by Future Stories Community Enterprise Ltd (FSCE) and covers only English and mathematics, with no non-verbal reasoning or creative writing task. Paper One uses multiple-choice questions in both subjects; Paper Two asks for short written answers. Each paper generally runs 45 to 60 minutes with a break between them, and content is drawn from the Key Stage 2 curriculum up to the end of Year 5.
Answers are scanned and marked by optical mark recognition, then each paper's score is standardised and age-adjusted before both are combined into an overall score, which is compared against a required standard set from that year's test cohort. Reaching the standard does not guarantee a place if the school is oversubscribed.
How registration and the admissions process work
Parents register their son directly with the school for the entrance test, since testing is never automatic and every applicant must register individually. After the test, the school writes to parents confirming whether their son has met the required standard, ahead of the Common Application Form deadline. Registering for and sitting the test is not an application in itself, so parents must also name Ermysted's on the Common Application Form submitted to their home local authority. Families who believe their son qualifies for priority under the oversubscription criteria then submit a Supplementary Information Form with supporting evidence; the school ranks qualifying applicants and passes the list to the local authority, which allocates places on National Offer Day.
Catchment area and oversubscription criteria
Ermysted's catchment area covers the primary schools serving Beamsley, Bradley, Burnsall, Carleton, Cracoe, Embsay, Gargrave, Grassington, Kettlewell, Kirkby-in-Malhamdale, Skipton, Thornton-in-Craven and Threshfield. Boys who reach the required standard and live within this catchment are prioritised ahead of those from outside it, and any boy with an Education, Health and Care Plan naming the school is admitted first.
Where the school is oversubscribed within either the catchment or out-of-catchment group, priority runs in this order:
- Pupil Premium recipients
- boys with a sibling at the school from September of the year of entry
- boys living closest to the school, measured by straight-line distance, as the final tie-break
How to prepare for the FSCE test
Because the test draws only on the Key Stage 2 curriculum up to the end of Year 5, the school's own guidance is that no extra tutoring or past papers are needed beyond consistent primary schooling. Free familiarisation guides are published on the school website so families can see the question style and format in advance, and these are the only materials endorsed by FSCE; the school notes that no commercial book or company can claim further knowledge of the test's actual content.
Preparation that helps in practice includes wide and regular reading for meaning, mental arithmetic applied to everyday situations, and discussion-based reasoning that builds confidence without adding pressure. Boys need no equipment beyond what the school supplies, and calculators, dictionaries, smartwatches and other electronic aids are not permitted in the test room.
Special arrangements, waiting lists and appeals
Boys with a disability, special educational need or temporary injury can apply for special arrangements such as extra time, a reader, a scribe, enlarged papers or a smaller test venue, supported by medical evidence and evidence from the primary school; rest breaks within a paper and computer-based answers are not offered, given the test's short length. If the school is oversubscribed among boys who reach the required standard, a waiting list ranked by the oversubscription criteria runs until the end of December of the admission year. Parents who are not offered a place can appeal to North Yorkshire Council, which organises Year 7 admission appeals independently of the school; an appeal is decided by an Independent Admissions Appeals Panel, whose decision binds both the school and the family.
Related guides
Preparing for the Ermysted's Grammar School 11+ with Taylor Tuition
Families preparing for the Ermysted's Grammar School 11+ usually come to us a year or so before the assessment, though shorter runs work where the foundations are already sound. Having prepared pupils for entry to leading independent and grammar schools, with placements including Westminster, St Paul's, Wycombe Abbey and Eton, our tutors build each programme around the format the school actually uses, whether a written paper, an online pre-test, an interview or a combination of them.
More than half of our tutors hold Qualified Teacher Status and around three in five hold a master's degree or doctorate, and the pool includes former heads of department, exam-board examiners and teachers from independent and boarding schools, so the preparation is led by people who know how selective schools assess. 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.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Ermysted's Grammar School have a catchment area?
- Yes. It covers the primary schools serving Beamsley, Bradley, Burnsall, Carleton, Cracoe, Embsay, Gargrave, Grassington, Kettlewell, Kirkby-in-Malhamdale, Skipton, Thornton-in-Craven and Threshfield. Boys who reach the required standard and live inside this area are prioritised ahead of out-of-catchment applicants if the school is oversubscribed, though boys from outside the catchment remain eligible to apply and be admitted once catchment places are filled.
- What does registering for the entrance test actually involve?
- Parents submit an Entrance Test Registration Form directly to the school, since sitting the test is never automatic for any applicant. Registering and sitting the test is not the same as applying for a place, however; parents must still name Ermysted's on the Common Application Form submitted to their home local authority for the place to be considered.
- Can parents see their son's FSCE test score or papers?
- Scores are released only on request to parents whose son has not reached the required standard; scores for boys who do reach the standard are not released, so that every admitted pupil starts on an equal footing. Test papers are never shown to parents, as they remain the commercially sensitive property of the test provider, FSCE.
- Is Ermysted's a boys-only school?
- Yes, Ermysted's is a single-sex boys' school for ages 11 to 18, so only male applicants are eligible to sit the entrance test and be considered for a Year 7 place; girls are not admitted at any entry point.
- What happens if my son doesn't reach the required standard?
- He will not be considered for a place at Ermysted's in the first round of offers, since only boys who reach the required standard set by the Admissions Committee are eligible. Parents can request his score by writing to the school, and the Common Application Form can still name other schools as alternative preferences.
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