Key Facts
| School type | State selective grammar school, boys, ages 11 to 18, day school with sixth form |
|---|---|
| Location | Barkingside, Ilford, London Borough of Redbridge |
| Entry points | 11+ (Year 7), 180 places; a smaller number of 16+ (Year 12) sixth form places, mostly filled by continuing pupils |
| Assessment | Redbridge 11+ test (GL Assessment): English and verbal reasoning paper, and maths and non-verbal reasoning paper, minimum threshold score 104 |
| Test provider | GL Assessment |
| Registration deadline | 5pm, Monday 15 June 2026 (registration typically opens 1 May) |
| Assessment date | Friday 18 September 2026 (provisional, published by Redbridge for the relevant entry round) |
Figures correct at the time of writing — always confirm current fees and deadlines with the school directly.
Entry to Ilford County High School at 11+ turns on the Redbridge 11+ test, set by GL Assessment and administered by the London Borough of Redbridge, followed by naming the school on the Common Application Form submitted through the family's home council. Redbridge advises that only boys living within the school's common catchment area have been offered places in recent years, so families outside it should treat the catchment as the practical boundary, even though it functions only as a priority criterion, without being a formal rule.
The school, a selective boys' grammar in Barkingside, admits 180 boys into Year 7 each year through this route, with a much smaller number of places opening at 16+ for boys joining the sixth form from other schools.
How Year 7 entry works
Ilford County High School fills 180 places in Year 7 every year, all through the optional selection procedure, with no continuous assessment or interview involved. Admission depends on registering for and sitting the Redbridge 11+ test, then formally naming the school as a preference on the Common Application Form; registering for the test alone does not count as an application. Boys who reach the minimum threshold score are ranked, with places offered first to those living in the common catchment area.
What the Redbridge 11+ test involves
The Redbridge 11+, used for entry to both Ilford County and Woodford County High School, is set by GL Assessment and sat over two papers on the same test date: one covering English and verbal reasoning, the other maths and non-verbal reasoning. Each paper runs for around an hour, and all questions are multiple choice, answered on a separate answer sheet apart from the question booklet.
There is a minimum threshold score of 104; boys who score below this are not added to the ranked list or the waiting list, whatever their catchment status. The published arrangements do not describe an interview or a report from the child's current school forming part of the ranking process.
Registering for the test and applying to the school, in order
Families who intend to sit the Redbridge 11+ for the school follow the same sequence each year, administered by the London Borough of Redbridge, with the school taking no part in running it.
- Register online through a Redbridge account during Year 5, ahead of the published deadline; late registrations are not accepted
- Sit the two Redbridge 11+ papers on the published test date in the autumn term of Year 6, bringing the required photo ID form
- Receive the standardised score and ranking position, usually by mid-October, before preferences must be finalised
- Name the school as a preference on the Common Application Form, submitted through the family's home local authority, by the published October deadline
- Receive the offer on national offer day and respond by the date given, accepting, declining, or asking to remain on the waiting list
Catchment area and how places are prioritised
Ilford County shares a common catchment area with Woodford County High School, checked against the family's address using Redbridge's online map tool. Where demand for the 180 places exceeds supply, places go first to looked-after and previously looked-after children, then to 45 places, a quarter of the intake, reserved for boys eligible for the pupil premium, ranked by standardised score. Remaining places go to other boys living in the common catchment area, ranked by score, and only then to boys living outside it, also ranked by score.
Where two boys are tied on the same standardised score at the cut-off, the school prioritises whoever lives the shorter safe walking distance from home to the main entrance on Fremantle Road; if that distance is also identical, the local authority allocates the place at random through its admissions system.
Preparing for the Redbridge 11+ format
Because the Redbridge 11+ is entirely multiple choice across English and verbal reasoning, and maths and non-verbal reasoning, practice tends to work best when it mirrors that format closely: timed papers of around an hour, answered on a separate sheet while the booklet holds only the questions, so that children get used to transferring answers accurately under time pressure.
Families should register any need for exam adjustments, such as extra time or access arrangements, at the same time as registering for the test itself, since Redbridge will not consider adjustment requests once the registration deadline has passed. Beyond format familiarity, a calm, steady run-up tends to matter more than late cramming, given that the test draws on material built up gradually through primary school, without relying on newly taught content.
Sixth form entry at 16+
The school also opens a number of sixth form places to boys joining from other schools at 16+, alongside continuing Year 11 pupils, though most sixth form places each year are taken up by boys already at the school. External applicants apply directly to the school, bypassing the local authority's Year 7 process, and conditional offers are based on predicted grades, with admission confirmed once actual results are known.
Waiting lists and what happens without an offer
Boys who reach the minimum threshold score but do not receive an offer are placed on a waiting list maintained by the London Borough of Redbridge, ordered by the same criteria used for initial offers, regardless of when a family applied or joined the list. Should a place become available in Year 7, 8 or 9, it is offered to the highest-ranked boy on the list who has met the threshold score, with distance used as the tie-break. The two grammar schools do not take new entrants into Years 10 or 11.
Related guides
Preparing for the Ilford County High School 11+ with Taylor Tuition
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Frequently asked questions
- What is the minimum score needed to be considered for Ilford County High School?
- Redbridge sets a minimum threshold score of 104 on the 11+ test. Boys who score below this are not added to the ranked list or the waiting list for Ilford County High School, regardless of where they live, so reaching the threshold is a precondition for being considered at all, without guaranteeing a place.
- Does living outside the catchment area rule out a place at Ilford County High School?
- Not formally; places for boys outside the common catchment area are considered once all in-catchment applicants who meet the threshold score have been offered places. In practice, Redbridge advises that only boys living within the catchment area have been offered places in recent years, so families outside it should treat this as a significant hurdle.
- What happens if we miss the 11+ registration deadline?
- No late registrations for the test are accepted. Boys who registered on time but cannot attend on the published test date can only be offered a later sitting on production of a doctor's certificate or similarly documented evidence, such as a close relative's death certificate; missing the deadline itself is not grounds for late testing.
- Can parents appeal if their son does not get a place?
- Parents who are not satisfied with the outcome are advised to discuss it first with their child's primary school headteacher, and the admission authority's decision can be challenged through the statutory school admissions appeal process, which runs separately from the waiting list.
- Are there 11+ places for girls at Ilford County High School?
- No; Ilford County High School's Year 7 intake of 180 places at 11+ is for boys, admitted through the Redbridge 11+ test. Girls testing for grammar entry in the borough apply instead to Woodford County High School, which shares the same common catchment area and test.
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