London Grammar Schools: Results, Tests and 11+ Entry

Parents searching for the best grammar schools in London are choosing among 19 state grammar schools spread across seven boroughs: Barnet, Bexley, Bromley, Enfield, Kingston upon Thames, Redbridge and Sutton. Entry depends on where the school sits, since the grammar schools in Bexley, Redbridge and Sutton share one test within each borough, while those in Barnet, Bromley, Enfield and Kingston upon Thames run their own entrance assessments. A family considering schools in more than one borough usually registers, and sits a test, separately for each.

Which are the best grammar schools in London?

Measured by average Attainment 8 score in the latest performance tables, the London grammar schools with the highest results are The Henrietta Barnett School in Barnet at 87.3, Wilson's School in Sutton at 86.9, Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet at 85.6 and The Tiffin Girls' School in Kingston upon Thames at 85.3. Every one of the 19 schools scores between 71.6 and 87.3, against an England average of 46.1 for all state-funded schools, which places the whole group well above the national figure.

Attainment 8 averages each pupil's grades across eight GCSE-level qualifications, with English and maths counted twice, and has a maximum of 90. Progress 8, which would set those grades against pupils' starting points, was not calculated for this cohort because there are no key stage 2 test results for these pupils, the tests having been cancelled during Covid-19 disruption.

At A level, Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet has the highest average grade among London grammar schools, at A+, with Wilson's School and St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School next by average point score and each averaging A. Bexley Grammar School has no published A-level figure.

Because every one of these schools admits by ability at eleven, raw results reflect a selective intake as well as the teaching, and Attainment 8 makes no adjustment for starting points. With the gaps between schools near the top of the table this small, families weighing two or three schools usually give real weight to the test format, travel time and each school's admissions criteria alongside the ranking.

London grammar schools by borough

Barnet

Barnet's three grammar schools each set their own test: QE Barnet (boys), Henrietta Barnett (girls, with a co-educational sixth form) and St Michael's Catholic Grammar School (girls at 11, with a co-educational sixth form). QE Barnet's test consists of two multiple-choice papers in English and maths, with registration opening online in May of Year 5 and closing in early July. Henrietta Barnett runs two rounds, the first set by GL Assessment in verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and English, after which the top 300 scorers sit the school's own English and maths papers; registration usually runs from April to early July. St Michael's, which sets four papers in verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and maths, admits on Catholic faith criteria as well as score, so families submit its Supplementary Information Form and a Certificate of Catholic Practice, usually by early July.

Bexley

All four of Bexley's grammar schools, Beths Grammar School (boys), Bexley Grammar (mixed), Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School (mixed) and Townley Grammar School (girls, with a co-educational sixth form), admit through the Bexley Selection Test, which the London Borough of Bexley runs using papers supplied by Quest Assessments. Its two papers cover verbal ability and comprehension, numerical reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, and children sit them in early September of Year 6. Registration is made online through Bexley Council in Year 5, and the council does not accept late registrations.

Bromley

Bromley's two grammar schools, Newstead Wood School (girls at Year 7, with a co-educational sixth form) and St Olave's (boys), both in Orpington, each set their own test. Newstead Wood's consists of multiple-choice verbal and non-verbal reasoning papers sat over two days at the end of September of Year 6, with registration through the school's Supplementary Information Form from the start of May until 30 June of Year 5. St Olave's begins with an hour-long multiple-choice Stage 1 paper, after which the top 450 boys sit written English and maths papers at Stage 2; its Supplementary Information Form is due by the end of June of Year 5.

Enfield

Enfield's one grammar school, The Latymer School in Edmonton, is mixed and admits at Year 7 through entrance examinations in maths and verbal reasoning, with 192 places each year.

Kingston upon Thames

Kingston upon Thames has two grammar schools, The Tiffin Girls' School (girls) and Tiffin School (boys), with The Tiffin Girls' School assessing in two stages, in October and November, and Tiffin School's entrance exam covering English and maths. Applications for both still go through the home local authority by 31 October of Year 6.

Redbridge

Ilford County High School (boys) and Woodford County High School (girls) both admit through the Redbridge 11+, which the London Borough of Redbridge runs with GL Assessment papers: one in English and verbal reasoning and one in maths and non-verbal reasoning, sat together in September of Year 6. Registration is made online through the council's portal from May to mid-June of Year 5, with proof of the child's address and date of birth, and results arrive by email in mid-October.

Sutton

Sutton's five grammar schools, Nonsuch High School for Girls, Wallington High School for Girls, Sutton Grammar School (boys), Wallington County Grammar School (boys) and Wilson's (boys), share a first-stage Selective Eligibility Test (SET) of two multiple-choice papers in English and maths at key stage 2 level, with no verbal or non-verbal reasoning. One online registration, open from May to the end of July of Year 5, covers every participating school, and the SET is sat in September of Year 6. Children who reach a school's pass mark go on to written English and maths papers at a second stage, which Sutton Grammar School, Wallington County Grammar School and Wilson's share, while the two girls' schools share the Nonsuch and Wallington Second Stage Entrance Examination.

Key dates for the 11+ in London

Most London grammar school admissions follow the same sequence, running from test registration in Year 5 to offers on 1 March of Year 6, though each school's exact dates vary.

• Year 5, from April or May: registration opens, directly with the school in Barnet and Bromley and through the council or a shared portal in Bexley, Redbridge and Sutton, closing between mid-June and the end of July. Several schools and boroughs state that late registrations are not accepted.
• September of Year 6: most first-stage tests, including the Bexley Selection Test, the Redbridge 11+, the SET and the Barnet schools' tests, with Newstead Wood's falling at the end of the month.
• Late September to November of Year 6: second-stage papers in Sutton, Henrietta Barnett's Round Two in early October, St Olave's Stage 2 before the end of the autumn term, and Tiffin Girls' two stages in October and November.
• October of Year 6: results, usually sent by email, arriving before the application deadline.
• 31 October of Year 6: the Common Application Form, naming each grammar school as a preference, submitted to the home local authority.
• 1 March of Year 6: National Offer Day.

How offers are decided once a child qualifies

Reaching a school's qualifying standard makes a child eligible for a place, and the offer then depends on that school's oversubscription criteria and on the order of preferences on the Common Application Form. Most schools place looked-after and previously looked-after children first, and many reserve places for pupils eligible for Pupil Premium, after which the rules diverge.

QE Barnet and St Olave's, which have no catchment area, allocate the remaining places in score order. Other schools weigh address: Newstead Wood gives priority to girls within a 9-mile straight-line radius, Henrietta Barnett to candidates living within three miles, and the two Redbridge schools to a catchment defined by the council, where candidates must also clear a minimum standardised score, set at 104 in Ilford County High School's published criteria. Most Bexley schools rank remaining applicants by straight-line distance, with the borough's top 180 scorers given priority at Beths and Townley. At St Michael's, first priority goes to baptised Catholic girls from a practising Catholic family, evidenced by a Certificate of Catholic Practice.

Where a child qualifies for more than one school, the local authority offers the highest preference on the form that can make an offer. The order of preferences therefore needs to match the family's genuine choice.

Preparing for London grammar school tests

London's tests draw on four areas, English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, in combinations that differ by borough, so preparation usually starts from the specific schools a family intends to name. Sutton's SET and QE Barnet's papers cover English and maths alone, while the Bexley Selection Test, the Redbridge 11+ and Newstead Wood's test include verbal and non-verbal reasoning.

Several schools add written papers at a second stage, which calls for extended answers as well as multiple-choice practice: Wilson's and the other Sutton schools set written English and maths, Henrietta Barnett's Round Two is a 60-minute English paper and a 50-minute maths paper, St Olave's Stage 2 is written English and maths, and Tiffin Girls' assesses across two stages.

A practical order is to secure curriculum English and maths first, since every London test draws on them, then to add the reasoning question types where a school's test uses them, and to move to timed practice in each chosen test's format during Year 5, with registrations completed before the summer deadlines. St Olave's publishes sample papers, Bexley Grammar and Townley publish free familiarisation resources, and Newstead Wood sells a short specimen paper, all of which show the question styles closely. Steady practice spread across Year 5 usually leaves a child comfortable with timed, back-to-back papers by September.

Preparing for the London grammar school 11+ with Taylor Tuition

Preparation for the London grammar school 11+ tends to go best when it starts early and stays steady, and most families who work with us begin between twelve and eighteen months out. Our tutors, who have prepared pupils for entry to leading independent and grammar schools including Westminster, St Paul's, Wycombe Abbey and Eton, plan the work backwards from the school's own assessment format and registration deadline.

The tutors we match to 11+ preparation are drawn from a pool in which more than half hold Qualified Teacher Status, around three in five hold a master's degree or doctorate, and which includes former heads of department, exam-board examiners and teachers from independent and boarding schools. Every tutor who works with children holds an enhanced DBS check.

Families in London and further afield work with us online, 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.

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