Sutton Grammar Schools: The SET, the 11+ and How Entry Works

Five state grammar schools operate inside the London Borough of Sutton, each selective by ability and each drawing on the same first-stage test to establish who may sit their own second-stage exam. Every family applying to any of these schools registers once through a shared online portal, and that single registration covers every participating school named on the form.

The shared test, known in Sutton as the Selective Eligibility Test or SET, sits in September of Year 6 and covers only English and maths drawn from the key stage 2 curriculum. Each school then sets its own pass mark and its own second-stage exam, so a score that clears one school's threshold does not automatically clear another's.

The five grammar schools in Sutton

Sutton's grammar schools sit across two areas of the borough, Sutton itself and neighbouring Wallington, and split by gender: two girls' schools, two boys' schools, and one boys' school that also admits girls into its sixth form. Each publishes a Published Admission Number, the fixed count of Year 7 places the local authority allocates through the coordinated admissions scheme.

A sixth school, Greenshaw High School, runs a selective ability band within an otherwise comprehensive Year 7 intake, filled using the same first-stage test as the five grammar schools.

• Nonsuch High School for Girls, Sutton: girls' school (nonsuchschool.org)
• Sutton Grammar School, Sutton: boys' school (suttongrammar.sutton.sch.uk)
• Wallington County Grammar School, Wallington: boys' school (wcgs-sutton.co.uk)
• Wallington High School for Girls, Wallington: girls' school (wallingtongirls.org.uk)
• Wilson's School, Wallington: boys' school (wilsons.school)

The Selective Eligibility Test: the shared first stage

All five grammar schools, together with Greenshaw High School's selective band, use the Selective Eligibility Test as their common first stage, and a family registers for it once regardless of how many participating schools they are considering. The SET consists of two multiple-choice papers, one in maths and one in English, each lasting around 40 to 50 minutes with a short break between them.

Both papers are broadly based on the key stage 2 curriculum, and the test does not include verbal or non-verbal reasoning of the kind set by some other grammar school consortia. There is no negative marking, though a handful of English questions require both correct options to be selected before a mark is awarded.

Each participating school sets its own pass mark from the SET result, so meeting the standard for an invitation to one school's second-stage exam does not automatically mean the same score clears the bar elsewhere. Families whose child needs access arrangements for the SET on grounds of special educational needs must submit supporting evidence well ahead of the standard registration deadline.

• Two multiple-choice papers: mathematics and English
• No verbal or non-verbal reasoning
• Broadly based on the key stage 2 curriculum
• One registration, made through any participating school's website, covers all of them

Two different second-stage exams

Passing the SET brings an invitation to a second-stage exam, and which exam a candidate sits depends on which schools they are pursuing. Sutton Grammar School, Wallington County Grammar School and Wilson's School share a single second-stage test, comprising a written mathematics paper and a written English paper.

Nonsuch High School for Girls and Wallington High School for Girls instead share the Nonsuch and Wallington Second Stage Entrance Examination, known as the NWSSEE, again one paper in maths and one in English, and a girl must pass both parts to remain eligible. At both girls' schools the NWSSEE mark is added to half of the candidate's aggregate SET mark, with the two elements weighted equally, to produce the final ranking score.

Wilson's School combines the SET and its second-stage papers in a ratio of one to two to two when ranking candidates. Sutton Grammar School adjusts marks from both stages for a boy's age and income deprivation score before applying its required standard.

Registration and the yearly timetable

Registration for the SET opens online in May of Year 5, the school year before the test is sat, and closes at the end of July. The SET itself is held on a single day in September once children have moved into Year 6, with second-stage exams following on a Saturday in September or early October.

Schools notify parents of second-stage results by email ahead of 31 October, the closing date for the separate Common Application Form on which a family formally names its preferred schools to its home local authority. Registering for the SET and naming a school on the Common Application Form are both required steps; neither one alone secures consideration for a place.

Where a school's places are not filled on first allocation, a ranked waiting list operates under the same oversubscription criteria until 31 December of the year of entry.

Catchment and priority: how the criteria differ by school

Every grammar school in Sutton gives first priority to looked-after and previously looked-after children who meet its required standard, and to children whose Education, Health and Care Plan names the school. Beyond that, how each school splits its remaining places between score, postcode and catchment area varies considerably.

Where places within a priority category cannot all be filled, most schools break ties by straight-line distance from the child's home to the school's front door, measured using the local authority's Geographical Information System.

• Sutton Grammar School: places ranked by combined SET and second-stage score for boys living in the school's listed postcodes (SM1 to SM7, KT4, KT17, CR0 4 and CR4), further places in the same postcodes for boys receiving income-based free school meals, and any places left over open to any postcode
• Nonsuch High School for Girls: places split between the highest scorers regardless of address, girls eligible for Pupil Premium regardless of address, and girls living within a catchment circle measured in a straight line from the school
• Wallington High School for Girls: the same three-way split between the highest scorers, Pupil Premium places and places linked to a catchment radius
• Wilson's School: no catchment area; after looked-after children and a free-school-meals allocation, a small number of places go to boys assessed as having sporting or musical aptitude, with remaining places ranked by test score
• Wallington County Grammar School shares its second-stage exam with Sutton Grammar School and Wilson's School and publishes its own oversubscription order separately from the other four schools

How places are allocated, and appeals

Reaching the required standard in the tests does not by itself guarantee a place, because every Sutton grammar school routinely has more qualifying candidates than it has places. Once the oversubscription criteria have been applied and offers made, a ranked waiting list runs until 31 December of the year of entry, and any place that becomes available before then goes to the next child on the relevant list.

Parents whose child is not offered a place have a statutory right of appeal, heard by an Independent Appeal Panel operating under the School Admission Appeals Code. Nonsuch High School for Girls and Wallington High School for Girls both set out that a family cannot normally lodge a second appeal for the same school in the same school year, except where the admission authority accepts that circumstances have materially changed.

What the test format means for preparation

The SET's structure sets useful boundaries for preparation: it tests only English and maths, only to key stage 2 level, and never verbal or non-verbal reasoning, so practice aimed at reasoning-style 11+ tests used elsewhere has little bearing on it. The shift between stages matters too, since the SET's multiple-choice format at stage one gives way to written maths and English papers at stage two for Sutton Grammar School, Wallington County Grammar School and Wilson's School, and to the NWSSEE's non-multiple-choice papers for the two girls' schools.

Wallington High School for Girls states on its own admissions page that it does not consider tutoring necessary to sit its entrance test and does not permit 11+ tutoring companies onto the school site. Families whose child has special educational needs and may need access arrangements for the SET should raise this with their registering school well before the standard closing date, since supporting evidence is normally required in advance of the deadline itself.

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