The King's School, Grantham 11+ and 16+ Admissions: GL Tests, Criteria and Sixth Form

How do you get into The King's School, Grantham? A boy qualifies by scoring at least 220 in total across two GL Assessment papers, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning and Spatial Awareness, set for the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools and sat at the school in September of Year 6, and a separate application is then made through the home local authority. Meeting the qualifying score does not guarantee a Year 7 place.

Later routes exist for Years 8 to 11 when a place opens, and for Year 12, where external applicants are ranked on GCSE Attainment 8 scores. Registration for the tests and the application for a place are two different steps, and both are covered below.

Entry points and places

King's admits boys at three points: Year 7 at 11+, Years 8 to 11 when a place becomes available, and Year 12 for external sixth-form applicants. The admissions policy sets a Published Admission Number for Year 7 and a separate one for external sixth-form applicants.

The school is a selective academy and its policy states that places will be left unfilled if not enough applicants reach the qualifying standard. For in-year places, the policy sets out no fixed number, and boys are invited for testing only once a place opens in the relevant year group.

• Year 7 (11+): Lincolnshire Consortium 11+ papers
• Years 8 to 11: in-year, only when a place becomes available
• Year 12 (16+): external places, GCSE-based criteria

How the 11+ assessment works

The 11+ is two GL Assessment papers set for the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools: Paper 1 is Verbal Reasoning and Paper 2 is Non-Verbal Reasoning and Spatial Awareness. They are sat at the school on two separate Saturdays in September of Year 6, and boys need to attend both sessions. A boy who is ill for one session may still sit the other if well enough.

The school's FAQ describes the Verbal Reasoning paper as one continuous paper of usually around 50 minutes, and the Non-Verbal paper as usually slightly shorter, with a section count that can vary. Answers go on Optical Mark Reading sheets, which GL Assessment marks and standardises. The school publishes no number of questions, and no English or maths paper is part of the test.

Boys wear primary school uniform and bring two HB pencils and an eraser. Calculators, highlighters, watches, phones and smart devices are not permitted.

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Registration and the admissions timeline

Parents register their son for the tests with the school online in the spring term of Year 5, and the closing time is midnight on the published March date. A late registration window follows, although late registrants may not get the main test dates and results may be delayed. The policy describes registration as separate from applying for a place.

The sequence runs in order, with the school's website giving the exact dates for each round.

• Register online with the school for the tests in the spring term of Year 5
• Sit Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning and Spatial Awareness at the school in September of Year 6
• Receive standardised scores, with results also going to the primary school if consent is given
• Apply for a place through the home local authority by the October closing date (Lincolnshire County Council for Lincolnshire residents)
• Receive the offer from the local authority on national offer day in March, then appeal to an independent panel if a place is refused and King's was on the preference form

Qualifying score, results and re-sits

The qualifying standard is a total standardised score of at least 220 across both papers, agreed by all schools in the consortium and described by the school as representing roughly the most able 25% of the age group in the selective areas of Lincolnshire. The maximum standardised score is 282.

Only the Verbal and Non-Verbal standardised scores are released, with no raw scores or copies of the papers, although a score can be remarked by emailing the school. The 11+ cannot be re-sat in Year 6 or Year 7, and the next opportunity is the school's own test in September of Year 8 if a place has opened. The school does not know its lowest offer score until offers are made in March, and it lists past lowest offer scores between 225 and 242 across the six years shown.

Catchment and oversubscription criteria

King's has no catchment area in the usual sense; the policy instead uses a 30-mile straight-line distance from the school, and only boys who have reached the qualifying score are considered. When applications exceed places, offers follow a set order, with a boy's Education, Health and Care Plan naming the school taking precedence by law.

Ties within a criterion go to the boy living nearest the school by straight-line distance, and a final tie is settled by a lottery drawn by an independent person. Parents of boys eligible for the Pupil Premium tick the Pupil Premium box on the local authority application and ask the primary school to provide verifiable evidence by the October deadline. Parents of any boy refused a place can appeal to an independent panel, whose decision is binding on all parties.

Qualified boys are placed in the four categories listed below, taken in order, and the school applies the tie-break rules above within each one.

• Looked after and previously looked after children, ranked by standardised score
• Pupils eligible for the full Pupil Premium who live within 30 miles, ranked by standardised score and limited to 20 places; unsuccessful applicants can still compete in the next category
• Children who live within 30 miles, measured in a straight line and ranked by standardised score
• Any other qualified children, ranked by standardised score

Entry into Years 8 to 11

Boys seeking a place in Years 8 to 11 sit a nationally standardised test at the school, unless they have already reached the qualifying score in the 11+ or test at King's or another Lincolnshire Consortium grammar school. The In Year Registration Form is a PDF that becomes available in September and goes to the school office.

Testing is arranged only once a place becomes available in the relevant year group, and boys who pass but cannot be offered a place can ask to join the reserve list, which is cleared at the end of each academic year. A boy who took the 11+ in Year 6 without reaching 220 cannot sit the test for Year 7 and may try again for Year 8. Applications for in-year places are made through Lincolnshire County Council.

Sixth-form entry

Entry to Year 12 depends on GCSE results, including an Attainment 8 score at the level set in the admissions policy and passes at grades 4 to 9 in GCSE English Language and Mathematics. A boy who wants to study more than two of Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Economics or Psychology at A Level needs a higher Attainment 8 score.

Year 11 boys at King's have the right to transfer if they meet the standard, and external applicants are welcomed on the same terms within a separate Published Admission Number. If external applications exceed places, the order is looked after children, then full Pupil Premium pupils living within 30 miles (limited to 4 places), then those living within 30 miles, then the rest, each ranked by Attainment 8. Formal offers follow once GCSE grades are known, and the application form is on the school's sixth-form page.

Where pupils join from

The admissions policy and pages name no feeder primary schools and give no priority to particular primaries, so qualification and the oversubscription order decide places. Because the papers are shared across the consortium, a boy who qualifies at one consortium school has the same score recognised at the others.

Boys from other local authority areas apply through their home authority, and the school asks parents to tell it if a child has changed primary school so that he can be seated with peers. About 320 boys are in the sixth form, and roughly 10% join in Year 12 from outside the school.

How to prepare

Preparation for this test centres on two GL Assessment papers, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning and Spatial Awareness, so practice that mirrors them in a multiple-choice format is the most direct route. The school points families to free material from GL Assessment and Atom Learning, and suggests the Multiple Choice versions of the GL practice books. Pupil Premium-eligible boys receive free access to Atom Learning's home platform through a partnership with the school.

Practising on OMR-style answer sheets with two HB pencils, and timing the Verbal paper at around 50 minutes without a calculator, helps a boy meet the conditions on the day. Familiarisation materials are sent to participating primary schools for boys registered by the March deadline with parental consent. Since there is no re-sit, a calm routine across both Saturdays tends to serve a boy better than extra volume.

Related guides

• Lincolnshire grammar schools guide
• Best grammar schools in the UK by GCSE results
• Grammar schools in England: the full directory

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