Warwickshire Grammar Schools: Complete Guide to the 11+ and Entry

Warwickshire has six state grammar schools, each an academically selective secondary that fills its Year 7 places using the West Midlands Grammar Schools' Entrance Test, a single sitting shared with Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Shropshire so that a child registering for grammar schools across more than one of those authorities sits the test only once. Two of the six are in Stratford-upon-Avon, two in Rugby and one in Alcester. The sixth, Ashlawn School in Rugby, runs a single selective class alongside its comprehensive intake, with only that one class selected each year.

Warwickshire County Council coordinates registration, the test itself and the resulting score, while each grammar school remains its own admission authority and sets its own qualifying score, priority area and oversubscription criteria for the places it offers. Families registering for the cycle currently open, covering children sitting the test in September 2026 for entry the following September, need to register between 7 May and 30 June 2026, well before the national secondary application deadline at the end of October.

The six grammar schools in Warwickshire

Warwickshire's six grammars sit across three towns, with Year 7 admission shaped entirely, or in Ashlawn's case partly, by performance in the 11+ test.

• King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon: boys' grammar school
• Stratford Girls' Grammar School, Stratford-upon-Avon: girls' grammar school
• Alcester Grammar School, Alcester: co-educational grammar school
• Lawrence Sheriff School, Rugby: boys' grammar school
• Rugby High School, Rugby: girls' grammar school, distinct from the fee-paying Rugby School
• Ashlawn School, Rugby: a bi-lateral school running one selective class per year group alongside its comprehensive intake, with a slightly different curriculum in Years 7 and 8 for that class

Who runs the test and what it covers

GL Assessment has set the West Midlands Grammar Schools' Entrance Test since children applying for 2023 entry sat it, appointed after a joint procurement exercise between the participating authorities and The Schools of King Edward VI Foundation replaced the previous contract with CEM. The test covers four areas across two multiple-choice papers of around 60 minutes each, including spoken instructions and practice items, with Warwickshire's guidance noting that questions relate to the primary curriculum but can go beyond what children are expected to have covered by the end of Key Stage 2.

Warwickshire standardises and weights each child's raw scores into a single total before releasing a result, and does not publish or release raw scores even on request; when the county moved to GL Assessment, it stated that intensive coaching or tuition is not needed or encouraged for the test.

• English
• Verbal Reasoning
• Non-Verbal Reasoning
• Maths

Registration and the 2027 entry timetable

Registration for the cycle currently open runs to a fixed timetable published by Warwickshire County Council, covering children who sit the test in September 2026 for a Year 7 place in September 2027. Children do not need to live in Warwickshire to register, though a score from an 11+ test sat outside the shared West Midlands arrangement with Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Shropshire cannot transfer, and the child would need to sit the Warwickshire test instead.

• Registration opens: 7 May 2026
• Registration and access arrangements deadline: 4pm, 30 June 2026
• Test invitation letters sent: week commencing 10 August 2026
• Test dates: 12 to 13 September 2026
• Results available: 16 October 2026
• Secondary school application deadline: 31 October 2026
• Proof of address requested, where at least one grammar school was applied to: by 31 December 2026
• National Offer Day: 1 March 2027

Priority areas and catchment

Each grammar school publishes its own admission arrangements setting out a priority area, comparable to a catchment area, together with residency requirements that go beyond the standard proof of address most schools ask for, so Warwickshire advises reading each school's arrangements carefully before applying. Living inside a school's priority area increases a child's chance of being offered a place without guaranteeing one, and families outside it may still apply.

Ashlawn School's selective class has its own priority area. Warwickshire advises families to contact the school directly for details, since the general grammar school priority area maps do not cover it.

How places are allocated

An application can list up to six school preferences, and Warwickshire recommends naming at least three schools a child would be happy to attend in case a grammar school place does not follow. Where a grammar school is oversubscribed, places go first by that school's own criteria, typically test score and priority area residency, and any applicants left exactly tied for a final place go to random allocation, carried out by two Admissions Service officers in the presence of a Local Authority solicitor who record and countersign the order generated; multiple-birth siblings tied for a place are excluded from this and offered a place together.

Children not offered a place join a waiting list ranked in strict priority order under the same oversubscription criteria, a position that can move up or down as other children join, with neither a late application nor time already spent on the list affecting priority.

Appeals

A parent whose child is refused a grammar school place can appeal, and Warwickshire recommends contacting the admissions service first, on 01926 414143 or admissions@warwickshire.gov.uk, to discuss alternative schools with places available and reserve list options before doing so. Appeals go in online at apps.warwickshire.gov.uk/schoolappeals, or by paper form requested from school appeals on 01926 412954 or schoolappeals@warwickshire.gov.uk, with a dedicated process and guidance document for grammar school admission appeals kept separate from standard secondary appeals.

Preparing for the test

Warwickshire publishes an Entrance Test Familiarisation Guide covering the 11+ test used across Birmingham and Warwickshire, offering example and practice questions across the test's four areas so a child can become familiar with the format before test day. Families whose child needs access arrangements apply for these by the same 30 June deadline as registration, through the county's special testing arrangements process.

Sources

• warwickshire.gov.uk/grammar-schools-11-test
• warwickshire.gov.uk/grammar-schools-11-test/grammar-schools-warwickshire
• warwickshire.gov.uk/grammar-schools-11-test/11-test
• warwickshire.gov.uk/news/article/7617/registration-now-open-for-11-entrance-test
• warwickshire.gov.uk/school-admissions-appeals/priority-area-map-infant-primary-s
• warwickshire.gov.uk/school-admissions-appeals/appeal-outcome-school-placement
• warwickshire.gov.uk/directory-record/7163/entrance-test-familiarisation-guide
• warwickshire.gov.uk/school-admissions-appeals/deciding-on-a-place-to-learn
• warwickshire.gov.uk/news/article/2808/warwickshire-grammar-school-applicants-for

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