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For parents Year 3 to Year 7

The 11+ year for parents: what happens when

What happens when, by school year and term, for the 11+ exams Remelia plans for (183 of them). Each exam’s own dates are in its guide, linked below.

Built from the dates the schools publish, each with its source. The school’s own letter to parents is always the record. By Misheli Ltd. How we research

Years 3 and 4

The groundwork: the school curriculum, securely.

Most 11+ exams test the Key Stage 2 maths and English your child meets at school, and some add verbal or non-verbal reasoning. There is nothing to register for yet. The steady work is the curriculum in school order, with the times tables, spelling and reading kept up.

It is a good time to find out which schools are within reach and what their exams test: Schools and exams lists every school Remelia plans for, and the exam boards page shows who sets each test.

Year 5, autumn term

Choose the schools, and visit.

Decide which schools you might apply to, and read each one’s exam guide: who sets the test, what it covers and when it is sat. A few are sat as early as Year 5 (3 of 183), so check yours now.

Open events, for the 34 exams whose schools publish when they hold them:

  • The spring term of Year 5: 11 exams
  • The summer term of Year 5: 10 exams
  • The autumn term of Year 6: 13 exams

Exam by exam, with sources

Registration

Register with each school, or the council, by its deadline.

Registering for the test is separate from applying for a place, and every exam has its own window. Missing it can mean missing the test, so it is the date to diary first. Registration opens, for the 36 exams that publish when:

  • The spring term of Year 5: 16 exams
  • The summer term of Year 5: 20 exams

Registration closes, for all 183:

  • The spring term of Year 5: 3 exams
  • The summer term of Year 5: 34 exams
  • The autumn term of Year 6: 143 exams
  • The spring term of Year 6: 3 exams

Exam by exam, with sources

Familiarisation

Know the format before the day.

Most exam boards publish something to show the format: a familiarisation booklet, sample questions or a practice test, sometimes only once your child is registered. Each exam guide says what its setter publishes and links it, and each board’s page gathers its tests:

Practising the content matters more than the format, but a child who has seen the answer sheet or the screen before is calmer on the day.

The exam

Most are sat in Year 6, a few in Year 5.

When the 183 exams are sat:

  • The summer term of Year 5: 3 exams
  • The autumn term of Year 6: 99 exams
  • The spring term of Year 6: 36 exams
  • Year 6, month not published: 45 exams

The exam’s own guide gives its day, where the school has published it, and what to bring.

Exam by exam, with sources

Results and applying

Grammar results come before the application deadline.

For a state school, including a grammar school, you apply through your home council by 31 October of Year 6, naming the schools in order of preference. Source: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk

Grammar schools must take all reasonable steps to tell you the result before 31 October, so you know it when you choose. Source: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk

Independent schools set their own dates. Results, for the 43 exams that publish when:

  • The autumn term of Year 6: 34 exams
  • The spring term of Year 6: 9 exams

Exam by exam, with sources

Offers

Offers come in the spring term of Year 6.

State school places are offered on National Offer Day, 1 March of the year your child starts Year 7, or the next working day when it falls on a weekend. Source: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk

Independent schools make their own offers, often earlier, and ask you to accept by a date of their own. Offers, for the 49 exams that publish when:

  • The autumn term of Year 6: 7 exams
  • The spring term of Year 6: 42 exams

Exam by exam, with sources

Appeals

If no place is offered, you can appeal.

If your child is not offered a place at a state school you applied for, you can appeal to an independent panel. The letter with the outcome says how to appeal and by when. Source: gov.uk

An independent school has no appeal of this kind: ask the school what it offers.

Exam by exam

Every exam’s stages, with its sources.

A date is shown with the entry year it was published for and the month it was checked; where only an earlier year’s date is known, it says so. Each exam’s guide has the detail.