Warwickshire is a strange one. It's a partly selective county. There are five state grammar schools, split between two parts of the county: Rugby in the north and Stratford-upon-Avon in the south. If you live in Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Coventry, Stratford or Rugby and you're thinking about grammar school, this is the bit you actually need to understand. What test does your child sit? When? What score do they need? And what happens if they don't get in?
The Warwickshire 11+ is more straightforward than somewhere like Kent or Buckinghamshire. There's one consortium, one test, and one set of registration deadlines. But each school still has its own admissions criteria, which is where most parents get caught out.
The five Warwickshire grammar schools
Three in Stratford and the surrounding area, two in Rugby.
Stratford-upon-Avon has King Edward VI School for boys and Stratford Girls' Grammar School. Alcester Grammar School, sitting in the small market town of Alcester about eight miles west, is co-educational. Those three serve south Warwickshire, drawing from Stratford, Warwick, Leamington, Kenilworth, and surrounding villages.
Rugby has Lawrence Sheriff School for boys and Rugby High School for girls. These serve the north of the county and pull from Rugby itself, parts of Leamington, and the eastern edge of Coventry.
All five schools admit at age 11 through a single shared test. That's the South Warwickshire 11+, run by the Warwickshire 11+ Consortium and written by GL Assessment.
The Warwickshire 11+ test format
The test covers English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. It's a GL Assessment paper, multiple-choice across the reasoning sections, with English involving comprehension and writing-related question types. Maths is curriculum-based and broadly maps to Key Stage 2 with some Year 6 stretch.
Children sit the test in mid-September of Year 6. Standardised scores are produced for each section and added into a total.
The qualifying mark for Warwickshire grammars typically sits at a standardised total of around 220 to 230. The consortium doesn't publish a fixed cut-off and it shifts each year depending on the cohort, but historical admissions data lines up around that range. A child who scores below the qualifying mark can request a review through what's called the headteacher's referral. I'll cover that further down.
Registration and deadlines
Registration opens in early May of Year 5 and typically closes at the end of June. You register through the Warwickshire 11+ Consortium website. One registration covers all five schools, so you don't apply to each one separately at this stage.
This is where parents trip up. Registering for the test is not the same as applying for a school place. The 11+ registration just tells the consortium your child will sit the test. The actual school application goes through Warwickshire County Council's secondary admissions process, which opens in September and closes on 31 October. If you miss either deadline, the late route is messy and the outcome is unpredictable. Set both reminders the moment you start thinking about it.
Catchment, distance, and how places get allocated
A pass on the 11+ doesn't automatically secure a place. Each of the five grammars runs its own oversubscription criteria, and most of them prioritise children who pass and live nearby.
Alcester Grammar uses a defined catchment area covering Alcester and surrounding villages. Children inside it get priority. Outside the catchment, places go to higher scorers. Stratford Girls' Grammar and King Edward VI Stratford both prioritise distance once the pass mark is met. Lawrence Sheriff and Rugby High operate similar distance-based rules for Rugby and nearby villages.
What that means in practice. If your child passes but you live in Coventry and you're applying to Alcester or Stratford Girls', you're at the back of the queue. In-catchment passers come first. Living in Leamington puts you within a sensible distance of Stratford and a tighter distance to Rugby, so families there often apply to both. From Coventry, Rugby High and Lawrence Sheriff are the more realistic targets.
The honest read is this. If your child passes comfortably and you live within five miles of a Warwickshire grammar, you'll almost certainly get a place at one of them. If your child scrapes the pass and you live further out, the result is much less certain.
Headteacher's referral: the backdoor route
Warwickshire grammars use a system called the headteacher's referral. If your child sits the 11+ and doesn't reach the qualifying score, the primary head can submit a referral to the consortium. This is for cases where you and the head genuinely believe the test masked their real ability. Maybe they were ill on the day. Maybe something else.
A panel reviews additional evidence, usually school assessments and the head's own judgement, then decides whether to recommend an offer. Genuine referrals are taken seriously. They're not a get-out-of-jail card though. The panel is looking for real evidence that the score is an outlier compared to consistent classroom performance. If your child's school work matches the test result, a referral won't change the outcome. Talk to the head early and honestly if you think it applies.
How to prepare for the Warwickshire 11+
GL Assessment is the most documented exam format in the UK. Practice materials are everywhere. CGP, Bond, Schofield & Sims and Letts all publish good books that match the real test structure. Don't bother with anything labelled CEM — the Warwickshire test isn't CEM, and that exam style stopped being used in 2022 anyway.
The reasoning sections respond well to practice. A child who works through verbal and non-verbal reasoning problems from January of Year 5 onwards will see real score improvements by September. English and maths take longer. Reading widely matters more for English than any exam book ever will. For maths, problem-solving practice beats rote drilling.
Time pressure is where most candidates lose marks. The Warwickshire test isn't unfair, but it isn't slow either. Do timed practice from Easter of Year 5, not just the final weeks. A child who can answer questions accurately but slowly will run out of time and score below their ability.
The biggest mistake I see Warwickshire parents make? Starting prep too late. Year 6 from September is six weeks before the test. Year 5 from January is realistic. Year 4 is usually too early and tends to risk burnout before it matters.
Is tutoring necessary in Warwickshire?
Tutoring is common but not universal. In the south of the county, around Stratford and Alcester, plenty of children pass without one. In Rugby and the Coventry-adjacent areas, where competition is sharper, tutoring is more typical among successful candidates.
A parent who can coach maths and English at home, and who keeps practice consistent, can absolutely get a child ready. What a tutor really provides is structure. A weekly external deadline makes it harder to drift. If your home life can supply that anyway, the cost of a tutor is mostly buying confidence rather than buying ability.
FAQ
Can my child apply to both Stratford and Rugby grammars?
Yes. One 11+ test, one registration, and your child's scores apply to all five Warwickshire grammars. On the secondary application form, you can list any combination. Many Leamington families apply across both areas because the town sits roughly equidistant between them.
We live in Coventry. Are Warwickshire grammars realistic?
For Lawrence Sheriff and Rugby High, often yes, depending on which part of Coventry you're in. For Stratford and Alcester, only if your child scores well above the qualifying mark and you accept a longer commute. Some Coventry families also apply to the King Edward VI consortium in Birmingham alongside the Warwickshire test, since that opens up another set of grammars on a different test day.
My child is bright but anxious in tests. Is there any flexibility?
The 11+ is a fixed test with standard timings. Children with formally diagnosed needs can request access arrangements such as extra time or a separate room, but this goes through the primary school and needs to be in place well before the test date. General anxiety doesn't qualify for adjustments. What helps there is familiarity through practice papers under timed conditions, so the format itself stops being the stressor.
What if my child doesn't pass?
You continue with the standard Warwickshire secondary application like any other family. Warwickshire has some genuinely strong non-selective secondaries, particularly around Warwick, Leamington and Stratford. A grammar place isn't the only good outcome for a bright child, and treating it as such usually hurts the child more than the school itself.
If you want to know where your child actually stands before you commit to months of prep, readyfor11.co.uk gives you a free benchmark test across reasoning, English and maths. No account, no paywall, no upsell. It takes about 20 minutes and gives you a realistic read on whether the Warwickshire 11+ is a sensible target.