11+ Tuition for Bexley Grammar Schools — Complete Guide 2026

The London Borough of Bexley has four grammar schools — Beths Grammar School, Bexley Grammar School, Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, and Townley Grammar School — all of which use the same shared selection process: the Bexley Selection Test, administered by Quest Assessments. For 2027 entry (tests in September 2026), Bexley moved from GL Assessment to Quest Assessments as its provider. This guide explains how the Quest Assessment works for Bexley, what it covers, how places are allocated, and what preparation looks like for children aiming for Year 7 entry in 2027.

Unlike many grammar school areas where each school runs its own separate test, all four Bexley grammar schools test together: families register once with the London Borough of Bexley council, children sit the same two-paper exam in the same September window, and results determine which schools each child qualifies for. Understanding the shared structure of the Bexley consortium — and the specific mechanics of the Quest Assessment paper format — is essential for effective 11+ preparation.

Which Schools Use the Bexley 11+ Selection Test?

The London Borough of Bexley is one of a small number of London boroughs that retains fully selective grammar schools alongside standard comprehensive schools. The four grammar schools in the borough are distinct in character, intake, and specialism, though all four share the same selection mechanism.

Beths Grammar School is a boys’ grammar school in Bexley, with a strong tradition of academic achievement and a broad extracurricular programme. Bexley Grammar School is a mixed-sex grammar school based in Welling, offering approximately 210 places per year and a diverse range of subjects at GCSE and A-Level. Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School (commonly known as Chis & Sid) is a mixed grammar school in Sidcup, popular with families from across the south-east London and north-west Kent corridor. Townley Grammar School is a girls’ grammar school in Bexleyheath with a published admissions limit of 224 and a long-standing reputation for arts, performing arts, and mathematics and computing specialisms.

Four partially selective schools in the borough also participate in the Bexley Selection Test and offer a proportion of their Year 7 places to children who achieve the selective standard: Bexleyheath Academy, Chislehurst School for Girls, Eltham Hill School, and Erith School. Families should check each partially selective school’s admissions policy separately, as the number of selective places and oversubscription criteria vary.

A common source of confusion: St Olave’s Grammar School in Orpington is in the London Borough of Bromley, not Bexley, and runs its own entirely separate selection process. St Olave’s does not participate in the Bexley Selection Test or the Quest Assessment consortium. Families targeting St Olave’s must register separately for that school’s own test.

How Does the Bexley 11+ Selection Process Work in 2026?

The Bexley 11+ process is coordinated entirely by the London Borough of Bexley council. Families do not register directly with individual schools — they register once via the council, and that single registration covers all four grammar schools and the four partially selective schools simultaneously.

The most significant change to the Bexley selection process for the 2026 test cycle (September 2027 entry) was the switch from GL Assessment to Quest Assessments as the assessment provider. This change does not affect the overall structure of the test — it remains a paper-based, two-paper exam sat in a supervised venue — but it does mean that question style, format design, and verbal and non-verbal reasoning task types have changed. Children preparing with GL Assessment materials alone may encounter unfamiliar question formats on test day.

Registration is managed through the Bexley Selection Test registration page on the London Borough of Bexley council website. Both families who live within the borough and those who live outside it can register. There is no fee to register for the test. Late registration requests are not accepted — the March deadline is strict with no exceptions and no appeals process for families who miss it.

After test results are released in early October, families use those results to decide which schools to list on their secondary school Common Application Form. The CAF is submitted to the child’s home local authority by 31 October 2026. Families can include both Bexley grammar schools and schools in other boroughs or authorities on the same form. If a child is deemed selective, the grammar schools will make offers on 1 March 2027 based on available places and oversubscription criteria.

Families considering schools in neighbouring areas — such as grammar schools in Bromley or selective schools in Kent — should note that those boroughs and counties run entirely separate registration processes with their own deadlines. The Bexley registration covers only the Bexley Selection Test schools. Our Bromley 11+ guide covers the Bromley grammar school selection process in full.

What Does the Bexley Quest Assessment Cover?

The Bexley Selection Test is a paper-based exam consisting of two papers taken in a single supervised session. Each paper runs for approximately 50 minutes, with a short break between papers. The total exam lasts approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes, with 125 questions across the two papers. All questions are multiple-choice; children mark their answers on a separate bubble-sheet answer paper rather than in the question booklet itself.

The two papers divide the four assessed areas as follows:

• Paper 1 — English comprehension and verbal reasoning (approximately 50 minutes)
• Paper 2 — Non-verbal reasoning and mathematics (approximately 50 minutes)

The overall score is an age-standardised score (SAS) constructed from a weighted combination of the three assessed skill categories: verbal ability contributes 50% of the total standardised score; numerical ability contributes 25%; and non-verbal ability contributes 25%. The SAS adjusts for each child’s exact age at the time of the test — a child sitting the test earlier in the September window is younger than a child sitting later, and the standardisation corrects for this age difference.

The average standardised score is 200, and approximately two-thirds of candidates score between 170 and 230. A score around 200 places a child in the middle of the field; children targeting a grammar school place in Bexley typically need to score significantly above 200, though no fixed qualifying score is published.

The Quest Assessment vs GL Assessment: what changed in 2026. Prior to the 2026 test cycle, the Bexley Selection Test used GL Assessment. For 2027 entry, the council switched to Quest Assessments. The paper-based delivery format and the two-paper structure were retained, but the question styles changed:

• Verbal reasoning: Quest VR favours code-based questions (where letters represent other letters according to a rule) and letter sequence completion tasks. GL VR tends to use a wider mix of types including synonyms, antonyms, and hidden words. Children familiar only with GL materials may find Quest VR question styles less practised.
• Non-verbal reasoning: Quest NVR emphasises matrix completion (identifying the missing piece in a pattern grid) and spatial rotation. Ensure practice materials are Quest-specific rather than GL-specific.
• Maths and English: These sections test fundamentals that do not change significantly between providers. Standard KS2 maths curriculum content through Year 6 and multiple-choice English comprehension remain the focus.

Answer sheet technique. Because children mark answers on a bubble sheet rather than writing in the question booklet, practising the physical mechanics of answer sheets is an important and often overlooked element of Bexley preparation. Children must locate the correct numbered box, mark their answer clearly and firmly, and avoid double-marking or smudging. Begin practising with actual bubble-sheet answer papers from the start of preparation — not just question booklets.

Non-adaptive format. Unlike the online Quest Assessment used by some independent schools (which adapts difficulty in real time based on each child’s responses), the Bexley paper-based Quest is non-adaptive: all candidates see the same questions in the same order. This means children can return to questions they found difficult within each paper if time allows. Strong time management — attempting all questions first, then revisiting uncertain answers — is a viable and valuable Bexley exam strategy that does not apply in the same way to online adaptive tests.

How Many Children Apply for Bexley Grammar School Places?

The Bexley grammar schools are significantly oversubscribed. Approximately 30% of children who sit the Bexley Selection Test achieve a standardised score high enough to be considered for a grammar school place — meaning roughly 70% of candidates who sit the test do not reach the selective standard. Meeting the selective standard does not itself guarantee a place: more children qualify than there are available grammar school places. Schools then apply their oversubscription criteria to rank qualifying applicants and allocate places.

Oversubscription criteria vary between the four grammar schools, but typically prioritise looked-after children, then siblings of current pupils, then applicants ranked by distance from home to school. Townley Grammar School, for example, has a published admissions limit of 224 and in recent years has received substantially more selective-standard applications than it has places. Bexley Grammar School offers approximately 210 places per year across its mixed-sex intake.

The absence of a fixed published pass mark — unlike some grammar consortia in other counties — means families cannot target a specific score threshold and should focus on achieving the highest possible SAS. The score needed to receive a grammar school offer varies year to year depending on the overall distribution of scores in the applicant cohort. It is not uncommon for children who score above 200 (the average) to be deemed selective but still not receive a grammar school offer due to oversubscription and distance.

Families living further from their target school should be aware that distance plays a significant role in offers, particularly for the most popular schools. Applying to multiple Bexley grammar schools on the CAF (rather than just one) is standard practice and maximises a child’s chances of receiving an offer if they meet the selective standard. Families should list schools in genuine order of preference on the CAF — the admissions process is preference-ordered, meaning a higher-ranked preference is always considered first before a lower-ranked one.

When Should My Child Start Preparing for the Bexley 11+?

Effective preparation for the Bexley Selection Test requires building four distinct skill sets — English comprehension, verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, and mathematics — and developing the stamina and accuracy to deploy them across a 1-hour-40-minute paper exam. The optimal start point is September of Year 5, giving 12 months of structured preparation before the September Year 6 tests. Families beginning in January of Year 6 still have a viable timeline if preparation is consistent and well-structured. Starting in June or July of Year 6 leaves fewer than three months, which is insufficient for children who need to develop new skills in NVR or VR from scratch.

Maths. Cover the full KS2 curriculum through Year 6, prioritising multi-step word problems, fraction and percentage calculations, and mental arithmetic speed. Bexley maths questions test applied problem-solving rather than procedural recall. Children who can compute accurately but struggle to select the correct method under time pressure tend to underperform in this section.

English comprehension. Practise multiple-choice comprehension questions specifically — the Bexley format does not require extended writing. Focus on inference and deduction questions (drawing conclusions from what the text implies, not just what it states), which are consistently the most challenging comprehension question type for Year 6 children. Regular reading of varied fiction and non-fiction is the most effective long-term preparation for comprehension fluency.

Verbal reasoning. Quest VR uses a distinctive style that differs from GL Assessment. Prioritise code-based tasks (e.g., “if ABCD = WXYZ, what does BDFH equal?”) and letter sequence completion. Aim for speed through pattern recognition — children who can identify the rule governing a sequence quickly will have more time remaining to check uncertain answers.

Non-verbal reasoning. Quest NVR emphasises matrix completion and spatial rotation. Regular practice with Quest-specific NVR materials from Year 5 is the most effective approach. NVR is one skill area where children who begin preparation early tend to develop genuine fluency, whereas children who cram in the final weeks often remain slow and uncertain on the more complex matrix patterns.

For detailed guidance on the Quest Assessment format, including a comparison of the paper-based Bexley version with the online Quest used by independent schools, see our Quest Assessment guide for Bexley grammar schools.

How Can Leading Tuition Help with Bexley Grammar 11+ Preparation?

Leading Tuition provides specialist 11+ tuition for children preparing for the Bexley Selection Test. Our tutors are experienced in the Quest Assessments paper-based format and cover all four assessed areas: English comprehension and SPAG, Quest-style verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning pattern work, and KS2 mathematics through Year 6 level. Our preparation programmes incorporate paper-based timed mock tests and bubble-sheet practice, replicating the actual exam experience so children are prepared for the full 1-hour-40-minute duration and the bubble-sheet marking process.

We work with families across south-east London and nationally via online sessions. Our specialist tutors build structured preparation plans tailored to each child’s current level, prioritising the areas where improvement will have the greatest impact on their overall standardised score. Given the 50% weighting of verbal ability in the Bexley SAS, improving performance in verbal reasoning and English comprehension typically produces the largest score gains for children whose NVR and maths foundations are already solid.

Leading Tuition is rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot, with families consistently noting the specialist knowledge our tutors bring to the specific exam format rather than providing generic 11+ preparation. We have achieved a 95%+ grammar school offer rate for students who complete a full structured preparation programme. For families starting in Year 5 or early Year 6 with a child who is broadly working at age-related expectations in maths and English, we are typically able to build the VR and NVR skills needed for a competitive Bexley SAS through a consistent weekly tuition programme.

Book a free consultation to discuss your child’s current position, target schools, and preparation timeline. We can advise whether weekly sessions, intensive blocks, or a combination approach is most appropriate given your child’s Year 6 timeline.

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