11+ London Boroughs Grammar Schools Guide 2026

Leading Tuition provides specialist 11+ preparation across London and the South East. Each borough has its own grammar schools, its own entrance exam formats, and its own level of competition. Select your borough below for a detailed guide to the schools, the exams, and how to prepare.

Our tutors are specialists in specific exams — whether that is the Kingston Grammar Test for Tiffin, the Sutton SET, the Slough consortium, or the GL Assessment reasoning papers used in Bromley and beyond.

Our 11+ specialists work with students across London boroughs preparing for grammar and selective school entry, tailoring preparation to the specific format and standard of each area's selection process. Our students have achieved a 95%+ offer rate across selective school entry, and we are rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot. Book a free consultation to discuss a preparation plan for your child's target schools.

Which London Boroughs and Areas Have Grammar Schools?

Grammar schools in England are unevenly distributed, and London is no exception. The majority of London's 33 boroughs are fully comprehensive — they have no selective state secondary schools at all. The grammar schools that do exist in and around London are concentrated in a handful of boroughs, along with significant grammar provision in the surrounding Home Counties and Kent.

Within Greater London itself, selective state grammar schools are found in Barnet (QE Boys and Henrietta Barnett), Kingston upon Thames (Tiffin Boys and Tiffin Girls), Bromley (St Olave's and Newstead Wood), Enfield (Latymer Edmonton) and the Sutton consortium (Wilson's, Wallington High Girls, Wallington County Grammar, Nonsuch and Sutton Grammar). Just outside the Greater London boundary, grammar provision extends into Hertfordshire, Slough, Buckinghamshire, and the fully selective county of Kent.

For families living in boroughs such as Hammersmith, Tower Hamlets, Southwark or Lewisham, the nearest grammar schools may be 30 to 45 minutes away. This means planning transport, understanding priority catchments, and — critically — matching preparation to the specific exam set by schools in the target borough or county. The borough guides below provide detail on each area's schools, entry routes, and exam formats.

How Do 11+ Exam Formats Differ Across London Boroughs?

One of the most common mistakes families make is preparing for the 11+ generically — buying a set of standard verbal reasoning papers and assuming they will cover every school. In practice, the exam format varies significantly between boroughs, and sometimes between schools in the same borough. There are four main types of 11+ assessment used across London and the South East.

GL Assessment (Granada Learning) is the most widely used 11+ provider. Their papers test verbal reasoning (VR), non-verbal reasoning (NVR), mathematics, and English comprehension and composition. GL Assessment is used in Bromley (St Olave's, Newstead Wood), Enfield (Latymer Edmonton), Hertfordshire (Dame Alice Owen's and others), and forms the basis of the Slough consortium tests and the Kent Test. Familiarity with GL Assessment question types — from synonym analogies to 3D shape rotation — is essential for children targeting any of these areas.

School-specific tests are designed by the schools themselves and tend to differ from GL Assessment in format, style and difficulty. QE Boys in Barnet uses its own reasoning and maths papers, while Henrietta Barnett School sets a verbal reasoning paper known to be among the most demanding in the country. The Tiffin schools in Kingston set the Kingston Grammar Test, a maths and English test developed specifically for those two schools. Children applying to these schools should practise using past papers and materials specific to the school, not generic GL Assessment packs.

Sutton Entrance Tests (SET) are a unified set of tests run jointly by the five Sutton consortium schools. The SET covers verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and mathematics. All five schools use the same test results to rank applicants, which means one registration and one test can unlock five grammar schools — but it also means competition is very high, with each place effectively drawing from the same pool of candidates.

The Kent Test is a GL Assessment-based test used across the fully selective county of Kent. Children sit the test at the start of Year 6. Kent's 30+ grammar schools are among the most sought-after in southern England, and passing the Kent Test qualifies a child to apply to any of them.

How Competitive Is Grammar School Entry Across London Boroughs?

Competition for grammar school places in and around London is intense, and the figures vary dramatically between areas. Understanding the level of competition in your target borough is an essential part of realistic planning.

Henrietta Barnett School in Barnet typically receives more than 2,000 applications for approximately 93 places — a ratio of over 20:1. QE Boys in the same borough sees around 2,000 applicants competing for roughly 180 places, a ratio of approximately 11:1. These schools are consistently among the most oversubscribed in the country, and successful candidates often score in the top 5–8% nationally.

The Tiffin schools in Kingston receive approximately 2,500 combined applications each year for roughly 300 places between them. Competition here is also fierce, but the school-specific test format means that targeted preparation can make a significant difference to a well-prepared child.

The Sutton Entrance Tests cover five schools, with approximately 660 combined places and an estimated 2,000–3,000 registrations per year. Because all five schools use the same test, one preparation programme covers all of them — making Sutton an efficient target for families willing to travel south from London. However, Sutton schools do give priority to children living within the London Borough of Sutton, so distance and priority bands matter when assessing realistic prospects.

In Bromley, St Olave's Grammar receives approximately 1,500 applications for around 90 places (roughly 17:1) while Newstead Wood has a somewhat lower ratio. Latymer Edmonton in Enfield is also highly competitive. In contrast, some Kent grammar schools in less central areas are meaningfully less competitive than their London-adjacent counterparts, with ratios closer to 3:1 or 4:1 in some years.

When Do 11+ Registrations Open Across London Boroughs?

Registration deadlines for the 11+ vary by area and school. Most London borough grammar school registrations open in June or July of Year 5 — the summer before your child sits the test at the start of Year 6. Missing a deadline means waiting a full year to reapply, so families should track dates carefully for every target school.

These dates are approximate and change slightly each year. Always verify the exact deadline on each school's or consortium's admissions page. Check our 11+ exam dates 2025–2026 guide for the most current information.

How Should Your Child Prepare for the 11+ in a London Borough?

Effective 11+ preparation is a structured process that should begin at least 12 to 18 months before the test date — meaning most families start formal preparation in Year 4 or the early months of Year 5. The preparation approach differs depending on which borough's schools your child is targeting.

For GL Assessment areas such as Bromley, Enfield and Hertfordshire, preparation should cover all four papers: verbal reasoning (50 standard question types), non-verbal reasoning (spatial and pattern questions), maths (up to and slightly beyond the Year 6 curriculum), and English comprehension. Timed practice is critical — GL Assessment papers are designed so that most children cannot finish in time, and learning to work quickly and accurately is as important as content knowledge.

For school-specific tests, the approach is more targeted. Families applying to QE Boys or Henrietta Barnett should focus on the reasoning styles used in those schools' specific past papers, practising at the speed and difficulty level demanded by the actual test. For the Tiffin schools, the Kingston Grammar Test emphasises extended maths problem-solving and English writing — skills that take time to develop and require regular practice under timed conditions.

For Sutton SET applicants, preparation is similar to GL Assessment but should use SET-format papers where available. The Sutton test is held early in September of Year 6, which means children need to reach test-ready standard by the end of Year 5 and use the summer to consolidate rather than to learn new material.

Across all areas, a structured programme of weekly tuition, fortnightly mock tests and regular feedback on performance is the most reliable route to success. Our specialist tutors at Leading Tuition build each child's programme around their target schools, tracking progress across each paper type and intervening early when a particular skill area needs attention. Visit our 11+ school guides hub to explore individual school pages, or see our 11+ tuition service for more on how we work.

Frequently Asked Questions About 11+ London Borough Entry