King Edward VI 11 Plus From Overseas: Birmingham, 2027 Entry

The King Edward VI Foundation’s entrance test is the single test used by eight Birmingham grammar schools. For 2027 entry it was sat on Saturday 12 September 2026 at a venue allocated from the family’s home postcode, and registration closed at 4pm on Friday 26 June 2026. The Foundation says it may ask a family whose address is not within a reasonable commutable distance for evidence of an intention to relocate.

What do we do for a family abroad aiming at the Birmingham grammar schools?

Leading Tuition’s specialist 11+ tutors provide one-to-one preparation for all eight Birmingham grammar schools, and families outside the UK can take the whole programme online. The test format and the score thresholds are on our King Edward VI Birmingham 11+ page and are not repeated here.

The Foundation’s rules fix the shape of the plan: the child “will not be allowed to sit the test more than once”, and “You will not have the option of choosing where your child sits the entrance test.” Preparation is timed to one sitting at a venue the family hears about by email after registering.

We do not run the registration or the council application; the sections below quote the bodies that do.

Can a child living abroad sit the Foundation’s test, and who chooses the venue?

The Foundation arranges the test for the eight grammar schools in Birmingham and says “children only sit one test to be eligible to apply for a place at any of the 19 grammar schools in the region”. West Midlands Grammar Schools, which runs the registration site, says that for a child to be considered for a place at any of the selective grammar schools in Birmingham, Shropshire, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Warwickshire, “they must sit the entrance test at a test centre.”

To register, a family uses that website. The Foundation says the family “will be asked to provide your home postcode and child’s sex”, “will then be directed to the relevant website to register for the test – this will be based on your home address”, and “will not have the option of choosing where your child sits the entrance test”. The school used “is simply a venue to facilitate the test – it may not necessarily be a school you intend to apply for a place at.”

The Foundation’s test page includes this sentence about a home address far from the schools:

“Should you decide to register for the entrance test and it is deemed that your home address is not within a reasonable commutable distance to The Grammar Schools in Birmingham, you may be contacted by the Admissions Office to provide further information to support your application to sit the test – including a request for evidence of your intention to relocate, such as a recent house purchase in the area for example.”

Three details in the Foundation’s sentence matter to a family abroad. The contact is conditional (“you may be contacted”), it follows registration, and the example given is “a recent house purchase in the area for example”. What else counts as evidence, and by when, is a question for the Admissions Office; the questions to ask in writing are set out further down.

For 2027 entry the Foundation’s timeline page said a family would be emailed “by the end of July” with “the test venue and session (AM or PM)”, and West Midlands Grammar Schools said the information about the test day “will be posted to your home address”. The Foundation’s test page told families to “plan to keep the whole of 12th September free from other commitments”, because two sessions ran, and “Parents/Carers cannot wait on-site during the test.”

The Foundation writes: “You register for the test when your child is in Year 5 and they sit the entrance test when they are in Year 6.” The Foundation’s timeline page is headed “Timeline (2027 entry)”, so a family planning a later cycle should read the dates the Foundation gives for the year its child will enter.

Which postcode and which council does a family abroad give?

The test registration and the Year 7 application are two steps. Birmingham City Council’s page on the grammar schools (updated 17 August 2026) says: “Applying to sit an entry test is not the same as asking for a place at the school (an expression of preference). You must also complete the application form for your local council. This is the council where you pay your council tax.” (Places at grammar schools in Birmingham, September 2027)

For a family with no UK council tax bill, two council pages bear on the second step, and they should be read together. The council’s Year 7 page says: “We will only deal with applications for school places if you live in Birmingham and pay Council Tax to us.” Its proof-of-address page has a heading for “Families in the process of moving to Birmingham from outside England” and says: “If you cannot provide any proof listed above for a Birmingham address, we will accept an application from your current address. This is only if it is located outside of England (as opposed to outside of Birmingham). We may ask you to provide proof of the address where you currently reside.”

The proofs listed on the proof-of-address page for a Birmingham address include “a solicitor's letter confirming contracts have been exchanged and specifying a completion date and the new address” and “a signed and dated tenancy agreement from either Birmingham City Council or a known Birmingham Housing Association, and the commencement date”. The page adds: “Neither of the above lists are comprehensive.”

The Department for Education’s guidance on applications from overseas children says: “If an application is made from another country, local authorities should consider the application as adequate proof of an intention to move or return to the area and include it within the local authority co-ordinated process.” Other councils’ wording is compared on our Year 7 application from abroad page.

For service families the council’s proof-of-address page says Birmingham School Admissions “will process applications from UK crown servants or UK military families”, that these applications “must include evidence from their employers or commanding officers that they are returning to the area ahead of any move”, and that it “will accept any posting or quartering address as a 'home' address in the absence of any actual home address.” See our forces families guide.

Hong Kong families arriving on the British National (Overseas) visa have a separate council page, last updated 3 October 2023: “you must include the details of your previous address in Hong Kong.” The Census 2021 counts are on our 11+ Hong Kong page.

What does an address outside the catchment do at each school?

The 2027 admission policies of seven of the eight Birmingham grammar schools use three different devices, so the answer depends on the school. The table sets out seven policies. Handsworth Grammar School for Boys, the other school in the shared test, says on its admissions page: “King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys is part of the Grammar Schools in Birmingham for our admissions procedures.” Whether a child may lawfully enter the UK for a state school is a separate question, set out on our page for foreign national children.

The five Foundation schools define the catchment in the same terms: “The catchment area consists of home addresses that are within the following electoral wards” (Five Ways: “fall within”), followed by the list. Birmingham City Council’s Year 7 page gives the general warning: “Make sure you also check the admissions arrangements, as most grammar schools in Birmingham have catchment areas.” In those policies (here the Camp Hill Boys wording) category 4 is “Applicants who achieve the priority score and live within the school catchment area” and category 5 is “Applicants achieving the qualifying score”, who “will be ranked by test score”. For 2027 entry the Foundation’s results and offers page gives the qualifying score for all the Birmingham grammar schools as 205 and the priority score for all the King Edward VI grammar schools as 224. The policies say applicants “must achieve the qualifying score in order to be eligible for admission to the school”. What a place needed in an oversubscribed year is a different figure, which the same page publishes by category.

The Camp Hill Boys policy measures distance by “a straight-line measurement between the applicant’s home address and a point decided by the school (the front gates)”, and says “An applicant’s home address will be verified by the local authority as part of the school application process.” The DfE guidance adds a caution: where a parent “is unable to provide evidence of a return to the area (before the new school year for applications made during the normal admissions round or for late applications, or by the start of the next term for in-year applications)”, admission authorities “could apply a catchment area policy or distance tie-break, if they have such admission criteria,” using the parents’ place of residence at the point the application is made, and “If this is in another country, it might give the child a lower priority for admission if the admission authority operates a catchment area or if the child is tied for the final place available with other applicants.” How a school reads an address outside the UK against a ward catchment or a zone is a question to put to the school in writing.

Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School uses distance zones, not wards: “Priority for admission is given to pupils meeting the qualifying score living within Zone 1”. Its policy offers places to Zone 2, “an area of between a 12-mile and 20-mile radius”, only “If we have not allocated all places to pupils resident in Zone 1”, and to Zone 3, “anywhere beyond a 20 mile radius”, only “If we have not allocated all places to pupils resident in Zone 1 or 2”. Our Bishop Vesey’s page covers the school. Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls states: “The School does not have a residence requirement and entry to the School is solely as a result of scores gained in the Entrance Test, whether or not candidates live in Birmingham.” Distance separates only equal scores: “Where children are equal on standardised score, places will be offered to those who live closest to the School”. Our Sutton Coldfield guide covers that school.

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Which date fixes the address, and what does a move after 31 October 2026 change?

Birmingham City Council’s application page (updated 16 September 2026) says applications for entry in September 2027 opened at 9:00am on 1 September 2026 and that the closing date is at 11:59pm on 31 October 2026. “Late applications will be processed after 1 March 2027.” Several address rules sit on that closing date:

• The council’s proof-of-address page: “All proof of address must be submitted, without exception, by the national closing date for school applications.”
• The five Foundation schools’ 2027 policies, which require applications by 31 October 2026 and say, for example in the Camp Hill Boys and Aston policies: “Applications and any change of addresses after this date will not be considered until after places have been offered in March 2027.”
• Bishop Vesey’s: “Evidence will be required to prove that the child is resident within Zone 1 by the deadline of October 31st 2026.”
• On a later move, the council: “If you move address after the national closing date, you will need to send proof of address to us so we can update your address after the national offer day.” It gives the national offer day as 1 March 2027.

The council also lists addresses it will not accept. Its “addresses of convenience and informal living arrangements, which will not be accepted” include “temporary addresses (used to improve your priority for a school place)”, and a place found to rest on one “will be withdrawn (retracted) under the School Admissions Code (2021).” A family choosing where to rent or buy before 31 October 2026 should read the whole proof-of-address page first. Our guide to relocating to the UK mid-cycle sets the same dates against a family’s move.

What is left for a child who missed the 2027 registration or arrives later?

For 2027 entry, registration closed at 4pm on Friday 26 June 2026 and the test was sat on Saturday 12 September 2026. The published wordings on a missed registration differ by body:

• The Foundation’s timeline page: “It is not possible to register for the test after this time.”
• Birmingham City Council’s test application page: “Late registrations are not allowed.”
• The Camp Hill Boys 2027 policy, in a sentence that also appears in the Aston, Camp Hill Girls, Five Ways and Handsworth Girls policies: “Candidates who are not registered by the deadline may only be tested in exceptional circumstances and considered after the main round of allocations has been made in March 2027.”
• The Sutton Coldfield Girls 2027 policy: “Local candidates who have not registered for the Entrance Test by the published deadline may only be tested in exceptional circumstances and consideration after the main round of applications has been made.” It adds: “Children who move into the area between the Published Entrance Test registration deadline and the Entrance Test date will be tested and considered in the main round of admissions. Applications received after this date will be considered after initial applications have been made.”

The registration deadline and the test date that rule refers to have both passed for 2027 entry (the Foundation’s dates were 26 June 2026 and 12 September 2026). Whether “exceptional circumstances”, or a move “into the area”, covers a family arriving from abroad is for the school to state, and the questions below include it.

A place can also open from the waiting list. The Foundation’s in-year page says: “If a vacancy arises at any of the grammar schools during the first term of Year 7, the waiting list in existence from March of that year will be used and the place offered in accordance with the school’s admission criteria.” The Camp Hill Boys policy defines that list: “This is a list of those who sat the entrance test and achieved the qualifying score who did not receive an offer from this school or a more preferred school.”

After the first term, the Foundation’s in-year page says: “At any point from January after the pupil starts Year 7, parents may apply for a place at any of the grammar schools by contacting the school directly. In-year vacancies normally only become available if a current pupil is leaving the school. If a vacancy arises, applicants on the waiting list will be invited to take a test at the school.” For a child who starts Year 7 in September 2027, the January that counts is the first one after that start. Bishop Vesey’s words it differently: “From January of Year 7 onwards, parents living within Zone 1 may apply for a place directly to the school.” Sutton Coldfield Girls says in-year applications “should be made directly to the School” and that “All applications for a place at the School will be responded to within 15 working days.” The council’s general in-year page says: “You cannot make an in-year application for a future academic year.” Our guide to joining a grammar school after Year 7 covers in-year entry more widely.

What should a family ask the Foundation Office and the council in writing?

A written answer is the document to keep. The Foundation Office is on 0121 472 1147, Birmingham City Council’s Children’s Advice and Support Service is on 0121 303 1888, and the council gives office@kevibham.org as the Foundation’s email address. Each question below sits beside the published words that raise it.

1. Foundation Office. The test page says an address “not within a reasonable commutable distance” may bring “a request for evidence of your intention to relocate, such as a recent house purchase in the area for example”. Which documents does the Admissions Office accept from a family that is renting, or has exchanged contracts but not completed, and by what date must they reach it?
2. Foundation Office. Registration asks for a “home postcode”, and West Midlands Grammar Schools says the test information “will be posted to your home address”. Which postcode should a family living abroad enter, how is the venue chosen from it, and how is the information sent to an address abroad?
3. Each school. Which category of the 2027 policy (category 4 or 5 at the five Foundation schools), or which Bishop Vesey’s zone, would an application from our current address abroad be assessed under?
4. Each school. Does “exceptional circumstances” or, at Sutton Coldfield Girls, a move “into the area”, include a family moving from abroad after the 2027 registration closed?
5. The council. The proof-of-address page says it will “accept an application from your current address” outside England. Which form should we use, and what proof of that address will it ask for?

Other King Edward VI schools a family may meet

King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford, Essex, has its own admissions policy; what it publishes for a family abroad is on our Essex overseas page, and our Chelmsford 11+ page is the school guide.

King Edward VI School in Southampton, an independent day school whose admissions FAQs cover 11+ and 13+ entry, says: “Please be aware that we are a day school with no boarding facility and as such we do not arrange or sponsor visas for children; families will need to arrange their own visas and ensure that they comply with all UK entry requirements.”

King Edward VI High School for Girls, one of the Foundation’s two independent schools in Birmingham, states on its admissions page, which covers entry at 11+, into the Sixth Form and in-year: “Please note KEHS does not accept applications from international students. Girls applying to the school must hold either a UK passport or the relevant visas to remain in the UK, and must be living locally with their family.”

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